Covid-19 - have you lost your job

[nuttylizardguy]

Lot will been feeling they are a very dark space now as a consequence of loosing their job literally overnight .
They can't even drown their sorrows at the local pub with their ex-work mates because these venues have been shutdown ( to high a risk of patron getting infected ).
MyGov was overloaded by the influx and Centrelink offices could not cope.

Maybe this chat thread might provide a way for them to reach out and at least have someone other than the few people they might be sharing a home with . They will be feeling very isolated ontop of very scared and worried for their future.

Please take time to process your situation, work you budget so you can survive this , talk to your landlord, mortgager, creditors ( if you have a lot of that is still being repaid ) you might be able to arrange a replayment holiday or greatly reduced replayments ( extending the loan period ) , the landlord might accept reduced rent ( so long as you stay reliable with the rental payments ), you might be able to turn a hobby into an income stream , you might be able to establish a local self help group or communal garden ( to grow staples ) .

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

None of the above, still employed full time as per normal.

 

[Tobe404]

Haven't lost my job as such (yet) but my family has decided to go into self-isolation to be on the safe side (some family members are high risk).

Work at a café (they have been pretty hard hit in general from what I am seeing).

Might not have a job after this all blows over.

 

[nuttylizardguy]

With up to 6 million Australians facing being stood down ( if they are lucky and their employer values them ) or being retrenched or let go or terminated if their employer is looking at a quick fix to their own financial situation. I expect many here have or will soon be "unemployed".

Likely a lot more than 6 mlllion Australians will be dumped on the dole queue if the USA drags the rest of the world down due to the incompetence of their buffoon in charge.

Have no delusions, the economic situation will get much worse and this is not going to be over this year or even by the end 2021. If the PM thinks it will return to normal in a matter of months , he's lying and at best delusional.

Being someone who was made redundant in 1983 , and again in 1999 , I'd like to offer some advice.
1) ditch the private health insurance ( you are covered by the Healthcare Card you will be issued ) and will have nearly everything medical covered 100% ( bulkbilled ) .
2) ditch the Ambulance cover , it's covered by the health care card .
3) roll over your contribution to your superannuation (if paid out on separation)
4) ditch the childcare the moment you are let go , mum and or dad will now be home to look after the kiddies.
5) if you have more than one car in the family , sell the one that's most expensive to run and has the largest replayment, You no longer need two cars.
6) sit down and do a DETAILED budget , make sure you get spending well and truly under control and anything that's not necessary is cut.
7) assume you will not get another job ( or be called back to your old job ) at least until 2021 and most likely never be ( called back ) .
8) start looking at retraining / reskilling options.
9) if you are older than 50 , you will most likely never work again as an employee even if you have degrees .
10) make sure you registered for the dole, when the Morrison govt kills the JobKeeper Program you will compelled to take the dole ( if possible claim the dole and make sure you list the JobKeeper allowance as income each fortnight ) and transport costs..
11) buy a large freezer , and buy beef and lamb and chicken in bulk when it's on special ,

IF you are in deep financial sh1t , and have been approved for the Dole, you can take an advance , that will repaid by part of your future dole payments over a period of several pays.You may not have this option on the JobKeeper Scheme.

These will save you A LOT of $ each fortnight , you'll need those $ to pay for necessary utilities , rent or home repayments, and food.

If you choose to go on the JobKeeper Scheme, ask if you are entitled to a Health Care Card
https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/health-care-card
and a Concession Card as you WILL not be able to afford to keep your private health Insurance and the Concession Card makes you eligible to for rebates.

Be optimistic if you must , but don't let Morrison con you into a delusional optimistic outlook ( highly likely if his lips are moving, he's lying and trying to spin the situation for his own electoral advantage either in late 2021 or early 2022 , his eyes are firmly fixed on trying to get another term as PM ) , protect yourself as much as you can by planning for the worst.

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

I'm prepared for what lies ahead.

