The Conical Glass: It could happen to you

Monday, March 02, 2009

It could happen to you

The "Hard Times" story is becoming a staple of every media outlet. You know the drill -- someone who previously held a good job, owned a home, lived the American Dream, who is suddenly plunged into the world of unemployment, foreclosure and crisis due to the current recession/depression.

One thing that I find a bit alarming is the people commenting on these stories. Many of them are sympathetic, but there are also those who are judgmental and are obviously trying to find out what the person did wrong in order to precipitate his or her fall from grace.

The New York Times ran a story yesterday titled "Forced From Executive Pay to Hourly Wage," about a laid-off Fortune 500 manager who is now scrubbing toilets for $12 an hour to make ends meet. "Personally I never earned 6 figures. So what did these people earning in the 150,000's and above save while doing so," writes commenter "FHS." "An example; one is 53, has been in an executive position for 20 yrs, and one has no savings or retirement options?"

Mark Cooper, the worker profiled in the piece, has been unemployed for nine months. Even financial guru Suze Orman says you should have an eight month emergency fund. After a while, you're going to have to stop living off savings and find a job -- any job.

Unemployed WaMu employee Lissa Cuneen, who wrote an item for alt-weekly The Stranger's "Notes from the Unemployment Line" blog, enraged commenters by mentioning in passing that she still has her "part time job as a barista so the cable bill is covered." The story generated a flood of comments, including this from EmilyP: "Why is it so hard for people to conceive of getting rid of unnecessary burdens like cable? ...[I]t's clear that most of the newly unemployed are too stupid to help themselves." Commenter Art singles out 45-year-old Lissa's remark that her college degree was in costume design: "The number of people who can support themselves with a costume design degree would be extremely limited whether it was good times or bad. Like the poster says, I guess some people are really just here to serve as a warning to others."

Even an NPR profile of a laid-off human resource manager who considered suicide when she was unable to find a new job attracted snarky comments. Michael writes: "She has been an HR professional; I wonder how many resumes she, herself, has received and not even acknowledged. What goes around, comes around." Another adds, "Did Ms Martinez save for a rainy day like I have to do in case I lose my job. I want to know that information before I decide exactly how I feel about her situation."

Rather than becoming annoyed at the lack of compassion exhibited by the commenters, I feel sorry for them. Because I know what's going on: they're scared, and they're indulging in a sort of magical thinking: if they can puzzle out just what mistakes were made by the unemployed person, they can reassure themselves that they will be OK. Having enough savings, the right college degree, living in a less expensive part of the country (heaven forfend the laid-off worker lives in New York or California -- some commenter will tell him to uproot himself and move to rural Iowa, stat), not having kids, not having pets, eating right and exercising. You can do all the "right" things, and still wind up falling through the cracks in an economy like this one.

posted by 125records @ 2:52 PM

1 Comments:

At 3:43 AM, yellojkt said…

There is a lot of schadenfreude out there. A friend of mine is getting his papers in a month. He has two daughters in college and a new condo.

I feel for everybody down on their luck.