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By J. Patrick Coolican (contact) 
Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Robert Martin
Lorraine Puntorno
Michelle Montano
Scott Gidley
Christopher McClennen
Beverly Hill
Samson Baya
Sun Archives
- Art of the spin, unemployment-rate style (11-22-2009)
- Jobless rate soars to 12.3 percent in Las Vegas (7-17-2009)
Sun Topics
How are Nevadans coping in the recession? Here are seven stories from people the Sun interviewed at the Nevada JobConnect on Maryland Parkway.
Robert Martin, 39, last worked six months ago at the Fontainebleau, where he was a member of the Heat and Frost Insulators Local 135, he said Wednesday at the JobConnect on Maryland Parkway. The massive casino project is in bankruptcy, and work has stopped.
Martin has looked everywhere, even McDonald’s and Toys R Us.
“I take Xanax to cope,” he says.
Martin finds the situation of his girlfriend, Danielle Lorenzi, even more baffling. She has a degree from UNLV and a master’s degree, and was a teacher before accepting a job with the county in child services before being laid off.
The two have gone as far east as Arkansas in search of work, to no avail.
Lorenzi does not have health insurance, but says she has health issues that need addressing. Like Martin, she also endures anxiety, including a nightly outbreak of hives, but she says the couple are persevering. “This has made us really strong.”
•••
Lorraine Puntorno, 61, thinks she faces an extra obstacle in this recession — her age.
She broke her back in a work-related injury as a food server on the Strip in 2007; since the doctor gave her the OK to return to work in the spring of 2008, she hasn’t been able to find anything.
“You don’t go on the Strip because they don’t want you — you’re too old. They think old people already smell, and can’t work, and lose their minds, and we’re not good looking,” she says.
Age discrimination is rampant in Las Vegas, she says. “They say they don’t age discriminate, but they do — terribly.”
She seems eager to work, but can’t find a thing: “I want to work until I’m 70. I have a good eight years left in me. Even with a broken back, I’m still alive and kicking.”
She’s depleted her savings and has struggled not to let stress get the best of her, with help from anti-anxiety medication.
She has no health insurance, meaning she’s unable to get treatment for a hernia or to have her back checked.
•••
Michelle Montano’s nails are bitten down to the nub, a symptom of her anxiety over becoming jobless recently after six months at Ross, the clothing store.
She’s applied everywhere, even Burger King, she says, motioning to the one next to JobConnect.
“I’ve gone through all my savings,” she says.
She has had to endure the embarrassment of borrowing money from family. “My mom is like, not rich, and they’re getting tired of it,” she says.
She would like to go back home to California, but she can’t afford it.
“Sometimes I just sit there and cry. I just wish any job would call me,” she pleads.
She recently found out she’s diabetic but has no health insurance.
The doctor told her to go to California, where a stronger social safety net might allow her to get some treatment.
•••
This recession has been easier on college graduates than on the rest of the populace, as unemployment for those workers is less than 5 percent nationally. But a college degree doesn’t make you immune to the troubles, reminds Scott Gidley, 46, who has an English degree from Fairfield University in Connecticut.
He was laid off from his last job in March.
He remains upbeat: “I’m very optimistic. I’ve got a few leads. You’ve got to remain optimistic,” he says.
Still, it’s a challenge to fight off both anxiety and depression, he says.
When you’re unemployed, he explains, it’s hard to think of anything else.
“I feel like I’m just being rather than doing,” he says.
•••
Christopher McClennen, 34, came here a month ago from the Detroit area, where he did maintenance and custodial work, because there were no jobs there, and to be with Jennifer Maples, who accompanied him to the state unemployment office Wednesday.
“It was too rough out there,” he says.
Since arriving, he’s had no luck despite “trying to get whatever I can get,” he says.
He must not have known that the situation here is just as bad, with Nevada’s unemployment at 13 percent.
The move and joblessness have been stressful, he says.
“Oh yeah. It can get pretty stressful. In this relationship it’s even gotten stressful,”
He’s been depressed: “This is the first time I’ve never had a job.”
•••
Beverly Hill had a heart attack on her 51st birthday this summer.
She was at JobConnect on Wednesday, having just come from a doctor’s appointment. Unfortunately, her blood pressure has stubbornly refused to come down.
