Thoughts on wheels: Job interview updated

Have you ever had the worst day? Today was up there among my worst. I had a job interview today. Or at least that is what I thought. I had set up transit ahead of time. To set up Job interviews with transit is tricky. Normally I call and transit tries to get me there a few minutes early. But you don't want to arrive at a job interview too early or too late. Today the driver got lost and did not arrive at my home until 8:50 am. That is TEN TO NINE to go half way across town. To top it off the lift on the bus did not work. So it took the guy longer to get me on. There was also another wheelchair on the bus. The driver said he was not going to strap me down. THAT IS ILLEGAL!! A Driver must be able to strap you in if you use a wheelchair. To not do this is a safety hazard for you. I told the driver for safety reasons he really should strap me down. He told me because of the two chairs he could not do it. I was free to wait for another bus. In the end he did strap the front down.

All of this made me TWENTY MINUTES LATE for a job interview. TWENTY MINUTES!!. When I got to the office that was scouted out before hand to make sure it was accessible, The ramp to the office was on a sidewalk. I had a hard time finding the ramp to the side walk. I got up the ramp and found out the interviews were upstairs in a building with no elevator. What a mess. I finally stopped someone coming out of the offices. I told them what the deal was. (But the wheelchair is a dead giveaway) A staff member told me that there was a meeting room downstairs. Had I gotten there earlier they could have switched rooms. In the end this was just a recruitment for insurance agents. I don't think I am interested but WOW! I got up early so I could be dressed and ready. Transit screwed up big time. I have said before we should support transit. They help get a lot of people around who truly do not have another way. But here transit does not have a good reputation. Things like this are the reason why. I will write a letter and send it to the head of transit. He is a nice guy and will hear me out. Unfortunately I am sure something like this will happen again.

The other thing I noticed today is that people were really nice over the phone. They pulled my resume off Monster.com. As soon as they saw me their demeanor changed. This tells me I am definitely not getting hired for jobs at least in part because of the disability. In one morning I was reminded of everything I hate about where I live.

Lack of opportunity
Lack of appropriate supports
Prejudice that runs deep

As time goes by I am losing more and more hope about a job. I guess I was supposed to stay at a job that I hated and thought was going in a really bad direction just so I could have a job. I know my former employers are glad I am no longer there. I was happy that I did not have to be under that microscope anymore. Should I have worked harder and stressed out more just to keep a paycheck?