How has the economy affected you, if at all?

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

I currently work for Starbucks.

It was fantastic when I started... It was a take a breather job for me, you know? I was going to work there for a while, work with my hands, be around coffee all the time, get better at connecting with people... Find a nice job at a university that'd foot the bill for my grad school.

Now, stores are closing. Everywhere. Labor cuts have made it so that when we would normally have four people, we have three or two. We're overworked and morale is low.

Now, my store does quite well, and I apparently have one hell of a knack for what I do now. I'm PRETTY sure I'm safe, and I'm PRETTY sure that if my store closed, I'd be whisked away to some other store. But not being certain is what kills me, and I don't have enough hours to do things like, I don't know... Save? Invest? Buy new boots?

As for jobs at universities? Searches at higheredjobs.com and the like that once produced hundreds of results now produce tens of results. People with Masters degrees are snapping up the entry-level stuff that was so plentiful a few years ago.

And I don't even want to get into the housing situation.

I've been in a near-constant state of fear for several months now... I really hope things turn around soon.

[Harkoliar]

im hanging on my job as well. Stop hiring and not replacing people who leaves. It is a big of a challenge accepting more work with same pay. Ah well.

[Cloudbringer]

My husband lost a job right after the new year started but Thank God, he found another one within 3 weeks, so we're just being grateful and hoping for the best. We've heard of layoffs and people being out of work for 6 months and more, so 3 weeks seems small in comparison.

I've dumped one credit card and another is going to follow shortly. We're going to start buying with cash and waiting til we can afford things.

[SpiritWarrior]

Honestly, not much. I am seeing some stuff around me, especially in the media, but nothing has changed for my own work and situation. To be honest, I found the skyrocketing gas prices of last year to be more of an issue for me personally, than the ailing economy actually is. Yes, I am hearing about it all the time, but as far as directly affecting me, not really.

[Sever]

Well, i haven't lost this shitty job yet, but until this, i was trying...

It's ok Mr CEO of wherever. You can fail your way to the top and give yourself a massive performance bonus. Doesn't affect anyone, really. Die.

[Cerek]

I've been affected in a couple of ways. It's already been mentioned that jobs are hard to find and even entry level jobs get snapped up quickly.

I saw a report on the news the other day about a school in Florida that had an opening for a janitor - they got 500 applications!

We just had a GameStop open in our rural WNC town. I considered applying there just to get some part time work. I checked with the ESC and learned they had already received over 300 applications.

Since I'm taking college classes again, I really don't want to work full time right now. I do substitute teaching, but even that has fallen WAY off since the Christmas Break. During the first half of the school year, I was getting called 2-3 times a week. Since January, it's been once every 2-3 weeks.

I applied for a purchasing job with the local community college, only to learn the State put a hiring freeze into effect until further notice.

One opportunity that does exist is the local Snap-On plant. Our facility is actually the corporate HQ, so they are doing OK. I've seriously considered just getting a line job there.

On another note, our house from the marriage has been on the market for 2.5 years now. We've had very few lookers, even though we've dropped the price below $100k (about $30k less than it's appraised market value). We've been fortunate to have renters in the house, but that provides another struggle of making sure they pay the rent and don't destroy the property. It also makes it more difficult to sell the house because our current renters don't really keep the house "picked up" all the time. It's a single mom with 3 girls and their rooms all have a truckload of "stuff" in them. I got a call from the real estate agency yesterday telling me another company interested in showing the house. I told them to just remind their customer to look past how much junk is in the rooms and focus on how much space is there.

Selling the house would give me a nice cushion of money to live on till I get my teacher certification. It would also pay off my remaining medical bills and finally sever any fiscal ties with my ex.

Last year, the pump in the well died and had to be replaced. It took a lot of work to get the job done. The total bill was almost $1,000 and my ex refused to pay her half. When I asked the well-drilling company to split the bill, they told me I was the one who called them, so the bill was my responsibility. I considered letting them take me to court so my ex would be FORCED to pay her half. My lawyer finally advised that - when we finally DO get an offer on the house - just tell my ex "I'm not signing the closing papers until you pay me the $500 you owe me."

So, yeah, times are tight. But at least I am being called to work some in the schools and I currently have enough money to live - for a little while anyway.

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Why did you decide to go back to College?

oh, and if get in at Snap-on, I want deals!!

You know, it seems like the little carpenter/plumbing/etc guys are always busy. I'm doing some renos for one of the regional ministers (gratis). He was trying to get some people in there to see about enlarging his shower stall. They're too dang busy!

[SpiritWarrior]

Well, bad economy or no, if your toilet breaks you need to fix it!

[thecarrotdude]

Originally Posted by Firestormalpha I'm gonna guess you work for a relative, carrotdude?

No, I'm working a computer lab in my university. I answer computer questions.

[Firestormalpha]

Ahh, that was my second or tenth guess.