S.E. Shirley blogs Mystery, Food, Mayhem!: September 2012

Jo, Lizzie and Ang - all the parts of me! We are all needed in this new quest!!

We were busy trading for a large commodities firm when we received emails directing us to the conference room for a teleconference at noon Chicago time, or ten o'clock PDT. We were informed that the CEO and owner of the company had attempted suicide that morning, that he was in a coma, and that he had left damaging documentation informing that he had been stealing from the company from nearly its inception twenty (20) years previously. None of us were originally from that company - our own FCMs (Futures Commodities Merchants) had been gobbled up by this company, which was one of the largest privately held commodities firms in the U.S. with dozens of offices in this country and others.

The federal regulators had shut the company down, apparently as the ambulance was leaving the carpark with the company's owner inside. Our clients accounts were being liquidated as we were speaking and we had no job. Finito. This on the heels of the past miserable 2 1/2 yrs in which we were making 25% of our paychecks previous to this company's buy-out of ours'. We still haven't been paid for the month of June by the way.

So that was it. We were a fire-sale, if we wanted to work for even less than we had been making, assuming that firms that wanted to hire us were also not going to be shut-down by regulators for cause.

Several friends and colleagues have suggested that I add to the 2012 Blog by describing the events of the past eight weeks. If others can feel some catharsis by my documentation, I am happy to provide same. I wish I could say it was a dark and stormy night, but it was a bright, beautiful morning in Encino, where our office had been relocated from West Los Angeles a scant four months previously.

View from the sixteenth floor office

No office. No job. Twenty-eight years of fiscal relationships severed as by a guillotine. All we could do was call our clients (or were clients five minutes ago), inform them of what little we knew and that we would keep them informed as soon as we heard anything. We were in shock. Complete shock. This individual, my age, had been taking his family, his company, his employees and his clients down the drain for hundreds of millions of dollars. It was front page news in the papers for nearly two weeks.

When I got home that day and looked across the street at a house I had gazed upon for nearly twenty (20) years I knew three things: I wasn't going back into the financial sector; I needed to update my life; I needed to move from the wonderful street on which I had lived and loved and lost.

I thought of all the wonderful places I had worked for so many years, and was so grateful for those experiences and friends and colleagues gained:

The Wedbush Building downtown L.A. and surrounding garden

Central Library downtown L.A.

Central Library downtown at night

7th and Figueroa Sts. 7th St. Metro Station Bldg

The stunning oft-photographed Wedbush Bldg.

Our most-recent office at 12300 Wilshire Blvd., West L.A. and the closest I had EVER lived to my office: ten (10) minutes, EVEN with Santa Monica traffic!!!

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THIRTY (30) YEARS I HAD NO OFFICE!!
WOW!!

The next gratitude I had was for the street on which I lived ever since the 1994 Earthquake. I had rehabbed the house across the street, lived there and gardened for many years. Downsized and made my life lighter, but redirecting most of my library to St. Monica High School and ridding myself of gardening life so I would have more time to write and travel.

Now I needed to really pare down from a one-bedroom duplex right next to my darling neighbors and family of 20+ years to hopefully finding a room to rent in a home or apartment; at best a single, saving as much money as I could to carry on until I found a job that I wanted!! OH DOES THAT ALL SOUND EASY!!! I was entering:

I think the really special notion of a labyrinth or maze in times like this is the simplicity:

There are many wrong turns, yet only one right turn to progress to the center...to the PRIZE (whatever the prize is).

I had not written a resume for thirty-odd years. I had merely gone from position-to-position, climbing up the ladder of financials (which is never an easy ladder for women, but challenging).

WEEKS TWO TO EIGHT

The shock is wearing off, just a little; like in every grieving process there comes denial, then anger, but I could afford little anger and still get the job done of rearranging my life!

