Mini-honeymoon, employment news fill laid off newlyweds’ week – WJHL

This is the third in a series about life during the COVID-19 crisis from the perspective of newlyweds (and newly laid off workers) Oren and Rachael Peterson.

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Rachael Peterson will be going back to her physical therapist assistant’s job in about a month. Her new husband, Oren, is still on the job hunt after declining a post that wouldn’t have started until the first of June.

Five days before their original planned wedding and subsequent beach honeymoon, the newlyweds were just trying to keep things sorted, pay the bills and scrape by.

“Last Thursday I had to decide whether or not to formally accept or reject a job offer I had gotten at a local call center,” Oren said.

That job wouldn’t start until the first of June, though, and with Rachael certain to return to work by then, Oren decided to keep looking.

Monday, he learned the decision probably wasn’t going to prevent him from receiving unemployment benefits this week.

“It says it needs to be approved by an agent,” Oren said of his weekly recertification. He first filed for unemployment early this month after being laid off from a marketing job at a credit union.

“There was like a red text error kind of pop up, but then at the bottom it said, ‘expect a payment this week.’ So it was kind of mixed messaging. It also said they might be calling me for more information.”

Both Petersons received unemployment last week. Oren got state and federal benefits. Rachael, who had been knocked out of state benefits for that week after working one day the prior week, received a retroactive federal pandemic unemployment deposit.

“The system was working pretty well as far as getting on the computer and recertifying,” Rachael said.

Oren said he’s continued looking for work even though Tennessee’s computer system doesn’t require him to do so.

“I haven’t had to go in and put in job searches,” he said. “It just says that there’s an administrative waiver for those blocks. I definitely would have been able to fill all those spaces if it was requiring it because I’ve been looking for jobs left and right.”

For her part, Rachael expects a short period of high demand for physical therapy services once people adapt to doing business with protective measures in place.

“They’re starting to open back up elective surgeries and people are going to start seeking out PT more now that everything’s opening back up, so I think for awhile I may even work more hours than I had been before all this happens,” she said. “Until then, I’ve just gotta stick it out.”

The wedding (and honeymoon) that would have been

The couple was able to pay the rent and stay caught up on bills, and mid-week they got a nice surprise. Friends invited them to one night at a cabin in Gatlinburg. They then spent an additional night at a smaller place, just the two of them, using some funds they’d saved for their expected honeymoon.

That would have started May 3, because Rachael Ramsey was set to become Rachael Peterson this Saturday. They had planned a week at a beach house in North Carolina owned by Rachael’s great uncle.

“We’d have a relaxing trip, we could rest, but with everything going on we don’t want to travel or cross state lines,” Rachael said.

They made the best of the Gatlinburg makeup opportunity, limited as it was.

“It was fun,” Oren said. “There’s a fireplace and we had a fire and there’s a pool table. She’d never played pool before, so I got to teach her the ropes on that.”

It turned out Rachael was either a natural, as she insists, or a hustler.

“She beat me!” Oren said.

“Yeah, I shoot really well,” his wife replied.

“She’s a pool shark, because she said ‘I’ve never played before’ and then she skunked me.”

“I’d never played before though, I swear.”

We’ll check in with the Petersons again soon to learn how their financial and job situations are looking, and perhaps to find out whether Oren has gotten a rematch in pool.

PREVIOUS STORIES: LAID OFF, LOOKING UP – VIRUS-RELATED CHALLENGES DON’T DEFEAT NEWLYWEDS

UNEMPLOYED NEWLYWEDS HIT UNEMPLOYMENT HURDLES, KEEP LOOKING ON BRIGHT SIDE