Is your job holding up?

[Street Worm]

My job's holding up (roofing houses)
it's the weather that's killing me 

The winter seemed to hold on for a lot longer then usual,
& the weeks of rain aren't helping............

& I just know after this week of rain is over we'll probably head right into
scorching summer temps- 

lol.... always something~

[The Creeper]

I work in a machine shop and got cut back to four days a week and lost our insurance which isn't good because I have lymphedema and still haven't got my compression garments.  Right now I have to keep my legs wrapped with compression bandages which makes working a little difficult at times.  But I continue on, and we all will with our family, friends, and our friends here at the UMA!  Don't give up hope!!!

[ChattyLMS]

Hey Creeper,
I'm sorry to hear about losing your insurance.  But I admire your perserverance at keeping your legs wrapped up and working in spite of the problems.  I would imagine that being up and around even without the compression garments would be helpful to get that fluid out.  Many people would have given up and and stayed in bed all day.  You are a good person, my friend.

[Scatter]

Hey Creeper,
I'm sorry to hear about losing your insurance.  But I admire your perserverance at keeping your legs wrapped up and working in spite of the problems.  I would imagine that being up and around even without the compression garments would be helpful to get that fluid out.  Many people would have given up and and stayed in bed all day.  You are a good person, my friend.

I agree...........the  Creeper rocks!!

[Illoman]

I work in retail management, and have for years. I've been with the same company nearly 32 years. I feel my job is relatively safe, and I thank God for that. For the last two months the stress level at work has been nearly unbearable. It actually changed me in certain ways, making me someone I'm not. I've been fighting it, and one way has been to escape to this UMA clubhouse. I spend a few moments here each day, and it's a very nice respite from the rest of the world.

So thanks, guys and gals for posting and sharing all things monster-related. You'll never know how much I appreciate you and this place!!

Mike

[ARTMAN666]

I feel all of your pain, being a self employed freelance graphic artist in the metro Detroit area is getting to be a tough gig. Half of my client base has gone belly up the other half are just getting by like the rest of us, its nearly impossible to get anyone to pay for the work they want on a timely basis. All is not lost, things have to get better don't they? At least i have managed to make some extra $ doing some Horror Conventions and some of you out there have been kind enough to purchase some of my art, prints and t-shirts, thanks to all of you

[HARRY HAMMOCK]

As my name states Iam Harry and I weave hammocks for the Pawleys Island Hammock Co.Been with the company now 14 years,4 of which I was on the loading dock.We are still cranking them out and folks are still buying so so far so good.Both my daughter and wife lost there jobs last year and as of now only my daughter has found a new on for a dentist.My wife, who is on the mend from breast cancer,is still out of work.And we are doing ok.House has been paid for,both cars are also paid off,thanks to my dad's will leaving me enough to do just that.We still watch what we get,if you need it not if you want it kinda deal.I sure hope things get better soon for all of us.   

[The Creeper]

Thank you ChattyLMS and Scatter for the kind words!  It's people like you that help give me the strength to keep going!  Thank you my friends!

[preyer]

my first reply didn't go through for some reason. 

i hope everyone realizes that things do get better.

i work for general engine products, a subsidiary of AM general. we have a government contract building military humvee engines. it doesn't pay great, but it's got good benefits (which i pay into quite a bit), and a non-guaranteed yearly bonus of $10K (which has always been paid out).

on top of that, my wife and i own a small convenience store. regardless of the economy people will always buy pop, beer, cigs, chips, lottery and candy. inside the convenience store my wife runs her trophy/awards business, which gets stronger every year (fortunately we've always concentrated on school awards as opposed to corporate stuff ~ with sports programmes costing parents so much these daze, everyone gets a recognition award). we're growing a little, but not at the rate that we should, imo. i've had twice as many people ask if we're hiring this year than the other three combined.

so for now we're holding on, barely. my mother in law just lost her job at MIM, a part of brother, after 18 years. they're moving the remnants of MIM to another brother facility in atlanta, which seems to be the trend.

other trends seem to be pay freezes, even some pay cuts, higher cost of benefits the employee pays, companies stopping paying into 401(K)s, going from 40 to 30 hours, cutting overtime out entirely and keeping some people on even if they push a broom (the idea here being that when the economy picks up the company will need to have experienced people operating things. training new people will cost them more in the long run). the dayton area depended on GM and now they're gone, so i've heard quite a few horror stories.

i don't know where he gets off saying this, but obama claimed last week that the worst of the crisis is over. i'll believe that when i see it, though. 70% of the economy depends on spending, but i don't know who's got money left to spend on anything other than bills, and i fail to see how that generates any kind of velocity needed.

it takes years of incompetence, corruption and mismanagement to create these situations, but there's never been a time when it didn't end. i think we're looking at a couple more years of slow, steady growth before things start to loosen up to the point where we can indulge in our own little luxuries again. before folk start spending thousands on that fibreglass statue, they'll be getting new(er) cars first (buy american) and remodelling those homes they bought for a song (two stocks i personally would invest in given the money would be GM (yes, general motors) and (ugh) home depot). and, as always, i won't be paying into my 401(K) ~ never did, never will.

and don't listen to all the naysayers out there in the media. every time some good bit of news pops up they *always* have some jerk warning people that massive oblivion is just a sword held on a string right above our heads. there's one in every crowd.

the upside is that companies will want good people working for them when they start hiring again. knowing that all y'all are good people (as far as i can tell ), you've got that to look forward to. give it time and it'll equal out, just hang on until then.

you humans are a resilient lot, you'll do fine. *crosses arms over chest* end communication.

