Kung Foo - The Economy

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The Economy

Posted by BendiVeryWell on Apr 15, 2001 at 12:43 PM

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I don't claim to be smart, I never was and I never will be. One of the largest things in life that I will never really understand is our phuckin economy today. Where is our life going to? What is this new president doing to us? Is it the stock market or just an ignorant society? Can someone give me an answer?

In mid-June of 2000 I signed a contract agreement with New Boston Systems, a technical recruiting agency. In October NBS merged with some sister companies and became Sapphire Technologies. This global company not only grew world-wide, but it grew to be a part of me, a part of my daily routine and life style. I began to believe their tactics and I have to admit I did things that I never agreed with.

As a technical recruiter I interviewed anyone with an Information Technology background and assisted them with their job search. Even though placing these 'candidate's in Fortune 500 companies (AT&T, IBM, Compaq, etc) was helping them, I was cheating them at the same time. How can anyone justify charging a client $95 an hour and pay the 'candidate' a mere $50/hr? Yes, my commission was awesome, but wouldn't you be pissed if you knew someone was making $45 for every hour that you worked?

After 5 months of working for a company I cared about, but doing a job I didn't believe in, I began to question myself. On top of not loving my job, I dealt with a woman who told her co-workers that they sucked at their job, which made her unable to do her own, she cursed at others in the office and even went as far as degrading them in front of fellow co-workers and maintenance people that happened to be in the room at the time. The working environment was one of the lowest that I have ever heard of, let alone be a part of. So I made a decision.... I had to make a change for my own sanity.

With my own IT degree from a very fine college (FSU!!!), I knew I wasn't putting my well spent college years to good enough use. On March 16th, I went on an interview with a software development company. The interview went well and an offer is pending as I type this...

What am I getting at you ask? Well, after a weeks vacation I went back to work this morning, only to be laid off "due to company cut-backs." What the hell! I mean, YEAH, I was going to quit soon anyway, but, WTF!!! I've seen just about every company in the Tampa Bay area cut back their costs in the past 4 months and 2 months ago the VP of Sapphire Technologies sat in front of myself as well as the 7 others in my office and told us our jobs were secure! He SAID, "This economy is doing nothing but benefiting our company as a whole." So why do I get 'laid-off' shortly after that speech? (And no, I wasn't the only one.) Where is our economy going and are YOU next? Who out there thinks that they don't need to be worrying about their job in the next 6-12 months and maybe even longer? How long can the economy go on like this and are you doing YOUR part to help?

Like I said at the beginning of my blabber, I will never claim to be a smart girl, but I'm asking for some advice...where is this all going to and how can we deal with it?!

Comments

CozmoTrouble spoke on Apr 16, 2001 at 03:30 PM

The one thing they never teach you in economics class is that when you are talking about "The Bottom Line", money is more important than people...

crazydiamond spoke on Apr 16, 2001 at 03:45 PM

Get a job at the Publix in Carrolwood, steal food after hours, and room with a hobo in his cardboard box. Absolutely no overhead!

RickySilk spoke on Apr 17, 2001 at 07:54 AM

I don't know a damn thing about this economy stuff. All I know is I've got a little bit of a tighter hold on my money til this thing rolls over. Danger Clown knows about this stuff, enlighten us D-Clown.

AquaVelvet spoke on Apr 17, 2001 at 02:09 PM

Yep, when the floor started dropping out of the IT sector, my sys admin job went right with it. But I don't believe it was because of the overall troubles in the economy; it was because my manager (when he wasn't cheating his employees out of their money) simply did not know how to run a company. Call it management through neglect or whatever, but the problem he had was one that isn't new in the New Economy. It's just that for the last few years, people were so optimistic that idiots like him got overlooked. There's a difference between the crash in this sector and other economic bumbles: the technology and skills developed during this boom-time are still very valuable. Sure, selling salads on-line is a stupid idea, but the people who developed the tools to do that should still be needed in other more "reasonable" areas of the economy. This isn't like when all those savings & loans went belly up in the 80s. Those industries weren't creating ANYTHING of value, so of course they deserved to die and most of the coke-heads who dreampt up such follies needed to get thrown out on their asses. The problem today is that people react the same everytime. There's a washout of bad companies, people start squawking that the sky is falling, they panic, and then the cutting begins. Usually, it's indiscrimate and thoughtless (meaning, no thought was put into it). If it seems like cutting your tech people (you know, the ones who run your system) is done without rhyme or reason, well--it is. In my case, it was done simply so my boss could look better to corporate and say he was cutting costs. In reality, the move cost his company more, and he wound up looking like a bigger jackoff to his employees and corporate bosses than before. Such is life. If I've realized anything about the New Economy, it's that the same stupid people who created bubble economies like the Dutch Tulip frenzy in the 17th century are in management positions today. So what are we smart people to do? First, hope your boss isn't a chowder-head. And if you really want to protect your future--become a boss yourself.

burn2shine spoke on Apr 18, 2001 at 10:23 AM

Hey Bendi, I've got a great place for you: Free room and board, lots of interesting people/things to do and they PAY you to live there. Even better, it's in your hometown of Tampa! Yep, I think VoyeurDorm.com is the perfect place for ya. And hey, you would be working with one of those trendy "dotcom"'s I hear all the kids talking about.

Bella1911 spoke on Apr 20, 2001 at 09:14 PM

All I know about the stinkin' economy is that I kicked butt at the stock market game, but I had to pay stinkin' taxes this year on a mutual fund for which I recieved no dividend check. Don't you love good old Uncle Sam?! Always lookin' for a stinkin' handout!!!

RickySilk spoke on Apr 25, 2001 at 07:48 PM

And there's always the Mons Venus. I'd take a road trip to see that. Whoot! Whoot!

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