The LuLac Edition #998, Nov. 7th, 2009

PHOTO INDEX: OUR INTERVIEW LOGO.

INTERVIEW

So with the New York Yankees winning the World Series for the first time in nine years, it was time to celebrate. Now I am not a Yankee fan, I’m an Indian fan but I follow the Yankees and don’t wish them ill will. My good friend the MickMan however is a true Yankee partisan. The MickMan lives and dies with the team, has an extensive wardrobe of Yankee wear and is the first guy who calls that 1 800 number as soon as it comes on for the World Series DVD, tee shirt, hat, etc. So on Thursday we decided to have dinner together and rehash the Series, the elections and what we would do if we were married to either Marilyn Monroe or Angela Stone. Our meeting place was the Red Lobster on Route 6 in the Lac and for once I arrived on time. MickMan says he was stuck in center city Scranton traffic but I think he was waiting to turn off his vcr because he was taping the Yankee Parade in New York. (The MickMan does not, never has nor never will program his vcr which is another story altogether.) So I sat at the bar waiting for his arrival and sat next to a guy who was waiting for his daughter. This week was the very last unemployment check he was eligible for, having been out of work for a year and a half. He told me that this was most likely going to the last time he could treat his child to a nice meal in a restaurant. I immediately felt guilty thinking of the frivolous reason I was there. I found that out when we had this conversation. He opened it up by referring to the CNN report on the shootings in Orlando where a disgruntled former employee of an engineering firm shot a few former co-workers.
Q: That was something wasn’t it? How could anyone do that?
A: He was desperate man, I’m sorry he killed those people but I gotta give him credit.
Q: What? (I asked incredulously).
A: Look that company laid him off. They had to do what they had to do. Maybe he was a screw up but he’s making a point.
Q: Christ you don’t make a point by killing people do you?
A: Yes you do man, they call it war.
Q: I don’t see this as a war.
A: You don’t? You don’t think that millions of jobless isn’t like a war, a conflict?
Q: I think it’s more like a circumstance, a happening that you deal with.
A: Humph (he said eyeing up my leather Cooper A42 authentic and leather treated WWII bomber jacket which again made me feel even more guilty). You ever been unemployed?
Q: I am now. It’s horrible out there.
A: Ever do anything extreme in your situation?
Q: I have visited the Human Resources offices of companies I’ve applied to online after a month of not getting a response.
A: You think that’s radical?
Q: For me it is, yeah.
A: Let me ask you this, how many of your former co-workers, the people who spent 8 hours a day with you every week, called you after you got laid off?
Q: Three.
A: Did those three get laid off with you?
Q: Yeah.
A: They don’t count man. How many of the people who you worked with called you and offered help?
Q: None.
A: Did you try to reach out to a few of them after a few weeks?
Q: Yes.
A: How many kept in touch with you?
Q: One. Although come to think of it she wasn’t even in my department, I used to see her in the elevator and we used to chat about her kids.
A: See what I mean?
Q: Uh no.
A: Look unemployment is not only losing a job, it’s losing a lifestyle. It’s a routine, it’s like a life itself.
Note: When he said that I thought about the MickMan’s job as a factory worker in a lamp shade plant in Scranton. MickMan gets to work at 6:15AM even though he doesn’t start until 7:00AM. He told me how he’d have his coffee, ease into the day, read the papers and share stories with his co workers arriving. The MickMan is single, kind of a loner and on some days this is the most social contact he has with people.
Q: Is that what you miss about work?
A: Man I miss it all. But the toughest thing is to think that no one might ever want you again. And then there’s the money.
Q: This is your last week with benefits, what are you going to do?
A: Keep looking. I have a line on a market but they are only giving me 20 hours. It’ll get me out of the house. What are you doing to get yourself straight?
Q: I’m going back to school.
A: Finishing college?
Q: Nope I have a BA degree, I’m getting more…
Note: At that point he interrupted me and scowled.
A: You mean you’re laid off and have a college degree?
Q: There’s many of us, some with masters and doctorates. A lot of employers here don’t value education in my humble opinion.
A: See that!! You keep on making my point. That guy who shot them people he had an Education, he’s was an engineer. He had technical smarts.
Q: Yeah but he could’ve moved on, he could’ve used those skills, he could’ve went back for more training and education. But instead he killed people. His life is gone. He may even face the death penalty.
A: Man that again proves my point. He said they left him to rot. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t, Geraldo will find that out. But when he entered that office building with that gun today, nothing mattered because he was already dead inside.