The EDD Hates Me.
It's true. They do. The EDD being the Employment Development Department. Otherwise known as Unemployment or Club 330. And by hate me, I mean want me to suffer. And suffer some more. It may seem like I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. The recent letters I received from them are verifiable proof. Not only for the hate and suffering thing, but for just one of the cornucopia of reasons I had to file bankruptcy and take menial jobs. (For the other reasons, see blog entries).
See, there was an incident I had forgotten about. Perhaps blocked out would be more accurate. It's been an effective coping mechanism for my sister where my parents i.e. our childhood is concerned so I guess I thought it would be a good idea to give it a go myself. Then, the envelopes arrived. Inside the envelopes were letters demanding I pay the EDD money back along with penalties, lots of penalties. And if I didn't do so in a timely manner, they would come after me. Or their collections people would. And I'm sure those folks are friendly. They gave me 10 days to show reason why I felt they were wrong in wanting money from me. Apparently they missed somewhere along the way that it was money that I already paid back with penalties-- like four years ago. Luckily I like paper. And I like to keep it. Which makes things not so tidy, but easier to prove. And luckily even though I threw out all tax materials and bills and fun stuff like that for all years prior to 2001, I somehow managed to miss the EDD file. Which made it much easier to spend two days and 14 hours writing them a letter and making copies to prove that they were wrong and I was right.
Somehow, I'm still worried. Because no matter what I seem to do-- what manner of cartwheels I do or low paying jobs I take or bad employers I am subjected to, they want my money and they don't want to give me any. For my 2001 mistake-- not knowing that residuals counted as wages since it wasn't money that I was earning per se by actually doing current work and their manual was not even remotely clear, I had to pay them back the money they gave me for each week I got a residual check with close to an $800 penalty and and additional penalty of no unemployment benefits for 10 weeks. That is what cleaned out my bank account once and for all and made me have to resort to lowly jobs.
One of which I got fired from. It was a $10 an hour job at Trina Turk and I got fired because I couldn't work Sundays because I had my writing workshop. And I felt it was wrong that I couldn't have a day off for class when a part time fashion student could-- just because she was younger than me and still considered a student. I think the fashion thing had something to do with it, too. And the super lame supervisor I had. She didn't want to work Sundays and she didn't want me to work there any day of the week, quite frankly. And me? Well, I didn't want to give up the one thing in my life that made me feel like a writer because otherwise, I'd just be a $10 an hour retail salesperson wearing too many patterns. So they fought unemployment and they're an employer so they won. Which meant no benefits for me and being forced to take an even more humiliating $10 an hour position.
Still, I didn't have to give back the clothes which my clothing allowance purchased. And didn't have to purchase them. Which was good. So I gave them away. Which was better. It was very feng shui. To get rid of things with negative connotations or ties. My friends like that about feng shui. It's clothed them well.
I'm not going to lie, I tried to get unemployment again. After the whole walking out of the publicity job thing. I needed money to live on, I had none and I thought it was worth a shot. I thought maybe the system would reward me for taking care of myself. That it too would think that I deserved better. And maybe, I thought, the system felt a little guilty for having contributed to these crummy positions I kept ending up in. But it didn't really matter what the system thought because the pr boss thought I didn't deserve better or deserve unemployment and she fought it and I lost. Bummer.
So no living off the system. Not that I ever wanted to or had. I just wanted to get by. That's why I'm completely confused as to how some people manage to get away with conning the system -- getting disability and unemployment and stuff when they don't earn it or need it. Maybe it's a skill. Clearly, it's one I don't have. Then again, I was the kid who always got caught the one time I screwed up or was out late, etc. It never failed. Maybe someone somewhere is trying to save me from a life of crime. Um, I'm thinking no.
Still, I feel blessed that even though the system hates me, I have people who love me and are mad at the system for me. Which is nice. Because it's hard getting mad at it all by myself. Not that I haven't tried. Believe me.
See, there was an incident I had forgotten about. Perhaps blocked out would be more accurate. It's been an effective coping mechanism for my sister where my parents i.e. our childhood is concerned so I guess I thought it would be a good idea to give it a go myself. Then, the envelopes arrived. Inside the envelopes were letters demanding I pay the EDD money back along with penalties, lots of penalties. And if I didn't do so in a timely manner, they would come after me. Or their collections people would. And I'm sure those folks are friendly. They gave me 10 days to show reason why I felt they were wrong in wanting money from me. Apparently they missed somewhere along the way that it was money that I already paid back with penalties-- like four years ago. Luckily I like paper. And I like to keep it. Which makes things not so tidy, but easier to prove. And luckily even though I threw out all tax materials and bills and fun stuff like that for all years prior to 2001, I somehow managed to miss the EDD file. Which made it much easier to spend two days and 14 hours writing them a letter and making copies to prove that they were wrong and I was right.
Somehow, I'm still worried. Because no matter what I seem to do-- what manner of cartwheels I do or low paying jobs I take or bad employers I am subjected to, they want my money and they don't want to give me any. For my 2001 mistake-- not knowing that residuals counted as wages since it wasn't money that I was earning per se by actually doing current work and their manual was not even remotely clear, I had to pay them back the money they gave me for each week I got a residual check with close to an $800 penalty and and additional penalty of no unemployment benefits for 10 weeks. That is what cleaned out my bank account once and for all and made me have to resort to lowly jobs.
One of which I got fired from. It was a $10 an hour job at Trina Turk and I got fired because I couldn't work Sundays because I had my writing workshop. And I felt it was wrong that I couldn't have a day off for class when a part time fashion student could-- just because she was younger than me and still considered a student. I think the fashion thing had something to do with it, too. And the super lame supervisor I had. She didn't want to work Sundays and she didn't want me to work there any day of the week, quite frankly. And me? Well, I didn't want to give up the one thing in my life that made me feel like a writer because otherwise, I'd just be a $10 an hour retail salesperson wearing too many patterns. So they fought unemployment and they're an employer so they won. Which meant no benefits for me and being forced to take an even more humiliating $10 an hour position.
Still, I didn't have to give back the clothes which my clothing allowance purchased. And didn't have to purchase them. Which was good. So I gave them away. Which was better. It was very feng shui. To get rid of things with negative connotations or ties. My friends like that about feng shui. It's clothed them well.
I'm not going to lie, I tried to get unemployment again. After the whole walking out of the publicity job thing. I needed money to live on, I had none and I thought it was worth a shot. I thought maybe the system would reward me for taking care of myself. That it too would think that I deserved better. And maybe, I thought, the system felt a little guilty for having contributed to these crummy positions I kept ending up in. But it didn't really matter what the system thought because the pr boss thought I didn't deserve better or deserve unemployment and she fought it and I lost. Bummer.
So no living off the system. Not that I ever wanted to or had. I just wanted to get by. That's why I'm completely confused as to how some people manage to get away with conning the system -- getting disability and unemployment and stuff when they don't earn it or need it. Maybe it's a skill. Clearly, it's one I don't have. Then again, I was the kid who always got caught the one time I screwed up or was out late, etc. It never failed. Maybe someone somewhere is trying to save me from a life of crime. Um, I'm thinking no.
Still, I feel blessed that even though the system hates me, I have people who love me and are mad at the system for me. Which is nice. Because it's hard getting mad at it all by myself. Not that I haven't tried. Believe me.
posted by jodypwrites | 11:30 AM
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