THE ECONOMY :

Once a waitress, now just waiting

No promising options for electrician

Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Jennette Nelson, one of many victims of the stagnant local economy, moved into this $200-a-week residence motel near the Strip after losing her job as a restaurant server. "In retrospect, I wish I saved that money," she says.

Fifty-one-year-old Jennette Nelson has gone from two jobs to none, and from a nice apartment and pleasant evenings out on the town to a crummy efficiency motel where she’s waiting for her Chrysler Sebring to be repossessed.

Yep, she says, she should have saved money when she had it.

That would have been a couple of years ago, when Nelson was working two jobs as a food server, making between $600 and $900 a week depending on tips. She was working about 55 hours a week but there were bills to pay — including a $3,000 dental bill for a bridge and three pulled teeth. She also spent $5,000 on a down payment for the 2004 Sebring.

Still, she says, she enjoyed a degree of financial freedom. “I would go to the store and not have to count the dollar amount in my head.”

“In retrospect, I wish I saved that money,” she says. In a 12-month period, she put away just $1,800.

The dual jobs ultimately proved too much for Nelson. She kept the one at Denny’s, which promoted her to a $36,000-a-year position as a store manager. After a year, she quit because of the pressure, and took what she thought was a better job, as a waitress at an Original Pancake House.

It was there that the tanking economy caught up with her: Fourteen weeks into the new job, there was only enough business at the restaurant for her to work one or two days a week. She filed for unemployment because her wages were almost nil. Nelson’s boss apparently got wind of that and fired her Sept. 2.

This drove Nelson and her then-boyfriend from their apartment to the $200-a-week residence motel not far from the Strip. They married this month and paid $125 for everything, including the license, her dress and his suit.

These days, she visits the state JobConnect office on Maryland Parkway, which posts job listings, “looking for anything, server, cashier, warehouse job — anything.” She’s distributed her resume across the valley, at grocery stores, casinos, boutiques. The names of businesses, plus their phone numbers and the dates she’s visited them, are scribbled on a manila folder that holds her resumes.

Nelson is growing desperate because she’s three months behind on her $400-a-month car payments.

“I put my life savings in that car,” she says. “If I could just get one interview, I would ace it. But I haven’t had a single interview.”

Her husband, Rick Stewart, 50, earns about $750 a week stuffing vending machines in offices. It’s not enough to pay for staples, two cars and rent — or the cost to fix his impacted tooth.

“It’s just sad,” she says.

Nelson last week dipped into half of her remaining savings of about $70 to buy groceries for Thanksgiving. Six dollars went for a turkey.

No promising options for electrician

Sam Morris

Randy and Dayna Talbott, who own a home in Florida and rent locally, are tied down with big expenses and little work for Randy, an electrician. "I'll have to work until 10 months after I'm dead," he says he told his son.

Randy Talbott, a traveling union electrician who recently helped wire the new Aliante Station, has been without a job before.

In 2003 and 2004, he worked a total of 10 weeks. But back then, he had thousands of dollars in savings. He cashed out a $40,000 investment in a West Palm Beach property and tapped into $25,000 in retirement funds to get by.

Now, the 61-year-old Indiana native has $2,600 in savings and $15,000 in credit card debt — and no job in a valley with thousands of unemployed contractors, engineers and electricians.

“My son asked me when I’m going to retire,” he says. “I said, ‘I’ll have to work until 10 months after I’m dead.’ ”

Talbott laughs. “What else can I do?”

His wife, Dayna, frets constantly. She sleeps just an hour or so a night.

“This is the worst feeling I’ve ever had,” says the 60-year-old, after delineating their expenses: the $900 rent for their Spartan apartment in the northern reaches of the valley; the $1,000 mortgage on their home in the Florida Panhandle; the $700 for the 2003 Buick Century and 2005 Cadillac CTS.

Randy Talbott hopes he’ll be called in for work in January, but expects it would be for a short project, maybe for a two-week convention. Between 300 and 500 union workers are ahead of him on the union’s wait list.

“I don’t want to go down to CityCenter,” he says of the massive $9.2 billion hotel and condo complex on the Strip. “People die there. They call it CityCemetery.”

