Dear government website: drop dead

[Pixelated]

Apparently I may qualify for unemployment insurance even though I still have my part-time retail job.

So I go in today to fill out the forms (electronic, of course). The form requires you to report any additional work you are doing, besides the job you have just lost. Fine. I write in my retail job. It asks me for my "last day of work." The explanatory drop-down window does indicate that it understands you might still have an ongoing job but it still asks for your "last day of work" at this job. I enter Saturday.

Then I go to the next window ... which demands my reason for leaving this job. And, of course, I am NOT leaving this job. But there is no option for that! It gives half a dozen boxes to select from (laid off, quit, maternity, compassionate leave, etc.) but there is no "Other" box, nor is there a "Still working here" box. It even flummoxed the woman at the unemployment centre, and she is usually the person who either knows the answer or can figure it out.

Nor will it let me bypass this part and move on. So tomorrow I get to drive downtown (ugh -- good luck finding a parking spot!) and go to the actual government building and see if somebody can figure out how the f*** I am supposed to get past this part of the application.

[Blue Ginger]

I feel your pain. Online forms are a giant pain in the arse if you vary slightly from 'normal'.

Every flipping time I have to apply for unemployment I have issues with inputting my banking info and have to spend hours on hold to try and get a work around.

I'm with a credit union that uses one member number for all incoming money for an individual customer, but you can have as many accounts under that number as you want. I currently have 4 different accounts: ATM, rent & 2 saving accounts. Trying to get the details to match is just a lesson in frustration especially because they are on 2 different screens and you can't just tick that this is the one all money should go into. Gah!

[RootedPhoenix]

*offers many hugs* Wish it wasn't so frustrating. Hopefully your time at the office will fix the problem.

[lordlundar]

It never fails, even when there's a more efficient way to do something, bureaucracy WILL find the worst possible path to do it.

[Pixelated]

Even the One Who Knows Nearly Everything (not being sarcastic here, she really does!) at the unemployment centre looked at it and went

So I gritted my teeth and went downtown today (and I hate to admit it, but I hate going downtown in My Hometown) and managed, after some swearing and chirping of tires, to find a parking spot, so I could actually go into the Services Canada office and ask somebody who hopefully knew WTF they were doing.

They managed to guide me through the rest of the form (I have to check the box that says "Shortage of work" on my retail job, even though I'm NOT quitting it ... because that's how the bean-counters set it up ) and then I had to fill out a ton of other questions, most of which were easy enough to answer ("Have you been in jail in the past 24 months?" No, but that could change any minute now ...)

I'm supposed to get my Record of Employment from Former Boss sometime this week (he said 7 to 10 business days) and now I have to get one from my retail job as well. AND I'm supposed to figure out the weeks in which I made the most money, because apparently they will base my UI on those (because that will give me more UI). I suck at any level of math, so this should be good.

I swear, I would SO much rather have a job.