[Barlow]

I'm in real estate.

I think that speaks for itself right now.

Although rentals are going crazy now, since so many people can't buy. So it's at least a steady stream of extra income. 

[Fester]

Barlow:
Speaking of real estate-- Maybe this is a good investment opportunity.


By dlhall42

[Anton Phibes]

I got my first ever call from a bill collector in nearly 20 years of marriage today.  I called them and told them I would be taking a loan out of my 401k because I knew I was going to be late this month.  I also told them in email form.

The caller was from India.  No mistaking it.  When I told him I had already called and emailed prior to this to forewarn the bank I would be late...he replied:" What is the reson for you inability to pay ontime.?"  So...I let him have it.

I explained my job and my wife's are both tied to the automotive industry.  I asked did he watch the news?  Was he aware that Chrysler was shipping our steel back to us and saying "no thanks", when they were committed to purchase it?  I asked him was he unaware that GM just filed bankruptcy today and the US was in an economic crisis. Then I said, give it a break, man. I don't have anybody else's money coming to bail me out like you guys did.

Then I suggested the reason he didn't know any of this was because he was probably sitting in the middle east somewhere doing an outsourced American's job. And I promptly hung up the phone.

[preyer]

this explains why i'm not a financial advisor. then again, if i was i'd probably have known they'd take GM off the stock exchange. still, i'd think that in time GM will be a publically traded stock once more... in years to come... assuming the 31 year old dude they got to basically run the show (and who has absolutely no experience ~ he's never even been inside an auto plant!) doesn't totally muck it up....

every now and then someone asks me my opinion on what kind of business they should start, and i tell them all i'd build funeral urns. they think i'm unsane, and maybe i are!?, but it's no joke that more and more people are being cremated. that photo of a cemetary in foreclosure only reinforces my craziness.

kind of a funny story for ya, anton:

last weekend tina, who works at another convenience store around the corner, comes in and bought some lottery tickets. we got to talking about credit card machines and she said ray's (the arabic owner of the store she works at) was pissed about his running so badly. so ray calls tech support and, naturally, gets an indian dude who, naturally, is practically unintelligible. ray got even more pissed because he, the arabic guy, couldn't understand the indian guy. after hanging up, ray explained what'd happened to tina, who replied, 'hell, ray, i can't understand *you* half the time.'

by the way, here in ohio it's illegal to threaten people who are late with payments, and there's also a statute of limitations. several years ago i got a letter out of the blue threatening to wreck my credit (ha! i'm a business owner ~ my credit is already ruined! sucker!) if i didn't pay this bill from, like, eight years previous. for starters, i didn't think it was even my bill, so i asked them what it was i supposedly put on a credit card that i didn't even think i had. they said they weren't allowed to give out that information. lol! noticing this collection agency was from out of state, i reminded them in letter form that threats were illegal in ohio, not to mention the stature of limitations was seven years. i never heard from them again.

'what was your reason for not paying ontime?' gee, i wonder why, sherlock? anton, build a device that delivers electric shocks to the guy on the other end of the phone and i'll buy one.

[Wicked Lester]

As far as bill collectors go thats a good reason to have caller ID and voice mail. I pay all my REAL bills ontime. I have a few people from a few years still trying to collect on things like my wifes cell phone that broke and they refused to honor the warranty but were still charging us to have it. Dr's double charging on some of my wifes medical procedures ; the ins. company and us. I even had a collection place put on my ass for a overlooked $6 blood analysis bill. So when I get a few days of calls. Delete Delete Delete....etc etc. You'd think after all this time they'd figure out they ain't gettin the $$ the DON't deserve.

[Anton Phibes]

This goofball presented a veiled threat also when he stated "Would you like us to reach you at either of these two numbers or the one I am calling you from now(and threw out my/wife's work numbers.) That's when I blew my cool and said I have had this loan for 10 years---and never been late one time.  I am only 20 days late and you are threatening me?  Then I told him to go ahead and call my work if he thought that would get him some money---because all it would get me is fired---then he'd be sure to get paid.  All of this because they won't let me defer a month because of an ailing economy.


What makes me sick is up until this point I had perfect credit and had never been late on anything---ever.  Since they know everything there is to know about you by looking at your credit report, you would think that might make them go, Hmmmmnnnnn.