Obama proposes letting the jobless sue for discrimination

[Pope Flick]

That is not really what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is the longer someone is not productive, the harder it is for them to become productive again. When you are accustomed to working 60+ hours a week, you get into a routine and manage your time better than when you are not working. When you go back to work you have to learn to manage your time again. Muscles when they go unused atrophy, the longer they are sedentary the more atrophy. There was a time when I had a 600# squat, but I took ten years off from the gym. I've been working out for about 5 months very hard. My work outs are as hard as they have ever been, but I can only squat 405# right now. If anything I'm working out harder now than I did then, but due to a long time off my muscles have atrophied and my technique isn't as good as it once was. This happens to both your body and your brain. It has been my experience as an employer when an employee comes back from a long time off whether paid or unpaid, whether due to the companies circumstance or their own they are not as sharp mentally as they were before. Likewise they lack the physical stamina they had before. They often do not manage their time as well as they did before. I'm not saying that it is their fault, I actually think that it is a natural phenomenon. It is also in my view a legitimate reason for employers to seek others before they seek an equally qualified person that has been unemployed for a long period of time. I don't view myself as lazy. You can ask my wife, and she will tell you I'm one of the hardest workers she knows. Having said that, having not gone to work on a regular basis these last few months, I'm seeing in my self the same thing I've seen in my employees in the past after long periods of inactivity. So I'm not saying they are lazy but rather rusty or atrophied, though there are definitely some that are lazy. If I needed the money you can bet that I would be getting a job tomorrow. It may not be the greatest job, but I'd be getting one. Right now I'm about to go crazy with how unstructured my life is. Hopefully I'll be buying a business in the next month, if that falls through then I'll start one in the next three months. If I don't, I have a good idea that my wife will divorce me because I'm driving both of us crazy.

 

You've caught Teh Socialist.

[WaterMan]

The implication that it requires no skills. In other threads you have also implied that these are crap jobs. Thus, you are belittleing the jobs themselves as well as the hard working people who do these jobs.

 

The only problems I have with these jobs is the low pay/no benefits for the hard work. These low paid people are handling all the money for the Wal-Marts and Starbucks but are seeing no rewards.

[Clubfoothead]

Another well thought out response from you.

 

You talk about how depressing it is to be in your situation. You explain how mentally draining it can be. I don't disagree. Then you end by saying but if it were somebody else's money, not mine, it wouldn't be so depressing. Yet none of the reasons you claim you are in a funk is because it is your money, it all seems to be related to your circumstance. You seem to be wanting empathy or understanding or something from us at the same time feeling none of that towards other people similarly situated. That is bull$hit in my book.

 

I also disagree that your situation is indicative of what it is really like to be going through through times on government assistance. Being too depressed to scoop the pool, mow the lawn and hop in the SUV to drive down to the CPA to discuss buying a new company is harldy the experience most people on unemployment and food stamps are living. We could probably all get used to someone else paying for that.

 

I like you. I think you are a good guy. You know I generally think you are full of $hit on politics anyways. This time I just happen to think you are specifically full of $hit while at the same time always wishing you the best.

[Azazello1313]

You seem to be wanting empathy or understanding or something from us at the same time feeling none of that towards other people similarly situated. That is bull$hit in my book.

 

I know it must sound like crazy talk to you, but perhaps he just views empathy and pushing for a government handout or a government intervention as not being the same thing.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Perch, I think you are really stretching it to view your current unemployment lifestyle to that of someone who has to reintegrate into the workforce, after being off of work for an extended period. You first say you don't feel like doing yardwork, then you say you have shifted your priorities to getting fit and reorganizing closets and pantries, instead of doing yardwork.

 

IMO, going back into the workforce, can be invigorating and makes you more productive after time off. That's why companies offer sabaticals. I know this has always been the case with me, when it comes to a new job, or new job challenges. It gets the creative juices going again. Maybe if you have a job that requires motor skills, it takes a few weeks to get caught up again, but the excitement of working again and making an impression on the new boss should surely make up for that.

 

I have been semi-retired for 6 years now, and after working a 50-60 hour week job that took me out of town for half the year. I can say that what happened to me was you do go into kind take on a Hawaii lifestyle. It's hard to believe now that I used to work out of town all week, come home to spending all weekend doing chores. I had little time to socialize. What happens now is that I pace myself because I can. I feel busy but I do everything at a slower pace.