economy/desperation

sueinphilly
Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:36:42 +0000

I remember the day in 1970 when my dad was home early. He had been laid off from GE Aerospace. Engineers were being laid off in droves. It took over 2 years before he had a regular job again. He worked part time in an autoparts store and did photography jobs at weddings an bar mitzvahs and went to local fairs and took your picture and put it on a button.

That experience taught me to never take my job for granted and to always spend and save like I could lose my job at any moment. When I did lose my job (2 weeks after my son was born), I was devastated but not broke. I was out of work for 18 months and it took over 8 years to get back to salary I was making before the layoff. But I was never behind in any bills. Sometimes I can’t believed I raised my son for over 5 years on a salary of less than 20K. Medicaid, Wic, foodstamps, welfare. yes to all at during my unemployment and even when I started working.