Hello to all those in the blogosphere. My name is Leah, and I know all too well how hard the job market is. I have been unemployed off and on for thirteen months now. My story began in May 2009 after the insurance company I was working for laid me off. I picked myself up by the bootstraps, filed for benefits and worked odds and ends jobs until I found a job I loved at a community college.
Unfortunately (and how unfortunate I would later realize), I couldn't keep that job either. The temp agency that I had worked with had another position for me, and I had to take it. It was a pay cut, and I had to reenter the same place I was dismissed just four months prior. But it was a job.
On December 30, I was called to my supervisor's desk. She asked me about a claim I had submitted. To preference this conversation, you must understand that this was not the easiest job I have ever had. I was working 50 plus hours a week for two months with mandatory overtime. We were to key 500 claims a day. Just weeks before I had my first quality assurance review. I passed most checks but I was told I needed to be faster with my claims. Okie dokie. Faster. I can do faster.
Back to the meeting: My supervisor asked me if I remembered this one claim. Sorry none of them stick out, I said. She told me to look closer and said I had to give a reason I did what I did. I looked at the screen and realized that I had mistakenly changed the name of the patient to Meryl Streep.
Whoops. I apologized, told her I did not even remember making that mistake and assured that I would be more careful in the future. The claim didn't pay out. No doctor received a payment for services rendered for an Academy award-winning actress. No harm. No foul, right? How can one mistake after being nearly perfect cost me a job? Surely not.
Wrong. I was fired. Gone. Just like that. But at least they waited a couple more hours for me to keep keying and working. I was told to go home for the day at lunch and call the temp agency. As I grabbed my coat, I made sure to get my photographs together because I knew then I would never set foot in that building again.
My story is not out of the ordinary (well, maybe the Meryl Streep part). There are thousands of us dislocated workers out there. I started this blog in hopes of sharing some of the information that I have learned while drawing unemployment.
And to Ms. Streep: I am multi-talented and could do any job. I would make an excellent press agent or personal assistant. I would do almost anything for a job. Except windows. I don't do windows.