 

[Herpetology]

My boss told me about the new “jobkeeper” package

Basically I’m going to get paid more for working less then half the hours

 

[dragonlover1]

I still have a job (so far) I am a self employed truckie and am a subbie to a very big company. Transport is still an essential industry but they have been asking subbies if they want to take a couple of weeks off, I assume that's so they can give more work to the company drivers who have less work ATM due to shops closing.

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

17 years with my current employer.... for years people have told me I'm crazy for doing the same monotonous thing day in and day out for that long... Well all those people are now jobless and I'm still working as per normal 5 days a week totally unaffected. Am I crazy or sensible?

I heard this morning that over 500 Australians have committed suicide since this all started... over 500 people who's world's were turned completely upside down and were left feeling completely hopeless... suicide will kill far more Australians in the coming months than Covid-19 itself will... that is a truly sad reality.

 

[Pauls_Pythons]

Not impacted so far (well not directly anyway) as I work in the food industry.
Wife has seen her hours increase in the short term.

Feel for anyone doing the hard yards but I fear this will take a very long time before any form of normality returns. Stay safe people.

 

[nuttylizardguy]

I still have a job (so far) I am a self employed truckie and am a subbie to a very big company. Transport is still an essential industry but they have been asking subbies if they want to take a couple of weeks off, I assume that's so they can give more work to the company drivers who have less work ATM due to shops closing.

Bugger them , look after yourself , if you take two weeks off , you might find yourself let go.
[doublepost=1585711101,1585710986][/doublepost]

17 years with my current employer.... for years people have told me I'm crazy for doing the same monotonous thing day in and day out for that long... Well all those people are now jobless and I'm still working as per normal 5 days a week totally unaffected. Am I crazy or sensible?

I heard this morning that over 500 Australians have committed suicide since this all started... over 500 people who's world's were turned completely upside down and were left feeling completely hopeless... suicide will kill far more Australians in the coming months than Covid-19 itself will... that is a truly sad reality.

nah … you've just been lucky , hope for your sake your luck holds out..

Re 500 suicides story - can't see it on ABC news site so I think it's FAKE NEWS , wouldn't be surprised if there have been several or even dozens of suicides or attempts though amongst the 1 million or more new jobless , and self funded superannuants who have watched there nest eggs drop in value and their homes values drop lots in the last month or so .
[doublepost=1585711670][/doublepost]

I'm prepared for what lies ahead.
View attachment 328842

gonna go shooting roos , rabbits , feral pigs , feral camels , feral horses and goats for the meat ?

Do us all a favor and blow away any cats you see too while you are at it.

I'll be dusting off my alveys and big snapper and jewie and beach rods , and my nigger fishing gear before long I expect.
Water is still warm enough to catch snapper off the rocks here, and the jewfish will still be on the hunt til the end of May. I've caught big jewfish over winter , but it's very cold overnight and they are a very long way apart.
Then it's time to gather some green weed and down scale to float fishing for nigger around the harbor over winter til about August when the trevally will start showing up.
No rules stopping anyone from fishing by themselves.

 

[dragonlover1]

Bugger them , look after yourself , if you take two weeks off , you might find yourself let go.
[doublepost=1585711101,1585710986][/doublepost]

I heard from our union delegate today, company drivers have priority over subbies, they are giving them our permanent runs and sending us all over the place with all the sh1te deliveries, they are also ringing subbies asking when we started, so it looks like the writing's on the wall. As subbies the best we can hope for is 26 weeks redundancy, that won't pay off my house

 

[nuttylizardguy]

One more bit of advice , if you are lucky enough to have been with the same employer for decades , having built up a nice nest egg , take any advice given by financial planners with a very big dose of salt , not one of them will have YOUR INTERESTS FOREMOST in their mind, they want to make money off you and your money and are most likely to give very bad advise that will only really benefit them.

Do YOUR OWN homework , if you have a mortgage on the house still , you are better off discharging it immediately if you have the money to do so from your severance payments than falling for a financial planner's conjob and handing your money over them to "manage" / play with.

