# First time being laid off, help!



## Mike2k132 (7 mo ago)

OK guys I need your help this is my 1st time ever been laid off and I feel quite embarrassed because I literally don't know anything what to do next. I signed the books. I'm 92 on book 1. I need to get back to work after taking a year off(tried to open a sports bar)


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## Wirenuting (Sep 12, 2010)

USAJobs.gov
Apply for all agencies for the zip code you desire to work in. 
apply for all jobs that look good.


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## Mbit (Feb 28, 2020)

The oilfield is firing right now. If you just want to make money. Lots of Texas guys out there.


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## Yankee77 (Oct 5, 2020)

Mike2k132 said:


> OK guys I need your help this is my 1st time ever been laid off and I feel quite embarrassed because I literally don't know anything what to do next. I signed the books. I'm 92 on book 1. I need to get back to work after taking a year off(tried to open a sports bar)


Your union, relax and take first or any call that comes into hall


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## wiz1997 (Mar 30, 2021)

DO NOT PANIC!!!!!!

You are not the first to ever be laid off.

This will probably not the last time you get laid off.

When I worked for the union, I was laid off 7 times in one year.

I was a "traveller" working outside my home local.

Not sure where you are at but, you should be eligible for for unemployment.

Get to the unemployment office as soon as possible to get the process rolling.

There will be a two week waiting period before any checks come in.

Pay only the bills necessary to keep the home going.

If you believe it's going to be a month or more before you get to the top of the book, write letters to anyone you owe monthly payments to, and explain you are out of work and willing to work with them.

They should be use to this by now, since the big "pandemic" put a lot of people out of work.

I had some credit cards and a car note, most of them were willing to let me pay just the monthly interest, others demanded payment in full.

Guess who got paid.

Get out in front of it, don't wait until you are past due, although some won't discuss anything until you are past due.

Check around to see if their might be some cash side jobs you can find, just little things, installing ceiling fans, ( plenty this time of year) changing out switches or receptacles (people are going to smart switches).

Nothing big that might get you in trouble.

I worked part-time in a plant nursery one off time and as a bowling machine mechanic another.

Not much pay, but the first $100 doesn't effect your unemployment check, may be different now.

So with a job paying only 30% of what I usually made, unemployment and a few ceiling fans, I managed to survive the six weeks waiting to get to the top of book 2.

The first time I was laid off (first year journeyman), I went into panic mode.

Sold some things, I now wish, I never would have sold.

Sold a collection of silver dollars that are now worth over $10,000.

If I hadn't panicked and waited a month or two, when a job became available, I'd still have those silver dollars my Grandmother gave me.

Go slow, make informed decisions.

When you get back to work, get started on a three to six month emergency fund to carry you through these times.

A seperate account to which you put $25 into every pay check, you won't miss it.

I've been putting $150 every two weeks into an account with no check book or ATM access, if I need it, i have to go to the bank to get it.

I can now go six months or longer without employment and still cover the bills.

Watch every penny that goes out.

You would be surprised to find how much you piss off in just a few days.

If you really want to know where your money goes, get one of those pocket sized spiral notebooks.

Write down EVERY, and I mean EVERY penny you spend.

I'm talking pocket money, cash not credit cards.

Toll roads, vending machines, stop and shop store, fast food places, ect.

Anything you pay with cash from your pocket.

You will be amazed at how much cash you dole out without even thinking about it.

If you have a family to feed, check with local churches that have food banks.

Don't let your "pride" get in the way of feeding your family.

These food banks have seen it all.

A few prayers never hurt.


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## wiz1997 (Mar 30, 2021)

Mbit said:


> The oilfield is hiring right now. If you just want to make money. Lots of Texas guys out there.


There fixed it for you.


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## Slay301 (Apr 23, 2018)

Www.Where2bro.com

find a job there are literally everywhere


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## u2slow (Jan 2, 2014)

Take a first aid course if you can. My ibew local would as far down the list as they needed to find the first guy with a cert. Good luck!


