I had thought that working for a large company, in a fairly nice hotel would make my job a bit more recession proof. Turns out I was wrong.
Not only are our sales down, but the city of Bend reported a double digit decline in hotel sales for the last quarter, and are projecting another big hit. In addition to that, one of our biggest seasons in the snow season. It was like 65 degrees all this week, and no snow.
You might think “But it’s just Mcmenamin’s money, they still need Rich Jandt to please the customers on a full time basis”. Turns out that when hotel sales are down, Rich’s shifts are also reduced. I think I can swing it, but they cut my hours by 25%, so in effect, my wage by a quarter.
I tried to call some places I worked part time before, but they are not hiring. Also I looked into my former employer the U.S. Government, and all of the full time positions are in horribly isolated places in Alaska. My next step is looking for a sugar mamma, (or daddy if the money is really really good). Or perhaps building a criminal empire.
I am scared, but a lot better off than most of the people in similar situations. I own my home outright. I pay only a small amount for utilities, and of course my student loans. I can’t imagine what is going through the heads of my co-workers who purchased homes with variable interest rates, or the ones who are renting homes from owners who are now going into foreclosure. Or the ones with kids. Most of the jobs in Bend are minimum wage, with most of the income coming in the form of tips. Luckily with my YEARS of service, I have a high hourly wage.
Has the economy affected you? How so? Any bright spots for you?
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My wife's entire organization is closing, so that's a little bit of an effect.
The bright spot: we have no debt beside student loans and we have an emergency fund because of Dave Ramsey.
I am seeing it in my work. We had to lay more people off than they've had to in the past over the winter, but it's the off season anyway. We've had a worse year than last year as far as people buying stuff, but it's not that bad.
The bright side is that we're both working full time and have been good with saving money over the past 3 years, without doing the Dave Ramsey thing. We just bought a house and are getting ready to pay off our 3 year old car.
I should say: compared to other independent garden centers, we are doing quite well. I know of a few others just in this area that are having to close for various reasons. The May snow didn't help, but the economy definitely has to do with it too.
Since i have moved to Reno with my wife since she got a nice raise it hasnt been horrible but the stress of me not working for a month is almost over, i have applied to about 100 jobs and only heard from a few of them. Finally a personal reference and my 8 year microsoft resume helped get back into the small microsoft division (3 buildings compared to the huge campus in Redmond). So i am thankfull for that, i know there are people in a lot worse situation. So i thank science, alot.
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