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New year, hoping for a new start

User Profile: BluesyArc284
BluesyArc284 January 5th, 2019

Before Christmas in 2017, I was let go from my job of 17 years. It was only my second job Id ever had, and I had started right out of college there. I had worked my way up to assistant manager and was comfortable there, loved the people I worked with, loved the job. Our company was bought out by a new company that came in and replaced the entire staff gradually with cheaper labor. I was the first of the bunch to be let go, the others were fired or laid off over the course of the next month after I was let go.

Never had I experienced depression or anxiety before, other than a few times when bad things had happened to me back in high school or the months after my mother passed away 13 years earlier. But navigating the job market as a 39 year old man trying to go back to work while dealing with late rent (unemployment benefits dont pay for much, and in my state they only last 12 weeks anyway), having no car, etc. it was very tough. I eventually found another job, but it was only part time and paid less. The offsets were chances for advancement, automatic pay raises every review period, and the fact that the company had never laid anyone off in their entire history (and you have to be REALLY bad to get fired there too).

Long story short: I was evicted, was homeless for a while, and now am living in an extended stay hotel 30 min walk from work. It costs $52 a night, and takes up 90% of my take home pay now. Thats with full time hours that I am now getting. So stressful!

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User Profile: GrahZeymahzin
GrahZeymahzin January 8th, 2019

@BluesyArc284

That sounds like a really difficult position to be in to have what you need and then have everything taken away when you aren't expecting it. It's a situation nobody would ever want to be in and nobody should have to. It's good to know that you have a job now but it doesn't sound like you have been getting quite what you need to live off of. Do you know of anywhere you can stay or maybe find someone to stay with, maybe family or looking into finding somewhere with a roommate if it would cut down that expense to make it more manageable so you have more of what you need? It's great to see that you are looking for a fresh start and I hope you can find that in 2019!!