Victim Of Dreier's Downfall: Ex-Copy Machine Operator

When once prominent lawyer Marc Dreier was arrested for a $700 million scam, the lawyers at his firm fled and the company collapsed . One of the employees, copy machine operator and trainer Carlton Palmer, is featured in a NY Times "Neediest Cases" profile: "He learned of his unemployment by e-mail, and is still owed $2,000 in back wages." Palmer has been looking for work via job listings websites ("I don’t like to get up in the morning and not work. I like a paycheck.") and embarked on training to be a dialysis technician. The Neediest Cases helped him out with some tuition money, but he need a job to complete 2,000 hours before he can get a certification, "Sometimes you feel the pressure, but you hope for the best. You hope for the phone to ring with a 212 number."

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By Jen Chung in News on November 9, 2009 1:57 PM

Comments [rss]

inoyourider

I can't imagine not working for 11 months.

This is NYC!

Even in bad times there is always work, if you're willing to do it.

gothamguy

While I certainly sympathize with this guy and don't doubt that he is sincerely trying to get a job, Drier was arrested in December 08. In 11 mos., this man has been unable to find any job at all?

schadenfreudian mensch

If you haven't read this weekend post of unemployment being at 17.5% and the comment from "JacqueMehoff:"

"Frontline had another great show on the whole recession unemployment meltdown greed year, Close To Home. If you're over 50 good luck finding a job in like forever, I would say 40 is just as bad."

This guy is a unskilled 46 yrs old while there are others with advanced degrees with over 20+ yrs of experience in their fields who are still out of work over a year now.

gothamguy

I am not doubting that he will have a tough time finding a new career job. I was just wondering why he hadn't taken something, anything, to make ends meet while he was looking.

Thankfully, I haven't had to look for a job in a long time but it just seems like he could find something that pays more than the $380/week he gets from unemployment. I don't know though, just thinking out loud. Is there anything around that pays more than minimum wage these days?

JacqueMehoff

yeah, those are the jobs you see 10,000 people waiting on line trying to get. (though I must say they're mostly sales type jobs and not the well paying cubicle jobs)

try finding a decent cubicle job, they're extinct.

Bernie Madoff-Goetz

"Behind the Hundred Neediest Cases"

by Heather Mac Donald

http://www.city-journal.org/html/7_2_behind.html

CR

"You hope for the phone to ring with a 212 number." What - no one's on dialysis in the outer boroughs or other parts of the country? What about Arthur Digby Sellers?