It has now been over one full month since I was fired. This morning I had breakfast with my best friend (who still works at the studio and keeps me up to date on gossip and the fallout of my absence). She brought me a birthday card that was from the GM at the studio. I was initially touched. I didn't expect the GM to remember my birthday -- heck, with everything going on, I almost forgot about it. But then I thought that it was a pretty lame gesture. She's the freaking GM of the company... if I was valued enough for her to remember my birthday, then why didn't she do anything to fight for me? She has to know that my dismissal was a sham. So if she's feeling that guilty about it, then a birthday card is a poor excuse for not at least giving me a severance package. After eight years. Great employee relations, that.
I know I should move on, but I was WRONGED. That fat, bleached-blonde, walking heart-attack creep of an IT manager LIED about me, and he got me fired under false pretenses. I can't just let it go. I want restitution. I want JUSTICE. I will not go quietly.
I have $140 left in the bank. My health insurance "COBRA" payments will be $977 a month if I decide to continue on the company plan. The HMO is much cheaper, but why pay for something that offers no real coverage? I'm a cancer survivor, and the quarterly tests they run on me aren't covered by the standard HMO. My oncologist isn't even on their "list" of "approved physicians." And to top it all off, the studio is contesting my unemployment insurance claim. The are trying to deny me a measly $370 a week so I might be able to eat and pay my phone bill while I pound the pavement looking for a new position. Injury, meet Insult. Misery loves company, and I'm sure you two have lots to dish about.
And speaking of pounding the pavement, I've emailed or faxed over eighty copies of my resumé to every advertisement and lead that even remotely looks like something for which I might be qualified. I'm bloody executive material, darnit. I have fifteen years of hard-core experience in the film industry. And nobody has the decency to even call me back, even to just say "no thanks" or "you're overqualified" (I used to at least get that much...). Whatever happened to common courtesy and good manners? I have not received one response. I leave voicemail messages, and nothing. I leave messages with secretaries and assistants, and nothing. Not even a return call after I've had an interview. I always perform the required "follow up" call or drop an email thanking them for their time. I even sent a handwritten postcard to the BIG studio that granted me an interview last month. I was taught to be polite and professional. Am I the last one left? Or are these people so full of themselves that they figure they don't have to bother unless they decide they want something from me?
I've also noticed that my colleagues and old friends in the business have suddenly become quite scarce. I placed at least fifty phone calls to some of my more valued vendors (all of which used to praise me for my efficiency and professionalism) to let them know I was no longer at the studio and that I was available for immediate hire. Now all of a sudden it's as if I've contracted leprosy. It seriously makes me wonder if the studio is spreading rumors about the details of my dismissal. I mean, the film business is a lot like a small town -- everybody knows everybody else's business and what color it is, to boot. And if the studio folk are mentioning details, oh, boy, is that illegal. They're allowed to say I was dismissed, but that's it. Anything else can be considered slanderous and a defamation of my character. Even if it is a pack of lies, it could hurt my chances of obtaining a new position. As it is, it's already jeopardizing my chances of collecting unemployment, and that's bad enough.
But none of my old colleagues are calling me back, so I can't just simply ask them if the studio is spreading dookie about me.
So all I am left with is the "help wanted" ads in the Hollywood Reporter and the umpteen "entertainment jobs" listings online, the employment web pages of the major studios, and any leads my few remaining friends might hear of on the rather unreliable industry grapevine.
I have $140 left in the bank... I need a miracle
