Jobless N.Y. Man Dons Sandwich Board

Depression-Era Sight Grabs Attention, Scores Interviews For Laid-Off Businessman

(AP)  After nine fruitless months of looking for work, Paul Nawrocki turned to a Depression-era tactic to find a job.

Over the past few days the 59-year-old businessman has been walking the sidewalks of midtown Manhattan wearing a suit, a tie, and a large signs that reads, "Almost homeless."

"My unemployment benefits are going to run out in less than a month. I was getting a little panicked and I didn't know what to do," said Nawrocki, who was laid off from his job at a toy company last February.

"Finally I said, 'I'm going to put out a sandwich board and try to sell myself in the city,"' he said. "I had to do something dramatic, because I was getting really discouraged sending my resume out every day, and not getting anywhere."

The sight of a middle-class businessman down on his luck seems to have struck a chord with some New Yorkers.

Nawrocki said he's already landed interviews with recruiters who saw him passing out his resume on the street.

A business news blogger posted an item about him, which led to more coverage on BusinessWeek.com and an interview with the BBC.

He's gotten encouragement from regular New Yorkers too.

"People here can be very warm here when they see that someone is genuinely vulnerable," said Nawrocki. "I've seen a lot of people look at me and get scared, too. Not of me, but you see it in their eyes. They are thinking, 'Could it come to this? Could this be me someday?"'

Nawrocki, who is married with a daughter just out of college, spent 23 years in the toy industry, mostly as an import operations manager. He made a good salary at his old job, "almost six figures," he said, but has burned through his retirement savings since losing his job at the Sababa Group in February. The company filed for bankruptcy in August.

As for the "almost homeless" line on his sign, "It's not far from the truth," Nawrocki said.

His wife has health problems that limit her ability to work. The family has big health insurance and mortgage payments coming due.

"I don't know what's going to happen if I don't work in the next few weeks," he said.

[sfden]

Could we talk about the matter at hand, the guy with the sandwich board? I hope his inginuity lands him a great job - look like he more than deserves it.

[rsmik]

I am sure the CEO''s of the Sabada Group are sittng contentedly in their comfy homes reading this story, since corporate bankruptcy is just another way for CEO''s to get a bailout.

[everrep]

Replay tonic12345
====================
Oh blame shifting. This is the fault of liberals. All of this is because of Obamas election. Things were just fine before that liberal!


I am a bit confused. How is this President Elect Obama''s fault? The title alone should tell you, he''s not in office yet.

[bladdy10]

Being 55 and newly homeless ( and hopeless) is an extreme hurdle to get over if that is even possible. My wife got cancer and died. The emotions and bills related to that were and still are huge. You folks should be very worried. Stop spending. Protect your selves and families first. FIRST, STOP PAYING THE BANK, Do not pay house payments on an upside down mortgage ( F... the bank, they don''t care about you and the Fed will bail them out) instead use your next mortgage payment to go out in the country and buy an acre or two for a backup. You can always go to Craigslist and get a free building someone needs to have taken away to turn into a house if you have to and are willing to do some manual labor. Me? I don''t have the reason to do it anymore.

[chikadelux]

I was watching the news the other day and they were talking about some of these big CEO''s. I''m not sure exactly which company it was, but they paid out $19 BILLION in just BONUSE''S!!!! It would only take $10 billion to feed everyone in America and help the homeless. That''s outragious!! These CEO''s need a reality check. It''s okay if they don''t make that extra million or two. Help out the rest of the hurting country. Stop beeing so greedy and we wouldn''t be in this mess. As far as the bailout money goes, I was watching a segmant on how they took that money and went on extravagent "conference''s" or as I like to call them, vacations. They showed how they used the money for parties. They are nothing but scumbags!!!!

[gop_will_win]

Now you see conservative this is what the republican agenda has brought to us.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by tonic12345
====================
Oh blame shifting. This is the fault of liberals. All of this is because of Obamas election. Things were just fine before that liberal!

[tonic12345]

Now you see conservative this is what the republican agenda has brought to us.

[jon_mccain]

This guys age will likely keep him from obtaining a position that pays anything close to what he was making. It has become common practice in this country to get rid of the older, higher paid employees and replace them with a less experienced lower paid employee. This is unfortunate since most people close to retirement have seen their savings vaporized and will likely end up working until the day the die.

[gop_will_win]

See liberals? Now here is a good conservative who never ceases looking to improve his position. So put down the beer can and put on a sandwedge board and hit the streets.

[debson1]

This could be any of us! Wouldn''t the bail out money be better spent creating jobs? If we are losing our jobs, how do they expect us to borrow money and pay it back?

[whitemale08]

More evidence of the Bush/Herbert Hoover-Depression.

[babooph]

Had he been an Iraqi,he would have been given cash monthly for years for not shooting at US military-he likely already should qualify !!!

[swingset4u]

Hi. You must be from the new generation of arrogant idiots. Here is some enlightenment:

Posted by harbinger09

So you must have been the lazy fool who just waited for opportunity to beat down your door. If you think your gonna be on your arse in two weeks do you think you might want to take at LEAST SOMETHING??? You are the generation LAZY! Always looking for someone to GIVE you something. So you must be talking out your ARSE because your mouth knows better FOOL!

[btree50]

I love how everybody blames Bush for everything. Do a little research and you will see that until 2 years ago, the markets were up, fuel prices were fairly stable. So were the jobs.
Now who got control of congress 2 years ago, oh yeah, the democrats. What have they done the last 2 years while all this goes on? NOTHING! They saw prices rising, they saw the markets in trouble, they saw that jobs were disappearing. And they chose to be a do nothing congress.
Blame our representatives, they had the power to help stop what was happening and chose to sit back and watch.

[n8yvn29]

Welcome to Bushs America, where no-bid contractors make obscene profits, where Wall Street takes our tax money to pay for their vacations abroad, but where hard-working auto-workers can not get a dime (because they are unionized?).

[everrep]

This is the man to hire. He is showing that he is willing to do whatever to get the job done, even if the job is getting a job. He is proving he is not afraid of a little hard work, because what he is doing is hard. God bless him and I hope he is back to work soon.

[cheetah-man7]

This man is out to fend for his family. Whoever hires him will have a good man.

May God bless him with success in his search.


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Posted by caliengineer ---------------------

Well said! Thank you for being compassionate and sympathetic to those who need it the most. Many of you folks out there complaining about this guy are simply afraid that the next guy out there with a sandwich board might in fact be YOU. Come on, have some empathy for your fellow man!

[harbinger09]

harbinger- I agree with your comment. However, I believe the commenter you corrected is surely a Demoncrat. Who else would mock professional pursuits and be sufficiently ignorant of economics to think that people working at McDonald''''s are able to pay health costs for a sick wife and a mortgage?

Posted by caliengineer at 03:04 AM : Nov 19, 2008


You have a point. I leaned toward Republican on this one because the mocking of people who are down and out is usually a neo con (as opposed to conservative pastime) either way, the poster certainly lacked empathy.

[incog-nito]

See? He''s in the news and probably on his way to getting a new job. If this doesn''t prove that there is nothing wrong with the U.S. economy, I don''t know what does.

[caliengineer]

This man is out to fend for his family. Whoever hires him will have a good man.

May God bless him with success in his search.