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## Wardenclyffe (Jan 11, 2019)

Bar Rescue | Paramount Network


Jon Taffer hits the road to help struggling bar owners bounce back from numerous challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic -- and their own doing.




www.paramountnetwork.com


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## SWDweller (Dec 9, 2020)

My question is why? With the amount of work there is and the known labor shortages something seems wrong.


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## Mbit (Feb 28, 2020)

wiz1997 said:


> There fixed it for you.


Haha, dude I actually meant firing but come to think of it that could be a little confusing in this context 🤣 🤣🤣 Thanks for the assist.


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## 99cents (Aug 20, 2012)

I got laid off once. My mother lived in a 55+ neighborhood and wanted washed rock put around her house because the grass was dead. I did the job for her and then her neighbour wanted his done. I spent all summer doing washed rock around houses, probably twenty five houses. I didn’t get rich but I kept my bills paid.

There’s always a way to make a few bucks. Sitting around waiting just makes you depressed. You need to be doing things.


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## ponyboy (Nov 18, 2012)

Congrats on a clean layoff brother, go see the world!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## paulengr (Oct 8, 2017)

Mike2k132 said:


> OK guys I need your help this is my 1st time ever been laid off and I feel quite embarrassed because I literally don't know anything what to do next. I signed the books. I'm 92 on book 1. I need to get back to work after taking a year off(tried to open a sports bar)


If the local isn’t bringing in enough business move on. Plus do you know what is coming? Mortgages are now at 6% and climbing: the woos is stacking up in the lumber yards. New permits are off 13%. Plus Biden is importing millions or Hispanics. English is useless on a construction job site. Unions can’t compete with $3 an hour labor tax free. In case you did not get the message the Democrats stopped supporting unions: Obama took your vote and left you like a dirty diaper, unwanted trash. Biden is actively writing you out of the government. And your union leaders are busy selling their souls on the promise of unionizing their illegals.

All the signs are there:


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## Slay301 (Apr 23, 2018)

Reported


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## Slay301 (Apr 23, 2018)

paulengr said:


> If the local isn’t bringing in enough business move on. Plus do you know what is coming? Mortgages are now at 6% and climbing: the woos is stacking up in the lumber yards. New permits are off 13%. Plus Biden is importing millions or Hispanics. English is useless on a construction job site. Unions can’t compete with $3 an hour labor tax free. In case you did not get the message the Democrats stopped supporting unions: Obama took your vote and left you like a dirty diaper, unwanted trash. Biden is actively writing you out of the government. And your union leaders are busy selling their souls on the promise of unionizing their illegals.
> 
> All the signs are there:


Reported


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## Wirenuting (Sep 12, 2010)

Slay301 said:


> Reported


Why, they already know.


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## Matt Hermanson (Jul 18, 2009)

Mike2k132 said:


> OK guys I need your help this is my 1st time ever been laid off and I feel quite embarrassed because I literally don't know anything what to do next. I signed the books. I'm 92 on book 1. I need to get back to work after taking a year off(tried to open a sports bar)


Seeing you are IBEW, look into traveling. #347 in Des Moines and #22 in Omaha both are sucking bodies out of retirement to attempt to fill the calls. Both locals are $40-ish per hour on the check plus any retentions that may or may not be paying. And the cost-of-living is quite reasonable. We have the really big data centers up here and all the majors are pouring a bottomless bank account into the areas. The Council Bluffs Google site is somewhere north of a Gigawatt in size and word has it they are now building one next to Offutt AFB and S.A.C. to go with the other ones they have in the area. The multiple Flakebook sites are 100-150 meg each. Then Microsoft keeps spending money on Des Moines's SW side too. Come on up. We got the work.


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## Mbit (Feb 28, 2020)

Slay301 said:


> Reported


Really......


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## Wardenclyffe (Jan 11, 2019)

Mbit said:


> Really......


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## pokeytwo (Dec 6, 2015)

Been laid off more times than I can count. Many of those “10 days or less” calls turned out to be way long term. Don’t be shy on taking them as they still pay the bills. Was never afraid to go non-union when work was scant at the hall. Not much union in the Yukon and Arctic but there’s lots of good paying work. Travel when you have to but keep in mind it’s tough on the family. Spousal unit didn’t get married to sleep alone and the kids need their dad.


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