Financially frustrated

Hallelijuah!
I can pay some bills! My 401k money was available to me on Weds and I requested a disbursment and I just got the check in the mail today. Of course the bank wants to put a hold on the check for a few days before they release the funds to me. But it is here and I can now make an effort to get caught up!

I had spent the morning calling everyone that I owe and updating them and getting extensions on the two that were scheduled for disconnection. Luckily they were both very helpful and I got that all set up. These calls take so much time. I think I was on the phone for 3 hours before quitting. 

The worst call was to my Lowes credit card company. The card is under written by GE which had I known that in the beginning I would never have opened a credit account with them in the first place. They outsourse their work to India which is frustrating because it is difficult to understand the person on the other end. All of them have been taught English but the guy I got today had a thick accent and was so frustrating and the phone connection today was terrible. I was trying to be proactive and contact everyone not to set up payment because I did not know when the money was arriving nor did I know how much I would be able to pay. I was calling to simply give them the chance to update my account. The people they hire are not capable of talking off "script".  The guy "Steve" that I was on the phone with today would not revert from script and listen to me. I finally got frustrated and asked to speak to the manager. "Steve" asked why and I told him "because I don't want to talk to you any longer!" I finally got a manager who started again with the "I apologize" I stopped him and said "I don't want your apology, I want you to listen, take notes and update my account not spout your script". Any way he finally said he had updated the account and I thanked him and hung up. I cancelled this account in March and there is nothing in the world that will entice me to have any retail credit cards ever again! Especially ones that are through GE.

I cancelled a bank account at Chase bank when I realized that they were started by JP Morgan Chase who also is the greedy bastard who started General Electric. GE is a horrible company!

On the upside for the day a mere five calendar days since I requested my 401K money I received a check in the mail. Happy dance!!! I stopped making calls and went right to the bank where I discovered that they would not let me take a third of the money in cash and would only let me have $500; this is because they put a 7 day hold on the money. Apparently the manager can override this restriction but she was not in today; I decided to come back tomorrow. Then I got to thinking that maybe I should check out the other local branch to see if they had a manager onsite which they did but he said the same thing that he could give me the $500 but he would have them run it on same day business and not next day and he would not put the 7 day hold on the money. This frees me up to pay my bills! Yay Bless you Mr. Manager!

So now how do I go about wisely using this money that should have been for my eventual retirement but which I will need to live off of for the next bit of time. . . Hum I need a wise financial guru! I will figure this out I will but it would be awesome to have a wizard on my team! Night all!

Status Update: SNAFU

I lost my job on 4/1/13 not because I am a bad employee not because I wanted to leave but because I am physically no longer able to continue working in that field. The boss and the company would have liked for me to be able to return but it was just not in the cards. 

I have been living off of my last 2 pay checks, neither of which were the full amount that I had normally received. I have paid no utilities, mortgage, credit card or medical bills. Since losing my job I have only paid 3 bills. . . COBRA insurance for a month. . . my first car payment and my car insurance. So I am waiting for everything to be shut off ... my internet and cable will be disconnected on May 21st. And I am sure everything else will soon follow.  I can live with out TV and Internet (Panera here I come), I can even survive with out electricity but the idea of living without water or hot shower kills me.

Every day I am getting inundated by calls wanting me to pay up or make arrangements to pay.  These people on the telephone do not understand that I have NO MONEY COMING IN. I keep explaining that I have nothing coming in and I cannot make payment arrangements because I have no idea when I will have money coming in.They called all weekend and finally quit calling around 8 last night and began again at 8 this morning. It is so frustrating. I know I owe them money and I want to work I can't find any thing that I can do within my limitations.

I know that I cannot return to my prior career and it makes me sad. I woke up one day a week ago and almost called and begged to come back to work. But before picking up the phone I did a mental pro/con list and the con's out weigh the benefits of returning to that career. Spending 3-10 hours a day driving and then hauling in 25-50lbs of equipment into each hospital is much too difficult to do with my bad hip.

I thought that I would have gotten unemployment by this time but they rejected my application, they say I am "physically unable to work" even though the doctor filled out the form and stated that I could work within my limitations in a different career. Apparently all they saw was the limitations. I am eligible to apply, but at this point they will most likely deny me again.
 
I also applied for long term disability but have not gotten any response yet. I called the other day to find out if there is anything that I need to do at this point but they were just waiting for Ohio State to send them copies of my medical records. They did say that they will be making a determination by June 7th.

I have money sitting in my 401K but I have to wait 45 days from when New York Life is notified that I am no longer employed to access my money.

I have applied for numerous jobs that I could do, all of which are not things that I have ever done before, but I am sure I could handle them easily. Sadly I keep getting told that my skill set is not compatible with their needs. I love libraries and I know that I could sort and file books, or check people out at the circulation desk. I filled out a general application for the Washington Centerville library and got a lovely rejection letter in the mail. At least they responded, Kaplan University, Robert Half and Kelly Services all replied by email, but of the other 15 or 20 applications I have put in I have gotten no responses.

This is where I think that online applications are not working for those who like me who are looking for work but can no long work in the profession where they were trained. There is something missing when you are not meeting someone face to face and basing the decision for an interview solely on a resume received online. I went to the Job Center to chat with a job counselor and she was very sweet but was focused on getting me back to work as a Biomed and wanted to help me find Biomed jobs.

I had an interview on Wednesday for volunteer position at the hospital which is only 5 minutes away from home. The lady who was interviewing me and I hit it off right away and I walked out the door with my orientation information and schedule and knowing that as soon as I was done with orientation I would start working the reception desk in the Physician Office Building.