Report From the Frontlines of the Economic Collapse

[Elspode]

I'm as lower middle class as lower middle class gets to be. I own two houses...that is to say, the mortgage companies own them and let me do with them mostly as I will. I have worked pretty much constantly since age 15 (I am now 52 years old, and have put my 401k deductions on pause), with a couple of periods of unemployment, the longest of which was technically 6 months, although my Kansas unemployment payments and the cash money I was able to earn during that time largely ameliorated the trauma.

My stock in trade is construction. I and my high school diploma have managed to eek out a living as a long haired, iconoclastic Pagan office manager for the past 18.5 years, grinding out endless miles of paperwork, dealing with the complete scum providers/installers of roofing, guttering, insulation and fireplace trades, and verbally massaging various sorts of customers - elderly, dottering and near deaf; dissatisfied and pissed; privileged and arrogant, self important and self depricating; and everything else in between. I am fucking *good* at what I do...as good as good gets in this industry, I'll wager.

I'm here to report to you, my beloved and respected fellow Dwellars, that things on the front line of construction are grim indeed. When I hired on at my current place of employment, the company was grossing $800,000.00 a month. There was an office staff of five - receptionist, AR clerk, work order/payroll processor, office manager (me) and Safety Director. We had nearly sixty field personnel, three department supervisors, and a Branch Manager.

That was five years ago last week. Today, as I type this, our November gross sales were $330,000.00, down from $435k in October. December looks as though we might dry up and blow away.

Yesterday, after taking a brief moment to review the previous month's disaster, my boss sent out an email to the branch...layoffs would occur, pay would be cut, shit was gonna suck.

I'm one of the lucky ones. He's flat out told me that he and I would be the last ones out the door when our gigantic corporate parent closes the place, if they do. He can't get by without me. That might possibly be due in part to the fact that he rarely works more than five hours a day. But, according to him the place cannot possibly function without me there.

That's why I am only taking a pay cut of $1,200.00 per annum instead of the 7 to 10 percent that everyone else has to shoulder. That's why I get to continue working five days a week instead of the four that he's now reduced my only remaining staffer to...leaving me answering phones, writing work orders, handling scheduling, processing AP and AR, etc, etc on my own every Friday from now on...because Patty now gets a 32 hour schedule, effectively giving her a 20% pay cut. And she's *happy* that's all the worse it is for her. Happy.

My place of employment is imploding with all the haste and grace of a popped balloon. We are primarily based on insulation of new residential construction...and there isn't any. Although we have seen an incredible upturn in retro insulation and gutter work (people who want us to upgrade their existing homes' envelopes), it is scarcely enough to maintain the number of employees, trucks and physical plant that drag on our overhead.

There's more...lots more...crap that is relevant to my current woeful state of affairs. Corporate BS that only grows and gnaws away at time and morale is a major component. Corporate has been contracting their staff throughout all of this, and shoving their former duties back into the branches. But mostly, what I'm feeling right now is a sense of hopelessness. I've done what I've done for the better part of two decades now. I'm *very* good at it. I know how to do everything that modern construction needs to have done to make the paperwork come out okay and allow the money to change hands. Never in the past 18 years has anyone ever said anything about my work but that it was indispensible...

...and yet I sit here typing this, realizing that my pay has just been cut to what it was *eight years ago*. In that time, inflation has eroded the purchasing power of $40k/year by some 20%+.

Monday, my boss actually sat me down and told me that I was lucky to have a job at all.

Why doesn't this make me happy?

[lookout123]

Sorry to hear it Patrick. yeah, it's trite, but it's all I have.

One of my good friends finally accepted a big promotion from the telecom he'd been with for years. They relocated him and dropped him and his family 2,000 miles from home and then 3 weeks later announced the company was being sold and all operations in his new city were closing down. the guy in his old job keeps his gig. good luck and don't let the door hit you.

[Pie]

Man, I'm sorry about this, Els. I got into a fight with a friend recently who claimed the current economic downturn would be "a good thing". While he was correct in the sense that a correction was due, it most certainly isn't good.

A lot of families will be caught in the middle. I'm sorry you're in it too.

[Aliantha]

Sounds like it's not so bad for you personally Els, so that's a good thing. Hopefully the company will keep its doors open and ride out the storm.

The same thing happened to the tank industry in Qld when the rebate schemes ran out and it started raining again. Lots of layoffs and people left with no income at all. We went from an office of about 15 sales/customer service staff down to now two. Lucky for me I wanted to finish up anyway, but if I'd been relying on that income it would have been devastating as it was for many of the staff.

[Elspode]

I fully understand that the global economy has long been riding on a wave of borrowed money and complete bullshit, and that a correction is long overdue so that reality can reign.

I have yet to figure out how all of that is going to result in people not starving, losing their homes and generally being fucked.

[Aliantha]

I think a lot more people will start growing their own veges and things like that. A lot of people will be forced to live within their means for the first time in their lives maybe. A lot of people will move out of the cities and into rural areas where they can become a bit more self sufficient.

That's my prediction.

The biggest problem is, there's been several generations between now and the last time populations in general in the western world have had to actually think about what they spend money on. People don't have the same skills that used to be passed down from parents to children because people didn't want to believe this could happen again. I see so many people who are really going to suffer, but I also see some people who will be ok, even if they do lose their homes. Most of us could easily cut back and save ourselves if we really had to. (I mean us here on the cellar in that most people seem to be at least semi-realistic about the situation)

[sweetwater]

That's a hard reality. I assume the company has examined options for focus on a different aspect of the industry, like the retro insulation that you mention, as a way to survive? Is there any hope for its future, and yours there? And just as an aside, don't equate your value with your income. We need money for things we need, yes, but you are worth more now whether they are paying you more or not.

[Elspode]

No. The "company", i.e., our corporate parent, is tightly focused on satisfying SOX mandates and following the stereotypical corporate playbook. The only recognition that our bread and butter has moved from new construction to retro work was a recent memo that came down warning us about the liabilities associated with old construction and possible asbestos being present.

Our mandate is to be profitable, no matter how minimally, or face shutdown.

[wolf]

Make sure your resume is in order, and then decide if you want to ride the company down and be able to collect unemployment, or start looking for a new position now. Yeah, option 2 isn't the easiest right now, but if you focus your search on fields that might be more recession friendly, you could ride this out.

Of course, things could totally change with the New World Order taking over in January.

[Elspode]

Yeah, Obama's gonna save us all.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Elspode

Yeah, Obama's gonna save us all.

He does not have a choice.

These are scary numbers. The government has already committed to spending now $7.5 trillion in a world only worth $70 trillion. Obviously the government has already spent money it does not have. A major disaster called an S&L crisis was only $0.22 trillion. We have yet to see any of the inevitable affects from all that corporate welfare. We have no clue how bad it will get. Only that bad times acomin'.

[Trilby]

*wise words here*

:hugs*

I'm so sorry, Els.

*hugs*

[morethanpretty]

You know where the housing industry is pretty recession proof right now?
Dallas.
Yep, its true.

[Elspode]

My employer's largest and most profitable branch is in Dallas. My former secretary transferred there four years ago.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Sorry to hear that, Pat. I know exactly what you're saying because that's where I was at your age.
You never sold the old house?

But hey, think of poor Rick Wagoner... his salary is being cut to $1 a year.