Unemployed at 62, his plight may be a sign of the times (Barf alert!)

bostonherald ^ | 3-11-03 | Margery Eagan

[Jimmyclyde]

Unemployed at 62, his plight may be a sign of the times

by Margery Eagan Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Here in the living room of what feels like a cozy English country cottage - china-blue walls, hand-painted antique chairs, latticed windows and fine woods - it's hard to believe the once-comfortable occupants are down to their last $2,500.

Not enough to pay their $2,000 monthly rent and $1,200 health insurance, never mind food or heat or gas.

But that's the very scary story of North Easton couple Dick Wilcox, 62, and his wife, Michele, 56. Dick was laid off from his $65,000, mid-level insurance company job a year ago. He cannot afford to retire.

And as a nation obsesses over war, its politicians seeming to forget the crushing effects of a jittery economy, Dick Wilcox has joined the unenviable ranks of older, unemployed, white-collar workers who can't find another decent job.

``It's like all it takes,'' Dick Wilcox said yesterday, ``is one crack in the system and you can go from having a really good lifestyle to being literally homeless.''

To prevent that is why he's spent three months now, morning after frigid morning, at busy Canton intersections. He wears fat mittens and a hooded parka over a neat suit and tie. And like an upscale version of your average street corner beggar, lifelong, middle-class taxpayer Dick Wilcox stands with a mix of humiliation, desperation and defiance behind the 4-by-6-foot plywood sign he made in his basement. And he begs, too.

``I NEED A JOB. 508-238-3226.'' That's what his sign reads in big black letters. ``36 Yrs. Exper. Insur/Mngmnt.''

Dick Wilcox has dropped off hundreds of resumes at companies and office parks. He's sent out hundreds more online. He's had two interviews and not a single job offer near the $50,000 he needs.

Now his severance, unemployment, modest savings and pension are almost gone. Michele Wilcox, who raised three children and supplemented Dick's income with a home crochet business, brought in just $9,000 this year. Her small business is yet another victim, it appears, of a shrinking economy.

A year ago, the couple planned to help an infertile daughter finance an expensive overseas adoption. They'd hoped to replace a 12-year-old car. Now, even if both find $10-an-hour jobs tomorrow, they're on the brink of losing their home.

Dick Wilcox, who has a can-do, take-charge aura about him - and unique ideas on making older workers more attractive - says he's still a bit stunned by it all. ``When I first lost my job I said, `Well, it's not the end of the world. I'll go out and find something else . . .' I never expected . . . this.''

Here is the good and bad news. Last week, his story made the front page of The Wall Street Journal. Since then he's had hundreds of phone calls, mostly from other older laid-off workers who are discouraged, too, ``and practically crying on the phone,'' he says. ``Out of work nine months, 14 months. Unbelievable, terrible stories.''

But he's also had calls from other media outlets, including nationally syndicated radio shows, cable TV's NECN and two of the three big morning network shows: ``Good Morning America'' and ``The Early Show.'' But the morning shows keep delaying him, he says, because of war stories.

Meanwhile, he says, not a single politician has called. ``They'd much rather debate the war than talk about the economy because they don't have any solutions. They just keep promising the economy's going to turn around. . . Now they don't even say it anymore and we've got tens of thousands out of work.''

Although media coverage has led to at least one promising interview offer, Dick Wilcox is taking no chances. He plans to be out again tomorrow morning, the corner of Route 138 and Washington Street, where people have climbed over snowbanks to shake his hand or bring him Dunkin' Donuts. ``One woman tapped me on the shoulder with tears in her eyes. She said, `This is the gutsiest thing I ever saw anybody do.' ''

He says that when he first thought of the sign, he was afraid to tell his wife or children. He was embarrassed, scared he'd seem like a failure, like ``some idiot'' standing in the road.

Yesterday, Michele Wilcox said she'd admired her husband's daring. Yesterday Karen Wilcox, their oldest child, said her father ``had proven us all wrong'' for ever fretting about his sign. She said her father had worked hard all his life and that when she heard him last week on the radio, ``I had tears in my eyes. . . . I'm so proud of him.''

