The other side of the nation's employment crisis takes place here, in a nondescript room filled with more than 100 state workers, each sitting in a small cubicle.

Some wear headsets. Others talk into traditional telephone handsets. Either way, the conversation - usually muted, occasionally desperate - is an echo of the times faced by Coloradans looking for help as they file for unemployment benefits.

When the calls come, as they do by the thousands per day, they arrive in this room on the fourth floor of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, 251 E. 12th Ave.

They come to people like Cheryl Bohn and David Kimball and Jerry Reese, state workers who hear the stories, feel the fear, help guide people through a process that can be daunting at best, depressing at worst.

If there is a ground zero of the recession, it's in this room, the call center, a place lighted more by fluorescent bulbs than hope.

The waves of people keep coming, keep calling.

All day.

Every day.

Donald Mares, executive director of the state Department of Labor and Employment, compared the people who answer phones at the agency's call center to 911 operators.

"They talk people off ledges every day," he said. "That's stressful work."

The work provides an unmistakable irony for Reese, a labor and employment specialist.

"I like the work. I hate that we have so much," Reese said this week.

"I'd like to work myself out of a job if I thought I could. It's just not a reality in our existence. But yeah, I'd love for them to say, 'Jerry, we just don't have any more work for you because everyone's working.' "

With telephone wait times for unemployment claims lasting hours - despite the addition of 40 operators last fall - Reese and his co-workers have seen their workload exceed maximum capacity as the nation falls deeper into a recession.

They say they hear stories of fear, anger, frustration, relief and helplessness. They are counselors, punching bags and problem-solvers, all rolled into one.

It's a tough gig and not an easy one to learn. Department officials say it takes at least a year to learn the job and two to be confident with systems and regulations.

Call center workers deal with myriad people, from all walks of life. All want answers and benefits.

There are those born in the 1930s filing for unemployment for the first time in their lives, and those who have worked 30 years at the same job suddenly cut loose.

Some are from upper-income families - and embarrassed to be calling. Some are low-income - and equally embarrassed.

There are single parents and parents with young children who both lost their jobs.

"There will be callers, and when I hang up, I felt the tears or anger about what's going on, and for whatever reason it doesn't seem fair - just the tragedies in people's lives," said Bohn, taking a break from her day on the phone.

"It's not professional to cry at work, but I'm human, too, and that's just the way it is."

Just not the way they want it to be.

This is what it looks like on this side of the jobs divide.

'I'm human, too'

* Cheryl Bohn

In her 11 years on the job at the state Department of Labor and Employment, Cheryl Bohn has never seen such hard economic times.

The 51-year-old has plenty of empathy for those out of a job. She's been there.

In a span of one week, she was laid off from her telecommunications job, mugged at a pay phone and then watched as the front end of her car was scrunched by a hydraulic lift.

There are times these days, however, when all she can see is work. Bohn's husband, Gary, and her twin, Jeanne Peterson, also work for the department.

In many ways, that makes it harder for her to escape work - especially when she carpools with family.

"When I get out of here, I'm tired, physically tired, and I sure don't want to talk on the phone to anybody," Bohn said. "My mother's leaving me messages and saying, 'You haven't called.' "

There are times when she feels like she needs to take a walk to get away from the sad stories - especially when she hears a crying child in the background or a claimant who breaks down crying herself.

What helps the most?

Chocolate. Deep, rich, dark chocolate.

"We joke at work that we have our feedbags - don't get caught without it," Bohn said of one of life's simple pleasures.

While many might think workers at unemployment call centers are treated like airline employees when a flight is suddenly canceled, Bohn said there's been a shift in attitude the past few months.

"Ninety-nine percent of the time people are gracious. That's been the most ongoing pleasant surprises because people are in difficult situations," Bohn said.

Like anything else, she said, work is what you make of it.

"I've had claimants say, 'I didn't know government workers had a sense of humor?' It would be awful to go to work and not have a sense of humor or to recognize the differences in people," Bohn said. "Sometimes the claimants can be therapy. If you give them a chance, every day's not the same."

'I will not answer the phone at home'

* David Kimball

Before joining the labor department in 2006, Kimball spent nine years as a youth pastor for a Presbyterian church.

His experience as a counselor has proved invaluable as he works with people trying to navigate the unemployment process, which can be daunting for first-time participants.

"I did a fair amount of counseling, so I think I can be kind and compassionate," he said. "But I also feel that I have to be a realist. I can't promise them something that I can't give."

Kimball, 45, has found that many people do not understand the complexities of the law as it relates to unemployment benefits. Perhaps that's not surprising: It took him 15 months of training to educate himself.

Equally important is a knowledge of human nature. Kimball sometimes has to take a deep breath and step back from a conversation when his own frustration builds.

He reminds himself that he is dealing with people with real problems and real fears.

"They're not sitting at home watching Jerry Springer and eating bonbons,'' Kimball said. "They're out there trying to find a job. That's something that I really do try to keep in the back of my mind - even if I'm getting frustrated."

Kimball said he can think of only one really nasty call during his three years with the department. That person called him "names that my worst enemy would not call me and then hung up. That one stuck with me. I think most people don't think of us as these uncaring state employees."

With four children and a wife of 22 years to offer support, Kimball doesn't allow the stress, negativity and misery of others to piggyback home with him.

"I involve myself in my community and I involve myself deeply in my family. That really is my saving grace," he said.

"And I will not answer the phone at home. I tell my kids, no, you're taking phone calls. Unless it's my mom. Then I'll call her back.''

'You're seeing the tin underneath'

* Jerry Reese

When dealing with real-life stories of hardship, despair and uncertainty, Jerry Reese draws inspiration from the voices of strangers.

It might be a simple "thank you'' on the other end of the line. It might be the sigh of relief he hears after helping someone gain a measure of control in a chaotic time.

"We deal with an awful lot of fear,'' Reese said. "People who have no job, who have no income, who have a family, who have bills and responsibilities . . . they're frightened to death that they're going to lose everything.

"When you hang up with that caller, you know from the sound of their voice and the tremor that's involved, 'OK, I did my job.' I don't know about anybody else, but I'm sort of like, 'OK, bring on the next one.' ''

Reese has this piece of time-saving advice for people seeking information about their unemployment options and benefits: Check the Internet and read carefully.

"We are a society of rapid readers and scanners," he said. "If they would take the time, quite often, to read carefully what they are filling out, they would avoid problems for themselves and speed up their very own claims.''

Reese, 60, jokes that he's not quite old enough to remember the Great Depression, but he has seen enough recessions to believe this one is different.

"We're hearing from people who have master's degrees, who have higher education, who've been working for 20 and 30 years, and all of a sudden, the golden parachutes of old are not nearly as golden as they used to be," he said. "The gold paint is rubbing off and you're seeing the tin underneath - and it doesn't look as rosy as it did.''

When he is done talking to white-collar, blue-collar and hot-under-the-collar individuals in search of work, Reese said he goes home and ignores the phone.

He watches only "entertaining" TV shows and reads as much as possible while hanging out with his cat, Biggins."I'll find my pack of friends and once a week, just go out," he said.

lopezaa@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5388; debruinl@RockyMountain News.com or 303-954-5100

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