Helped an acquaintance apply for unemployment, the first link on the page was "report fraud"
Helped an acquaintance apply for unemployment, the first link on the page was "report fraud"
Not even a "Start Here", "Locations", or something super basic like that. They really want you to deputize yourself and the local "Big Brother" super snitch. 
It really got me heated , slamming away on the keyboard helping a less then tech-savvy person input their information and upload their documents. At the very least I think I got them squared away, and helping others is cool.
The supposed vigilance against "Welfare queens" is so goddamn stupid. If we really actually wanted to protect local and state budgets, we would y'know at the very least do something about tax avoidance/evasion. Of course this isn't about budgets at all, just making public services as punitive as possible. The bandits of Neoliberalism attempting to coarse people into the workforce while simultaneously robbing the public wealth.
It just gets me so mad, katz are out here struggling and even trying to do the "right thing" and they are "supposed to do" and we go and it so fuckin' difficult to do so.
Be sure to check out the c/mutal_aid channel to help out some strangers, cause I'm pretty damn sure their local government isn't gonna do it.
Going through the same shit. They make it as cumbersome and annoying as possible in hopes youll give up. I tried calling them the other day and after spending 10 minutes getting through their automated system a message plays telling me that they reached their maximum call volume for the day and to call back tomorrow. Wtf? It was only noon.
Unemployment should automatically pay out the entire allowable amount in one lump sum if you lose your job through no fault of your own. Instead my state makes you 'prove' you're looking for a job to keep getting half the pay you got from your job. Theyre doing the same shit with food stamps now too. If you dont have a job you have to spend 4 hours at the library every day while you prove you're applying for jobs.
Its madness.
Oh and their 'job board' basically puts you on a bunch of shitty recruiter lists so your email gets flooded with spam job postings.
I milked unemployment for a bit. They made you apply for jobs every week, but the trick was that you could just click the link and that would count as applying even if you didn't fill anything out. So every week I'd just click three links to job applications and immediately close them.
Canada does it mostly on the honours system, you just click a checkbox that says "I am willing and capable of working full time" or smthng every other week. I think they have random audits, but generally there isn't some quota to fill. Which makes sense, like having recently laid off accountants go to job interviews at Tim Horton's to check a box isn't a good use of anyone's time.
It's also a system you pay into that's capped in amount and time based on how much you paid in, so it's generally politically unpopular to police it too much.
Fuck that is bleak.
If you dont have a job you have to spend 4 hours at the library every day while you prove you're applying for jobs.
If they just forced you to go the library for four hours and veg out that wouldn't be so bad. But of course they force you to prostrate your before the market.
The unemployment and disability websites here don't even work 24/7. If you can't get to a computer until after 4 you're SoL.
And if you're applying for a mental health issue with nothing physical and obvious you might as well go fuck yourself. No medical history because you haven't been able to afford to see a doctor in over two decades? Go fuck yourself. No transportation to the see the guy that's supposed to determine if you're lying? Go fuck yourself. The guy doesn't ask you anything about your health or difficulties, takes one look at you and decides you don't need it? Oh you better believe it's time to go fuck yourself.
And if you're applying for a mental health issue with nothing physical and obvious you might as well go fuck yourself. No medical history because you haven't been able to afford to see a doctor in over two decades? Go fuck yourself. No transportation to the see the guy that's supposed to determine if you're lying? Go fuck yourself. The guy doesn't ask you anything about your health or difficulties, takes one look at you and decides you don't need it? Oh you better believe it's time to go fuck yourself.
BRO FOR REAL! The victim blaming pull yourself up by your bootstraps machine goes into overdrive the moment you ask for help. Everyone's talking about "Oh we want people to ask for help, don't suffer alone, we are here for you" blahblahblah. The moment you actually try to access the help they supposedly offer they say "oh look at the time, it's half past go fuck yourself. Public aid machine broke, scram you fuckin' loser".
I'm really want to live in a whole were we used our vast public wealth (we the workers generate) to just help people. At very least give them a social foundation, a line we say "No matter what happens we won't allow you fall below this point". It sucks we just let people free fall until they combust due to the force of friction and we blame them for it.
Yes I'm grateful for my current position where I'm pretty much straight (though you never know, one particularly bad day will ruin most of us) but fuck this system sucks so much ass.
The well is so thoroughly poisoned against anyone that may need help, of any kind - like it's some kind of weakness. Look at the absolutely repugnant attitudes of people who wander into !mutual_aid@hexbear.net, acting as though someone who's struggling has to earn our support. It's disgusting