[Ga Rob]

Yeah I know. I was just reading through the posts on this thread again. All I see is crying about this and that. I mean I thought the majority of folks at free republic were...I don't know, grown maybe??? I am about to have a son and his mother was laid off 2 months ago. She is getting down to the last trimester and I asked her if she would rather not go back. She said she would rather not. I now have a part time job to make sure that we have plenty until the baby comes. I don't need to do it....I just want to make sure I'm not this poor sap. Personal Responsibility and Work Ethic!!! Who knows....maybe I'm wrong!!

[RobRoy]

The first half of your post is spot on. The second half may not fit his qualifications.

[Mortimer Snavely]

"I am self employed, age 38, with a stay at home wife and 5 kids, yet I manage to keep my customers very happy, and they reward me with a very nice living...."

... in Thailand, teaching English I'm sure.

[Ga Rob]

Yeah but I was taught this stuff in the early eighties...when the recession and lay offs were going on then!!! I guess you are right, people don't look at what's going on around them. Too bad I guess.

[banjo joe]

Yep. I see old guys, 60's, 70's retrieving grocery carts from the parking lot. I used to think "some old con... spent years in the joint and this all he can get". Talk to one of these guys. You'd be surprised at their qualifications, credentials and experience. Yeah, they saved and invested. Yeah, they're broke. Yeah, this is all they can get.

[RobRoy]

>>... in Thailand, teaching English I'm sure.<<

I guess if he knows Thai, he could do that...

[freeper12]

>>Hopefully many will learn from this man's plight and make the corrections in their lifestyle today so that they do not end up like this man tomorrow.

I agree...and hopefully those same people will be mature enough not to make fun of someone who is down on their luck...heck, I learned at a very young age what smoking can do to your lungs...therefore I never smoked; none-the-less, I never crack a joke about those dying of lung cancer. Its called maturity and has nothing to do with conservative or liberal politics.

[wbill]

Dick Wilcox has dropped off hundreds of resumes at companies and office parks. He's sent out hundreds more online. He's had two interviews and not a single job offer near the $50,000 he needs.

Wah. If this person has sent out hundreds of resumes and been turned down everywhere, the problem is not with him. Whatta idiot. After the first couple of hundred resumes, you'd think he'd be asking, "What am I doing wrong?" and adapt. But no, it's easier to be a martyr.

And who in the h*ll pays two grand for rent? Especially if you're unemployed? Nah, the problem is with the economy, not this guys lousy life choices.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

A new friend of mine and former Freeper was a programmer who had worked his way up from an electronic tech. His company folded about two years ago. He has five kids, two in college. He had been going back to school and finally gotten a BS in computer science. He tried like crazy to find something in tech, then realized he couldn't hold out any longer as unemployment was close to running out.

At forty nine, he couldn't get anyone to talk to him in the building trades. He continued to lower his sights until he got to retail. He had to make up a false life story and get someone to lie for him before a local shoe store would hire him.

His kids transferred to state colleges and are working hard to pay their own way. His wife has two part time jobs, scheduled around his day off and the availability of the older kids to watch the younger one. As he puts it, he's going bankrupt at a much slower pace now.

Our town will re-assess next year and our RE taxes will go through the roof again. I don't know where he's going to get the extra cash and don't know if he'll be able to sell his house since there are so many middle-aged guys out of work who will soon be forced to bail out of their property, which will cause the already slumping market to drop even further.

Some of the people on this thread seem to think that's a wonderful story. I tell you, that guy is permanently pissed.
He's a former freeper because of one of these type threads.

Funny though, I offered him a loan and he wouldn't take it. Old fashioned pride. I've hired him to do stuff here and there but he's always suspicious that it's charity. No charity from me, but my wife and kids do have a ton of new shoes. Women like shoes.

[banjo joe]

Most of the smart-ass attitudes on this thread are just one layoff notice from a complete attitude adjustment

Amen. I sure wouldn't throw stones right now...

