Back on March 13, Sophia Ferrel hinted at a tricky mortgage situation that’s stressing her out as she looks for work. Today she explains it a bit more—with more to come in future notes.
I have a knack for making spontaneous decisions. Sometimes it can be trouble down the road.
Back in the heyday of the housing boom, hungover at noon and sitting on the Lighthouse Coffee bench with two friends in the sun. Spied an “Open House” sign and went to ogle. This led to the unfortunate result of having my offer on said house (made with one-half of those two friends) accepted three days later. Four years later, all the money I have in the world is tied up in this house, and my co-owner decides to sue me. Which is just what I don’t need when I am unemployed and financially hanging by a thread. Thank god for a lawyer who possibly is going to represent me pro bono.
I am a lucky, lucky girl.
And then I got a notice in the mail from Olson Energy. Ten days to pay $934 in oil charges or it goes to collections. I was thinking I would pay them from my $109 savings, so I am sure it will all work out.
Selling some of my stuff in the next ten days seems like an efficient way to build up the $109 that I have been death-gripping for the last few months. My claw-foot tub is on Craigslist right now. One of my rain barrels, too. Soon to come: my Schwinn and some Photoblasters (just google it). If you need any of the above please visit craigslist. I am sure other treats will soon be listed.
This was the second half of my week, the first half being preoccupied with being sick. This sickness also meant that I couldn’t make my only interview and they hired someone else.
If I wasn’t in a foggy, logy stuffed up head mode all week I would have remembered to call the unemployment office—as a side note, I always refer to it as the UNemployment office but really it is the employment office, as they are, what? focusing on the positive? you come there unemployed and leave employed?—I would have remember to call them to see if I can get an extension on my benefits. This I need. This need also blows me away. A white, young, educated, articulate girl like me; I should have it all! Ah, I make myself laugh sometimes.
I have gone back to begging friends for job leads. Now, for me, friends are bugging friends for bartending jobs, painting jobs, any jobs. Nothing. I have heard though, over and over, that those who have jobs are not leaving them. For anything.
Also, shit is expensive. Did I just not notice this in the last two years? I mean, $11 for a cheeseburger at a local joint? Most of the jobs available pay less than that an hour! I would have to work one shitty hour to eat one of my (many) meals a day at a restaurant, not counting tax and tip. What a privilege. It shouldn’t annoy me, since I used to pay prices like this, but it does. I guess because of the assumption that we (the people) can pay prices like that. And so many of us can’t. Or at least not me. I wish I had a job and could pay $11 for a cheeseburger. I also wish my windshield wipers weren’t duct-taped to my car, but we can’t have everything now, can we?
Have an unemployment story to share? Write to jobless@thestranger.com.
stfu, douche who collects state unemployment money. i haven’t had a job since 2002 (nobody wants to hire memagers), yet i have not taken a single deserved dime since, well, in my 30 years of employment in WA stae, I’ve never needed to be a douche and “collect that which was owed to me’. MY last paycheck showed income of 1.4M (to translate, 1,400,000, of which the state (your unemployed ass, BTW, courtesy Obama the Savior) collected >60% (under Bush) or >85% (under Obama),. $2M in 2001 is worth UE in 2007. Baristas and bartenders are getting bailed, but it takes a union to save a newspaper or auto industry.
FU, MSFT contracters. FU, stranger (who’d want to unionize this shitfuckgaywayd of pole-smoking tossers?)
fuck you
Fuck you too
ok, this white, young, articulate, educated girl has completely lost me as a supporter. You can look at whatever bank gave this fool (and her ex-friend) a mortgage, but seriously, she screwed up big time and is paying the consequences. But of course, it’s the guy she co-owns the house with who is the villain here. And her only interview was scotched due to illness. And her friends are looking for jobs for her. And she would totally have called unemployment to extend her necessary benefits except she was sick. And she can’t find a hamburger in this town for under $11, which totally sucks dude.
STFU, FAG
Or maybe she should’ve just taken that 7-11 job she was above a few weeks ago.
genevieve, i fucked up. will you accept my apogee?
And then I got a notice in the mail from Olson Energy. Ten days to pay $934 in oil charges or it goes to collections.
Have you called them about it? They may be willing to set up a payment plan of some sort ($50/month?). They know they’re gonna get far less overall if they send it to collections.
