Entitlement

Today the letter came from the unemployment office. "You are entitled to $415.00 a week, not to exceed $10,079.00" Or something along those lines. Wow. Less than half of what I was bringing home. Am I entitled to anything else for being a loyal, to the point of pain, employee of The Fifth Quarter? Apparently not. Three weeks maternity leave, one week I worked from home. I called in sick, I think it was once in the past year, maybe twice. I worked eighteen days in a row. The eighteenth day, now known as the "Eighteenth Day Meltdown" was on Father's Day. We never had the light in the employee hallway repaired after I shattered it. I cared so much it hurt!

Entitled. What does that mean? Does it mean the same thing to everyone? Does it mean I earned these benefits or I am just getting them because I am who I am? Nope, I worked for them. I worked so that I could get less than half my weekly pay in the event that the restaurant I managed closed.

So, really I am entitled to a gutted self confidence and a bruised ego and $415.00 a week...before taxes.