[banjo joe]

the emergence of talented labor pools in India and China and the ability of technology to make their distance transparent has also had a tremendous impact. Make no mistake, we are witnessing ...

Check out Business Week. Accounting, IT, architecture, legal services, help desks, call centers, CAD/CAM, radiology and more are being "outsourced offshore".

[wbill]

I think people have lost sight of what REAL tough times are all about.

You pinned it. Anyone here remember the Carter years, with inflation, interest, and unemployment all in the double digits?

The economy right now is OK, just not as good as it could be and nowhere near as good as it was. The problem is that people want a return to 1999, with 100%+ returns on almost any stock and unemployment at all-time lows. That's a once-in-a-lifetime occurence.

[areafiftyone]

I believe you. I hate the prejudice in this country about old people. We should honor our Seniors. My mother felt it all the time before she passed on. These people are worth hiring. They don't take off for any reason and they good workers. Makes me sad to see it.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Actually, I made my fortune buying property at 21% interest rates during the Carter years. The worst times are good for some and the best are bad for others.

I've never been more concerned about the economic future of America than now.

I could be crazy, but I think GATT and NAFTA and the visa game have all but killed us. This globalism crap looks like a disaster to me.

I'm pretty much immune to the general economy but that doesn't mean I am not concerned for others.

[F.J. Mitchell]

I am seventy, was born into hard times, never earned over $35 thousand per year and raised 5 children. I am far from rich, but am comfortable by my standards, in retirement.

My Dad who survived the depression, always preached that it was what you saved from your earnings, not the amount of the earnings. If you make a fortune and save nothing, you are SOL if you lose your job, or unexpected problems come along. Few make wages so low that they cannot save a little out of each check.

Common sense and moderate sacrifice is the key to security-no guarantee though, just an edge.

[banjo joe]

in about fifteen years we'll be a third world country if things like this continue.

That's what the EU, China and the turd world wants.

[waterstraat]

He really expected to find another job at 62? Doesn't he know that most employers are NOT going to hire a 62 year old man or 59 year old woman for that matter. Most employers don't like to hire anyone over 50 unless they are CEO's. There is a real prejudice in the work force when it comes to hiring older people.

In the meantime, what you said makes no sense.

How can employers not hire anyone over 50, if we cant get social security until we are 66, 67 or so?

Isnt there a 17 year gap in what you say?

As far as CEo's, all ceos, politicians, doctors, etc, should all be made to retire at the same age as anybody else. If 65 is a forced retire ment age, then it is a forced retirement age for the worker AND the ceo.

[wbill]

I think GATT and NAFTA and the visa game have all but killed us

I think that these will cause a lot of pain in the short term, as we move from a manufacturing-based to a knowledge-based economy. My parents generation (they're 57) will take it on the chin. My generation will have problems to a lesser extent. But I think that my kids generation ultimately will benefit from it.

There's plenty being outsourced to India, Mexico, China. If you look, though, what's being outsourced is the menial, low-tech, or repetitive jobs. For instance, I'm in IT. The service desk for my company has just been outsourced to India. There are those that would consider our help desk a 'high tech' job, but the reality is that the bulk of what the help desk does is repetitive things like resetting network passwords and installing software - things that anyone can be trained to do, as they follow a simple set of steps. The high-end 'knowledge' jobs - project management (that's me), high-level troubleshooting, etc. are staying here, and will be here for the foreseeable future.

The other thing is that the baby boomer generation will be retiring starting in the next few years. That's 40-odd million people out of the working pool. I think that by 2010-2015, the problem will be not enough jobs, rather than too many.

[areafiftyone]

They can very easily not hire someone over 50 if they want. How many people do you see working a brand new job who are over 50? Not many!! Most have been there for a good amount of years. I knew alot of women over 50 who were constantly afraid that they would be fired and replaced with someone younger.

[wbill]

That would be "not enough workers". I'm in a hurry. :-)