Also, just as important: the worst career advice you’ve ever received.
Careers & Workplace
How the Economy Is Still Affecting How We Work, Shop, and Live—and How Many Ex-Cons Are Out on the Streets
Compared to the recent past, you’re far more likely to be driving an old clunker, piling up speeding tickets, and living with either Grandma or a spouse you can’t stand. You’re also less likely to reside in Las Vegas, Orlando, or a state prison.
18 Ways to Make Office Life Less Miserable
Cubicle closing in on you?
Hi, You Don’t Know Me, But Here’s $10
For some people, the recession has provided both the time and inspiration to take on some odd challenge or project—generally with a blog as the cheap, easy format for documenting it. Like a woman who asked for a discount daily over the course of a year, and an unemployed Oregon man traveling the country who invited all comers to take a …
Food Stamp Foodies
“I’m sort of a foodie, and I’m not going to do the ‘living off ramen’ thing,” said one 31-year-old resident of Baltimore who recently qualified for $200 a month in food stamps—and who used that money to prepare a dinner of roasted rabbit with butter, tarragon and sweet potatoes. “I used to think that you could only get processed food …
From Job Hopping to Career Monogamy
Not long ago, a job wasn’t expected to be much more than a fling—a mutually beneficial arrangement that lasted maybe a couple of years, if all was going well. Workers hopped from job to job in the ’90s and early ’00s like swingers hopped from bed to bed in the ’70s. In the era of the Great Recession, however, workers are eager to stay …
Caught Between a Late Fee and a Payday Loan
Payday loans are bashed by consumer watchdogs because of the loan shark-like interest rates involved, which can exceed 450% when annualized. Nonetheless, the payday loan business is thriving, especially as consumers realize that an actual job is not required. The day your unemployment check arrives also counts as a payday, so if you’re …
Shout Out: CBS Sunday Morning’s “The Money Issue”
I don’t know if it’s simply great story-telling, great story selection, Charles Osgood’s soothing voice, or what, but every week I find myself drawn into every quirky little segment shown on Sunday Morning, the 90-minute program that airs on CBS on (duh) Sunday morning. The show somehow covers topics ranging from male escorts to modern …
The Egg McMuffin-Unemployment Connection
It’s hard to justify a trip to the drive-thru first thing in the morning when you don’t have a job. Also, when you’re unemployed, “first thing in the morning” may occur sometime after fast food restaurants have already begun serving lunch.
Must-Read: ‘How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America’
So much for making lemons out of lemonade. Sometimes, when you’re given lemons (i.e., you get fired), it just sucks, no two ways about it. And on a broader scale, layoffs and the long-term, perhaps permanent disappearance of jobs could cause more problems for families, neighborhoods, and society as a whole than you can possibly imagine.
Must-Watch: ‘Lemonade’
When you get laid off, someone inevitably tells you that you’ll soon be telling people that being fired was the best thing that ever happened to you. Your knee-jerk reaction to such a statement might be, “Easy to say from somebody who has a job,” or perhaps “Go away before I cram your face in the paper shredder.” But for some people, …
What’s Up? Also, What’s Down
The economy has had its ups and downs—OK, mostly downs of late. Here, some statistics showing the economic fallout on all sorts of things, including cheap booze sales (they’re up), military recruits with college degrees (also up), and excuses for getting out of jury duty (way up).