Posted on 03/11/2003 11:40:19 AM PST by 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.''
I would drop such a class, ethics should be taught by someone who has been around the block a few times. The one I remember was a gray beard, it was really me who was liberal and naive. I wish I could talk with him now that I am one of the old ones.
I think that you may be focusing on one half of the reply from most critical posters. That half concerning the man's employment situation, or lack thereof. He is in the same boat as many people who were laid off recently and there really is no plus side or pro argument for his continued unemployment.
The other half of the argument concerns his personal spending habits which he is just now cutting back on. I know that things are really bad right now, but they were bad when he first lost his job. He needed to save money and yet he kept on spending beyond his means.
If he is so ready to have his story printed in the media, then he should be ready for some criticism. I am positive that most posters to this site would be happy to help the man out if he was a friend or neighbor regardless of his past decisions. On the other hand, it is not up to us to support him if he does not change his ways. He is not entitled to live a lifestyle that most of us cannot afford purely because he doesn't want to give it up..
Whatever. Yeah, some are old cons. Some are not. But go ahead and make a blanket generalization. Your Barnum quote is correct after all.
I never said that. What I said was people will need to adapt, find a niche, or fall by the wayside. And to suggest that people 'outside the top 20%' are owed a job by the government is a liberal attitude, as well.
The fact of the matter is, we're looking at a societal shift here that will rival the Industrial Revolution, and will come much faster. If you had told me 5 years ago that it would be cheaper to have people in India answer our phones, I would have laughed at you. Not only was the thought ridiculous, but totally inconceivable.
Can the government help? Surely. They can limit the amount of H1B visas, limit the number of foreign students to stop the knowledge drain, etc. However, companies will always find the cheapest processes, because the consumer demands the cheapest prices. Do you have the same feelings about jobs that are lost through automation and improvement of processes? Should the government legislate against innovation?
I do not remember saying they "demanded it" (because they did not) We did not touch our retirment funds to pay for it (that was the reason for the loan)
Yes it is heartless to see a man that is in trouble and mock him..I sure hope your kids have solid jobs..or you may have to eat your words..
The bible says the "measure you use to measure others is the measure used to measure you". My daddy said it clearer.."If ya spit up in the air it come down in your face" .My kids generation said " what goes around comes around. For the non Christians among us it is call Karma
Pro 14:31 He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.
Pro 17:5 Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: [and] he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.
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