Girl on the Brink: Surviving Desperate Times with Desperate Measures

Day 196 — Honesty Is Best

Job-posting boards go beyond telling us who’s hiring for what. They give us advice about how to makeover our resumes, write cover letters and prep for an in-person interview. There always seems to be the top 10 do’s and don’ts. I spend too much time thinking about potential questions on a job application and contemplate answers for [...]

Day 195 — What Turns You On?

ANN’S NOTE: Ann enjoys her Saturday day of rest, but she’s decided to dedicate this day to a re-post of her favorite posts. Today, she brings you Day 151: What Turns You On? And, don’t forget to check out the new jobtoon under “More to Ann,” where you’ll also find a link to last [...]

Day 194 — Reference Check

Most online job applications require you to submit references from the get-go. I don’t have a problem with that. I understand a prospective employer wants to make sure I’m not a lunatic. It seems so unfair, though. Why can’t I ask for vendor references to see if the company I might work for pays its bills [...]

Day 193 — Too Much Time to Spare

Making your funeral arrangements has come down to four easy steps. Hey, why not figure this out. Unemployment affords me the time. But I don’t need to figure out a thing—just how to pay for it when I come to the checkout screen. Funeralwise.com has made planning for your funeral as easy as flushing unwanted goldfish down the [...]

Day 192 — The Ethics of Survival

If the federal government could do for the unemployed what GEICO has done for cavemen, we’d all feel a hair more civilized. GEICO has changed the public’s perception of cavemen. They’re not stupid but hairy urban bachelors with enough brains to use the Internet. I would love for the feds to change the perception of my [...]

Day 191 — Organizational Reboot

I live in a constant and fluctuating state of disorganization. My life on the brink stems from a disproportionate ratio of fear and lack of executive functioning skills. Look, I’m just being honest. I pretend to be highly organized, and, in many respects I am. The books for my volunteer-run nonprofit are in tippy-top order, and I use [...]

Day 190 — Little Red Wagonhood

ANN’S NOTE: Listen to Girl On the Brink on NPR’s Tell Me More. One of the many things about being unemployed is that I need to negotiate new reasoning for accomplishing my daily and weekly chores. Usually, not having a car is no big deal except when you add in the mitigating factors of children and [...]

Day 189 — Manifesto of the Idle Workers of the World

ANN’S NOTE: I am reposting the manifesto given the outpouring of support I have received from today’s feature about me and my blog in The Washington Post Sunday magazine. Here’s a pdf of the article. Tomorrow, I’m on NPR’s Tell Me More at 2 PM EST. We are more than 15 million individuals in the [...]

Day 188 — Best of Girl On the Brink

ANN’S NOTE: The magazine feature about me and Girl On the Brink in Sunday’s Washington Post magazine (October 11) is out! Read it online. Also, catch Ann this Monday on NPR’s Tell Me More with Michel Martin at 2 PM EST. Ann Powers, aka Girl On the Brink, serves up her readers’ top 10 [...]

Day 187 — Habits of Highly Dysfunctional People

Habits. They change when you’re unemployed, especially when you’re unemployed and living with your ex. Remember, bad times force people like me to do weird things, including sharing the same house but separate beds with him. The biggest difference I’ve noticed is the brand of cereal my ex husband buys. In our kitchen cabinet, Wheaties has [...]