How It Went

This morning I got up at 5:45am. Master was already awake and had taken His shower. We both then got dressed and shortly there after headed out the door. We thought the traffic was going to be worse, so we ended up getting to the building where the unemployment hearing was being held, an hour early.

So we sat in the car for about a half hour before then heading up to the third floor. Thankfully someone was there to show us where the waiting area for that particular room was. We sat down and waited. The judge came out exactly at 8am. He asked who we were, then asked if we had seen anyone representing the other party yet. We replied that we had not, so he said we would give them the mandatory 5 minute wait, and then said he would be right back.

Well, the judge gave them a little longer than the five minutes, and still no one had shown up. So we proceeded without them. Master sat up at the table, and I sat behind Him. The judge started asking Him questions, and Master was extremely polite, answering the questions very directly and saying, "Sir". I sat there listening to everything and looking either directly at the judge, or at the back of Master's head.

About 15 minutes into the hearing someone from Master's former employer finally showed up. The judge was not happy. The person that showed up was actually the person that Master had talked to when He quit.

She sat down and the judge made it a point to say that the hearing was already more than half over. The lady said, "Sorry I was at the wrong room. I knew that the date and time had changed but not the room number."

Fucking idiot. That just makes the company look unorganized as hell. I mean they got the exact same letter that we did and it stated in bold the date, time, and room number of the hearing. If we can figure it out, a company should be able to. Plus it takes you more than 20 minutes after the appointed start time to realize this? Damn.

Plus she wasn't dressed for court. I mean, yes it's an unemployment hearing, but it's still court. Master was wearing khakis and a nice polo shirt. Hell, I wasn't even part of the proceedings and I wore khakis, a nice white shirt, with a button up sweater on top of it. The lady who showed up to represent the company? Yeah. She was wearing a long sleeve t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. *shakes head*

One thing that most people should know is that even if it isn't a major lawsuit or a criminal matter, if you're going to court for any reason, you show that court and the judge respect by being dressed nicely.

On top of that she was informed that the hearing was being recorded, and instead of answering verbally she would nod or shake her head.

The reasons Master gave for quitting were due to safety concerns. And Master said that He had brought it up to supervisors, prior to quitting. This lady didn't have a damn clue. Most of her answers were, "I don't know," or "I'm not sure."

She didn't even do research prior to this hearing. The judge asked her if after receiving the appeal information if she had talked to any of Master's former supervisors and/or coworkers about if Master had infact brought up anything to them. She didn't talk to anyone. She also didn't bring in any esitmates or bills for repair regarding the trucks! That sort of evidence would have helped her and the company, not that I'm complaining mind you. I'm just shocked.

When she was asked why the accident happened, as far as the company was concerned, she said she thought it was because Master was going to fast for conditions. The judge asked if she had any proof supporting that and she said no. She did hand the judge an accident report from the sheriff that was there that day, but it said nothing about going to fast for conditions. And the sheriff would have put that in there. Not to mention Master would have gotten another ticket besides failure to control the vehicle. He would have gotten another one for going to fast for conditions. (It was raining earlier that day and the pavement was still wet.)

The judge asked if she knew when the brakes had last been checked on the pick-up. Again, her answer was "I don't know."

She kept pointing out that she didn't even know about the accident until the day Master quit, which was three days later. Hello! You're the fucking business operations manager, the 2nd in charge at the office.. you should know this shit.

So yeah. The judge didn't seem pleased with most of what she was saying. Hell she even backed Master's statements up half the time! For instance when the judge asked her what the conversation was like when He resigned from His position she said, "He said it was a sign. That this time it was just property damage, but what happened next time?" (This is referring to the accident.) She proceeded to say, "And I told Him that I understood. That if that was how He felt, then He had to do what He had to do."

I think it went really well. But I'm trying not to get my hopes up. Because if it isn't approved this time, the crush of the disappointment will just be that much worse.

The judge told us right before we left that we should have his decision in about a week. So here is hoping! I asked Master, once we were out of the building, that if I'm at work when He gets the letter, to call me as soon as He gets it.

When we got home Master talked to His mother and then I talked to mine. My mom said she would be very surprised if we didn't get approved for unemployment benefits now. But like I said, I'm trying not to get cocky about this. Okay yes, this lady acted like a ditz in the court room. But that isn't a guarantee. It's in the judge's hands now.

I hope that he sees that Master quit because He didn't feel safe, and that it was a valid concern. That He isn't just some guy who didn't want to work anymore and now wants to get paid for sitting at home. Because that is so far from the truth, it's not even funny.

Once I was off the phone with my mom, Master said we should take a nap. So we curled up on the bed and set the alarm for three hours later, so we wouldn't sleep all day.

The nap was really nice.

When we got up, we pretty much just relaxed. Master was kind enough to work on my back while we watched Netflix.

Now it is back to work with me tomorrow.