The Economic Down Turn Hits Us!!

So today we had our monthly departmental meeting for work, and let me tell you.... tensions were high. Sales have not been good lately, and after already having imposed a budget cut in December and January, the company is scaling back again: Everyone is taking a pay cut.

Basically they have us on a graduated pay scale for the remainder of 2009 which looks like this:

• super duper sales = base pay + 15%
• super sales = base pay + 10%
• increased sales = base pay + 5%
• regular sales = base pay
• decreased sale = base pay - 5%
• extra bad sales = base pay - 10%
• extra extra bad sales = base pay - 15%

The pay cut is uniform - from upper management down to customer service. Right now, it looks like we're looking at an immediate 5% decrease in pay, and we'll see where it goes from there.

People were pretty up in arms about the whole thing, especially since everyone is already dealing with reduced hours (for example: full time is 35 hours / week. Nick and I are full time, but we only work 25 hours / week.. if things get better, they will increase our hours up to real full time).

Needless to say, we were all feeling a bit uneasy after the meeting. I really don't like to think about it too much because it makes me nervous. I left a VERY stable job back in the United States as well as some VERY large student loan payments that need to be taken care of - this leaves me feeling pretty uneasy about my financial future at the moment. (not in the long run, but for the next couple of years) But, you can't live your life being scared... I came here for adventure, so here I am; hoping for the best.