u/DarmokTheNinja

I took this job 9 months ago because it fit within my skillset that matches my 20 years of working experience and because it paid decently (and I needed I job).

This job is ending next week and now I think they are going to start offering me every job that comes across their desk. They mentioned county election work over the phone. I don't want to do any of this. It's also outside of what I do and I suspect pays significantly less. Will my unemployment claim get rejected if I start saying no?

I joined this company for the specific job I've been working; I did not join them asking to find me work.

I was laid off in July 2024. Since then, most of my applications went no where.

I did get hired on a contract to do job work for the Department of Education. And then The DOE fell apart and that job disappeared.

Did a handful of other interviews, all of which felt positive at the time, but got literally ghosted by all of them. No one even sent a rejection email. Just silence.

August 2025 I reply to a posting by a local temp agency for a position at an unspecified local company, although I have a good guess for who it is.

My guess is right, and they interview me and hire me for their temporary position.

All goes relatively well, and the opportunity extends beyond the originally stated scope.

And then it extends again.

During that time, I have been doing work no one else on their team has the capacity to do while being treated like a second class citizen. I get it; I've played the temp game before, but it's been extremely demoralizing.

I sat alone in my cube while everyone else in the building went to the office Christmas party.

I sat alone in my cube while everyone else went off to an employee appreciation breakfast.

I don't get invited to team meetings, unless it's a last-second pity invite because they realize I'm just sitting alone in my cube.

Last week I was working on a project that someone requested, and when I went to show them how their request could look (because it couldn't look exactly as they described in their request) they refused to even consider this option unless it was presented to them by another person (the person who gave me the work ticket in the first place and who I discussed the options for the request with) because that other person had expertise and job title that I didn't.

The department head has made it clear that there isn't an on-going role for me here, but they also just created a role for a kid who just graduated. At this point I feel like they are purposely avoiding interacting with me at all.

I applied for a permanent position in a different department a few months ago, and had a second interview for that position a couple weeks ago. That opportunity isn't dead in the water yet, and I should be the obvious choice, but I'm finding it hard to feel positive about anything right now.

The thing is, there is actually a need for an on-going role here. None of my work is stopping in two weeks. I just won't be here to do it.

Maybe that's a good thing.

I bought a collection recently that was mostly bulk and some binders that were the start of this person trying to master set (on various levels). Most of these are full of just bulk, but the one interesting one is a 151 binder. It has the complete base set (1–165) and a near complete reverse holo base set (only missing one card).

I am mostly stuck on what keywords to use when trying to research this to put a value on it. But if you know a ballpark value, I'll take that, too.