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Main Area => Odds n Ends => Topic started by: quiktaco on January 28, 2009, 05:21:25 PM

Title: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: quiktaco on January 28, 2009, 05:21:25 PM
I didn't really start to feel it until this week.  We got notices that there would be layoffs of 150 people at my work on Monday.  On Tuesday, those people were all let go...all based on workloads that could be combined...didn't have anything to do with personal performance.  It really sucks cause we lost a lot of great people, and no one knew if they were one of the ones to go.  Luckily for me and my family, I kept my job.  My wife and I are now taking this close call to heart and are going to crack down and get all our debts paid off and get a decent savings.

Hope everyone out there is making it through these times.  :cheers:
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: cafeboy on January 28, 2009, 05:52:29 PM
Well I have been out on med leave but they came in and fired my entire shift about 3 months ago so I just hope they still have a place for me when I get back to work or if I will be let go.
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: ohgood on January 28, 2009, 06:09:59 PM
stuff is so slow at work. when a job comes in it's a relief. we know the company is financially sound, but everyone (owners included) get more grumbly when there isn't the normal 4 million coming in each year. small businesses are getting hit HARD.

if/when my job dies i'm going into child therapy or explosive demolition. both rock.
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: annguyen1981 on January 28, 2009, 07:01:04 PM
I work for a major retailer, and they informed us today that all full time people will be required to take the 37.5 hour status for full time.

In 2001, all full time people were given the option of working 37.5 hours a week, but still having full time status.  About 800 throughout the company did not (me included).  Those 800 still required 40 hours a week to be considered full time.

I've also heard rumors that full time people will have a 10% decrease in pay all across the country.  :flipoff:

What hits ME the most is the fact that part time people are now limited to only 25 hours a week.  My best person works with me in the same department at around 35-40 hours...  That cuts her hours almost in half.  I'm hoping that she'll just find another part time position and not leave the company, but I don't blame her if she did.
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: makenzie71 on January 28, 2009, 07:21:17 PM
I work for a company that drags water out of the ground and/or moves it from place to place.

People don't have to buy new cars, so when the economy goes sour and people stop buying new cars manufacturers lay off workers.  People don't need cable, plane tickets, or name brand trash bags so the same applies.  No matter how hard the economy gets, though...no matter how broke everyone gets...you still got to drink.
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: jserio on January 28, 2009, 07:28:05 PM
<<<<< jobless for almost 3 weeks now...and still no unemployment. oh, i got "pending" claims, but nothing coming in. luckily we got our foodstamps in today, so we can eat normal.   :icon_mrgreen:   going to do our taxes next week, tuesday, that should float us for a little bit, get the credit cards paid off to keep my credit somewhat sound. week after i've got a skills assesment test to take for the state to get assistance with furthering my education.
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: ohgood on January 28, 2009, 07:35:17 PM
Quote from: annguyen1981 on January 28, 2009, 07:01:04 PM
I work for a major retailer, and they informed us today that all full time people will be required to take the 37.5 hour status for full time.

In 2001, all full time people were given the option of working 37.5 hours a week, but still having full time status.  About 800 throughout the company did not (me included).  Those 800 still required 40 hours a week to be considered full time.

I've also heard rumors that full time people will have a 10% decrease in pay all across the country.  :flipoff:

What hits ME the most is the fact that part time people are now limited to only 25 hours a week.  My best person works with me in the same department at around 35-40 hours...  That cuts her hours almost in half.  I'm hoping that she'll just find another part time position and not leave the company, but I don't blame her if she did.

37.5 hours means the company just doesn't spend the 2.5 hours per person per week, right ?

i mean, they're not doing this to rape you of your health insurance, right ?

i love how companies rip everyone a little, and still pay the exec's 10-20 times what the real producers make. awesome. and fair too !
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: annguyen1981 on January 28, 2009, 08:26:32 PM
Exactly. Here's a better explaination:

Person A is supposed to be SCHEDULED at 40 hours per week.  If it's busy, that person might work OVER 40, therefore getting overtime.  Overtime is the #1 waste of payroll.

Person B is supposed to be scheduled at 37.5 hours per week.  If it's busy, the company has an extra 2.5 hours of leeway(sp) before having to pay person B ANY overtime.
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: yamahonkawazuki on January 28, 2009, 09:30:34 PM
yeah im feeling it, have tightened everyhting up. put off what can be put off. and what cant be put off will have to be dealt with. this econ prob has been decades in teh making, and will be decades in teh repair methinks  and in east tn. jobs are scarce
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: Toogoofy317 on January 28, 2009, 10:21:23 PM
This week was the first time in three weeks I actually got scheduled. Was able to pick up a shift last night cause someone quit and they were desperate.

