(no subject)
Aug. 30th, 2004 03:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dream_labyrinthFrom Wednesday on, I will be unemployed.
I went to the unemployment agency today to get registered. Interesting, they close at one. As I slept late today, and after having a prolonged breakfast and reading the paper, it was almost eleven when I checked the opening hours on the internet. Acutally, I wanted to find out whether it was necessary to show up there at all. Which it was. But their homepage is a terrible mess, and it is hard to find any information you are looking for.
Even for such a simple thing as opening hours, it takes something like 10 clicks to get there. Now, if I remember correctly, our web design teacher suggested no more than three. How unlikely is it that people want to find the opening hours? Why hide that informations so far down in the hierarchy?
Anyway, so I was at the place around half past 11. Their parking lot is way too small, and people kept stopping in the driveway to look for a parking spot, resulting in a traffic jam both ways down the road. Funny. I ended up parking a few blocks away. No big deal, I wish other people had thought about that, too.
I went in and first waited to get to one of the information counters to find out where I needed to go and whether there were any forms I could fill out before going there. The lady told me I could get a telephone appointment, meaning they would call me at a certain time so I wouldn't have to wait. But then she found out that there were no free appointments before next Monday, and they can't make an appointment today for next week, apparently.
So she told me where to go and wait until my name was called.
This is a brand new building. The walls are made of a certain type of concrete, and usually grey. The floors have grey tiles. The ceilings are light grey. Comfy.
One wall of the main corridor was painted blue, but it didn'tmake the wall look any less cold. In between the windows were pictures of windows. Modern Art? Don't know.
The actual waiting area was much too small, and they had set up some more chairs out in the hallway/waiting area. That had one yellow wall, with a picture of something that might have been a living room. Not that this made the whole place look less like a railway station waiting area.
People wre sitting and standing around, al with this depressed look on their face. Feeling uncomfortable and awkward.
From time to time, an employee would walk by. Probably going to lunch. Oblivious to the sometimes rather threatening looks of the people waiting. Whenever a name was called, people started looking around, trying to see who it was. Trying to figure out how much longer they might have to wait themselves. At one o'clock, there were no more arrivals of new people, and the number of people waiting was reduced slowly but surely.
When I was called, I followed the employee into a long room that looked more like a corridor itself, but had several desks set up at the side. Each with one chair for the employee and one for the customer. He typed my data into the computer, had me fill out the request for unemployment money, printed out the denial to the request, and I was done.
Now, if I am unemployed for longer than three months, I will have to report back to them every three months to say that I still exist. If I get a job, I will fill out a form and send it in.
In the next days, an advisor will contact me to try to help me find a job.
Well.
I knew before that I wasn't going to get any money. I don't want it, anyway.
Most likely, I won't be unemployed for longer than a month.
And the advisor won't be able to tell me of any openings I haven't found myself. But any opening they tell me, I need to apply for or otherwise I will lose my claim for unemployment support - which I don't get in the first place.
So why did I do this at all?
Because it will be one more month for the record once it comes to calculating my pension. In the unlikely case tha by the time I retire, pensions will still be paid.
There might be people who want to have proof that I am unemployed. Like my health insurance.
So I wasted two hours of my life for a stupid piece of paper that says I'm out of work.
Today, I have clarinet lessons again. I haven't touched the clarinet since my last lesson. I haven't practised a single note. That's going to be fun.
I went to the unemployment agency today to get registered. Interesting, they close at one. As I slept late today, and after having a prolonged breakfast and reading the paper, it was almost eleven when I checked the opening hours on the internet. Acutally, I wanted to find out whether it was necessary to show up there at all. Which it was. But their homepage is a terrible mess, and it is hard to find any information you are looking for.
Even for such a simple thing as opening hours, it takes something like 10 clicks to get there. Now, if I remember correctly, our web design teacher suggested no more than three. How unlikely is it that people want to find the opening hours? Why hide that informations so far down in the hierarchy?
