Wednesday, April 8, 2009

To Be Pissed Off, Or Not To Be....

Seriously, I'm trying hard not to be...

Really. I. Am.

I should borrow Ms. Cranky Pants from Wendy...

But how can you be happy when you hear the words "furlough" and "your job" in the same sentence? Whew, never thought I'd see this happen in the healthcare industry, but hell, people can't afford to be sick nowadays, let alone go to the hospital to be treated.

So, I guess it's time for me to suck it up, be thankful that the powers-that-be are doing everything to avoid lay-offs, but right now this is the worst I've seen. It's only a handful of hours, which I can take in small increments - and it amounts to 24 hours per full-time employee.

Hey, this will give me time to read! All those blasted books I have in my ever-growing TBR, come to me, my pretties! Hell, if I didn't have such a massive TBR, I'd go to the library but then that'd be goofy. Since when do I read a book as soon as I bring it home? What am I thinking? I could probably pay my rent for MONTHS if I sold just half of what I have in That Giant Stack of Books I have spread throughout the house. But me, I'm a hoarder. I collect and collect and keep myself and my loved ones surrounded in some favorite things especially for times like this. Whether it's a book or a movie, my packrat tendencies shine sometimes.

I know I'm not alone in feeling the pinch during this economical crunch. Who else is being forced to be creative and dream up ways to weather these times out? Especially when it comes to supporting "the habit" of being a diehard book junkie...

4 comments:

Jessica said...

You are certainly not alone. We have to take some furlough days as well. But like said, it'll allow time to read and we still have our jobs.

Wendy said...

My Mom is an RN and her hospital is asking the nurses to forego their planned pay raises. Although Mom told me she had to do more snooping - because word in the halls was that upper management got their raises and their bonuses. Geez.

I've always been a fairly frugal book buyer - so the economy hasn't really changed that for me. I get some books for free thanks to reviewing. I earn Borders gift certificates thanks to my Borders Visa card. I've signed up for PBS - which is where I'm getting my out-of-print titles now instead of scouring area used bookstores. And when all else fails, I borrow from work.

Kristie (J) said...

I'm in the health care industry too and YIKES!! You know it's a real bad sign when this industry starts getting hit. Our contract has been up for a year and finally there is a tentative settlement - but we don't know what yet. I expect it will be very small if any kind of raise. But as Wendy said - the upper management got their HUGE pay raises and bonuses a long time ago and geez!!

Amy said...

I'm waiting for the pay raises to be eliminated next too, Wendy and Kristie. It totally wouldn't surprise me. But from what I've read about our furloughs, it's 24 hours between now and the end of June. I've taken 4 hours now. And this is to help the hospital out in the upcoming 3rd quarter and to eliminate the need to lay off a proposed 35 people.

*sigh*