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So how has the economy affected you?

Started by tonytiger,

187 posts in this topic

sniderwj

sniderwj

Posted
Posted

The company I work for hunkered down pretty well. They didn't do bonuses or raises this year but I was still able to sell back some of my vacation so I kind of made my own bonus. We are an IT company doing work for the DoD. The project that I had been on for 8 years thought that they could get by by cutting their IT staff from 9 to 3 people. Our company was out and another was in. Seven on the staff were let go while myself and two others stayed with the company. We did get another contract that the three of us could work on right away.

 

My wife works for a dog walking company. When everything went bust lots of people stopped paying to have their dogs walked. She gets paid by the dog so she took a big cut. Things have settled down and she is back on a good group of dogs. There are a lot of people around here that have extra income.

 

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johnenock

johnenock

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When my wife, an RN, heard about Obama's electronic medical record plan, she started a Masters in Health Informatics. Within, a month of starting the program, she became the head of the operating rooms informatics department. All of this raised her salary by about 25%.

 

I work as a first assistant primarily doing trauma one week on/one week off and for a group of orthopedic surgeons during the day. I took a few certification tests over the last few months, which gav me a bonus with the trauma job and convinced the surgeons to give m a raise.

 

People still get sick, so everything is fine, for now. A little worried about the new healthcare bill. The economy has affected the hospital as a whole...no raise last year and they stopped matching our 403b...they anticipate less reimbursment as the economy worsens.

 

Also, I can't sell my old bachelor pad without taking a huge loss so have turned it into a rental, which we did not want to do. Still losing money but not as much as it has for the last year as it sat empty.

 

Overall, not bad.

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Excelsior!-migration

Excelsior!-migration

Posted
Posted

So far, I haven't been affected. Took a leap of faith and left my old job in March 2008 because the writting was on the wall with layoffs coming almost every quarter. I am actually getting all the OT I want with my new job plus a company vehicle and gas card. I hope the economy turns around soon because those of us whe aren't affected now might very well be in the near future.

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BucOne-migration

BucOne-migration

Posted
Posted
When my wife, an RN, heard about Obama's electronic medical record plan, she started a Masters in Health Informatics. Within, a month of starting the program, she became the head of the operating rooms informatics department. All of this raised her salary by about 25%.

 

I work as a first assistant primarily doing trauma one week on/one week off and for a group of orthopedic surgeons during the day. I took a few certification tests over the last few months, which gav me a bonus with the trauma job and convinced the surgeons to give m a raise.

 

People still get sick, so everything is fine, for now. A little worried about the new healthcare bill. The economy has affected the hospital as a whole...no raise last year and they stopped matching our 403b...they anticipate less reimbursment as the economy worsens.

 

Also, I can't sell my old bachelor pad without taking a huge loss so have turned it into a rental, which we did not want to do. Still losing money but not as much as it has for the last year as it sat empty.

 

Overall, not bad.

 

Hospitals don't want to pay employees, never have never will, there major concern is appeasing Insurance companies so they get paid.

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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The Borders Express I used to work in is closing in January because of slow sales. I work at a gym currently, but even our membership is low.

:eek:

 

Supposedly, 30% of all Denver office buildings are empty right now due to closed businesses, which is why square footage is going for so cheap.

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Limited66

Limited66

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Posted

I graduated law school into this great recession, but I already had a job lined up and then they asked me to defer starting work for a year and gave me a stipend to live on during that time. Then they cut bonuses in a major way and the benefits package seems to be less beneficial. But, I can't complain since I have basically a partially paid year off.

 

All my friends are still looking for jobs. The public interest and government markets have been flooded with people like me who were deferred or had their offers rescinded and who will work for free. Most state government agencies have hiring freezes.

 

So I took the big down year to create a start-up that's moving along nicely and take advantage of a low entry price in the markets.

 

The rest of my family has been laid off or is taking benefit cuts. Makes me feel like an to talk to them about economic troubles.

 

With all the heartache mentioned in this thread, I still firmly believe that we are in a slow recovery. Jobs will take the longest to turn around, but eventually they will.

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BaltimoreLauren

BaltimoreLauren

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The Borders Express I used to work in is closing in January because of slow sales. I work at a gym currently, but even our membership is low.

:eek:

 

Supposedly, 30% of all Denver office buildings are empty right now due to closed businesses, which is why square footage is going for so cheap.

