Oliver lost his job last week. Katti and I accompanied him to
In the ten minutes we were there, I saw three different people who represented what is happening today to average American citizens.
One man was on the phone with his bank (or trying to be on the phone with his bank...no one was answering his phone calls) trying to figure why his house was being foreclosed. The bank he had his mortgage through went under and another bank bought it out. He was upset that he didn't have a say in what happened with his money and his house.
Another man was wondering why he needed his birth certificate for his new job.
And then there was Oliver. Oliver worked for two and a half years at the same job, was making $14 an hour plus commissions. He was not allowed to take time off when his niece had a funeral for the baby she miscarried. He almost couldn't take time off for his sister-in-law's wedding and rehearsal dinner. Then he slowly got crappier and crappier shifts as they brought in new people who they could pay less and the company went under. He was just an average unemployed guy and like every average unemployed person in that room, he had no idea how to apply for unemployment.
The unemployment website and process is confusing. He did everything that he thought he needed to do, and they told him he was okay but he still had no idea if he was done, getting unemployment or if he still needed to do something. And he's pretty smart.
How can a system help people when the system can't even explain itself well enough for those who need it to understand what they need to do?
Instead of going to big rallies and stupid debates where they repeat the same things over and over, someone needs to see what's happening here. Someone needs to talk to us, to find out what we need.
Because we need help.
1 comment:
Very well written. Its sad what's happening in MI.
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