Letter: How does it feel to be unemployed?

You’ve been working there for years now. Hardly any, if any, unexcused absences or late clock-ins. You do your work without any hitches or complaints, other than that the amount of work you have has been slowing down considerably the past few months. Sure, it may be slow now, but they’d never get rid of you, right? And then you get the call into the boss’s office.
This whole region is heavily reliant on the oilfield. The economy is still on a downturn, and oilfield companies are notorious for being the first to get rid of anyone deemed unnecessary to cut their costs. But you don’t care about that. You think, “To hell with the company’s well-being, how am I going to survive?” You’ve got bills to pay and kids to feed. No one in the area is hiring, and you can’t just uproot your family.
So you get your resume together and start from square one. After weeks of searching, still nothing. What other options are there? Unemployment? “Oh no, I’m not resorting to that,” you say defiantly. And you’re not alone.
Plenty of people consider themselves “too proud” to get government assistance, mostly due to their political opinions on the issue of welfare. But that’s exactly what it’s there for — people like you who are down on their luck, who need that little bit of help while the economy is in the toilet. It’s not something to brag about, for sure, but it’s not anything to be embarrassed about receiving either.
The economy around these parts isn’t going to recover overnight. It’s a complicated beast that will require some time to recuperate. The First National Bank of Mom and Dad is not always going to bail you out. You’re giving 30 percent of your paycheck to the government every year anyway; why not use the services provided with that money?

Tyler Audie Taquino
Morgan City