Dreadful Wednesday

charlotte989875

mrsmitten said:

He is the worst.  I didn't get here until after 3 because ironically I had client meetings, so it's looking like I won't even talk to him today since he was already here for lunch and all.  Argh.

*If* the lay-off is what he's offering, he's asking me to choose between paying my bills and my commitment to the team and clients.  For someone like me, that really sucks because while I have a baseline to live off of, my career is more than just a job to me and I hate thinking I'm going to have leave friends and clients in a bad spot.  Friend/Boss and I talked it over more today too, if, big *if*, I accept his proposition there will be a contract with a return date and signing bonus, if I return, for the lost pay.  As confident as I am that I can find a job quickly, it's no guarantee and I'd be stupid to turn down a waiting job if I didn't find anything else.

This is how I felt leaving the nonprofit last year, and it took my sister saying “well if they cared as much about you as you do about them you wouldn’t be in the position feeling the way you do”. I’m the same way, a job is more than a paycheck and I hate feeling like I’m letting someone down, but you do need to look out for yourself and if there is no contract in place or if the 2-3 months isnt guaranteed I’d say no. Or have them reach back out to you then and make you an offer but that you will also be seeking other employment during that time. 

6fsn

banana468 said:

6fsn said:

M2 makes her First Communion in May. My mil just emailed me that she’ll be there, but sfil won’t make it because he’s announcing a high school baseball game. I know I can’t change someone’s priorities, but damn it makes me sad. I just don’t get it. 

I mean maybe if this was perhaps the only source of income and they needed that cash? 

But as a mom of a kid who made her 1st in May last year yeah, the only person I gave the get out of this free card was my brother who is in retail management and a Saturday is a really really hard day to get out of when you're the guy in charge.  

It’s a volunteer thing he does. 

banana468

6fsn said:

banana468 said:

6fsn said:

M2 makes her First Communion in May. My mil just emailed me that she’ll be there, but sfil won’t make it because he’s announcing a high school baseball game. I know I can’t change someone’s priorities, but damn it makes me sad. I just don’t get it. 

I mean maybe if this was perhaps the only source of income and they needed that cash? 

But as a mom of a kid who made her 1st in May last year yeah, the only person I gave the get out of this free card was my brother who is in retail management and a Saturday is a really really hard day to get out of when you're the guy in charge.  

It’s a volunteer thing he does. 

Well then that's priorities for you.   Is he not understanding how this is a big deal?

short+sassy

mrsmitten said:

He is the worst.  I didn't get here until after 3 because ironically I had client meetings, so it's looking like I won't even talk to him today since he was already here for lunch and all.  Argh.

*If* the lay-off is what he's offering, he's asking me to choose between paying my bills and my commitment to the team and clients.  For someone like me, that really sucks because while I have a baseline to live off of, my career is more than just a job to me and I hate thinking I'm going to have leave friends and clients in a bad spot.  Friend/Boss and I talked it over more today too, if, big *if*, I accept his proposition there will be a contract with a return date and signing bonus, if I return, for the lost pay.  As confident as I am that I can find a job quickly, it's no guarantee and I'd be stupid to turn down a waiting job if I didn't find anything else.

I had trouble putting my thoughts together, so I'm bulleting them.  Some of them might be really prying into your business, lol, so please consider those just rhetorical questions to ask yourself :

• Are there any potential negatives to you for signing the contract if you find another job?  Other than missing out on the signing bonus?  If not, then you might as well sign.  Still look for another job and, if another offer comes along, re-evaluate.  You might feel bad about doing that but, you shouldn't.  They can hope you'll wait around for them, but they shouldn't expect it.
• You're not leaving your friends and clients in a bad spot.  No guilt.  The business is.  It doesn't even make them bad people.  Those are the hard choices that need to be made, if there isn't enough money coming in.
• Which leads me to my third point.  That contract is everyone assuming things will be hunky-dory in Spring and business will have picked back up enough to bring you back on.  But what if that doesn't happen, despite the contract.  What is their penalty for leaving you waiting in the wings?  You get your back pay and a "sorry", with no more pay to come?  Or they don't even have your back pay and keep putting you off?  It is probably unlikely and I admit I'm a jaded person.  I'm sure you're thinking "they would never do that to me".  But, contract or not, best intentions or not...they could.  Which is my long way of saying again...keep looking for another job, lol.
• Assuming you stay working there and the rest of 2019 is awesome.  But what happens in Jan. 2020?  And business is slow for the winter.  Will they need to lay you off again for 2-3 months?  Of course, nobody can answer that question.  But it could be exactly this same scenario.
• I definitely understand that a job isn't just about a paycheck.  But, at the end of the day, the biggest priority is being able to pay the bills.  Which sometimes means taking a job that is meh.
• I'd also talk to the owner if you can go p/t, until things pick up in a couple months.  After all, you went to client meetings today.  Of course, only if that's something that would make sense for you.