Universal is getting very insecure. While working Monday night a lady asked what corporate sign will be up next (was a xerox event) I was a bit ahead escorting the group and kinda mumbled out loud "ya never know could be disney" apparently someone heard me and turned me in. I got a call at midnight reaming me out. I may even lose my job over it!
I really don't know what I did so bad. My thought was disney is doing lousy so it could be bought out with these economics you don't know. But, gimmie a break. What happened to freedom of speech.

Mary
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: quiktaco on January 29, 2009, 10:04:46 AM
Sounds like everyone is hurting right now.

The company that I work for is Quiksilver (surf company).  I'm a graphic artist at the headquarters in Southern California.  It's a huge company and we're hurting really bad.  Mostly because Quik bought a snow company called Rosignal, but that same year, there was hardly any snow anywhere in the world.  This pretty much made the snow company go under, and got us in a ton of debt.  Quik has cut 40 mil this year and cut 50 mil last year.

Everyone was getting hit hard in the company too.  All the execs took a 10% decrease in salary.  A handful of them even got let go.  My boss even was laid off.

Anyways, I hope everyone can keep their head above water.  At least transportation can be a little cheaper for us in these hard times. (Although my bike gets worse mileage than a lot of the new cars out there...average of 33mpg)

Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: Jay_wolf on January 29, 2009, 03:03:56 PM
I cant say ive noticed it , Im a floor supervisor and frankly , i do the jobs of 3 people on my own , and i always have done , they have cut everyone down on hours , not me tho , and i have my manager course in feb , and ill be on 16-18k a year which is nice for me,  i live at home , no debts , i ride a 70cc Dna at the moment , i put 6 pounds of petrol in it for the 6 weeks or so. insureance is 33 a month , tax is 15 a year , if i didnt live at home id be feeling it , but yea im pretty sound , i dont want to rub it in or anything
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: quiktaco on January 29, 2009, 03:12:07 PM
Quote from: Jay_wolf on January 29, 2009, 03:03:56 PM
I cant say ive noticed it , Im a floor supervisor and frankly , i do the jobs of 3 people on my own , and i always have done , they have cut everyone down on hours , not me tho , and i have my manager course in feb , and ill be on 16-18k a year which is nice for me,  i live at home , no debts , i ride a 70cc Dna at the moment , i put 6 pounds of petrol in it for the 6 weeks or so. insureance is 33 a month , tax is 15 a year , if i didnt live at home id be feeling it , but yea im pretty sound , i dont want to rub it in or anything

Yeah, living with your parents would take most of any burden out of life.  However, i don't think my wife would like that.  My 1 year old daughter probably wouldn't mind seeing Grandma and Grandpa more though.

Rent, diapers, car payments, food, diapers, utilities, repairs, laundry, diapers, food, and diapers take away 95% of what my wife and I make.
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: Jay_wolf on January 29, 2009, 05:02:27 PM
Well i dont pay water . gas , electricty, rent , food , anything . my mum likes the fact im here, when i moved out she wanted me 2 come back , i look after my little brother and i look after the house,  if any1 broke in , it would be the end of them
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: The Buddha on January 29, 2009, 05:52:32 PM
Whatdayaknow - Fake fluff and flip economies based on houses that no one wants will end in real pain ... and still the geniuses that run our world are working to be re-elected instead of grounding the economy in reality.
I cannot imagine anything to be set right in a world where pumping out what is believed to be a limited resource out of the ground (crude oil) can be called production.
I would guess that I'll start digging and producing dirt.
Hey, maybe I could start getting people to invest in this tulip farm I have. Oh wait a second, atleast you can boil a tulip and make a crude soup.
Stimulus ... yea it will do nothing except make it much much much worse. In fact a sharp short recession would have helped. And that needed patience and people needing to think of the future of the people than their own political future.
Cool.
Buddha.

Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: mach1 on January 29, 2009, 07:54:25 PM
not really we have gov. contract, contracts with  , ups and other big airline companies so our work hasn't been hit yet.YET we will see.
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: yamahonkawazuki on January 30, 2009, 12:11:36 AM
Same here jay. i assist my mom wiht here needs. btu that being said. im looking forward to getting out. casue teh market in east tn is either fast food or factories. once i get my interior design degree. , theres not much of a market here for it. im thinkin either fla or west coast somewhere. or even canada. lol but im one who if im not busy im bored, i work on my days off even. mostly assisting people who cannot do somehting. ( usually wihtout pay. out of kindness)
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: flyingmachine on January 30, 2009, 11:49:17 AM
My work is related to movie industry and Bluray production.  Studios and vendors are getting hit pretty hard, quite a few friends lost their jobs recently.  Always thought home entertainment will stay strong cause more people can't afford to go out, but not this time.
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: scottpA_GS on January 30, 2009, 12:16:37 PM
 Im glad I saw this coming a bit and left my job at a fairly large motorcycle dealership and went back to work for myself just a few months ago...

