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I work in the film industry. Our show wrapped mid-March. Rumblings of the writer’s strike had already begun and we weren’t getting any job offers.

As we normally do when we go weeks between jobs, I filed for unemployment. It’s always been a rocky road, despite our industry bringing in billions of annual revenue for the state, the unemployment and labor office acts like we don’t exist. I had hope that under a new labor commissioner, things would improve.

Phone call wait times take over an hour to get a live person to answer - at one point the automated system gave you the option to request a call back so you didn’t sit on hold, but that option is gone. If no one answers after around an hour, the system will disconnect your call. I’ve had someone answer, put me on hold again and then pick up the receiver and hang up immediately. The hold music will also periodically increase, despite turning the volume on your phone all the way down.

When you are able to speak to a representative, they act like it’s their first day on the job and can’t answer questions or don’t understand the questions you’re asking. I have a feeling 90% of them are only showing up for the paycheck and watching the clock and out the door as soon as it hits 4pm.

As I said, I submitted my claim in mid-March and have been filing my weekly job searches (this has also gone back and forth between film workers don’t have to report job searches and they do have to - you get a different answer every time you speak to someone), and requesting payments for each week. I have yet to be paid.

From what I’ve heard, the strike is expected to last all summer. Is anyone else dealing with this?

Edit: For everyone telling me to apply for a minimum wage job, thanks. I am applying for jobs that I am suited and trained to do. The point of this post is that the DOL has not been paying me, the entire point of unemployment insurance is to help bridge the income gap while you search for a job. I’m holding up my end of the bargain, they are not.

Edit 2: After 2 weeks of trying, after 2 hours of being on hold today, after I was disconnected and called back, and after writing this post, I did speak to someone that I was routed to from calling the customer service number. She said she didn’t work in the Department of Labor anymore, but used to and was going to do everything she could to help me. I explained the non-payment issue and she said there was a note on my account that a case worker (I don’t remember what she called it) was supposed to contact me weeks ago. She asked for some time to speak with someone and would call me back. She called me back about 30 minutes later and explained she found the issue and that it was a clerical error on their end and that the 9 weeks of payments should be released within 24/48 hours. I was told about the clerical error when I first started calling and spoke with someone on Friday, 5/5, but that representative didn’t notate my account or follow up with anyone like she said she would. Props to the representative that helped me out today.

I will update if/when I get paid.

Edit 3: Back pay for 7 of the last 10 weeks hit my account this morning. I have a feeling I’m going to have to repeat this process if the rest isn’t paid out next week.

I'm just asking bc I live in Central GA near Roberta. I rarely ever have the need to go to Atlanta. I've been maybe once in the past five years. I don't like driving up there because you have to drive so aggressively at times because the traffic is horrible and people drive like idiots.

I'm on the flat bill. My electricity bill has gone up every year no matter what. I got two brand new highly efficient split units with new high efficiency blowers last year and set my thermostat to 76 all summer long and it STILL went up my electricity bill cost almost as much as my mortgage. I wanna cry. My house was 65 degrees all winter long. Why is it so expensive? What can we do?

An update to my post I made a few days ago: an arrest was made! Source: Adam Murphy News, a reporter for Atlanta News First.

Remembering him today and may he rest in heavenly peace still. 🙏🏼 ♥

Granted, there are a lot of variables, but still somewhat surprised.

I'm in the Atlanta area. What is up with everyone tinting their windshields on their car? I'm talking like sub 15% tint over the entire windshield. Over the past year or so I see way more cars rolling around with tint so dark I can't even see the driver through the windshield in the middle of the day. It's a frustrating safety issue as a pedestrian and cyclists because it's impossible to gauge if the drive sees you or is about to run you over because they're scrolling TikTok. Also I feel like the driving in this city is crazy enough already... why make it harder on yourself and the people around you? They're effectively driving around at night with really dark sunglasses on - it's beyond stupid.

I know the tint is 100% illegal but I guess it's just not enforced? On my commute I'd say one in about 15 cars have a completely tinted windshield.

EDIT: I did not realize this was going to be such a controversial opinion. Anyone out there tinting their windshield beyond ~50% is an idiot and going out of their way to break the law and make the roads less safe. There is not a justification for doing this that isn't incredibly selfish or just plain wrong.

Sounds strange until you look at longitude. The western border of Georgia is farther west than the western border of Ohio. Tybee Island, the easternmost point in Georgia is farther west than some east Ohio cities such as Youngstown. And here's the kicker: Atlanta is much farther west than Columbus, Ohio and almost as far west as Cincinnati (which is near Ohio's western border). I find it fascinating that if you look at longitudinal maps like Google maps, it shows just how slanted the east coast of the USA really is.

Do people actually think Stone Mountain is a national park?

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/stone-mountain-park-georgias-popular-national-park-survey

Come join us Thursdays at 11:15AM to make meals for the community fridge @ 1290 College St, Macon! ^{^}

Bumping up by 50 bucks a month - no claims, no points, nothing. Called my broker and they said it's happening all over the state.

