If you'll recall an earlier post, Lynn was screwed out of 5 weeks of vacation pay when she was "laid off". "Laid off" is in quotes because there's a serious belief that, after this virus thing is over with, her position will actually be eliminated (long story, but an educated guess). So, again, we're scrambling to reconsider our financial situation. Number one, file for unemployment. Great, IF she could! It took her three weeks to file after endless hours on the computer due to the website constantly crashing. She'd go through an hour of b/s filling out the forms, it would crash, then she'd have to start all over again. She'd try getting up at 3:00 am ... same results. Sundays, same results. To make matters worse, EVERYTHING had to be done on-line, there was NO way to contact a human being and the offices were closed down due to the virus. I have no clue how people without computers were applying. Then, last week, they announced the state was shutting the whole system down completely to try to "fix" it. It's been over a month since she was laid off and she was finally able to apply this week.

But, in the meantime, we both received the $1200 stimulus check. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely appreciated and helped with unexpected expenses that happened to crop up at the same time we received it, but we felt kind'a guilty receiving it. Don't ask me why, but we did. Back to the unemployment thing, like I said, she was laid off over a month ago and was just able to get through the system to apply early this week. She received a notice of approval, but we've yet to receive any money from unemployment, BUT ... almost immediately, two $600 payments hit the bank! This was from the EXTRA $600/week stimulus that was approved in addition to unemployment! More? Yep, there's more. When she received notice her unemployment was approved, they suggested she apply for food stamps! Or EBT, or SNAP, or whatever the heck it's called these days. WTF? Ok, she applied and was accepted! To top it off, they sent notice about other "benefits" available ... I can't even remember all of them ... gov't phone, help with the utility bill, some sort of freebie repairs to the house to make it more energy efficient and on and on and on! Damn! We finally drew the line and said enough is enough with all this free gov't cheese being thrown at us!

Last night I ran a little tally. Keep in mind, this is a small town and wages aren't all that high ... but the cost of living here goes hand-in-hand with wages. After almost 15 years at Hyatt, I think Lynn only makes about $17/hr. (not sure persactly). But, since the lay-off, she's been approved for $1100/mo. unemployment, an extra $2400/mo ($600/week) stimulus, they've sent her an EBT ("food stamps") card and load $294/mo. on that, Plus she received $1200 for her stimulus payment and they're talking about issuing another one! That comes out to $4000/mo. in regular payments, not to mention the stimulus money! That's MORE than she makes WORKING! WTF??? AND ... we're not even taking advantage of all the services they "suggested" she may be eligible for! Heck, at this rate, why would she even want to be called back into work? I'm sorry, but as nice as it is and as much as it helps right now ... sumpin' just ain't right about this goofy system and we're starting to feel guilty even being a part of it. Well, HALF of me feels guilty, the other half says we've scrimped and cut corners for years to get by with no outside help, maybe we'll just enjoy this "temporary" windfall while we can. Then, there's still that sting of losing her 5 weeks of vacation pay, but that's unrelated to the gov't cheese hand-out.

This is just crazy and I can see how one could learn to work the system and avoid working altogether!

Oh, and the "food stamp" thing? I've never participated, but from my recollection, that was always for "necessities" only. It seems I remember you couldn't use them to buy alcohol, cigarettes, junk food, etc. I read the paperwork that came with hers and it's ridiculous. It may as well be cash! It's simply a debit card. They automatically load the $$$ onto it every month. You can actually go to an atm and withdraw cash! And there are no restrictions to the "groceries" you can buy with it. I wonder how many withdraw the cash and buy drugs with this "gov't hand-out"? It's screwy imho. I'm starting to feel like a snowflake Democrat even accepting this stuff!