"God, please make today different." people desperate to get through on unemployment line

[Demovictory9]

By NJ Advance Media for NJ.com | May 31, 2020

Every morning, JoVonn Quinones dials the unemployment office again and again — hundreds of calls, each one met with the same automated voice telling him to try again tomorrow. David Czarnecki wonders if he’s going to die, not from the coronavirus but from a heart attack as he awaits his desperately needed benefits. Karen Silvester closes her eyes and begs: “God, please make today different.”

Earlier this month, NJ Advance Media asked readers to submit their frustrations and worries surrounding their worst financial nightmares becoming reality. Nearly 1,000 people responded. Here is what some said of the chaos and misery that overtook their lives. It’s a snapshot in time of one week in May, over two months into this new reality.



“I am worried about being able to pay my bills every month. I am worried about feeding my wife and kids. I don’t want to come out of this with thousands of dollars of debt and an eviction looming.”
JoVonn Quinones, 29, a wastewater operator from Plainsboro. He’s been waiting more than six weeks for unemployment benefits.

“I have no income. I keep charging everything to my credit cards, but eventually I have to pay them or my good credit will no longer stand. I cannot borrow money; everyone I know is in the same situation.”
Marianne Mondanaro, 46, a restaurant server from Paterson. She’s been waiting more than eight weeks for unemployment benefits.


“If it weren't so tragic, it'd be comical, like some kind of sitcom on TV. But if you wrote that script, they’d say ‘Nobody's gonna believe this.’”
Inge Thomas, 82, a massage therapist from Cherry Hill. She’s been waiting more than six weeks for unemployment benefits.

“They make us feel dehumanized. You're not breathing right, you're not sleeping right, you're not free. It's like they own us.”
Karen Silvester, 71, a preschool teacher from Monroe. She’s been waiting more than six weeks for unemployment benefits

“We went to two different pantries recently. At one, we received an old rotten chicken. We went to another and they supplied us with four blocks of Velveeta processed cheese.”
Michael Basile, 46, a maintenance worker from Long Branch. He’s been waiting more than four weeks for unemployment benefits.

https://projects.nj.com/unemployment/

[secondwind]

1. Damn.

Is this delay normal? What could be holding them up?

[MissB]

3. Sheer volume.

Old programming that needs to be updated.

Our gov fired the head of the unemployment department today, under pressure from our US senators. Folks are still trying to get through or even apply.

Because the feds expanded the benefits to folks that wouldn’t previously qualify, the programming needed to be updated.

Government doesn’t always do programming well.

[crickets]

2. I am so worried about people right now. It breaks my heart.

I just sent another donation to the local food bank today, but it's not enough. It shouldn't be this way.