Why is it that I am mostly sympathetic toward Lissa and the other unemployed people featured in this series, but this one I just want to smack upside the head?
She’s sick, so she blows off an interview? She’s sick, so she “doesn’t remember” to call the unemployment office for an extension of benefits–at all during the week? But somehow she thinks a clawfoot tub is supposed to save her, when she is shooting herself in the foot on a weekly basis? Are you fucking kidding me with this, Sophia?
An interesting lesson for me with these posts is that it’s pretty difficult to read them and not put yourself in a place of judgment (what would I have done if I were in this situation, etc.). This one is, uh, particularly challenging (she skips a job interview and an important phone call because of what sounds like a bad head cold?). So… I guess I’m going to stop there…
Hey come on, we are in a economic war, and what you commenter’s are doing pretty much equates to leaving the wounded behind. We all understand people made mistakes, but lessons learned, its move on and figure out how to rebound.
What ever happened to the whiny “Smile maker”? Did he get a job or what?
@11 – huh? How are we leaving the wounded behind? And what are the commenters supposed to learn from this, other than don’t buy a house with your drinking buddies on a whim?
I think the part that really got me was : Have I ever even *seen* an $11 cheeseburger? My job pays almost twice that an hour and I still think that’s way too pricey. She used to pay $11 for a cheeseburger? I hope she means it came with fries and a drink, at least, for God’s sake.
Who didn’t think of buying a house in seattle 2-3 years ago? It seemed like the only way to lay claim to something before it was totally out of reach.
i got a job for ya. i’ll pay you well too.
@11, Um, no. While I think that Julie is right in that it is really hard to withhold judgment of people here, I think it’s pretty clear to the outsider: The fiasco that Sophia is in isn’t the result of a single mistake. Her layoff may be no fault of her own, but this is now a pattern, and she is actively bringing it down on her head.
I’ve been unemployed too. I’ve watched my savings dwindle to nothing. But after that happened the first time, I managed to put together this little miracle called a savings account to help through the next rough patch… and built it back up again after being laid off a second time.
Being unemployed sucks. I know. And yes, looking at a $12 burger when that’s your grocery budget for several days really sucks. But you can’t be all,
“oh, poor me! The world just doesn’t want me to have a job, even though I am clearly superior to everyone else! Whatever shall I do? Call the unemployment office?? But I have a stuffy head, so NO. Go to an interview?? NO. I shall sell a clawfoot tub! And if that doesn’t work, I shall whine some more while blaming everyone else for my idiotic choices!”
and expect people to sympathize with your sitch.
@14 She used to pay $11 for a cheeseburger?
No, she wrote that she is noticing $11 cheeseburger prices. She’s probably referring to places like Quinn’s (“affordable food” according to the stranger) or similar places that hipsters go to before they get laid off.
Why oh why wouldn’t you go to an interview? Sick or otherwise, I can honestly say that I would crawl into that building if it meant finding a way out of a hole. I can’t say I’d sell all my belongings with sentimental value, etc. but a chance at a job? You’d have to be crazy!
I cringe at the way some commenters have been eviscerating these unemployed oversharers, but this one just annoys me.
I don’t think it’s Sophia’s fault, though.
I think it’s the fault of her upbringing that made her so fucking clueless and reckless to BUY A HOUSE on a WHIM.
I was raised with the understanding that buying a house is the biggest commitment you can make. You’re in it for the long haul. IT’S A FUCKING HOUSE, not a tv or a couch. And if you don’t have a shitload of money upfront to show your commitment, you need to get the fuck out of the mortgage lender’s office. The rubes who never understood this, who believed that a low-interest mortgage with no money down was a safe bet, all got what they deserved. I’m sorry you’re horrifically uneducated and terminally stupid, I guess is what I’m saying.
If I’ve learned anything from this person, it’s that any scenario involving buying a house with my drinking buddies on a whim will probably turn out badly. Not that I have ever thought of doing that in the first place, but if it does occur to me at some point in the future, here’s the evidence of why NOT to do it.
Long time reader, first time poster.
What I don’t understand at all is why some of the commentators even bother to read the slog, let alone post (i.e. #1) If your so obviously hateful of the social demographic this paper represents, why waste your time reading it. If I was a hateful piece of shit I would focus on reading the national review and posting comments on newsmax or something similar.