She wonders if stress is to blame. She’s been unemployed for more than a year. She had been a telemarketer, raising money for nonprofit organizations, but struggled to meet her quota as people grew more tightfisted with the onset of the recession.
“I think if I had been working, I might not have had this heart attack — you eat and sit around like a couch potato.”
The tears stream down her face, which she shields with sunglasses the size of hamburger buns.
“I try to put it in the Lord’s hands. I try to have that faith. But I’m human. I do doubt. And I am afraid.”
•••
Samson Baya, 35, wanders the streets at night, finding warmth in casinos before heading to a friends’ places at 8 a.m. or so to get some sleep when the friends go to work.
Baya sleeps a few hours and then hits the pavement in search of work.
He came here 11 years ago from Kenya. His wife and infant son are in Chicago. He hopes to join them if he can get the money together.
He worked for the luggage-cart company at the airport for a year and a half before being laid off in October.
He has untreated high blood pressure because he has no health insurance.
Being jobless and homeless is stressful, he says. “This is my first time without work.”
He adds: “No luck, but I don’t lose hope.”
I feel bad for all of these folks. It's a shame that Las Vegas has not much to offer in the way of jobs these days, but then again neither does California either. The southwest has traditionally been a region where people "escape" to from the colder regions to the north, and cities of the midwest and east coast. Sometimes folks should just stay put in the less desirable living regions until things country wide improve, Certainly EVERYONE knows that Las Vegas is not a user friendly place to people moving here with big expectations of a new life.
Why do people always knock California? Times are tough but for the most part life in Los Angeles is great!
The sad thing too is there isn't any light at the end of the tunnel for so many looking for jobs. In years past, when you lost your job or were layed off, you KNEW you would eventually find a job within a month or two, with max being 3-4 months and you stayed positive, there was that light at the end of the tunnel. But not anymore. There is no light; once in a while there is a flicker, but that's it. And the longer you are unemployed, the more stressful it gets. And the more depressed you get.
And it's very costly to move to another part of the country unless you have help from family or friends. It's not that easy to just pick up and move, especially if you are tied to a house that is only worth a third of what you originally paid for it and your unemployment barely puts food on the table.
Where I am living right now, about 50 miles away is that prison that the feds are going to buy to house the Gitmo detainees. It will be a HUGE boost to the local economy in jobs - tech, construction, housing, restaurants, etc. The whole prison has to be updated to become maximum security so estimates in our local paper said that this prison will bring in at least 3000 new jobs in different areas from the obvious being the prison guards (all federal guards, no local wannabe cops) to quite possibly new housing. Another possible job creation in the area is local gov't is pushing for direct Amtrak service to and from Chicago. Lots of unused rail track but all need repairs. That again equals jobs. These jobs may not be for 20 years but at least it will help until things do get better.
These are the things that are going to help bring jobs to people across the country - the local projects - the new schools being built, different green projects, energy projects. Most States back east don't rely on one employer like Nevada does. All are diversified. Until Nevada wakes up, sorry to say but it's going to be a looooong road back and will never be the same as it was.
But hey - City Center opened!!! Las Vegas is doing fine.....(cough cough)
THE NEED FOR GREED CAUSED MOST OF THIS TO HAPPEN.
IT WAS AND STILL IS ME-ME-ME.
THE GOVERNMENT HAS GOTTEN TOO BIG
I too am in the same situation,,trying to get with my loved one, living apart, stress, depleated savings..we all can go on and on..I agree with Det_Munch..you knew you could find a job at some point in a few months, but now, its like you are beated before you even start looking. Thats why the unemployment numbers are way off - they dont track the people who have given up. And if you do find work elsewhere, how can you afford to move when you have no savings..As big as the Gov't is, the best do something, or the US will never come back for years.
I moved to Henderson to retire, after having traveled the country working on large industrial projects in 22 states. Lived in some ratholes, like Laredo, Texas and Lake Charles, La. I chose to live here because it's cheap and I like hot weather.
What bothers me is that the state I grew up in, drooly liberal Massachusetts, has universal health care. A report the other day said that their Medicaid system has caused their smoking levels to drop 10%. They have 121 colleges and universities. People here have very little support. Fine for me, I have Medicare, and I actually saved money all those years. But it's sad to see the Luv Guv and his few supporters always whining "Cut, cut, cut". The biggest similarity between here and Mass. is the out of control pay of public employees. Other than that, this state ranks near the bottom in most everything. Smoking, fatties, drunks-you name it. Schools and medical care-OMG...Get out while you can.
