Lowered Expectations
The economy sucks right now. Hard to get around that fact. Many people are out of work and many companies are having to make some tough choices. It is in this type of environment that I’m happy my company is doing well enough to be hiring, even if they are just for staff replacements and not new positions. We haven’t had to do any layoffs at our location and while we could be in a better position, we could also be a lot worse.
Ah, lowered expectations. Just recently, the Labor Department announced that we didn’t lose as many jobs in April as anticipated. Yay?? I’m not sure how I should feel about this. Worker’s pay and hours are being reduced, many people are working part-time because they can’t find full time work, and others have stopped looking altogether. But, we didn’t lose as many jobs as we thought we would. Oh, by the way, it’ll probably keep getting worse.
I am aware that the economy is usually cyclical and it will in all likelihood bounce back, but that is small comfort right now. It’s like a coach telling his team,”Well, we went into this match knowing we were going to lose but I have some good news for you. We didn’t lose by as many points as we thought we would! Now, I know you are all aware that our star players are out injured right now, the assistant coaches decided to stop holding training sessions, and we’ll keep losing for a while longer, but cheer up! In a year or two we’ll be going strong again like we used to.”
On a slightly positive note, it is easier for me to find better candidates for my open positions. I guess I’ll just keep looking for the silver linings and keep doing what I do best. Resiliency is a useful trait.
