SoapZone Community Message Board

This is one of the reasons AI in the workplace frustrates me. I highly doubt many, or ANY, of my applications and charming cover letters are being read by individuals. We've talked about this here before but a) a lot of job openings I see, for what I would consider "starter" jobs, require you already have 1-3 years' experience in the field and b) I feel pretty confident I could dazzle a potential employer...in person. But getting to the stage where you actually get to talk to a person is increasingly less common.

Yes. I passed at least a dozen manufacturing places on my way to my last workplace, and there's a couple towns nearby with a pretty high number of manufacturers. But the vast majority are hot, smelly, testosterone-laden sweatshops that are all about quantity over quality. And many make things I have no understanding of. I liked being at the bindery and recognizing, even without actually DOING, every part of the process of binding a book (though I didn't know all the technical terms at first...for example, if you open a book, then turn it facing the floor with the cover up and peer down the space between the cover and the book block, you'd be looking at the "hollow". And if the sides of the book block are detaching from the spine, then you have "loose joints"). Back when I wasn't looking intensely, a manufacturing job came up that I still regret not applying for...a few towns over, there's a place making parts for musical instruments. It would've been interesting making mouthpieces or valves or keys.

True. I admit, it took me longer than it should have to realize an office job has its own stress. Working at the bindery meant coming home tired and achy but at least work was done the minute you hit the parking lot, and I rarely gave a thought to the day's work after the day was over.

At first I didn't think I *could* get Medicaid here in Ohio, despite being unemployed. I applied twice online and was rejected for not having some kind of mitigating factor, e.g. being over 65, being blind, having children that are dependent on me, etc. But then I had a talk with an independent health care consultant that I've used a few times and she informed me that there's essentially two different kinds of Medicaid in our state: the kind that helps with housing or food or whatever and the kind that's solely about medical coverage. She was able to help me enroll in the latter, which only requires being unemployed...and maybe underemployed. I've not done enough research on that. I *do* know that any time a bindery co-worker or my good church friend, who didn't have health benefits when she was working at the chiropractor and doesn't now that she's essentially self-employed*, tried to get an inexpensive ACA plan, they were told they either made too much or worked somewhere that already offered an "adequate" plan.

* TBH, these days I have very little idea of what, exactly, good church friend is doing for a living. I'm not even sure SHE knows, and that worries me some but she's told me that all her other friends are constantly pestering her and questioning her and she appreciates that I do neither, so I don't ask <g>.