Draw on the State Funds

1st September 2024

Dear Governor Newsom,

In light of the current draw on the state funds from unemployment benefits it comes to me that more should be done to get the worker to the job. I can tell you that over the years I have gotten more and more certified and yet suffered more job instability.

In high school I was trained as a printing tech, and I got my guard card. After college I got two more certifications in security and this year I got my license to carry a firearm. None of these have provided me with either lucrative or stable employment.

At my last job I met a man who had been through an emergency training as an auto mechanic, and yet he was working as a security guard. Unable to pay his rent with one job he worked as a delivery driver on the side but couldn’t find employment swinging a wrench.

Employment counseling has never helped me. I once asked the Employment Development Department for help and was just laughed at. I was offered no advice or direction on the subject. One job counselor advised me to chase my dreams but could offer me no real world advice. The next job counselor I spoke to just kept saying “take it” over and over again no matter how bad or suspicious the job I was interviewing for.

Every now and then I look into more vocational training, but education has always failed me. When I was a young man they said “get a degree” and by the time I got one they were near useless. My last job was degree or military experience preferred, and it paid less than working at a fast food restaurant.

Optimally, the unemployed should become more employable by gaining some kind of training. Maybe we should have a program where the unemployed can start vocational training and spend time on the job. If that fellow had is emergency auto tech program and spent a day every week changing oil at a mechanic he could have found a job working on cars.

It is in the best interest of the state and the worker for better days to be ahead with more stable work and higher pay. When I worked with the homeless our goal was to get them off the street for life and the state should want me never to be unemployed again.

If I wanted to look into vocational training I‘d have to do research to find out what training would be useful, find a program that would train me, then look for a job after the training with no experience. The state could do all that for the unemployed and as soon as they file a claim offer them vocational training as an option.

The state could offer an incentive of additional weeks of benefits to complete vocational training. Job placement and referral services would strengthen this program and having new skills would make it easier to find a job.

Just a thought,


Richard Leland Neal

ASVAB for the Unemployed

2nd September 2024

Dear Governor Newsom,

In my last letter I advocated for more aggressive vocation training for the unemployed. Today I would like to suggest that all persons of military age who apply for unemployment benefits take the ASVAB. The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery is a test used by the military to place people in jobs and there is no reason it couldn’t be used for the unemployed.

I would have to start this with the obvious that when someone is unemployed the military would be a solid option. Taking the ASVAB would be a step in that direction and it would fall under applying for a job. Further, with twenty six weeks of unemployment many people could become physically fit enough to join the military. The state may even be able to recoup some losses with a referral program.

In the modern day when a job doesn’t get you a bed military service would mean the job seeker would no longer need other state services. They would have food and housing. They would be a contributing member of society rather than a burden to the taxpayer. I’m not advocating for a draft but we should open the door to this option.

Further, the state could use ASVAB results to indicate where a person should be looking for new jobs. Maybe we could use test to send them in the right direction. It’s established, it works, and the military will pay for it, the ASVAB looks like a good option of addressing our unemployment situation.

The truth is that collecting unemployment is becoming more socially acceptable, and becoming unemployed is more and more common. People are more likely to stay unemployed for longer and draw more money from the state. Getting the worker to the job is just going to be more and more important.

Best,



Richard Leland Neal

Putrid in My Clothes

30^th November 2017

Dear Cassi,

I am putrid in my clothes not having washed for almost three days being hard at work in the drafting of comics and such. The nature of my garments is a disgrace as they are raggedy and stained with cat fur bristling from them. I have discarded my undergarments some hours ago as they had grown too saturated with the substances of the body.

The washer hums and so does the drier with the items scraped from the floor after the garage had been cleaned. I sort them finding in there long idle nature they had found detritus. Little bits of things fall to the concrete as I go. Long stained garments and towels, things you would revolt to touch, are a constant company to my work.

It has been longer than six hours since I took food, but still I feel no hunger in this less than an hour past midnight. I dine only when my hands become too shaky for the drafting table as I draw comics as I work on other things.

This is me in the odd twilight of being a man of employment and yet still surviving off an unemployment check. The company for whom I work has no hours for me, and in the low point I work every day as if I will never return to my labors. I work every day as if I will never get another job.

I draft my comics as if my livelihood depends on them. I draft hard and long, but as always I am behind in my work. With some it is a matter of months with another it is more than a year of work waiting for my hand to lift a pen.

The long hours are hard on my body and my gut lives in me as some parasite digging into me and causing pain in my back. My body groans as I rise, but I can only sit so long before my blood demands motion.   I know I need water as the skin of my cheeks is cracked beneath my unshaven beard, but again I will soon need to force myself to eat.

For the whole of my life I have struggled with depression and this is only another battle in that long war. I fear I will fight until my dying breath, but what else can I do.

Live strong, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal

Devium

4^th November 2017

Dear Cassi,

A friend of mine is losing her apartment. It falls on me as one of the few folks who care to help her with finding a home for her two cats before she moves to another state. I figure I’m going to talk a good deal about this woman for the next few letters so I’m going to give her a name for our conversation.

I name this friend Devium which is Latin for wayward.  If there is a way I could describe her life it would be that it is wayward so that is the best name I can give her.

In any case, Devium has a drive of some thousand miles ahead of her and I had it in my head to search for a home for her cats up in that area in the hope that I may drive for her, driving isn’t a thing Devium is good at, and it’s a good deal easier to drive that distance in one shot if you have company.

I spoke of this with Pickle and he was upset. He first tried to convince me not to go by arguing that if something happened to one of my cats he’d have to rely of PonyGirl to take them to the vet. As if owning cats meant that I could never leave the house.

Funny how Pickle can turn a moment in to something horrible. I mean, was he threatening my animals if I left or just upset that I wouldn’t be cooking for a few days. When you’ve live with a crisis for your whole life the way I have it’s easy to forget about it for a moment. Then it just comes crashing back into your head.

Stay safe, Little Sister,

Richard Leland Neal

Accused of Misconduct

29^th January 2015

Dear (Nun),

I yesterday received word from the labor board that I will retain my benefits as I may not be accused of misconduct. This finding is not set in stone as the company still has one appeal left but a reversal of the decision is unlikely.  

I can, however, confidently move on with my complaint of retaliation.

On another topic, I gave that script to (other person) some two years ago and in two years time he never found fit to read the volume. I can understand his family taking priority, but at some point I do need to give up on him.

I’ll grant this to be one of the bitter situations of my life given how rarely I can get people to read my work. Still, at some point I have to say that if he wasn’t going to read it he probably should have said so and not given me the run around.

Well, I guess then the question is: should I give up on him reading my work? I can’t imagine it will do me any good to remind him further.

Hope for the rain,

                            

Richard Leland Neal