Problem Solved - Again

For the moment I'm in good standing with the Unemployment Office.

Even though I tried calling the 800 number 3 times yesterday, I never got through to a person. I arrived at the Career Center a little after 8 a.m. this morning and I was #26 in line. We weren't allowed into the building until about 8:15, but I (and everyone else) was bundled up. At about 11:00 I was led into the cubby of the representative who looked at my information on the computer screen, made a change to one piece of data, and fixed the problem. It took less than 5 minutes.

Instead of a thriller from the local public library, I had brought along the textbook that I'll be using for LIS415, so I got a lot of necessary reading done.

What relief. I expect I'll have a better night's sleep tonight than I've had for the last couple of days. I don't know why I worry about this stuff so much and no amount of deep breathing seems to help. Perhaps I should be thankful to the Unemployment Office for providing me with blog material.

The Saga Continues

I arrived at the Career Center a little after 8 this morning to learn that there is no Unemployment Representative on January 3 (today). I'll try calling later today. I understand it is easier to get through if one calls after 5 p.m. Many people assume (I would have if I didn't know otherwise) that the telephone service ends at 5 but it continues until 6:30 - at least during this time of heavy use.

So it's back into my play clothes to prepare for Wednesday evening's Library Trustee meeting, a consulting job I have this week, LIS415, and to follow up on some other stuff. I may also have a chance to read my current book.

Watch for the next installment of this adventure.

Oh, No! Not Again!

I logged onto the Mass. Department of Workforce Development - Division of Unemployment Assistance earlier today to file my weekly claim. I answered all the required questions and upon submitting my claim, a Red Message said "Call the Telephone Claims Center. Additional information is required to determine your eligibility for benefits." I thought this was all straightened out.

So I guess tomorrow I'll be back at the Hampshire/Franklin Career Center talking to a representative trying to find out what's wrong. The upside to all if this is that I'm in the middle of a really engrossing book called Die For You by Lisa Unger. I get a lot of reading done at the Career Center. I wonder how early I should show up?

Bureaucracy = Frustration

I'm having another go-'round with the unemployment bureaucracy. When I filed my weekly claim via computer on Sunday, December 12 (which went very quickly), I received a message in red saying "There has been a break in the reporting of your Partial Earnings. Please contact ..."


The computer system doesn't like the fact that I work a day or two for a few weeks, but then not at all for a few weeks. When I arrived at the career center at 9:00 a.m. (they open at 8:30) to see a representative, they were already booked for the day. I tried again two days later and was put into the queue. After about an hour's wait, I talked with a representative who re-opened my claim and said she needed to send paperwork to the city of Springfield (again) to verify there was no work for me.

When I logged on to my unemployment account on Sunday, the 12th, the red message was "Call the Telephone Claims Center. Additional information is required to determine your eligibility for benefits." No phone number; no hours of operation.

I stopped by the career center on Monday a little after 9. All filled for the day. The same on Tuesday. (I tried to arrive earlier, but other obligations prevented that.) Wednesday (one of the few days I'm allowed to call; it's determined by by SSN), I finally got through only to be told the city of Springfield says I started working again the Monday after Thanksgiving. That's news to me. After calling a couple of people at the library, I was directed to the personnel office for the city.

The personnel officer said he filled out the paperwork saying that I'm technically an employee of the city, but only as part of a substitute pool. He doesn't know why unemployment is giving me a hard time. Each person keeps referring me back to the other one to straighten it out.

Of course, this is a short week with the Christmas holiday (is this the place I say "Bah, humbug!"?). My plan is to arrive at the career center tomorrow before they open. I'll be bundled up since the temperature will be about 30 degrees at 8:00 a.m.

If this had to happen, I wish it had happened in warmer weather.

Bits 'n' Pieces

I've been pretty busy lately, working one or two days most weeks. I've been cataloging music CDs at the Springfield City Library, teaching workshops for the Connecticut State Library and the Massachusetts Library System, and my former employer Donohue Group, Inc. (2001-2005) asked me to work on a cataloging project. I worked one day for them last week and am scheduled for 2 more days over the next 3 weeks. I may also become an adjunct faculty member for Simmons GSLIS-west. It looks as if I'll be teaching LIS 415, Organization of Information beginning spring 2011 at the Mt. Holyoke College campus.

My life feels somewhat scattered, but not so much that I feel frantic. I just need to check my calendar regularly so that I know to what I've committed myself and where I'm supposed to be on any given day. Also included in the schedule are meetings related to the Hatfield Board of Library Trustees, Hatfield Public Library Building Committee and the Friends of UMass/Amherst Libraries. Whew! How do people work full time and get anything else done! :-)

Because I'm not working full time, I still log on weekly to the website for the Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development to claim my benefits. But something has changed in the last few weeks. Instead of taking 20 to 60 minutes to complete my claim (there's lots of waiting between pages), I've been able to finish the process in just 2-3 minutes. What happened? Has everyone found a job but me?

Trials and Tribulations

Never having collected unemployment before, I haven't yet figured out all of the nuances.

Every Sunday, I get up before 7 a.m. so that I can file my claim for the week and not have to think about it until the following Sunday. Last Sunday, I logged on to the website, accessed my account and answered all of the questions: Did I look for work? Yes. Was I available for work? Yes. Did I work? No. Has my addressed changed? No. After watching the Explorer icon spinning for a while, my confirmation appeared telling me that there was a problem and that I would have to re-open my claim.

I figured this was something best done in person, so on Monday morning I drove to the career center in Northampton. I knew there would be a wait, and I brought along Finger Linkin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich. (Demand for it has settled down enough that I actually found it on the shelves of the Hatfield Public Library. I'm not even going to think about Sizzling Sixteen till sometime in 2011.)

After about 45 minutes, my name was called and I walked into a little cubby with a very pleasant woman who looked at my filing history. It appears that because I worked for 2 weeks in a row at Springfield City Library (5 hours and 8 hours respectively) the unemployment computer gods expected me to continue that pattern. I had not worked the next two weeks and that freaked them out. I explained about my "on call" status and the pleasant woman reopened my claim. She also was required to send a form to the city of Sprinfield asking why I worked for 2 weeks and then not for 2 weeks. I'm sure the staff there have dealt with this sort of situation before and will fill out the form in a way that does not endanger my status.

This week was a busy week for me. I taught a workshop for MLS in West Stockbridge on Tuesday, worked at Springfield CL for 5.5 hours on Thursday, and taught another workshop for the Connecticut State Library in Middletown CT on Friday. When I logged on this morning, answered all of the questions and said Yes, I did work, an additional screen appeared asking how much I made. I filled in the amount, and my confirmation said that was too much money to collect an unemployment check. Not a problem as I have plenty of money coming in from my week of work. However, it also said that if I was still unemployed, I needed to reopen my claim.

So I guess it's back to the Northampton career center on Tuesday. I'm armed with my contracts from CT State Library and MLS saying I'm an independent contractor hired to teach a few specific workshops. I have a schedule of the workshops I'll be teaching and I'm hoping all will be well - until the next time.

I also hope I find a real job soon.