Im back in the computer repair/ networking business and its BUSY!

:cheers:

The dealer that I worked at laid off WAY more people than normal (every year they have seasonal layoffs) this year they laid off a TON of people and most wont be coming back...
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: jserio on January 30, 2009, 01:10:43 PM
ah, it could always be worse guys...really...  at least we've got our families, good food and great music.   :icon_mrgreen:    :cheers:
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: cafeboy on January 30, 2009, 05:53:59 PM
Quote from: jserio on January 30, 2009, 01:10:43 PM
ah, it could always be worse guys...really...  at least we've got our families, good food and great music.   :icon_mrgreen:    :cheers:


:cheers:
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: Cal Price on February 01, 2009, 04:42:52 AM
I have a small biz promoting other people's businesses, my clients are mainly french promoting to UK people leaving UK for the continent so the pound-euro exchange has kicked me in the nuts. To be fair i would not expect to be doing much until March but things don't look too brilliant.
Hey-Ho more time to ride in the spring perhaps.
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: pandy on February 02, 2009, 08:14:57 PM
Our company hasn't been too hard hit (computer/networking industry), but the news of the devastation in the economy is definitely affecting morale (mine, anyway).

It truly feels like a "sky is falling" kind of difficult time, and I'm hoping the new prez will bring new hope.
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: quiktaco on February 03, 2009, 09:34:38 AM
I'm not expecting anything from the new president.  So far, the important things to him are to legalize abortion, and ban guns to law abiding citizens.

I do believe that the economy will get better while Obama is in office, but as far as him making it better, no, I don't believe that will happen...  Taxing people more and taxing businesses more, so that they have to lay off tons and tons of employees (that were great employees), just cause they had to consolidate positions, cause they barely can stay afloat as it is, is not the way to do things.  Give tax breaks to these businesses, and cut stupid government programs.  That way the businesses will be able to keep their employees, and we won't have the highest unemployment rate since the 30's.
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: The Buddha on February 03, 2009, 08:05:53 PM
The economy will get worse, before it gets much worse and then it will get the worst.
Obama will do nothing, he si going 200 mph in the wrong direction. Lets see, the cure for a poisoned victim, more poison.
However the end of the recession will not see a new world order. It will be painful, but the US will retain its #1 if not by as far as it did so far, atleast it will cling on to it by a whisker.
Now of course Democrats (democrapps) will increase taxes, cos they dont pay their taxes.
Same crooks doing the same BS from different locations is not going to fix the problem.
Cool.
Buddha.
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: starwalt on February 08, 2009, 07:49:43 PM
I am working way more hours than ever - see many posts from me lately? - and made more money last year than ever before in my life.

So, yes, I am feeling the economic slump.  The really bummer news is that we are on a pay freeze. No raise for 2009.

Happy New Year!  Wait a minute...
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: yamahonkawazuki on February 09, 2009, 02:12:40 AM
Quote from: The Buddha on February 03, 2009, 08:05:53 PM
The economy will get worse, before it gets much worse and then it will get the worst.
Obama will do nothing, he si going 200 mph in the wrong direction. Lets see, the cure for a poisoned victim, more poison.
However the end of the recession will not see a new world order. It will be painful, but the US will retain its #1 if not by as far as it did so far, atleast it will cling on to it by a whisker.
Now of course Democrats (democrapps) will increase taxes, cos they dont pay their taxes.
Same crooks doing the same BS from different locations is not going to fix the problem.
Cool.
Buddha.
agreed. not wasing money would be a good start methinks. but this is you scratch ym back, as i do yours type thign. been going on for idk ever?
Title: Re: Who's starting to feel the economic crisis?
Post by: nightrider on February 19, 2009, 04:52:32 PM
In September, I went to a restaurant open call of over 300 people on the first day and was one of 13 hired. I never started--lost that one after a 5 month medical leave. Lost my prior job, which I returned to in a reduced position, to new @sshole chef.

Now I can walk, which I am thankful for, and I'm going to restaurants in LA and seeing 100+ applicants at an open call for a small place. Over two days that means 300-500 possibly for less than a dozen positions. I went somewhere today and they said they were getting 45 applications a day. Another place told me he got 600 resumes for an opening. An employer posts an ad on craigslist and I'm there within two hours, there are already people going in and out.

It's the sheer numbers that are scary. I hope we can pull out of this.

On a more positive note, I rode behind Keanu today for awhile in Hollywood. Some kind of roadster bike, he didn't look like himself at all. :)