Goth Visits the Local Unemployment Agency Date Thursday, April 18, 2024 - 01:49 PM PST Topic Rant I think the scariest place I have been in a long time is my local unemployment agency. Having been laid off of my wonderful job as a machine operator at a dismal little factory on Monday, I finally mustered up the courage to face the humiliation of joining the ranks of the officially certified unemployed. Let me describe this place for you. Everyone have their security blankets? Because I don't want to give you nightmares. OK. Picture a huge, shapelessly rectangular expanse of space. The ceiling is nondescript white acoustic panels interspersed at regular intervals with flush flourescent lights. The walls are the color of very pale black raspberry icecream. The floors are carpeted in industrial grey, rather stained. Dotted in rows across the room are cubicals and cubicals and more cubicals, all in a shade of sterile teal. Computers, piles of papers, brochures with cheap comics on the covers, and a few potted plants sporting the distant look of despair of the hopeless exile fill all available desk and shelf space. There are a few chirpily motivational posters on the walls, framed in tasteless faux bronze. And now for the people. Please, please, oh God, do not let me ever look like these people, this conglomeration of cookiecutter elderly and middle-aged well-meaning souls. I have never seen such a comprehensive assortment of old-lady hairdo's. And the lady I had to talk to. *shudder* Perhaps in her 40's. Short, a little heavy. Dressed in office black, terrifyingly short skirt, black pantyhose not quite hiding the spider veins. Lips and nails a determined coral. Very nice lady. Very helpful lady. Very scary lady. Oh, and the music. Piped in pop. Mindlessly monotonous. Oh well. The visit accomplished its purpose. I now am registered and stamped under the heading of unemployed. I now have people watching hawk-like down their age-drooping noses, inspecting for signs of determined job hunting before they will bestow on me the paltry sum they deign to offer me. Why is it that their very helpfulness seemed the scariest and most sinister thing of all? This article comes from Shmeng http://www.shmeng.com/ The URL for this story is: http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=34