Anyway, so I was at the place around half past 11. Their parking lot is way too small, and people kept stopping in the driveway to look for a parking spot, resulting in a traffic jam both ways down the road. Funny. I ended up parking a few blocks away. No big deal, I wish other people had thought about that, too.
I went in and first waited to get to one of the information counters to find out where I needed to go and whether there were any forms I could fill out before going there. The lady told me I could get a telephone appointment, meaning they would call me at a certain time so I wouldn't have to wait. But then she found out that there were no free appointments before next Monday, and they can't make an appointment today for next week, apparently.
So she told me where to go and wait until my name was called.
This is a brand new building. The walls are made of a certain type of concrete, and usually grey. The floors have grey tiles. The ceilings are light grey. Comfy.
One wall of the main corridor was painted blue, but it didn'tmake the wall look any less cold. In between the windows were pictures of windows. Modern Art? Don't know.
The actual waiting area was much too small, and they had set up some more chairs out in the hallway/waiting area. That had one yellow wall, with a picture of something that might have been a living room. Not that this made the whole place look less like a railway station waiting area.
People wre sitting and standing around, al with this depressed look on their face. Feeling uncomfortable and awkward.
From time to time, an employee would walk by. Probably going to lunch. Oblivious to the sometimes rather threatening looks of the people waiting. Whenever a name was called, people started looking around, trying to see who it was. Trying to figure out how much longer they might have to wait themselves. At one o'clock, there were no more arrivals of new people, and the number of people waiting was reduced slowly but surely.
When I was called, I followed the employee into a long room that looked more like a corridor itself, but had several desks set up at the side. Each with one chair for the employee and one for the customer. He typed my data into the computer, had me fill out the request for unemployment money, printed out the denial to the request, and I was done.
Now, if I am unemployed for longer than three months, I will have to report back to them every three months to say that I still exist. If I get a job, I will fill out a form and send it in.
In the next days, an advisor will contact me to try to help me find a job.
Well.
I knew before that I wasn't going to get any money. I don't want it, anyway.
Most likely, I won't be unemployed for longer than a month.
And the advisor won't be able to tell me of any openings I haven't found myself. But any opening they tell me, I need to apply for or otherwise I will lose my claim for unemployment support - which I don't get in the first place.
So why did I do this at all?
Because it will be one more month for the record once it comes to calculating my pension. In the unlikely case tha by the time I retire, pensions will still be paid.
There might be people who want to have proof that I am unemployed. Like my health insurance.
So I wasted two hours of my life for a stupid piece of paper that says I'm out of work.
Today, I have clarinet lessons again. I haven't touched the clarinet since my last lesson. I haven't practised a single note. That's going to be fun.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-08-30 09:40 am (UTC)Have you though about what kind of job you're going to look for? I'm not sure how the work-market is in Germany right now...?
Good luck with your clarinet lesson! :) *hugs*
no subject
Date: 2004-08-30 11:47 am (UTC)I do have one job that I might get, the odds are pretty good. But I`can't say for sure, and I don't want to be to secure about it before I sign the contract.
There are a few openings around for which I apply, but not a thing near to where I live. But that isn't that bad, I'll have to move out sooner or later anyway. *g*
Clarinet lesson didn't take place. Only my teacher forgot to call and tell me. I don't know how often she's done that, I've stopped counting after the tenth time. *grr*
no subject
Date: 2004-08-31 11:41 am (UTC)Ugh, that sucks! I hate people like that with a passion! lol! I always show up preciesly and I expect people to do the same and I also expect people to have enough respect to tell me if they can't come or if they have to cancel an appointment or something like that. But the worst thing is when people are late, then you call them and they say they'll be there in 5 minutes and then it takes 30! ARGHT! :p
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2004-08-31 12:42 pm (UTC)Yeah, I kind of look forward to moving out. I didn't feel like moving out before I started studying, so I feel kind of good about having waited until I'm really ready for it.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-30 12:37 pm (UTC)Hahahahaha. That's the most brilliantly creepy thing. It sounds like something out of "Brazil" (my favourite movie of all time).
no subject
Date: 2004-08-30 01:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-31 10:48 am (UTC)