"Burn Notice"

"When your burned you have nothing,no cash,no credit, no job history, your stuck in whatever city,you rely on anyone who's still talking to you, you do whatever work comes your way"-Michael Westin. from the opening of the USA Network Spy Drama "Burn Notice".
 When your a spy.. OK, when you are a suddenly unemployed, still somewhat shell shocked manager for Sleepy's in the NY area, you "do whatever work comes your way". and the first and fastest way of "getting things back on track, was taking my butt to the "competition". problem was by 2007, my ex-employers had pretty much eaten every alternative to shopping with them alive,. and once you have been "let go" by them the rest of the Retail World see you as "damaged goods", a "problem child", who MUST have done something heinous and possibly Illegal, to be terminated from such a job. It is true that an ex cannot TELL them what you did, that is illegal. What is NOT and has been used forever is the question "would you rehire this party"?
this is how they cover each others ass, and insure "Bad People" do not slip in. Of course LOGIC would dictate that if you would rehire someone they probably would not have been fired in the first place.
I got lucky. I knew someone who had become very friendly with an employee at "Rockaway Bedding". The last company that existed in the model of Sleepy's. I quickly was hired no problemo! the pay was better than average if not equal to what I was making, I co-managed 3 locations, 125th in Harlem,.East 86th and 2nd, and sometimes East 57th. and I thought all was going to be just fine. the people were "OK", the pay was "OK". they were very nice to me, very helpful., and happy to have me, it took a little getting used to, but they even carried a line of mattresses I LOVED selling that Sleepys had dropped. what a shame that after 6 weeks they filed bankruptcy papers, and shut every location in Manhattan. (less than 6 months later the remaining locations were bought up by ..you guessed it,my ex's). on my last day of work, I made over 600.00 in commission, was allowed to leave early if I wanted to, (I did), and told "it was a pleasure having you with us, I am so sorry we have to do this to you, and call me if you need anything at al", by the Distrct Mgr.
NOW I was starting to worry. there were no other places like Sleepy's in New York.
but I was still OK financially, I had savings and Unemployment would be enough, right? at least for a while.
surprise!  NY state denied my claim. (fired for a violation company policy, = NO unemployment for YOU).
and Sleepy's fought the claim. and won.