I have no idea what I did all day. I mean, I know I did stuff. I fed the kids, and set them up to do their school work. I checked the unemployment website at 8AM, per their online instructions yesterday, only to find that my husband's time had moved to 2-3PM (great). We received a package from home depot of thinset, so I can begin tiling the back porch (though I was a little unnerved at the packaging, which was damaged and said "Fragile: Liquid," but the contents were fine so it's all good).
There was work done for school, seeking out a free online version of To Kill A Mockingbird for a colleague and working on a website. I interviewed for a coaching position in town, to be a JV soccer coach for a season that may not happen. That was a wonderful distraction from the day, as I got to talk about the sport I love with a coach who clearly loves it too, and just thinking about warm, fall days stepping onto the pitch to kick the ball around put me in a good mood.
And then- then we logged on to try to handle unemployment. This was key, because each week, you get one hour to put in the claim information so that the government can help by giving you part of the money you would normally be working if there wasn't a global pandemic going on. I'm a smart woman. I graduated college with high honors, got a Master's Degree, and hold a 4.0 average for a second Master's that is mostly finished. I've run a company and taught in elite high schools. And yet, I felt about equivalent to a hamster trying to figure out Einstein's theory of relativity.
We logged on at 2PM on the dot, expecting to be able to put in something related to the wages my husband normally earned, something akin to "enter your 1099 statement from last year" or "upload a copy of same". But instead, it asked a few questions, which we answered, and then we received the following message:
Your claim is not payable at this time.
If you have a pending appointment or if you have appealed a disqualification and are awaiting a determination, you have been given pended credit for week-ending 04/04/2020. If a determination or an appeal decision is in your favor and no other disqualification(s) exist, you will be paid for the week claimed.
If you do not know why your claim is not payable, please call your nearest Reemployment Call Center.
If you have a pending appointment or if you have appealed a disqualification and are awaiting a determination, you have been given pended credit for week-ending 04/04/2020. If a determination or an appeal decision is in your favor and no other disqualification(s) exist, you will be paid for the week claimed.
If you do not know why your claim is not payable, please call your nearest Reemployment Call Center.
Then, we got an email that also stated "your claim is not payable at this time." That's all well and good- he's an independent contractor, and so we expected a denial, but is that a denial?
We couldn't find the next step- everywhere we looked (emails from his realty firm, websites, news articles) all say "once you get that denial, you can apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance as an independent contractor"- but NO ONE SAYS HOW TO DO THAT. All the instructions seem to involve entering that in the SAME unemployment portal.
But when we tried to do that, it tells me that "the application can't be processed because you may already have an existing claim." Okay- so how do we get the right info put in? Oh, call this number- the number that we are only supposed to call between 2-3 PM today (Monday) this week. But the number tells you there is higher than usual call volume, and to call on the next business day (but - again- this is supposed to be the HOUR this week when I CAN SPEAK TO SOMEONE?! WTF?!).
Okay, so maybe we can amend the claim. Let me make sure that at least the direct deposit info is correct. Only now, the message is "our records indicate that you do not have an active claim in our system"- and (yes really) to call a claims agent at the numbers that- again- tells you there is higher than usual call volume, and to call on the next business day. That scene in Fallen Down where Michael Douglas goes off about the breakfast that just stopped being served? I feel his pain.
I'm in an endless loop of unemployment hell. And we're lucky, because at least my paycheck covers our food bill. It's not covering the mortgage, which is now in forbearance (so apparently in two months, I'll somehow have that money that the pandemic is causing my husband to not earn right now- magically, the unemployment portal will start paying by then. And unicorns and trolls will dance together in the middle of my street under a rainbow flowing with glitter and gold while the "Can't Stop The Feeling" plays).
It's been a long day. It's been a long 46 days and counting.
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