Comments on: The Recession Finally Hits My House

By: Jim Hutchison

Jim Hutchison — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:42:28 +0000

A friend of mine who works in a company not to be named told me the other day that his department just got downsized from 14 people to 3. He also got a 12% paycut and took on 4 other people’s responsibilities. I went to school with this guy – terminal master’s degree, several professional association memberships, thousands of shows under his belt. I guess thank whomever you need to thank that your company is doing at least 24 people well.

Being multi-faceted is never a bad thing. The economy blows – we all gotta act accordingly.

By: Peter

Peter — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:07:00 +0000

The company I work at laid off 15 people about 2 months ago. this past week we lost our biggest client. That means we had to lay off another 5 people. Luckily I haven’t been affected, and there have been no pay cuts – yet. In fact I got a nice performance bonus, so I’m counting myself lucky!

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:53:50 +0000

You can’t leave out the “yesterday” at the beginning of that sentence, Dustin. :)

By: Smithee

Smithee — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:32:02 +0000

I excel at awkward.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:22:24 +0000

First sentence of the first para and second sentence of the second para:

I work for a small Interactive Agency of twenty-four people… Yesterday, instead of twenty-four people, there were twenty-six.

First sentence establishes the norm, even if the norm is new. Perhaps awkward, but accurate.

With that said and off the discussion — I’m sorry to hear about the pay decrease, Smithee. It sounds like you love your work, though.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:18:43 +0000

I was just hit with a 7% salary cut about two weeks ago – your new salary is nearly identical to mine – I went from $78k to just over $72.

I am very grateful to have a job, but my husband and I have spent the last couple of weeks tweeking our budget so that our efforts to aggressively pay down debt aren’t derailed.

I’ve also started freelancing (strategic consulting) and am still evening teaching courses at area universities, but those opportunties are much fewer lately.

Best of luck as you work through this!

By: Dustin Wyatt

Dustin Wyatt — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:16:51 +0000

No, he got it wrong.

“Instead of twenty-four people, there were twenty-six.” means that the default condition of 24 people is now 26 people. I don’t think that’s what Smithee meant to say.

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:11:51 +0000

He’s got it right – yesterday there were 26, today there are 24.

By: outoftheblew

outoftheblew — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:08:43 +0000

“Yesterday, instead of twenty-four people, there were twenty-six.” Either you had The Bobs in, or you meant to say you went from 24 to 22.

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:19:05 +0000

These are definitely troubled times. I am sorry about your pay cut. I hope you can work out a good budget.

Thanks,
Nate