This is what I did in 1999 , best financial move I ever made.
[doublepost=1585713663,1585712919][/doublepost]

I heard from our union delegate today, company drivers have priority over subbies, they are giving them our permanent runs and sending us all over the place with all the sh1te deliveries, they are also ringing subbies asking when we started, so it looks like the writing's on the wall. As subbies the best we can hope for is 26 weeks redundancy, that won't pay off my house

Coles , Woolworths , AusPost , Bunnings might be options for you as a delivery driver , I'd get a jump on this and start calling these companies ( now ) .

Having been there and done that, I know it's not a nice situation to be in and you'll be loosing lots of sleep with worry now. Only thing you can be do is be proactive and start the job hunt NOW , if you are VERY LUCKY you might walk out of the current subcontract straight into another or very shortly after.

If you are lucky your partner will keep their job so you wont end up in a deep deep **** hole financially if/when you are terminated.

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

Not luck... I'm in the food industry. I'm safe, the 500+ suicides info came from my uncle who's with QLD police, not a fake story it's just being suppressed from public knowledge and no, the bullets are for people when society collapses entirely. The crime rate is soaring now.

 

[nuttylizardguy]

Not luck... I'm in the food industry. I'm safe, the 500+ suicides info came from my uncle who's with QLD police, not a fake story it's just being suppressed from public knowledge and no, the bullets are for people when society collapses entirely. The crime rate is soaring now.

I've had relatives who and inlaws who were cops , advise given by them is if you shoot or otherwise harm someone who's engaged in a crime against you or your property, you'd better be able to prove you feared for your life else you'll likely be sued and also end up in the slammer.

I keep a crowbar handy for use against anyone who manages to get past my security screen door and solid / heavy timber entry doors . I don't need a gun .
There is also the SOS button on my home security system's remotes.

We keep very little cash on us or on the premises and hardest drug we have on hand is Panadol Osteo..so it wont be worth their effort anyway .

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

Crowbar will be useless when the s**t hits the fan.

 

[nuttylizardguy]

Crowbar will be useless when the s**t hits the fan.

We fortunately aren't the USA , so guns are much scarcer , and we have a much better safetynet here then there.

 

[dragonlover1]

Coles , Woolworths , AusPost , Bunnings might be options for you as a delivery driver , I'd get a jump on this and start calling these companies ( now ) .

Having been there and done that, I know it's not a nice situation to be in and you'll be loosing lots of sleep with worry now. Only thing you can be do is be proactive and start the job hunt NOW , if you are VERY LUCKY you might walk out of the current subcontract straight into another or very shortly after.

If you are lucky your partner will keep their job so you wont end up in a deep deep **** hole financially if/when you are terminated.

I was lucky in the last recession when I lost my job as warehouse manager and got a job driving for Buttercup delivering bread, now I am a driver doing parcel delivery I am in a better position than some others I know. As for a partner I don't have 1, I got rid of her years ago when she started cheating on me. I am happily divorced thankyou.

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

We fortunately aren't the USA , so guns are much scarcer , and we have a much better safetynet here then there.

Guns aren't as scarce here as you might like to think they are... There's more registered gun owners in Australia now than before the Port Arthur Massacre. A LOT more. A bloke I work with was robbed last Monday by intruders that entered his house brandishing a tomahawk... Well he wished he had a gun then.
Forget your cash or panadol... thieves are after items they can quickly turn over for cash... your tv, laptops, assorted equipment, DVD players, soundbars, stereo equipment and of course jewellery etc.

 

[dragonlover1]

I've had relatives who and inlaws who were cops , advise given by them is if you shoot or otherwise harm someone who's engaged in a crime against you or your property, you'd better be able to prove you feared for your life else you'll likely be sued and also end up in the slammer.

I keep a crowbar handy for use against anyone who manages to get past my security screen door and solid / heavy timber entry doors . I don't need a gun .
There is also the SOS button on my home security system's remotes.

We keep very little cash on us or on the premises and hardest drug we have on hand is Panadol Osteo..so it wont be worth their effort anyway .

While it's true that you can't harm the precious little criminals unless you have serious concern for your personal safety it is ridiculous to think your pissy little SOS alarm will protect you and they don't know you have nothing, they will invade on the off chance you do

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

I've a wife and 2 pre-teen daughters... no jury is convicting me of anything other than self defense. Simple.