Anyways, back on topic. I agree with #8, try working with the utility company. In my experience with handling debt obligations, the company will realize that its in their best interest to work with you, although some refuse to do anything until your actually in collections.
@15 Only if you believed the “buy now or be priced out forever!” bullshit from the NAR.
@18, She did buy $11 cheeseburgers before the layoff. (And this is one place I cannot judge her; $11 sure seems like a lot more when all you have is $109 than when you have a regular paycheck.)
Her quote: “It shouldn’t annoy me, since I used to pay prices like this, but it does.”
@18: Ah. I guess I got the impression from:
“It shouldn’t annoy me, since I used to pay prices like this, but it does.”
Have you tried the local movie theater? They are always looking for a body to fill a job. Or what about local fast food chains? The turn over rate is high, so at least you could put in an application and just wait for an opening. Also, as previously mentioned, have you looked into a getting a job for the 2010 census? You can fill out your application online right now and start work pretty soon.
And do you have a head hunter agency looking for jobs for you? Is your resume with 3 different temp agencies (like appleone)?
Also, for my current job I came to the interview the day after I got back from Germany (I was on a vacation I had book months before I was unemployed). I had massive jet lag, but was as chipper as possible. I started work 3 days later.
If you show up sick, it shows you are gonna be reliable to show up at work. Just tell them you aren’t contagious, but a little sniffly. Get lots of caffine or one of those 5 hour energy drinks.
Ok, ok. I guess I mis-read what she previously bought. Sorry!
Now I’m hungry for a decent (veggie) burger.
This is a very sad sad story, but I haven’t seen her on Facebook in the Lighthouse Irregulars group, so I’m not sure which Fremonster she is …
(caveat – I bought my current house on a whim, after walking by it one day in downtown Fremont …)
This woman is self destructive, plain and simple. Too sick to go to an interview? That is some weak ass shit. Reminds me of my brother, always an excuse.
Wonder what her love is like. Probably a similar blasted landscape of failure.
Go get a shit job like half of America has, and don’t go buying any more houses. The economy did not cause your problems. You did.
She has to be trolling. Right? Please?
Otherwise, why would every single thing that she’s written in this update be a stupid, easily avoidable mistake? She can be forgiven for making the very common mistake of having bought a house at the wrong time for the wrong reason. But blowing off an interview? Forgetting to call the employment office? Eating out, when cooking for yourself would be literally 10 times cheaper?
Fuck, if I were her co-owner and these were the excuses she was making for not keeping current on the mortgage, I’d sue the fucking pants off her too.
If you’re broke, stop thinking about cheeseburgers, stop thinking about eating out. It’s a good time to start cooking ALL your meals. Sell your microwave and use the money to buy a big bag o’ beans, and a big bag o’ rice, and get yourself to a cheap produce stand. Meat is expensive, and not all that good for you in the long run. I still eat meat once in a while, but you can save a lot by going veggie more of the time.
It’s totally understandable to miss a job interview if you’re sick – with the ebola virus or the Asian bird SARS.
About shit being expensive:
I live in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY. Been here for about 10 years. A restaurant just opened across from the big park here in the neighborhood. A cup of coffee costs $2.25. A Burger costs $15. WTF??!?! Shit is expensive, and this new restaurant is a joke. I bought one cup of coffee which was great, looked at their menu, was appalled, I left, and won’t be going back.
As for Sophia’s situation, we all have our own lives to deal with, and those people judging her so harshly can do so, but it’s her story. It’s her life. We aren’t all lucky, we aren’t all lucky all of the time, we live and make decisions, and we live with those decisions. Life is life, and her story has been a good one to follow. She isn’t whiny, she doesn’t come off as entitled, she is sharing what is going on with her being unemployed, and being unemployed can be a terrifying, horrible time; BUT Sophia has been able to go through it and make the best of it. I find it inspiring. Especially after finding out that my wife’s work, where around 200 people are employed, just fired 20 people.
TWENTY people. One woman who has two children to support. Twenty people.
This time is insane, and the self-righteous idiots are just that– idiots. Hearing these stories and living in this recession/financial crisis, one can either have greater compassion and want to help people or one can choose to be a dick, to condemn people for buying a house or losing their job, etc.
