If you live in Pennsylvania, don't use unemployment.

I was punished by unemployment for not having a good enough reason to leave my part time job, meaning they're taking my weekly wages off the top of my compensation checks; 175 dollars. That might not seem like a lot, until you see that my checks are supposed to be 279 dollars each.

As far as I can tell, leaving a job because I am unable to get decent or regular working hours is a good reason to leave. Also, all attempts to change my hourly situation with my employer were ignored. I was told to, “Chill out.”
What surprised me most about the whole situation was that, as I worked for Precision Lawn Care, I was called almost monthly, asking if I was ready to come back to 7-11. I was told I’d be able to choose my own hours. As soon as I came back, I was given a work schedule that was half -baked at best. I had very irregular work weeks, and on one occasion I was asked to work from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., which was fine by me. However, I was then asked to leave at 10 and come back in at 3 p.m., so I could stay until 11.
The second time I was asked to do this, I refused because I had to get gas into my car, which had stalled out on a public road the day before. My boss became angry at this, but didn’t say anything to me.
On my last day (working for 7-11), I called in to work 8 full hours before my shift started at 3 p.m. to say I wouldn’t come in that day, because I was feeling nauseated and I had a severe headache. My boss criticized me by saying, “Well, Max, I’ve had a cold for two weeks and I’ve come in every day.”
Considering I have diabetes, that made me realize my boss was, at that point, oblivious to any issues I might have had regarding working with him. I simply said I wouldn’t be coming in, because at that point I was definitely more sick than a persistent cold.
After that, I was asked why I became such a bad worker. Mind you, I worked at 7-11 from January of ‘07 to April, and I was probably the hardest working employee my boss ever had. To come back and be shirked in the way I had been was a major disappointment for me, and made me not want to work at 7-11. Therefore, my answer was a simple, “No.”
I was asked why, and at that point I figured if he was such a great listener when I was talking to him before, he wouldn’t know the difference if I didn’t actually tell him why. So, I told him some minor gripes, and he thought that was my reason for not wanting to work (the real reason being the body of this post), saying, in a slightly more elaborate way, that I was immature for not wanting to work there. I promptly quit my job, without notice.

Right now, I'm working on an appeal, but I'm honetly not hopeful.

 

I live in PA, so thanks for the news, heh

 

That really sucks Gross, your boss seems like a total wang. And you did well to not smack him one. I hope the appeal and everything works out for you though.

 

Not to sound heartless to your plight, but I personally never understood how here in America you can get paid for not working. If you don't work, you contribute nothing to society. So why should society contribute to you?

But yeah, sounds like a shitty job.

 

I used to work for a grocery store in the Pittsburgh area called Giant Eagle that ran similar to this. Irregular, part-time hours and horrible management. They would often give us 20 hours one week, 12 the next, etc...and without warning too.

It sounds to me like your boss was treating you like shit because he wanted you to quit instead of him firing you, because then they would be forced to pay you unemployment till you got a new job. I don't know how it works when quitting though. My mother went through this with an optometrist dickhead she used to work for. She was his best employee but for some reason he got it in his head he didn't like her so treated her like shit for 3 years, trying to get her to quit so he didn't have to pay her unemployment. Finally he gave in told her she was done for no reason, like the slimeball fuckwad he was. She collected some unemployment here and there but is now at a much better (and higher paying) job. I agree unemployment seems like leeching, especially when most of the people we see collecting it are of the lazy, scumbag, white trash variety here in America. But I also think it's a good way of sticking it to douchebag bosses who don't give a fuck about you for unprovoked reasons.

 

You live in Pittsburgh?

Caus I do

 

I live just outside Pittsburgh in Greensburg. But I commute to Pittsburgh everyday to work (UPMC).

 

Well, it might be that way if I hadn't been paying into unemployment all year from my other job. I made enough money to have a bank of over five grand in unemployment, and to have it effectively dismembered and mailed to me in segments is a bit of a miff inducing situation. Not to mention that, if I can't get the appeal approved, I might be able to count the rest of my life in hours in about two months.
Also, you're thinking about people on welfare. I hate those people. I worked and paid taxes, and now I'm given some of the taxes back until I have my awesome full time job again.

And yes, unemployment in the US is pretty much the same as unemployment in Sweden. I just wish I hadn't worked part time to maximize the amount of money I brought in. I would have avoided this whole mess.

 

Gross, what do you have in mind for your next job? Stay away from grocery store/convenience store positions because those companies don't give a fuck about you. You're not a person to them, just a time slot on a coffee stained paper schedule that they don't want to have to give benefits and paid vacation to. I generally say 'the smaller the company, the better they'll treat you.'

 

Well, my plan was to be laid off of work with the lawn company when the weather was too cold for grass to grow, which happened. Then I was going to get back into 7-11 to make some money over the winter, in conjunction with part time, and then leave 7-11 to go back and work my summer job.
The summer job thing is definitely happening, though. Those guys actually realize the importance of employee satisfaction, despite the whole working outside when the heat index is around 130 degrees fahrenheit.