There ARE Good People in this World...Who Knew?

I spent a lot of time this afternoon trying to get in touch with Massachusetts' Unemployment Office. Let me tell you...there is nothing more difficult than getting them on the phone. It takes a few minutes to get through the automated system and then right after you put in your social security number, 99 times out of 100 it will tell you there's no one available to talk and will then hang up on you...you cannot hold nor can you go back to the automated system. You need to dial again and go through the whole process. When you FINALLY are allowed to wait for a rep, it's a 15-20 minute wait. Why I couldn't just wait on hold for 30 mins, I don't know. But either way, a few hours after I started my first dial, I finally talked to someone.

This person was MUCH nicer than the person I spoke with last week and actually wanted to help me, not get me off the phone as soon as humanly possible (thereby necessitating another call to the hell that is the unemployment office). Anyway, this person told me that my previous employer reported that I quit. OMG... No.Flipping.Way. He gave me the name and number of an unemployment advocate and said I could give her a call tomorrow. (I'm thinking "heck no...I'm calling her now")

So I called. And I think I actually made a phone call to heaven because the unemployment advocate was a genuine angel. Like a real one with wings and all. She was empathetic, supportive and helpful. She took a full statement from me and couldn't understand why my previous employer did what they did. I also gave her a copy of the MMLA (Massachusetts Maternity Leave Act) section about returning to work, which helped my case immensely. My previous employer has 48 hours to get back to her, and if they don't then she decides the case and that's that.

Thank G-d for genuine, nice, amazing, etc. people in this world...especially this angel at the unemployment office. She seriously deserves the Nobel Prize or something.

P.S. My son is giggling in the other room, and I have no clue why. He's just in there with his sister, and I can't imagine what is making him laugh. Right...now he's crying. I'd better go check on them...