Employee X has recently been treated for cancer; Employee Y has kids at college, Employee Z is a single parent with a troubled teen, Employee W is fortunately living with parents they care for, and so on; their faces and their situations enter into so many of our household conversations, knowing that the next two weeks will force dramatic changes on them and that favorites can’t be played, that their personal situations can only be accommodated so far, up to the point where the bank will call the ultimate shot. As a manager my spouse is trying to both keep his team together, keep the competition from eating at them and taking advantage of the situation with the assumption they are better capitalized, read the minds of his holding company “overlords” and the bank which funds them, while trying to find any business at all to keep the doors open.

And there are times like last night where my spouse and I simply can’t talk about it any more. What new thing can be said after months of this sword of Damocles’ hanging over our heads? For the kids we sometimes have to pretend it’s not there and simply concentrate on being with them. And last night it was enough to get us through to another day.

I wanted a place where people would pause and really think, and to do that, I wanted to get the mental clutter mostly out of the way on the page. I hope we succeeded with that…

Frankly, I’d rather be unemployed! (well, mentally., anyway – it’s hard on everyone’s psyche, isn’t it?)
Good luck to you and your spouse.

It’s going to be like this for several months, salvation on a razor’s edge.

I am truly hoping to get that sucker passed SOON

IMO, big economic issues come first: crisis, health care reform, energy reform, end Iraq warring/occupation, world trade

EFCA, cap & trade (or somesuch) and some other things are important, but less important right now

Perhaps the most unfortunate thing is our need to deal with Al Qaeda and the cost of that. It’s not good to have such expenses when you’re in the middle of other economic problems. And, the costs associated with reducing the possibility of nuclear terrorism aren’t going away very soon.

Funny I don’t recall the GOP being so impatient with Bush when his tax cuts failed to get the economy going.

I was listening to House speeches yesterday evening and actually heard a Republican trying to pin it all on Clinton, but at one point mentioning the Bush tax cuts and how they weren’t really very succesful. He had a very melancholic sound in his voice and I know he was really sad that he now realized their entire economic ideology was a failure. But, that didn’t stop him from going on to hammer Clinton repeatedly. Apparently it’s open season on Clinton even when Clinton is just giving the Republicans what they ask for. Go figure.

BTW, Christy, I like your blog look. The masthead is cool and reminds me of a lazy day at the lake/pool when you don’t even feel like skimming stones…just toss one in to make a ‘plunk’ and circles. Very nice.

“Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler.”

There’s a small homage to that ‘war’ in the Sandra Bullock & Hugh Grant movie “Two Weeks Notice” where she is leaving the company and wants to take “her” stapler, but the bosses new girlfriend (played by Alicia Witt) thinks it should stay.

I wonder how many other stories have been influenced by Office Space. I hope to Allah the WTC wasn’t just another rip-off copycat. That would be a little too much karma for somebody special.

I won’t count my chickens until I actually arrive and begin working, I think, but I don’t mind having the rest of today off. Maybe I can read Bargain Countertenor’s posts on the single-payer plan between resume-editing and emailing. (Oh, I’ll apply for damn near anything at this point. I had avoided part-time, but now I’m ready to consider that, too. Maybe I’ll be “lucky” -like that woman Bush congratulated on her 3 jobs – and end up surviving with two part-time jobs)

Anyway, it’s still better than it was a week ago.

Oh, and my not-exactly-ex-H has been working less (without pay) because his manufacturing company (yes, tied to the auto industry) had so little work. This weekend the third day of a 3-day shift has been restored because there’s more work.
Hmmmm. We’ve got our fingers crossed!

But, I am now waiting while my contact at same agency gets details on another job to start this afternoon! For a “few weeks.”

It’s ten dollars an hour and on the other side of town – she wasn’t sure I’d want it, but , hey $10 / hr beats $0 / hr any time in my book. I can type and I can answer the phone. So what if it’s “beneath” me? As I recall, Arthur Miller (and a bunch of other intellectual types) worked in a hardware store after graduating from City College in the depression. You do what you gotta do, right?
Anyway, although I haven’t hear d back yet, this is progress. Both my staffing agencies have said there has been NOTHING for weeks and weeks, until THIS week.

I wouldn’t want to predict a trend, but…we can cross our fingers. Maybe this is all linked with PW’s news on her link.

demi – hang in there – for people with jobs and hard decisions to make (maybe she’d like to hire all of you but can only take one and feels bad), time passes faster than for those of us twiddling our thumbs and waiting for the phone to ring. Good luck!