January 10, 2010
Early Bird Specials Are Back
Can’t afford to eat out as much as before? Just head out to restaurants a little bit earlier. Discount dining is back in style, with several restaurants offering discounts before 6 p.m. Early bird specials are no longer just for senior citizens looking to be thrifty, but for anybody who is willing to save a buck.
January 5, 2010
Survey Says: Americans Not Happy at Work
The Conference Board research group conducted a survey that found 55 percent of Americans dissatisfied with their jobs—the highest rate in 22 years. Okay American employers: I have an assignment for you. Figure out how to make your employees happy! I promise you’ll get higher productivity!
December 23, 2009
The Fashion World Mourns Phi
Yesterday Phi announced it was shutting down due to the Great Recession’s economic climate. Most of you probably don’t know of Phi, the high-end luxury label founded by Susan Dell, wife of Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell.
I remember admiring Phi’s architecturally sleek, sexy and tough designs when we used a dress and those booties on the left for a photo shoot I worked on. Several celebs and fashion editors revered and wore the label, which was founded in 2003. Apparently critical acclaim didn’t translate into sales for the company, and the recession got the best of them.
It doesn’t surprise me, considering most could never afford the clothes (the boots retailed for $995), especially not those out of job. Fashionistas everywhere are in mourning. Hopefully the label will come back in another incarnation in the future.
(See the a photo from the shoot I used those shoes in after the jump)
December 23, 2009
Do I Attract What I Put Out?
I was thinking about this just now. The last four guys I’ve dated have been underemployed or unemployed—unstable, basically—just like me. One guy was unemployed and bounced through traveling, friends’ apartments and his parents’ home; another lost his job and couldn’t pay rent; another was underemployed, doing odd jobs and had just moved back in with his mother—a boomerang child; and another waited tables at a dead-end restaurant and got fired during our stint. I freelance here and there and collect unemployment while crashing in a friend’s spare room. All that leads to the question:
Am I attracting what I put out?
Or are there just a lot of un(der)employed people roaming around New York?
December 19, 2009
So Close
I ended up not getting the job. It’s so frustrating to have made it to the final round and not get hired. I wonder why they decided not to hire me for the position. Was I overqualified? Did I say the wrong thing? Wear the wrong outfit? But, the editor in chief called me personally and told me they were a big fan and they would like to hear my voice on their website—as a freelance blogger. I have yet to hear the details, so I don’t know if they want me to do it full-time or not. If it yields a steady paycheck, I’ll be relieved. As the Rolling Stones song goes: “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need…”
December 19, 2009
Congress Approves Unemployment Benefits Extension
Whew. I can breathe a sigh of relief for two more months because my unemployment was about to run out. I had no idea what I was going to do. I just tried not to think about it.
December 12, 2009
The Waiting Game
So I’ve been going through the interview process for a job I really want, and I’ve made it to the final round after taking an edit test, interviewing with the hiring editors—and then the final with the editor-in-chief. I’m so close and this job would combine so much of my skill set and interests. I met with the editor-in-chief last Thursday and he told me they would be making the decision Friday. I waited and waited, and soon Friday came and went with no word! Now I have to wait until Monday! I figure it’s one of three things:
A. They hired somebody else and have left me in the dark about that.
B. The decision making process is taking longer than expected.
C. They made a decision, but HR has yet to create the offer letter if they are indeed the messenger.
The wait is driving me CRAZY! I thought yesterday might be my last day of unemployment so I did something I don’t usually do. I sat around and watched TV and napped all day, waiting anxiously for a call, but NOTHING. My friend told me not to worry because I would have heard something either way. I’m really hoping this is the end of being unemployed. I miss working hard. If I don’t get it, back to the interview and applying game. Wish me luck!
November 23, 2009
Inappropriate Comment of the Day
“You want to be unemployed.”
-My dad
Dear Dad,
Contrary to your belief, I don’t want to be unemployed. In fact, I would love nothing more than to have a job to go to Monday through Friday, or hell, even Tuesday through Saturday. I’m really sick of living off of unemployment and being so poor that I can’t afford to eat or buy anything. I would really like to work hard and use my brain and make money, hopefully at a job that provides health insurance so I can visit a doctor and not have to worry about going bankrupt if I get hurt or sick. Believe me dad, if I could, I would work. I would work every day! Unfortunately, the economy sucks, nobody is hiring, and if they are, there are usually 200+ applicants I’m competing with.
Would somebody who wants to be unemployed apply to numerous jobs every day? Would somebody who wants to be unemployed try to network with everybody she could? Next time, you should think twice before you say something like that.
Signed,
Your daughter who wants more than anything to be employed