But if tapped, he says, he would join that crew.

With other Strip and area projects suspended or slowed, he doesn’t know when or where he’ll be able to find long-term work. If he returns to his $170,000 home in Florida, he’ll be jobless, so he would default on his mortgage. He could relocate to the Midwest, where there are some jobs, but that would cost him at least $2,000 to move plus $300-a-week to rent another apartment for what he figures would be a two- to three-month gig.

The alternatives, he surmises, are worse than staying in Vegas, waiting for a call.

He and his wife of eight years refuse to sell their Florida home. He says he needs a permanent postal address, not a post office box, while he’s working in Michigan, Mississippi and Ohio, among other states where they have been this decade.

And the Florida home represents a refuge for Dayna Talbott, who misses the beach and her 28-year-old daughter. She said she ponders returning there “three times a week.” She has 14 boxes packed.

Come New Year’s, Randy Talbott could still be jobless with a wife 2,000 miles away.

There is no other option, he says. “That’s survival.”

Discussion: 10 comments so far…

By Matois

11/30/08 at 4:52 a.m.

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The first couple in this story need some serious budget education! If the numbers are correct, they earn about $3000 per month. Take out $800 for rent and say $800 for car payments, and they have $1400 left over. Let's say they have $250 in revolving credit and medical payments. That still leaves $1150 per month. And they had to dip into savings for groceries? Granted times are a tough and prices have gone up a bit, but I know families of four who would feel like kings on that income these days. Were they featured in the wrong article or something? Were they meant for the article on "Whiners With Decent Income In A Down Economy" instead?
By fremmasmind

11/30/08 at 5:15 a.m.

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There are different levels of poverty. No matter what one makes we find a way to spend it. We have been conditioned with the high volume of people affecting this town, and the thought of "Next weeks another paycheck". Reality is not always nice.
By LasVegas2009

11/30/08 at 2:56 p.m.

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The first couple pays $200 a week for rent? Why not get a studio for $500 a month I mean hes at work and shes either looking for a job or setting at home. They just need to learn how to cut there expenses. Lots of cheaper apartments on craigslist for them and why not take the bus and give the car back? And the second couple are you kidding me! Hes to good to work at City Center? These people I could never feel sorry for. I dont and have never owned a Caddy. They own a house in Florida! These are both just whinners and we have lots of people that need help in Las Vegas that dont live "high on the Hog" like these people.
By LasVegas2009

11/30/08 at 4:48 p.m.

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ALL these listed on Craigslist
Just today and all are less a lot less than what these people pay!!

Nov 30 - $399 / 2br - $399 MOVE IN SPECIAL-2 BEDROOM/2 BATHROOM CONDO- NO DEPOSIT-NO CREDIT - (JONES AND FLAMINGO)

Nov 30 - $500 / 1br - Nice Quiet Apartment for Rent - (Fairfield AVe)

Nov 30 - $1 Owe More Than Your Home Is Worth? Behind On Payments? Save Your Home!! - (Vegas)

Nov 30 - $500 / 1br - 1 bedroom, 1 bath downtwn apartment - No Security Deposit $300 Move In - (S. Maryland Parkway at Bridger) img

Nov 30 - condos for rent - (lAS VEGAS )

Nov 30 - *~* NOW LEASING X-it at the 215 *~* - (89147/Ft. Apache/Tropicana/Southwest) pic

Nov 30 - $395 Studio Apartment: 600 sq. ft. (on top of warehouse); w/ view & privacy - (Quail Run Rd (Residential Neighborhood)) pic

Nov 30 - $500 REFERRAL - (ORANGE COUNTY) pic

Nov 30 - $450 Seeking Low Key Roommate - (215 & Decatur)

Nov 30 - $199 YOU COULD PAY MORE, BUT WHY? BEST DEAL ON LAS VEGAS BLVD!!!!!!!!!!!!! - (1508 Las Vegas Blvd) img

Nov 30 - 3br - 3+3, Luxury Modern Toll Brother Home, 24hr Guard, Views, *MUST SEE* - (Summerlin) img

Nov 30 - NEED HELP RENTING YOUR RENTAL PROPERTY? -

Nov 30 - $249 GREAT DEAL---- FURNISHED UNITS****ALL BILLS PAID*** & MORE ***** - (LAS VEGAS, NV) pic

Nov 30 - $473 / 2br - ****Buy this Henderson Townhome w/No Down Payment****** - (Summerfield Village)
By Lenny_V

11/30/08 at 11:57 p.m.

