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A Week In Hooverville

Here is a recap of the week in the hell that has become our horrible economic situation brought on by evil and incompetant Bush administration. Some say its the worst economic situation faced by any country by any people in Western civilization since the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Saying it is one thing, but when other people believe it, well thats something else altogether.

Monday -
The house 4 doors down goes up for sale. The house is 7 years old. They are asking for 4 times its original purchase price. If I had to move here now, I could not afford to do it. Of course when we moved here, everyone said it was a mistake. That should show you what "everyone" knows. By the way, I have no intention of leaving.

Tuesday -
Now that a month of candidate interviews are complete, my team puts hiring offers on the table for 3 new openings - all for external hires.

Wednesday -
Another part of our group suffers a setback as three of their staff announce that they are quitting and going to work at other companies. These are all US employees, one is moving to Seattle to work at a small software company, but the other two are "working remote" at two different companies. I see a new employment trend on the rise, "outsourcing at home" why ship jobs overseas when you can just hire folks to work remotely here in the US?

Our Management struggles in the morning conference call to deal with the new phenomenon of employees leaving for greener pastures. Luckily for me the mute button is on as I fall on the floor laughing at their displeasure with the new reality. As I regain my composure, one of them asks what I think they should do, I respond "Oh golly I dont know, promote someone, give a raise here and there, pat someone on the back, give public kudos and thanks now and then?" My humor is often lost on the management class, however,this morning it hits them like a 2x4 across the forehead. I tell them the truth that "the drought is over boys, and those that can get out now, will. For every one of those that left this morning, theres another 10 of them looking."

At Lunch, I wait 20 minutes to get to a gas pump. At two different stations. I resolve to ride my motorcycle more often.

Heres an observation I made in the Costco Parking lot:
SUV,SUV,SUV,Minivan,Minivan,SUV,SUV,Scion Type B,SUV,SUV,SUV,Minivan,Hummer.
I make a note to mark the next time I see a car over 10 years old. 30 minutes go by and a 1968 Chevy Nova appears just as I'm about to give up.

Two afternoon conference calls are interrupted by the sound of pools being constructed in our court. The Gunite spraying machines and small tractors digging the holes are very, very loud. Between pool construction and lawn maintenance, the neighborhood during work hours is one very noisy place indeed.

I have no intention of ever getting a pool. Everyone wants a pool,until they get one. We've already had one thank-you-very-much. They are really at their nicest when they are someone elses and you just visit.

Thursday -
Two of our candidates reject their offers, as they have already accepted offers at other companies. The third accepts, turning down an offer that included a signing bonus. I had no idea such things still existed. The Second tier candidates are now re-evaluated for the remaining open positions.

A headhunter calls in the afternoon, he wants to have lunch next week. The rate of recruiter calls has gone up from one a quarter to one a month. Im not going anywhere, I like my gig but you've always got to take care of these guys. You never know when you'll need one. Besides, this one used to work for me back-in-the-day.

The house that went up for sale on Monday is now sold. The offer was for 20k more than what was being asked for. This leaves us as the last remaining original owners in the court. I dont know what to say.

We begin accepting internal staff transfers to the remaining open headcount. 5 employees are given lateral transfers. 2 are given promotions. This is a relief to me, as I can now stop working 18 hour shift cycles in concert with the European staff work hours.

Friday -
Good news! A new project has been started as we were just informed that an additional contract has been signed for our services. Back to 18 hour shift. For 24 hours, I was pretty happy, but now we are back to reality.

Plans are finalized this morning for me to visit San Jose next week, as the new contract requires the assistance of a new hardware vendor to support the project.

The next door neighbors parents are visting. How do I know this? Because their giant 5th wheel "super trailer" with the pop out sides and the satellite dish is sitting in front of my house. I am now officially "trailer trash". ( they are nice folks, and its ok, they usually only stay for the regulation three days at a time, but every time I hear someone squabble about how bad it is for old folks, guess who comes to mind?)

Friday Night:

6:30 - On the Border - A 45 minute wait to get a seat.
7:15 - Seated. Chips and salsa are delivered
7:20 - Waitress arrives. Drinks are ordered
7:40 - Orders for dinner are taken. Waitress apologizes for delay, apparently several staff did not arrive this evening. Apparently they quit for better offers. ( lots of that going around I opine)
8:15 - Dinner arrives.
9:00 - Check arrives. The waitress, is handling 25 tables by herself, due to a lack of staff. The manager arrives, announces that Dinner is free, due to the problems this evening.

On to 'Barnes and Noble' to peruse the shelves -

9:15 - Parking lot full - to capacity.
9:40 - Parking space secure.
9:45 - Store is jammed to capacity. 4 registers, all staffed, a line 15 deep forms in front. The line is consistent throught the visit.
10:30 - Standing in line for checkout.
10:45 - Checked out. I ask the staff about the lines " its been like this every Friday lately ..."

It's now too late for a trip to Best Buy, but a sign in front of the building says "NOW HIRING". Every store and restaurant we went by this evening has had these signs up. Christmas is coming, and it shows.

On to Starbucks!
11:00 - 6 in line,
11:15 - Order taken. The store is out of milk. This sends a groan into the air. A Starbucks out of milk is like KFC being all out of biscuits. I ask how this could happen, the barrista says " We had quite a run tonight and we didnt stock enough I guess..."
11:25 - Order delivered. All tables inside taken, All tables outside taken. We hover around a promising table.

11:45. Table freed up at the exact moment the latte is finished.

Safeway -
12:00 - 2 registers open, 6 people in each line, they both extend beyond the endcaps.
12:10 - Soft Drink row blocked by shopper on a cell phone asking his wife "what should I buy" over the phone. I give him "the look". I begin to wonder if anyone can function without those damn things stuck to their heads.
12:15 - In line.
12:20 - Another shopper is on a cell phone asking someone on the other end what kind of cigarettes they want him to buy. A game ensues where the cashier has to go to the cigarette area and call out the brands while our "remote autonomous shopping unit" attempts to find the required brands for our mystery guest.
12:30 - Home.

Hit it Buck Owens!

Gloom Dispair and Agony on Me, Deep Dark Depression, excessive misery
If it werent for bad luck I'd have no luck at all
Gloom Dispair and Agony on Me!!!!!!

Look folks, I know that sometimes people have bad times, I know its not all "sunshine and light" out there, but I also know its not the worst.economy.ever. I lived through the Carter Administration!20% Mortgage interest rates, 9% unemployed, no gas to be had at any price and the worlds biggest pacifist pessimist in the White House. Let's try to put things in perspective, shall we?

And before I get more hate mail, I know I'm breaking the "Commentariat Diktat" by reporting good news while the fascist Bush is in office, but I must. Repeat after me wage slaves!, Business is good,life is great,things are looking up. Don't be afraid to ditch pessimism to be positive. Stop looking at all the things that can go wrong and try to find something that has gone right. We are at War, oil is at 55 dollars a barrel, we should look like the picture at the top of the post. We dont. We are not even close, so stop acting like it.

UPDATE I: Washington State Reports its unemployment rate is falling rapidly. The horror, The horror

UPDATE II: Dell Announces its building a factory in Texas. Curse You foul temptress of positive thinking and Be Gone!

UPDATE III: Lucent announces first profit since 2000. (fingers in ears chanting "la-la-la-la not listening")