The New Poor: Unemployed, and Likely to Stay That Way
December 3rd, 2010A new cafe opened up out at the coast from where I am here in New Zealand. I was eating there, using my netbook, and the owner offered to get me on the Wi-Fi network he had running in there.
We chatted about our past lives.
That dude did nearly THREE DECADES of wrench turning on systems for large U.S. corporations. I must have looked visibly shocked. I held my coffee mid way between the table and my mouth—which hung open.
“I know,” he said, “I know.”
“Holy shit,” I said.
“I know… I know…”
It was like a group meeting for survivors of a plane wreck. I babbled about the Mother Ship a bit and shook my head a lot. He talked about his last thing and he shook his head a lot.
But, looking at the brightside, there we were. It was a Friday morning and there wasn’t a PHB or a loud server room for miles and miles and miles. I wouldn’t even know where the closest loud server room would be. Whangarei, probably (a bit more than two hours drive).
Anyway, the point is that if you’re doing something because it’s what you’ve always done, and you’re looking at the end of that road, plan to live well on very little, maintain appearances for as long as possible as your draw salary, and when the reaper finally swings the scythe, think of it as a beginning, instead of an end. While you’re still showing up to the grindhouse, make it count. Play it strategically. Play it to win.
As the other slobs around you panic and discuss the best way to get dragged over a hundred miles of unpaved road to get the next shitty job or contract, you’re smiling as you turn in your ID badge and walk away.
The bad news is that this might be your last “real” gig.
That’s also the good news.
Via: New York Times:
The longer people stay out of work, the more trouble they have finding new work.
That is a fact of life that much of Europe, with its underclass of permanently idle workers, knows all too well. But it is a lesson that the United States seems to be just learning.
This country has some of the highest levels of long-term unemployment — out of work longer than six months — it has ever recorded. Meanwhile, job growth has been, and looks to remain, disappointingly slow, indicating that those out of work for a while are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Even if the government report on Friday shows the expected improvement in hiring by business, it will not be enough to make a real dent in those totals.
Well said Kevin, that summed up my situaltion/position pretty much. I have one of those silly “consultant” titles and I am keeping my appearance up for another 6 months or so before escaping the hell I find myself in. I cant wait to hand in my “badge” and walk away to live a simpler cheaper and freer life somewhere else.