Monday, January 19, 2009

Up in the air...

That is our life right now. Many of you saw on my facebook status or received calls from us regarding are current situation which is quite up in the air at the moment.

Here is a play by play...

Thursday 3pm-My boss brings Corrin (the other meeting planner who has been at Henry V 5 years) and I (only a year under my belt, but none the less a rock star) into the conference room and proceeds to tell us that with the recent news of Intel, Northface, Adidas and Freightliner (our clients) all cutting back on not only staff but meetings they need planned, that this very much effects us at Henry V. That even though we have already made three rounds of lay-offs, that we are probably going to make more. He wanted to have this meeting to get us to start thinking of creative ways to make cut-backs without hopefully laying off the whole company since we are down to 12 anyways. Some of their current ideas are: have employees volunteer to take unpaid time off, go down to a 3 or 4 day work week and supplement with unemployment, and find more ways to bring in money.

Thursday 3:23pm-Post meeting, I freak out.

Thursday 3:24pm-Leave message for Ben...."CALL ME BACK ASAP...need to talk"

Thursday 3:26pm-Like a good husband, he called back. Inform him of situation...think about house and losing house and losing job...start weeping..pull it back together...

Thursday 3:31pm-Go back to work...LOOK BUSY!

Thursday 3:32pm-Bring up Internet and apply for every travel director position I know of (4 completed)

Thursday 5:30pm-Go to gym, kickbox my stress away...well kind of away.

Thursday 7:00pm-Get home, hug Ben (and he had dinner ready :)

Thursday 7:30pm-Discuss options (below), too many variations to deal with (below)

Thursday 9:00pm-Look for jobs, found one (ONLY 1!!!), applied.

Thursday 10:30pm-Go to bed depressed because there are no jobs out there.

Friday through Monday AM-Doing okay in light of the situation. Mostly because we are so unsure of what is really going to go down this week.

Monday 10:46am-Corrin is pulled into conference room with Katja (another director). She reports afterwards that Katja informed her that she is safe that she should not be looking for other jobs and that Jerry (our boss) should have had said that "it would not be a bad idea to look for other opportunities". Hmmmmmm....I did not get a special meeting, what does that mean????? Exactly what I suspected.

The three possible scenarios:

#1, They lay me off. I take my SACUBO client with me and will make same amount until April (not so bad), no job after April except any contract-travel director (which is basically an on site only meeting planner) work I get, but Ben will hopefully be working by then. In this scenario we lose the house unless I can find another job ASAP which is not likely. But you never know the one job I applied could call?

#2, they cut my hours or my pay, I would receive supplemental unemployment for 1 to 2 days a week (Oregon program, know nothing about it). If I can keep 32 hours a week, I would get to keep benefits I think. It would insure a steady smaller paycheck until at least April. If market does not improve then in my opinion I would still be cut after April. You see, currently they are getting the revenue for the SACUBO meeting I brought to them (about $19K). Also could give me the freedom to still get contract work. Henry V would basically put me on an hourly base.

#3 they keep me on full time, this would be ideal, not sure if this is likely??? But I did not get the special meeting telling me I'm safe :(

In the mean time to lessen the thoughts and possible scenarios I have taken up oil painting. Here is what I am painting compliments of my friend/wedding photographer Steve Wagner. I hope mine looks this beautiful...doubt it but I will try!







Thank you for your prayers and thoughts!

7 comments:

The Arizona Blake Family said...

We'll pray for you! No matter what happens, something good will always come of it :) Really!!

Torey said...

Hang in there chica. It's scary for us too right now. There are simply too many people on the fringe. We're trying to stay positive and it looks like you are too. We'll keep rooting for you.

Nicole W. said...

I'm so sorry Christie! I will pray for you guys. I think this is going to be a hard year for everyone:( I really hope you don't have to experience this hardship and get to keep your house.
love you mucho!
xo

Megan said...

That sounds so stressful!! I'm glad you're taking up painting to relax though. You always were an awesome artist in art class in HS. I wish I could make the time to get back into art also. Good luck with the whole job/ house problem. I hope it works out soon so you don't have to think about it too much.

Tricia Lee McNabb-Lanzino said...

Listen here Little Sister, I know that you can't help yourself and think of every detail, but the only thing that you really need to do is follow your gut. You have AMAZING intuition and you should trust that you can stand by your gut. It has served you well so many times before.

You're in my thoughts everyday!
*AOE*
Big T

Rebecca said...

Ahhh! The stress, I am so sorry. There are layoff going to happen at Boeing again. Hopefully it won't affect us, but it could.

kim said...

We'll be praying for you, too. This is such a scary time all around.