Same old song and dance.

The Federal Agency that Everyone Hates is supposedly calling people for interviews, they started last week. I'm hoping to get a call soon, but am not betting on anything. Been through this so many times. I've always been able to get at least an interview, but I am getting conflicting stories on whether I will get called to do it this time.

Supposedly, those who have interviewed within the last year don't have to do it again. That's what I heard from the national recruiting person, but when I contacted the HR person who is actually involved for the office to which I'm applying, they told me that I probably would have to do it again. So I guess if I don't hear anything, it won't necessarily mean I'm out of luck, at least until mid-August where I'll know if I don't hear anything that I didn't get selected. This will be my third attempt to get hired by this agency. I've been applying for other things each week, but haven't had anyone show any interest since the whole fiasco with that casino back in May.

In other pleasant news, right now it doesn't look like much is going to be done to extend unemployment benefits, so being cut off in August is a very real possibility.
I knew things might not go well when I quit seeing coverage about the legislation on the news. Right now if it isn't about Michael Jackson or the oil spill, nobody seems to care. At one point I thought that maybe the unemployed should dress up like Michael Jackson and slather themselves with oil, and maybe someone would be interested in our concerns.

Bad deal for everyone if they end up not being extended---obviously, those who lose benefits will have a bad time. Many are already making huge compromises regarding the work they are trying to get. I'm a CPA with a master's degree, but have been applying for accounts payable jobs that normally don't require more than an associate's degree. Still no luck. Even when these people are fortunate enough to find lower paying work, that pushes the people who would be better suited to those jobs down a level. I don't know why people don't understand that unemployment compensation helps to prevent this type of mass job displacement which ultimately means more people going on public assistance when they are pushed out of the job market altogether.

I'm still hoping they might get it together, and that it's just a political ploy to for each side to make the other look bad, but over this entire month I've heard nothing but assurances that it would eventually pass, that it was sure to pass this week, etc., but here we are, nearly a month later and no extension. I have about a month to figure out what to do if we end up losing out.

Another thing that troubles me is the unfairness of the system. If I do end up being cut off, I will have had around 46 weeks of benefits. That's less than half of the maximum 99 weeks available. It's all because of the timing of my unemployment claim.
Someone who lost their job a few months ago will be cut off at 26 weeks. I don't understand why they can't just have each person get a set amount of benefits instead of it all depending on when someone filed.

I'm in a sour mood in general this week, a very unpleasant anniversary is coming up on Wednesday.

Oh well, going to tag along with my wife today, she has a long distance work thing, so at least that should be fun. It's so important to get whatever pleasure you can out of life when things aren't working out.