Since 1983, I have not only faced unemployment, I was unemployed. Most of the jobs that I've hadel since then have been either part-time, temporary, low-paying, and contract jobs; most of them without any health benefits.

Most of my jobs have been in the outbound telemarketing and market research fields. I have either quit a few of these jobs because I couldn't take the pressure, or I was let go from them simply because I wasn't meeting the required production goals. I also had disciplinary action taken against me for the same reason. I was also let go from two inbound call center jobs simply because I wasn't processing the calls fast enough and I wasn't quick enough in deciding how to handle the calls. I've also had to depend on my family, unemployment, and welfare in order to survive. Plus, I had to struggle to hold on to these jobs because I certainly didn't want to become homeless and end up sleeping out on the streets somewhere.

As high-pressured as they are, I've had to put up with it in order for me to survive. I know this from experience. In 1989, I lost my job as an telephone rep for a medical telemarketing outfit. The office had closed because they lost their lease and their main office was nowwhere near public transportation. I filed for unemployment, but then I took another telemarketing job a week later. I hated the job and then I quit, but then I was denied unemployment. For the rest of that year, I ended up taking whatever suitable job I could get, plus I was out of work as well.

I still wanted to maintain my independence and not go back and stay with my family. However, in May of '99, that's just what I did. I was working at a horrible market research outfit in Philadelphia, making only $6.00 an hour, and I had to move out of my apartment because I could't afford to pay the rent at that time. I ended up staying with my parents in the suburbs for the entire summber, then I found a full-time one-year contract job with the Social Security office as a file clerk. I then moved out of my parents house that September into my new apartment, and I've been there ever since.

Unfortunately, I feel as outbound telephone work may have been the best thing for me in the first place. I can no longer do food service work because I have physical problems, and inbound customer service work just didn't turn out the way that I had expected it to be. But the one thing that I learned is this: never quit a job until you have another one lined up, or else, let them fire you for unacceptable performance: no matter how hard you tried. At least you'll be able to get unemployment.

Learn more about this author, Lisa Fagan.
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