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Exactly. Why pay $200 for a scuzzball weekly rental when you can get a small apartment for less?
By azsk8fan

12/1/08 at 9:55 a.m.

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Here's a hint (if you have NO felonies and can get a sheriff's card) SECURITY JOBS - companies are always BEGGING for people because the pay isn't the greatest - there are NO perks such as sick pay or holidays - if you miss a day you don't get paid and while you DO get OT pay for working on a holiday you will get nothing if you're not scheduled to work on a holiday. Most offer some kind of crappy health insurance that you and the company contribute to to pay for but it's better than nothing, right? Most Security Companies wind up paying tons of over-time to 'rovers' because they don't have enough 'regular' guards - so anyone who can't find a job should start with companies like Guardsmark, Securitas, AlliedBarton, Green Valley Security - they will be happy to have you as long as you have no record and do have a HS Diploma.
By azsk8fan

12/1/08 at 10:05 a.m.

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oh, and btw, for the girl in the first story (talking about not being able to even get an interview) I get notices in my email for JOB FAIRS all the time - yes, they're still doing JOB FAIRS, and if she would show up 'dressed for success' (as the emails so aptly word it) she would be given an interview ON THE SPOT and possibly even a job offer if she has the right qualifications - it sounds to me like they're both just spinning their wheels at jobconnect -- watch for the job fair ads and then SHOW UP.
By songbird777

12/1/08 at 12:28 p.m.

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I agree, I think your reporters could have selected better candidates to interview for retrospectives on the declining economy. My daughter, her boyfriend, my grand-daughter and myself make it on just a little more than the first couple. Part of me wants to assume that $750 a week is a typo, because $3000 a month is more than enough for 2 to live on.
Giving the car back is not that simple for the person who made that suggestion. Unfortunately, that is called a voluntary repo, you still owe the amount of the loan, they sell the car at auction and what ever is not paid for on what you originally borrowed you still have to pay, only now you don't have a car. I did this once many years ago thinking it would better.
Also, my estranged husband is a construction worker, so I understand the electrician's hesitancy at working at City Center, there has been an inordinate amount of deaths on that project and as the family member of such no amount of money is worth that stress or getting the news that he suffered one of those tragic deaths. He is right it has been nicknamed "City Cemetary", cause something is definitely not right there. But, they need to take a reality check, you can't have it both ways. Time to give up something, sell something, move back, something.
I manage a restaurant, and there are days I want to give up, but you can't if you want to take care of business. For that matter that's any job. Are there plenty of jobs out there,in Vegas? No, there aren't. But both subjects could do with a good hard look at what they want to give up to survive. Americans are spoiled, I know I'm one of them. I just had the cable turned off, cause we just don't need it and we save almost $1500 a year. That's a lot of money that can go for other stuff.
The job fairs, yeah there's lots of them, I've gone to them myself when I was looking for work years ago, never got hired. So, sorry it ain't that easy.
Another way they both could go is Temp agencies, available for all types of work, they are always sending people out to work, and are always looking for new workers. It's how I got my current gig almost 4 years ago, and I got on permanant with Stations because I was able to get my foot in the door.
By mikegino

12/1/08 at 5:54 p.m.

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Jennette: stay away from the casinos.
By stevem

12/1/08 at 10:35 p.m.

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i don't know about the article above, but i finally had to leave las vegas. there just isn't enough good, sustainable jobs right now.

everyone's playing musical chairs. all the casino workers are looking in the non-casino sector, all the non-casino sector people are looking in the cashier / warehouse sector.

i know so many people that have packed up and moved away. going to live with friends in a larger city or going back to crash with their parents, save some money and come back to vegas in a few years.

word around the campfire is that city center is just days away from shutting down a major part of its construction and if that happens, i think all of us locals should turn on the lights and leave.