A little less than 200 hours ago I became a statistic. I and my colleagues were ushered into the windowless conference room and informed that we were terminated. Effective immediately. I became one of the 6.5 percent who is unemployment. I felt like one of the car plant workers in Michigan that I have been hearing about for months. I have never been laid off or unemployed for more than a week. The concept of being unemployed was foreign to me, but I embraced it – if 6.5 percent of the able-bodied population is doing it, it must be chic.
It could be thought that my first step after being laid off would be to clear out my work area. Not exactly. Somehow I was laid off on Monday, but I continued to work in the office during the days to follow. Maybe it is the Protestant Work Ethic ingrained in me, or maybe it is simply an unorthodox approach to unemployment. Either way, my lay-off has been a slow breakup. When I went to file for unemployment I wanted to ask my fellow unemployed citizens if they were experiencing the same tedious separation, or if they were able to make a clean break. The all-business nature of the folks filing for unemployment next to me made me assume that they were not on speaking terms about the issue.
I left the Department of Labor without any unemployed camaraderie, or even laughs of an awkward moment. All I left the Department of Labor with was an online appointment on Thanksgiving to clock my unemployed hours for the past week. It baffles me that I have to document my unemployment hours after 5 pm on Thanksgiving. I want to know what the Pilgrims would think of this. I am assuming, giving their feisty nature, that they would take issue with this, maybe revolt.
I have been considering starting a blog for a while now. I feel like it is the thing to do. I am engaging in popular culture by presenting my thoughts and experiences across the web. Starting a blog is not easy though. I have to admit, I was a bit gun-shy. I had the typical insecurities about having a strange thought process, an awkward writing style, and possibly no readers. Few things could be harder than having a blog that is never read. It would be as though your thoughts never left your head. In addition to the standard insecurities, I began thinking about the risks. My blog is created on the premise that I am unemployed. I will provide a snapshot of unemployed life in America. It’s my civic duty. What could go wrong with bantering about being out of work in this country? Future employment could go wrong.
I decided to do some investigation of blogging risks. I looked at the most reliable source on the Internet: Wikipedia.com. Here is some of the “news” I found:
In general, attempts at hiding the blogger's name and/or the place of employment in anonymity have proved ineffective at protecting the blogger.Employees who blog about elements of their place of employment raise the issue of employee branding, since their activities can begin to affect the brand recognition of their employer.
In fall 2004, Ellen Simonetti was fired for what was deemed by her employer, Delta Air Lines, to be inappropriate material on her blog. She subsequently wrote a book based on her blog.
In the spring of 2006, Erik Ringmar, a tenured senior lecturer at the London School of Economics, was ordered by the convenor of his department to "take down and destroy" his blog in which he discussed the quality of education at the school.
In India, blogger Gaurav Sabnis resigned from IBM after his posts exposing the false claims of a management school, IIPM, led to management of IIPM threatening to burn their IBM laptops as a sign of protest against him.
Blogging is serious stuff. I must admit, though, that I give it to Ellen Simonetti for taking it to the next level and writing a book based on her blog. When it doesn’t work in cyberspace, take it to the $3 bin at Barnes and Noble.
Despite the many risks associated with blogging, I think it’s a good time in my life to step out and really do something extraordinary. Take the plunge. Besides, Wikipedia also gave information about the benefits of blogging. Apparently, “Blogs provide another convenient avenue for writing about personal experiences. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients and even speeds healing after surgery.”Despite the fact that Wikipedia notes that this information may be “dubious” and needs to be discussed, I am going to go against logic and take it as truth. This actually works to my benefit on many levels. Since I am unemployed, health insurance is at a premium. Anything that will help me have a speedy recovery after surgery is a must.
