Jobless gather for ‘Unemployment Olympics’

You know what you are supposed to do when life hands you lemons… these guys made some fun lemonade.

Who hasn’t secretly wished he could pin the blame on his boss? Or slam office equipment against the pavement? Dozens of unemployed people got the chance to do exactly that during the tongue-in-cheek Unemployment Olympics.

In a twist on the classic game Pin the Tail on the Donkey, participants pulled a hat over their eyes and spun around before using a pushpin to attempt to Pin the Blame on the Boss.

The Manhattan event, organized by a laid-off computer programmer, was decidedly low-tech, with most games arranged with the help of cardboard, children’s paint and chalk.

Competitors also played a game of Office-Phone Skee-Ball, hurling a black phone toward chalk goal marks on the pavement. A group of schoolchildren from nearby cheered them on.

Prizes were offered by merchants from the surrounding Lower East Side neighborhood.

Nick McGlynn was among those who lined up at Tompkins Square Park in front of a cardboard hutch labeled with bright green paint as the Unemployment Office, where participants were required to show proof they had lost their jobs. The 26-year-old, who worked with video for Gawker Media until he was let go in November, said he was thrilled to have something to do besides searching the Internet and updating his blog.

The gaiety of the event was enough to make Maria Tapia smile, a welcome relief from the anxiety that accompanied her layoff in January from a job as a finance executive’s personal assistant.

“I never knew that I wanted a job this bad until I didn’t have a job,” Tapia said.

But at least at these simple games, “people are trying to look at it in a positive way,” she said.

Read more: Jobless gather for ‘Unemployment Olympics’ in NYC

Organization donates wild game to food banks [Video]

I’m not sure what you think about hunting, but this is an interesting way to help those in need.

Piper Smith, of Mansfield, recently killed her first deer, and she donated the meat to the needy.  “It makes me feel like I did something good, like a good deed or something,” the nine-year-old said.

Dustin Ortmann of Dallas is now 27-years-old, but said he’s been hunting since he was seven.  “Hunting’s probably my favorite thing to do in my free time so I try to hunt as much as I can,” he said.  “I just like being in the outdoors.”

Over the years Ortmann has donated a lot of wild game to an organization called Hunters for Hungry.  After all that time, Ortmann recently found himself in need.  He was laid off in September and during the months of his unemployment; the venison in his freezer helped him get by.  “Some people are going to be out of work a lot longer than the three months that I was.  So it helps me appreciate it a little more and feel good about being able to help somebody out.”

Develyn El-Fil is in the same boat Ortmann was.  She’s divorced with two children and recently lost her job.

“It’s something new to me.  It’s not something that I have actually gone in to buy, but at this time and age, you’re probably willing to try just about anything,” she said.

Worker Judy Rorrie said, “It’s [venison] leaner than other meats so therefore we would be accomplishing two things.  We would be providing meat, fresh meat, and we would be providing I think that’s wonderful.”

Read more and watch this story: Organization Donates Wild Game To Local Food Banks

Photo: Flickr user nobis-scotia

50 jobs, 50 states in a year?

At a time when some people are having trouble finding one job, Daniel Seddiqui is lining up 50 — one in every state. Each job symbolizes the state’s most famous industry, and each lasts one week — just long enough for the 26-year-old to appreciate the labor and explore the region.

He’s been a park ranger in Wyoming, a corn farmer in Nebraska and a wedding coordinator in Las Vegas.

Last week, in Week 23 of his yearlong saga, he was a cheesemaker in southeast Wisconsin. He mixed ingredients, hoisted slabs of cheddar — and tasted plenty of his work.

Seddiqui, who grew up in Los Altos, Calif., insists his job-hopping isn’t a gimmick. It’s a legitimate effort to travel the U.S., learning about cultures across the country and developing a respect for what other people do, he said.

For example, at his Nebraska job he was surprised that every farmer he met had a college degree.

Read more: 50 jobs, 50 states in a year? Man gives it a try

Photo: Associated Press