When you're living off the teat of the federal government in another way.
That applies to Tim, No. 3 of my brothers and No. 2 of my abuser brothers.
He's a little more than four years older than me.
He used to work in oil and gas field sales in the Four Corners area of the US.
Oil prices, especially, started falling before COVID really hit the fan, but that exacerbated it, and natural gas prices also started sinking.
His company put him on part-time, at first, IIRC. He then volunteered to share the pain with a couple of lower-level employees.
Eventually, they furloughed him. Not fired him. IIRC, they kept him on insurance coverage, but didn't work him at all.
Well, Tim told the rest of the family after several months of that, that he was ready to get an "Obamacare job" (the man he once called "blackie" in front of me and probably worse elsewhere), rather than continue on this, doing something like auto parts delivery for not too too much above minimum wage. This was about a year ago.
Well ... as of a month or two ago, he said he was working part time ... dunno with bennies or not ... driving oil and gas field supplies from the Four Corners to Odessa, in the heart of the Permian Basin, and then either deadheading back or bringing some supplies back. Dunno whether it's with a full semi, one of those bobtails, or what. I also, from what he said about minimal sleep on some turnarounds, am not sure if he's following US Department of Transportation regulations, if he is in fact driving a semi of any sort, whether with a full trailer or not.
Anyway, a year ago, he went through the "they're lazy" about the various people getting federal unemployment, etc.
Well, in talking with me on the phone that month or two ago, he casually dropped something I hadn't even thought about.
His wife died about six and a half years ago. Tim turned 62 in September. I don't know if he did it then, or earlier, but, he's claimed survivor Social Security benefits. If his wife were to be getting $1000 a month at full retirement, Tim could have been claiming about $600, by what I determine through a brief Social Security chart, if he started claiming survivor benefits at 60. Farmington, NM, is not that much different in cost of living than semi-rural North Texas. With a paid-off mortgage and perhaps still having a company vehicle for off-job usage, if it were me, I could actually save money on that much payment.
It's earned, yes. And, of course, I'm sorry that Brenda, who I knew before Tim did, has passed away. But, it's also a stroke of luck. Had Brenda still been alive, her school paraprofessional job would have been in trouble during COVID. Would Tim have thought she was grifting for any special federal aid she got?