Another thought, are there side jobs you could take to help get you through and give you a little more breathing room to wait and see what happens with this job (if you want to do that)?  I can't speak for Michigan and what they consider reportable income.  But I was unemployed for a year during the worst part of the last recession.  The max. UE benefit was $925/month, one of the worst in the country and nowhere near what I needed to survive.  Per UE guidelines, I only needed to do a weekly report of income earned from a W-2 job.  I side-gigged my ASS off.  Some of it was temp. W-2 stuff, but most side-gigs aren't.  Especially because there are expenses involved, like mileage and purchases.

I did mystery shopping, merchandising, product demonstrations, surveys, mock juries, selling/reselling on Ebay.  Some rental income but, back then, it was only the other side of my duplex.  That was also when I picked up my regular gig of taking pics of hotel event boards.  Which I still do to this day because it's flexible and good money for the time.  At any rate, I somehow hobbled together a living, lol.

Maybe you could do freelance social media marketing.  There have to be SO many businesses that don't even have a FB page and should.  Like, half the restaurants I try to find a menu for online, lol.

Uber and Lyft is certainly another popular option for f/t or p/t income.

Jen4948

@mrsmitten I'm sorry to hear about this.

I would definitely include the campaign information in your resume and LinkedIn profile. Even if you got working for your husband, and whether you were paid for it, it's valuable professional experience.

Best of luck!

climbingsingle

@mrsmitten I found my current job on Indeed. 

short+sassy

@mrsmitten, Craig's List want ads used to be a s**t show because they had a bunch of fake "business opportunity"/"outside sales - commission only" kind of stuff.  But they really cleaned it up a few years ago and I like it.  I found my previous job there.  There's even a "gig" section.  You do have to wade through it to find the gems, but that is where I've found mock jury and focus group opportunities and occasionally other good stuff.

Glassdoor is another one I really like.  I still get their e-mails, even though I'm not looking, just to stay up to date with what is out there.  They're nice because you can look up reviews written by current and previous employees, including actual salaries paid for a specific job title.

Monster was one of my go-to places, but it's been years since I was last on their site.

kvruns

@OliveOilsMom did you convert a pdf to word to make edits? If so and there is a magic formatting trick I'd like to know. I occasionally have to do that and I usually  just make my edits and give it to someone else to format so I don't drive myself crazy 

charlotte989875

kvruns said:

@OliveOilsMom did you convert a pdf to word to make edits? If so and there is a magic formatting trick I'd like to know. I occasionally have to do that and I usually  just make my edits and give it to someone else to format so I don't drive myself crazy 

I’d you have Adobe there’s a convert to word (or excel, text) option. If you don’t have full access to adobe you can buy the convert from pdf option for like $15 or 20 a year. 

kvruns

Yea I have the convert to word ability but it seems to affect the formatting and when I make changes then it becomes a hot mess. I admittedly have 0 patience for formatting errors

ShesSoCold

Ugh, mrsmitten, I'm so sorry. I hate that they're putting you in this position.

charlotte989875

kvruns said:

Yea I have the convert to word ability but it seems to affect the formatting and when I make changes then it becomes a hot mess. I admittedly have 0 patience for formatting errors

Yeah that’s a pain I haven’t figured out how to solve 

OliveOilsMom

@kvruns @charlotte989875

I converted the PDF to Word.  My final solution, was to cut and paste the individual sections of text into another Word document and then remove all formatting in the entire document.  I then just went back through, and added in the paragraph marks and columns, so the text resembled how it was in the original document.  Then changed my font size to something readable too.  As I mentioned before, the original document had various images/maps/footnotes throughout the document.  So because they were scattered all over the page, the formatting was just going crazy. 

