I know I haven't blogged in a while. I tend to clam up when things aren't going right. I think that once I get clear with Employment Security, I will feel more settled.
I made a claim a week ago, the day after Killer Nashville. Because I had worked for the federal government, the system did not accept my online application, so I had to call. Calling Employment Security is a major ordeal. First, the system won't let you in because it is too overwhelmed, so you have to call repeatedly just trying to get put on hold. Then you hold for at least an hour while listening to classical music alternating with messages about filing anywhere but the phone.
When I finally got through, I spoke with someone who didn't know how to handle a Census Bureau layoff, despite the fact that there have been zillions. Her computer has access only to jobs where the paycheck comes from within the state. I had to tell her how to verify over the phone that I had really been laid off, since I couldn't get an official layoff paper until after my payroll cleared. I used to be on the other end of that call. I know what to do.
So she put me on hold, then came back and told me she had verified it. Good, right? Well, a few days later, a got a notice saying I was entitled to $157/week. Why so low? She didn't include any of my census work. This affected two of the four quarters that they were counting, and cut my pay in half. I did some additional work during the two affected quarters so it didn't raise a red flag, but I told her I had worked full time for the census and she even typed that in. She just never checked that my application needed to go to the federal section for my wages.
I know this because I got my pay records from the census, then called and played the call-redial-repeat game again yesterday. After being on hold endlessly, I got somebody who took the figures I gave her, then looked up the record to see what went wrong. Then she put me on hold so she could find out from her supervisor what we were supposed to do next. I got cut off while on hold. I didn't catch her name. I usually write it down at the end of the conversation, and I couldn't make myself play the phone game again.
I tried again this morning, but couldn't get as far as being put on hold. It may be taken care of, but I don't know. I had better things to do.
Tomorrow, I guess I'll try again.
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