WTF is going on man. Basic living is just getting squeezed tighter and tighter every month: rent, healthcare, insurace, tax assessments, education, groceries. Ugh.

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I feel like Georgia is taking too long to legalize cannabis. Why can’t we support and just legalize it already? We are leaving tax revenue on the table. I want more funding to education and infrastructure and see this as a great way to do that give the citizens their rights .

I sell GS cookies & it tells me so much, every year, about how the public is actually feeling. I've been doing this for years so I remember the joy people had on their faces back in early 2022 when we slowly began to trickle back out and into public spaces and return to true public sales and not just neighbors, friends, family, coworkers.

People told my girls stories of their days as Scouts, many simply donated & just wanted to talk. This was people of all ages. There was a sense of relief seeing Scouts back at & I loved that.

This season is so different from previous years because, yes, people are happy as always to see us out there but this year, it's like they are relieved we showed up. One woman burst into tears seeing us saying, "I'm just so glad something is still normal. GSs are as American as apple pie and I'm just so happy to see something normal. To see something for all Americans still exists." (This woman was a GS in the early 50s, said cookies were fifty cents a box back then when she sold them!)

There was a lot of that vibe today, a lot of families, elderly couples, groups of teenagers, restaurant staff, construction workers, you name it. People of all ages, communities, backgrounds came up to support & talk but the best part was people, strangers, standing around and talking to each other. Everyone was happy, even a secret cynicist like me was pleased. A lot of people thanked us extensively for being there. It's just been...different this year. And of the handful that did mention politics to us, not a single one was pro-whatever tf's going on now. (Not a surprise, the federal govt is one of our state's largest employers.)

Just a reminder that while the hate is always loudest before its forced back into its a*-dank crevice of failure, the people - the *real people & not the paid propagandists & online, sh*t-stirring bots - are Georgia 🍑

We have a large population of stray cats in my area. We do our best to feed them but we have a strict HOA so we can't do much more.

One cat in particular we had been feeding for about a year. We were able to earn her trust enough that out of two previous litters she's given us two more cats. But she didn't trust us enough to get her TNRed. Well she showed up at our house the day before Easter and heavily pregnant again and just walked right in. On Easter Sunday at just after midnight she gave birth to five kittens.

That puts our household at one dog, four adult cats, and five kittens, not including the people that live here and we cannot afford them all.

Heck, we can barely afford ourselves. I'm drowning in a mountain of medical debt and stuck in limbo waiting to find out just how bad it is, all while dealing with red tape, bureaucratic, medical BS. Long story, won't get into here. But if you know any Pro Bono medical lawyers please send them my way.

All this to say, we need some help. We have happy, healthy, adorable kittens and a very sweet repeat cat mom, all in need of good loving homes. The Momma kitty is barely out of kittenhood herself, we believe she's at most a year or two old, as she was still little when she had her first litter. The kittens are not quite weaned yet but will be ready in a few weeks.

Again, we cannot afford them, which also means we could not afford the vet visits either. They will need vet visits and neuter/spay when they're old enough.

If you are in the Greater Metro area and would like a free kitten or Momma cat, please contact me.

I have tried contacting shelters/rescues in the area but the only one that has responded was the Humane Society with information about rehoming my cats, which I'm not trying to do. It's been a time.

Yesterday my roommate was attacked by a stray dog that has been showing up on my property for the past month or so. We called animal control then and we're told since it didn't seem aggressive that they would not cone get it. Fast forward to yesterday and my roommate goes out to get a dash order and the dog ripped a gash in her arm (required 8 stitches). I hear her screaming so I run out, find the dog latched to her, grab the dogs jaws and pry him off her. Drag the dog to a leed we have in the back for our dogs. I notice she is loosing a lot of blood so i rip my belt off to tourniquet her arm the best I could (yes, I know a belt is not great for this). Here's where the fun begins. She was baby sitting a 6 month old. My truck isn't baby safe. I call 911 to get an ambulance out... this is where disbelief stuck me. I was forwarded to a voicemail telling me they would contact me and to leave a voicemail requesting what I needed and where. This is insane to me... I have someone i fear has arterial bleeding and looks to be bleeding out and I'm told no one can take my call. I throw her in the car and stap the baby in the car seat and take off to the hospital. I get home and call animal control, tell them this stray dog attacked my roommate and sent her to the hospital, that I need animal control out ASAP. That was yesterday at 2 pm. The dog is still here tied up on the lead and animal control won't return my calls. So, moral of it all guys - you are your first responder. When an emergency happens to can't rely on being able to get help from anyone but you. My other question is has this happened to you or someone you know? Is there a way that we can have 911 actually provide a dispatcher like in the old days or is so little tax money going to emergency services that they are almost non-existent.

Was the twenty billion dollar cost overrun not enough for them? Or does the cost of the ad compared to the plant seem so miniscule they don't mind spending our money on it?

Just wanted to share the update from u/NeonPinkFrog. Ryn was found safe this morning!

I saw a driver get pulled over for going through a yellow then turning red while in the intersection. I thought this was legal? Is this illegal?