Amerigo Vespucci

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Sat Jan-08-11 12:05 PM
Original message

The other side of the unemployment benefits extension coin

We all know that the issue of unemployment and unemployment benefits has been a major "hot button" for some time now. Families lose homes, can't put food on the table, can't find work. I think we should help people who are trying to help themselves.

I have an acquaintance...I won't call him a friend, because he's not. This guy is a first-class douchebag.

He just got an extension of his unemployment benefits.

Because of this, he blew off a long-term contract job that had been offered to him. He didn't want the job if the clock was still running on his "free money." The only reason he did the first round of interviews was because he thought his benefits were going to max out. Then the extension came through and he never brought up the contract position again.

He's not trying to look for work at all...he just waits for that check to come in the mail. He stays out late, sleeps in late, hangs out with his buddies and that's pretty much it.

The guy's a fucking slob and basically not a nice person at all. He's a whiner and one of the most self-centered people you'd ever want to meet. Everything is about him, other people are just in the way of life as he wants it. He's the original "Bubble Boy."

He'll play this out for as long as he can, and when the plug is pulled on the regular checks, he'll find some new scam. But he's a lazy-assed fuck, and he doesn't care, because he's getting away with it.

Now, I know he is only one guy, and if you've read the post this far, you know that's how I've presented him...one guy collecting unemployment checks. That's not going to prevent someone from replying with "All unemployed people aren;t like that," even though I've said pretty much the same thing. That's OK. I know what I said and what I didn't say. It's right here on the screen for all to read (or ignore, or twist into something I didn't say).

So I know this one guy personally, and I also know hard-working people who are trying, and would have killed for the contract job this guy pissed away.

One coin, two sides. I know people on both. So do other people. And when they're talking about why benefits shouldn't be extended, they either say that because they're ignorant and don't give a fuck about the suffering of others, or they know a guy like the one I've just described. I don't know how he gets away with it, other than lying about his job search (and I've caught this guy in several lies based on things he's said to me and the way things have come back to me through mutual acquaintances). But if you help the honest, hard working people, the system is going to help guys like this too, and that's just the way it is.

It's his life, his business, his conscience, and if the government says he's entitled to those checks, he's entitled to those checks. If you ask me if it's a good idea to keep extending his benefits, I'd have to say no, because he's gonna be sitting on his ass in a Starbuck's somewhere, passing the time, while hard-working people bust their ass and he just sees them as chumps.

And as an adult, I've long since cut loose the notion of "justice" and "fairness." We should all believe in them as an ideal, but depending on them and expecting them to be mirrored in reality is for chumps, amd chumps only.

Perspective. It's all about perspective.

:rant:

The other side of the unemployment benefits extension coin

one guy.

one guy.

"the other side of the coin."