 

Yeesh. D: The mall that Borders is in is only 30% full. Stores close nearly every day there.

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thehumantorch

thehumantorch

Posted
Posted
Let's see...

Between November & December, my already laughable portfolio took a $4k sucker punch. Pulled remaining $3k out.

December - Laid off

Knew unemployment wouldn't cover bills. Supplemented w/ remaining cash.

Bills are 2k a month.

By end of January, suddenly single.

March trip to Iceland cancelled.

March, back to work.

Made some bad choices. <---- I excell @ those.

July - Still haven't recovered enough to warrant a trip planned for 2yrs w/ friend to stay w/ mutual friend in the UK.

Dec 2009 - Uncle Eric will NOT be the one spending the usual 3-4K on Xmas for the 3 brothers & 9 nephews & nieces this year. On the other hand, stock in Dollar store might go up, this xmas.

 

No real regrets, though, aside from choosing to spend 129k in 2.5yrs trying to keep a prior gf happy, even though I knew it was doomed w/in 1st 3mnths. That has nothing to do what-so-ever w/ economy aside from the fact that, I could have traveled the world during my layoff instead stressing.

 

Over all, I'm happy & still see the world w/ a sense of humor. After all, for years I've said that I live a cartoon life & I'm the joke. Pluh.jpg

 

I'm afraid that you win in this thread. :tonofbricks:

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thehumantorch

thehumantorch

Posted
Posted
took a 20 percent paycut may 08. was a delivery driver for circuit city for 12 yrs. then suffered sudden cardiac death at work,and was dead for 4 minutes.co-worker kept doing cpr on me until the squad arrived. had an icd unit placed to help with heart problems as open heart was not feasible at that time due to head injury caused by fall at work. then circuit city went out of business and i lost my long term disability,which would have paid me 70 percent of my pay until i reached retirement age.then i had open heart surgery june 09 and am still waiting on social sercurity disability. so one can see why i dont get involved with issues on the boards,as i already have plenty! lol

 

Your story is truly amazing. Life has really been unfair for you. Keep your head high Bill.

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shortstack comics

shortstack comics

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Luckily, I haven't lost my job, nor has my wife. The biggest affect so far on us is that my wife's CPA firm canceled all pay raises and bonuses.

 

I work in support services for a hospital system and we have gone through a huge bloodletting. They've reduced our staff in those areas by almost 50%, but of course we still have to get all of the same work done as well as new projects to save more $$$ for the company. So the biggest personal effect has been a huge increase in workload and hours. Went from 40 hours a week to about 65-70.

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silverweb

silverweb

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I'm a plumber and beleive it or not it has affected us. Do it yourselfers and what not.

 

:hi:

 

My job hasn't changed much in 30 years although my employer is removing benefits one contract at a time. Next contract we will probably lose our sick time benefits.

 

I am worried about my wife's job as a nurse. Lots of rumours of cuts to the health care budget and replacing nurses with lower skilled, lower paid employees.

 

I think R. nurses in the SF bay area are still in plenty demand. They probably make more than I do.

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silverweb

silverweb

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Posted
When my wife, an RN, heard about Obama's electronic medical record plan, she started a Masters in Health Informatics. Within, a month of starting the program, she became the head of the operating rooms informatics department. All of this raised her salary by about 25%.

 

I work as a first assistant primarily doing trauma one week on/one week off and for a group of orthopedic surgeons during the day. I took a few certification tests over the last few months, which gav me a bonus with the trauma job and convinced the surgeons to give m a raise.

 

People still get sick, so everything is fine, for now. A little worried about the new healthcare bill. The economy has affected the hospital as a whole...no raise last year and they stopped matching our 403b...they anticipate less reimbursment as the economy worsens.

 

Also, I can't sell my old bachelor pad without taking a huge loss so have turned it into a rental, which we did not want to do. Still losing money but not as much as it has for the last year as it sat empty.

 

Overall, not bad.

 

 

 

Hospitals don't want to pay employees, never have never will, there major concern is appeasing Insurance companies so they get paid.

 

Our hospitals pay techs and RNs well (probably cuz of the unions). We also do a significant amount of charity care w/o compensation. Managed healthcare is the true villain because they are in it for profit and appeasing the stockholders, not the benefit of the patients. That is why healthcare reform is needed, to take care of those without coverage, eliminate the profiteering and wasteful managed healthcare companies, and bring down the overall cost.

 

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