Apparently my sometimes significant other didn't see it that way. He didn't discuss. He didn't offer suggestions. He wasn't there to run ideas by. He walked. After that Monday I never saw him again. After that Thursday no texts returned (and he texted at least 10-15 times a day), nor phone calls. Not even a "good-bye". My rearranging life didn't fit into his Draconian schedule of work, work and more work until one drops...literally. Oh I know what you're saying: It's better to find all this out now. My mind agrees with you. My heart however...my heart...but I can't think about that now.

I must say "good-bye" to my home, sort all that needs to be sold, given away or stored and do it all with gratitude for the wonderful times we had!

See that tree-line???? That's where I am headed!

Resume-writing is all an online-task. Listen to your friends who are constantly updating theirs. Join the groups that will offer suggestions for resume-writing on their web-sites, simultaneously listing job-searches.

These are the ones I used (am using):

UCLA Networking

LinkedIn (and as many groups as you find useful)

Doostang

Bruinworks alumni

Indeed.com

oDesk

Individual companies or venues for which you want to work:

Getty

LACMA

for instance, for me.

Each of these has an intricate and time-consuming method of relating your skills, history and what you want to do! Follow their directions and constantly UPDATE your resume online with them.

A WORD ABOUT CRAIGSLIST:

USING THE JOBSEARCH FOR CRAIGSLIST IS FRAUGHT WITH SCAMS, JERKS AND FRAUDS. BE VERY CAREFUL!!!

I have had enough fraud in the past 8 weeks to last a lifetime!

THIS APPLIES TO CRAIGSLIST APARTMENT, ROOM SEARCH AS WELL!!!

What I have discovered:

EasyRoommate: Don't upgrade; that's their sales pitch. I have tried to correct the area I want to search a half-dozen times....what part of WESTSIDE do they not get??? The West Side of the Rockies???? What a waste - you can't email back unless you 'upgrade'. You've got enough money problems, right?

Roomster: I actually upgraded for three days for $5.95. I cancelled on the second day: two of the worst scams were on Roomster!

Walkscore: where I found mine and it's perfect! 7 minutes from my old street and wonderful space for the money, plus there's parking. It was also listed on

Craigslist, and I called as soon as it was listed...

CHECK SEVERAL TIMES A DAY!!!

KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED FOR SCAMS!!!

In 6 weeks I searched over 3,000 available rooms/house-shares etc., replied to 283 of them; counted 62 scams and visited over three dozen possibles.

IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T FIGURED IT OUT YET YOU WILL SPEND YOUR LIFE ON THE COMPUTER UNTIL YOU GET JOB, LIVING AND BENEFITS SORTED!!!

BENEFITS

I had turned 65 in March, called the Social Security Office for West Los Angeles and went to my interview with them. They are INCREDIBLE!!! I cannot say enough in praise of our civil servants. I had NO IDEA what I was doing: just followed directions online and they called right away for appointments, told me what to bring with me etc. Had my Medicare card issued as well. In April the SSO called me at my office and we decided that it was fiscally appropriate to take early (between 65-66 yrs) SS. It wasn't much more $$ to wait until I turned 66 in March of 2013. Thank goodness I listened to them!!!

Besides SS, and Medicare I applied for CalFresh, which is the old CA food stamps.

Let me say a word about this: I have paid all my life, as have we all into these programs. They are NOT "going on the dole" ; they are all INSURANCE PROGRAMS for which we are all entitled. Is it a strange thing to apply? You bet it is!! But again, the civil servants are so nice and so helpful that what could have been a traumatic experience became an adventurous part of this LABYRINTH-MAZE!!

As soon as I was able, I also filed for Unemployment Compensation. Again, I began the process online and was called immediately and emailed for my interview. I had never in my life filed for unemployment as I had never been unemployed! Same with CalFresh. I do not intend to use these except as a stop-gap: once settled, I can apply in person and interview for the jobs which extended interest...and be back on my feet once again!!!

That is the core of the Labyrinth-Maze...that is the PRIZE!!!

AND THE ADVENTURE IS GETTING THERE!!!

My sunsets and dawns will be the same - my friends are always my friends...sent another 152 book cartons to the Santa Monica Public Library and wish the very best for the man-who-didn't-stay-to-dinner.