Unemployment - What Leaving the Rat Race Has Taught Me Lesson #12

 Watching TV shows about your situation does not help.  The television world is beginning to flood the airwaves with reality shows about our current reality -- unemployed people.  But let me be the first to warn you.  If you are unemployed, watching these shows will not make you feel better. 

You would think that seeing others dealing with unemployment would make you feel better.  It doesn't.  You would think that it helps knowing that others are going through the same things as you are.  It doesn't.  You would think that you would feel better seeing others who are worse off than you are.  It does not.  

I have watched two new shows to hit the airwaves.  The first is "The Fairy JobMother" on Lifetime.  A British woman ( and why do Americans always need help from Brits? ie- Jo Frost as The Super Nanny, or those two British women who invade dirty homes in America - How Clean is Your House?) assesses the situation of unemployed families.  She comes into their homes and talks to them and helps them find employment.  In the first episode I saw she attempted to help a husband and wife team with two small children.  He had been unemployed for 5 years and she had been unemployed for 3.  They were on welfare and not doing a good job of meeting their monthly finances.  He was discharged from the military.  It did not say why he was discharged.  They were living in an apartment and he was getting a bit of a discount on rent for any repairs he made around the place.  The fairy jobmother comes in and tells them what they need to do.  She helps them get their resumes in order.  She gets them job interviews and the show ends with phone calls from employers.  In the end, the husband and wife both manage to get jobs.   In the second episode she talked with a couple from Slidell, LA who had their mobile home destroyed in flooding and were trying to make a comeback.  They had 3 children and were struggling to make ends meet.  They did learn they spend 600 a month on groceries and about 300 a month on cigarettes.  She did not tell them to stop smoking.  That would have been my first suggestion.  It would be better for your health, your kids' health and the health of your bank account.  But she did not tell them to give up smoking.  She helped them to realize their skills and got them interviews and in the end, he got a job at a mechanic shop and she got a job at a daycare center despite having no experience working at a daycare facility.  

The second show to deal with the poor economy is called "Downsized" on the WE network.  This show is going to follow the lives of a blended family who is having to deal with a big downturn in the economy.  The husband and wife have 7 kids between them.  They were living high on the hog until the economy took a downturn.  They lost their house and are struggling to pay the rent on their current house.  The first episode showed the struggle to come up with the entire month's rent.  The family didn't have enough money on their food stamps card to buy 25 dollars worth of groceries.  In fact, the card only had 2 dollars on it and the teen daughter paying for the groceries came away with a packet of gravy.  It was degrading for her and she threw her teenage tirade fit about being embarrassed.  I am sure it is hard for the kids.  But here is my question, why are the 16 year olds not going out and getting part time jobs?  

I don't know if I will watch either of these shows again.  As I said, watching them did not make me feel any better about my unemployment situation.  My stomach was actually in knots as I watched these people struggle.  I felt worse about my own situation because instead of losing myself in an hour of mindless television, I was being reminded of my own job loss and the fact that I did not have any prospects around the corner.  No fairy jobmother is going to get me a job interview.  These shows don't have the answers for me.  These shows only raise more questions for me.  What happens if I don't find a job soon?  Will I be filing bankruptcy?  Will I have to go on food stamps?  These shows only serve to depress me and I don't really learn anything productive watching them.