mrsmitten

This is so thoughtful of you - thank you! I answered a few things in the block quote.

short+sassy said:

I had trouble putting my thoughts together, so I'm bulleting them.  Some of them might be really prying into your business, lol, so please consider those just rhetorical questions to ask yourself :

• Are there any potential negatives to you for signing the contract if you find another job?  Other than missing out on the signing bonus?  If not, then you might as well sign.  Still look for another job and, if another offer comes along, re-evaluate.  You might feel bad about doing that but, you shouldn't.  They can hope you'll wait around for them, but they shouldn't expect it.
  *I guess I'll find out if and when I ever get it.
  
  
• You're not leaving your friends and clients in a bad spot.  No guilt.  The business is.  It doesn't even make them bad people.  Those are the hard choices that need to be made, if there isn't enough money coming in.
  *Technically, I know this - and it won't drive my decision but nevertheless it's a small bell in my conciousness.
  
  
• Which leads me to my third point.  That contract is everyone assuming things will be hunky-dory in Spring and business will have picked back up enough to bring you back on.  But what if that doesn't happen, despite the contract.  What is their penalty for leaving you waiting in the wings?  You get your back pay and a "sorry", with no more pay to come?  Or they don't even have your back pay and keep putting you off?  It is probably unlikely and I admit I'm a jaded person.  I'm sure you're thinking "they would never do that to me".  But, contract or not, best intentions or not...they could.  Which is my long way of saying again...keep looking for another job, lol.
  *Excellent points to think about - at this point, I've even 75% convinced Boss/Friend to apply for a job I found that she would slay at.
  
  
• Assuming you stay working there and the rest of 2019 is awesome.  But what happens in Jan. 2020?  And business is slow for the winter.  Will they need to lay you off again for 2-3 months?  Of course, nobody can answer that question.  But it could be exactly this same scenario.
  *So actually, the rest of 2019 is awesome.  We are probably 25% more booked than we were at this time last year and our leads have almost tripled.  We just don't have payroll for the next two months.  It's winter in Michigan, no one leaves their house.
  
  But I do plan on asking the what if's when I come back.  What if you still can't afford me?  What if this happens next January?  What do we realistically need to sell for cash flow vs what I've projected we can actually execute?
  
  
• I definitely understand that a job isn't just about a paycheck.  But, at the end of the day, the biggest priority is being able to pay the bills.  Which sometimes means taking a job that is meh.
• I'd also talk to the owner if you can go p/t, until things pick up in a couple months.  After all, you went to client meetings today.  Of course, only if that's something that would make sense for you.

Another thought, are there side jobs you could take to help get you through and give you a little more breathing room to wait and see what happens with this job (if you want to do that)?  I can't speak for Michigan and what they consider reportable income.  But I was unemployed for a year during the worst part of the last recession.  The max. UE benefit was $925/month, one of the worst in the country and nowhere near what I needed to survive.  Per UE guidelines, I only needed to do a weekly report of income earned from a W-2 job.  I side-gigged my ASS off.  Some of it was temp. W-2 stuff, but most side-gigs aren't.  Especially because there are expenses involved, like mileage and purchases.

I did mystery shopping, merchandising, product demonstrations, surveys, mock juries, selling/reselling on Ebay.  Some rental income but, back then, it was only the other side of my duplex.  That was also when I picked up my regular gig of taking pics of hotel event boards.  Which I still do to this day because it's flexible and good money for the time.  At any rate, I somehow hobbled together a living, lol.

Maybe you could do freelance social media marketing.  There have to be SO many businesses that don't even have a FB page and should.  Like, half the restaurants I try to find a menu for online, lol.

Uber and Lyft is certainly another popular option for f/t or p/t income.

*If I do get laid off, I'm going to reach out to some friends who may know of short term or long term gigs for me.  I'll definintly look into what counts as reportable income too - good call.  With H's new job, anything I do to earn money has to be by the book or I could screw both of our careers!