Oh this is so bad.

A woman in Scappoose, OR is/was being considered for a new job. Which is/was good, since she's a jobless single mother.

Well, she needed a reference from her former employer, Wells Fargo. Unfortunately, they have a policy that they charge $20 for employment verification. And her potential new employer asked her to pay it.

Instead of doing so, she ran straight to the local news station, who for some completely unknown reason actually considered her story "news"... and they put out this heartfelt story about her plight.

The part that killed me the most? That the angle of this story was not about how big business sometimes sucks, and sometimes makes the job search process annoying (a la the $20 fee).

The angle (get ready for this) was about how this poor woman will never work again because she "can't afford" the $20. And the news story was appealing to the viewers to "raise the money" for her.

This is not a joke.

But it is a sad sign of how helpless some people are with regards to their job searches. O,r in this case, how helpless some are about life in general.

Really, had this been a story about a $500 fee, different ball game.

We are talking about $20. Twenty bucks.

I know it's aggrevating and demoralizing and scary to be trying like hell to find a decent job. I do. I swear I know it.

But anyone who is serious about taking charge of their career search, and turning their unemployment situation around would never, I mean not EVER, let $20 stand in the way of a job offer.

Take back the returnables.

Sell one thing on eBay.

Ask a neighbor (or 4 neighbors) or family member for a quick loan.

Don't buy soda or cigarettes or extra junk food for a couple of weeks.

But don't let 20 bucks be the reason you didn't go the distance in the interview process.

We are responsible for our destinies. Wells Fargo is not. KGW-TV is not.

We are.

And that's great news, because we can go make it happen.