Yeah. That’s all. For now.
why the fuck are you eating out? that should be the least of your goals.
why the fuck are you being sued? i bet they (co-owner) has a pretty good damn reason judging from your posts.
shut the fuck up and spend more energy sucking off the system and stop nailing yourself to the cross.
do you know what a GOOD impression it might have made if you showed up to the job interview sick and explained to them that you were sick but that this was priority for you. i did that once….went to an interview with a fucking flu and they gave me the job. but you would rather suck the marrow from the system and the vapid piece of shit you appear to be.
good luck with that. i hope you get fucked in court.
Man, I wish I could eat out as much as I used to … but $11 for a cheeseburger? I mean, if I ever go to a place like that I never ever go back.
Go to Dick’s … they’re a heck of a lot cheaper and the walk from Upper Fremont to Wallingford will clean out your arteries.
@22: I don’t think that questioning someone’s bad choices makes you unfit to read and comment on the Slog.
Having said that, my boyfriend and I essentially bought a new (relatively inexpensive) car on a whim after we moved here a year and a half ago. You’re automatically upside down on a car the second you drive it off the lot. Selling it back would be as expensive as keeping it for another year. We’d lived somewhere with public transportation for 5/7 years before that and our last cars had been junker gifts from parents. We just DID NOT know what we were getting ourselves into.
This gives me a little more sympathy than I might otherwise have.
Oddly, it was probably good for the relationship. Holding a car loan together is almost like being gay married. Sounds like the mortgage had the opposite effect on Sophia.
Buying a house on a whim is just fucking dumb. I have no sympathy.
Also, $11 for a cheeseburger (esp. with fries) isn’t that uncommon in real restaurants or chains. Hell, an Extra Value Meal at McDonalds tips the scale somewhere around $7 and unlike most of these $11 burgers, it’s not even organic/free range meat.
Here’s the thing: you can whine about your choices all you want (although I think it’s better to do that with friends, rather than seeking sympathy from strangers on the internet), but they are ultimately that: your choices. You’re accountable for them. You’re getting sued by your co-owner? You need to entertain the possibility that it’s not just because you’re oh-so-persecuted by the world. You owe $934 in oil charges? Maybe you should have paid your bill as you went along, or investigated how much you’d need to pay before you bought the house.
Selling luxury items sucks, but they’re just that: luxury items. I can understand being bummed out about your Schwinn, but I think you have bigger things to be concerned about right now.
It’s YOUR responsibility to call unemployment. It’s YOUR responsibility to get your ass to job interviews. It’s YOUR responsibility to apply for jobs around the clock. Does it SUCK? I’m in the same position, and yes, it totally does. I see that you’re trying to be a little glib with the “white, young, educated” crack, but seriously? Start being accountable for your actions and stop being a fucking victim. You’re making those of us who are facing unemployment with grace and courage and determination, and who are white and young and educated and articulate, come to that look bad by association.
#37: A few years ago I had a cold but went to scheduled job interviews at two major employers. Both interviewers expressed concern about being around a sick person and didn’t want to shake my hand afterward. I didn’t get either job. I believe I would have gotten an offer from at least one of them had I rescheduled.
Sophia, what beautiful piece. It is such a perfect encapsulation of so many things. I am proud of you. You are a lucky, lucky girl. So get your white butt over to Medina or Mercer Island. Plop it down on whatever bar stool you can find and get your economic stimulus on. Work it for all it is worth. Sorry you did not get your MRS. the first time around but it is time for you to study up and pass those marital exams. You are not getting any younger, right?
Good luck.
Would it have been possible for you to call up the place you were interviewing with and say, “I don’t want to get anyone sick, but I really want to interview, can we reschedule or do this over the phone.”
Why is the co-owner of the house suing you?
For all those of you who are tired of commentors making comments in the comments section, please go away.
This is the COMMENTS section where you will be reading what people think who may not agree with you.
God, how so many of you go on about a relative strangers private life. Why is it so important? Why become angry? Why attack?
So you’re big on taking responsibility? Then try taking some responsibility for your own judgementalism, instead of spewing it all over the place.
@45 for the best useful advice.
all the rest of us – myself included – for least useful advice.
@47. You are dumb.
Whatever happend to that stoner kid? I wonder how many potential employers googled his name as part of the interview process. Is he giving out those $5.00 handies yet?
Eli, tell Sophia to drop me a line. She is making faint, understandably confused efforts at patching a boat that WILL NOT STAY AFLOAT. It is time for her to rethink her situation. Kudos though for the brass to begin that process publicly.