Post #1: Alex, from Denver
"I’ve never been the type to look ahead. I’ve always taken it day by day."
Dear early supporters,
Thank you for being among the first to sign up for unemployed together. When the idea first came to me in April, I had just lost my job. Befitting of a journalist, my first instinct was to document what I was going through — everything from those first phone calls to friends, to logging into the New York Department of Labor website to apply for unemployment benefits.
As I made checklists and ticked off to-dos, I thought about how many other people were in my shoes. I wanted to know what 20 million other Americans like me were feeling. How did they find out? Were they prepared? What will they do?
Alex was the first person to share his story with me. You’ll find it below. I’ll be writing each interview in first person.
I hope that by reading his experience and others’ to come, you’ll feel inspired by the resilience and perseverance of each person. Headline numbers say one thing, but if we want to remember exactly how this pandemic-induced economic crisis played out, we have to hear the real stories. And that’s my mission — to humanize the headlines, provide hope to people who are unemployed or underemployed, and to help people appreciate what they have.
If you like what you read, please consider sharing this news project with friends, family, coworkers, strangers — anyone who might appreciate getting to know someone very different from themselves.
Your feedback will be appreciated, always. I’m on my own with this right now, so please excuse any imperfections.
If you want to share your own story, email me at lisahopeking@protonmail.com. I’ll be publishing at least one story a week. Subscribers have access to the full archives and an additional newsletter about the jobs market.
Thank you again for your support. I can’t wait for you to read these stories.
Take care of yourself,
Hope
Post #1: Alex, from Denver
I was a server at a sushi restaurant, working four to five days a week, when I was laid off in mid-March. Via email. I wasn’t surprised at all.
Our owners are old school Japanese. They’ve been through SARS so they were very aware. Even a month or so before we shut, we always had to do everything over the top in terms of safety. My hands were cracking and bleeding from washing so much.
Verbally, they told us to look out for a shutdown…but I don’t think the owners and management were seeing it like I was.
They seemed to see it as a possibility while, in the last couple of weeks leading up to the closure, only a couple of us servers felt comfortable working.
When I finally got the email (I deleted it I think) I thought OK, maybe a few weeks, maybe a month. I was OK with it. I thought it was necessary. I wish I had a little more money saved up, but that’s what I get for living alone in a 3-bedroom place.
I love living alone.
My rent, my expenses are minimal. With serving, I could make anywhere from $20-$40 an hour, $1,000 a week.
Now, with unemployment, I get $500 a week. (Filing was easy for me, by the way. I’m a night owl. I went online at night when it wasn’t crashing.) I also work to-go shifts for an extra $150 to $200 a week because I wanted to help out and make sure my job was secure. I prefer not to work though because I have terrible lungs and asthma.
I know there are restaurant funds set up, but I’d like to leave those funds for people who don’t have family support. I know if I’m really fucked, I can always go to my family for financial help.
Oh yeah, and severance? God no, we’re not getting anything like that. I did get a bonus stimulus check though, just yesterday. That was $800 or something.
Outside of work my life hasn’t changed much. I’m antisocial, so it’s not like I went out much.
How am I staying productive? Haha! I’m not being productive, my friend.
It’s gonna be a tough year.
I have no fucking clue what I’m going to do after this but I’ve never been the type to look ahead. I’ve always taken it day by day, especially as someone who deals with depression and anxiety -- I’ve never really been happy or upbeat, the most mentally healthy, or productive.
I have a doggie though -- that really helps.
Since I live in Colorado I go backpacking in the mountains a lot too. (And I’ve been smoking enormous amounts of weed...but that’s not much different from my normal life.)
Being in constant contact with former coworkers in group chats has helped me a little bit. Ninety-nine percent of it is us just being jackasses, but at least we’re keeping in touch, most of us.
The restaurant has enough clout so I don’t think it should close down and most of us will be back. Hopefully. Keeping fingers crossed.
What I’m scared of is opening up too quickly… I really hate that this issue is being politicized.
--Alex, 36, Denver, CO on April 24, 2020
Love. Alex’s mindset is admirable, his experience relatable, and his story a joy. Solid first entry 👏🏾
Alex gives us truthful and colorful insight into the real employment experience. Thanks for storytelling with relevance and aplomb!