No cigarettes
No earrings
No tats
Dress like you're going to church, not to a casino.
Just a start. Best of luck.
In this marketplace, who can *afford* to look anything but professional relative to your line of work...
...unless of course you work in a tattoo parlor, the porn industry, etc...
Have to say, nednougat is right.
"I try to put it in the Lord's hands. I try to have that faith. But I'm human. I do doubt. And I am afraid."
Right, let's give these unfortunate people the typical herd response -- "have a nice day!" Or that most empty of empties "God bless!" And don't forget to tell each of them "Merry Christmas!" to, you know, show them you really, really care. Basically the same as the apostle Peter's "be ye warmed and filled" then go your way without at least putting a couple bucks in their hands.
They've learned what most of us who live in the real world know all too well -- every one of us is just one piece of paper away from living on the streets with the rest of those poor souls.
In this marketplace, who can *afford* to look anything but professional relative to your line of work...
When I went to those "cattle call" interviews for City Center, you would not believe how people were dressed!! About 25% came in blue jeans, flip flops and T-shirts. Then the chicks going for the club positions wore the obligatory tight jeans, tight tank tops and the 5" heels!! The rest of us schmoes who most likely didn't get hired were all dressed in business attire.
Wonder how many of those people voted for Obama? How's that working out for ya? Change you can believe in huh?
OH STFU already about this!!! After 8 years of crap, change doesn't happen over night. It takes time.
Alternate titles?
"How government made me a social parasite".
"Operation ghetto".
"The illusion of hope".
: {
We survived 9/11, presidential assasinations, Hurricane Katrina ect... Isn't it time for high ranking polititian to say the "D" word. We are in a Depression we all know it start saying it.... Forget about health care and start getting every Illegal immagrant out of OUR country, raise the minimum wage $3 an hour and let unemployed americans work as dishwashers and housekeepers (all low paying jobs illegals are doing now)
Speaking of tattoos, I was at the DMV last September when it was still extremely hot out, and sat in a chair for 1-1/2 hours. The line to get a number was out the door. What I noticed was the amazing number of people with tattoos. Not just little ones-legs covered with them, ones going up to their necks that would be hard to hide. Tiny ones on their face, even on parents with their kids. I wondered if those people ever thought about whether they would have to get a new job someday, and whether that moment laying down on a tattoo table one night hurt their chances greatly.
Pop culture is all the rave lately, but it doesn't get you work, unless, as another writer wrote, you're going into the tattoo business, or the porn industry. If you want a tat, get it on the bottom of your big toe. And don't think attitudes about tats are going to change in business anytime soon. Biker, drunken sailor, hooker. Which one are you?
Tats are a form of expression to many who are unable to do it verbally. I would never personally get one (never have, never will) however, I believe that people feel the need to stand out from the crowd with their message cut into their bodies. I see it as a form of rebellion and in many cases insecurity of one's self. The same goes for body piercing etc. Eventually just about everyone I have spoken to regarding their Tats, wishes they never did it, and have made some type of expensive plan for their removal. A good business to get into the next ten years or so as this generation of kids age and have regrets...
One other thought about Tats. In Cali, they have replaced slow processing of prisoner fingerprint identification with photos of tats for immediate identification of perps. So go ahead, get those tats, but lead a clean life. They're all different, but that means you can run, but you can't hide. And of course, you'll be unemployed-who wants to hire someone with a tat of the Blessed Virgin Mary on his back? The answer-Nobody...
Doom and gloom.
Sucks to be entitled when the treats run out. Not only are ya hungry, but ya feel like the world owes ya dinner!
life under the bridges, sofa surfin and dumpster-divin.
blame obama if you hafto. Snot that one's fault!
"...you'll be unemployed-who wants to hire someone with a tat of the Blessed Virgin Mary on his back? The answer-Nobody..."
bdover -- why would an employer need to see one's naked back?
I'll take the blessed Virgin Mary over some gang affiliation markings, or some swaztika crap...
I see Robert still has $ for smokes.