Sign of the Times........

this is for those who insist: "the economy is doing swell!"

my spouse works with the public on a daily basis. some of his customers are employees of a large high-tech company (large for our city standards). said company is in the midst of a big scandal involving the former chairwoman, prompting a federal investigation. (can ya guess which company i am referring to? our local paper has an awesome opportunity--FOR ONCE-- to do some real journalistic work, some real deep, investigate work with this story but so far, nothing. just reprints from the ap. spouse said an employee of said company hinted that the paper may be on the company's payroll. would not surprise me.......) anyway, back to my little story.....people are jumping ship (or planning on it) left and right, at least according to what my spouse is hearing from these poor folks. many are coming into the place of business where my husband works and asking him such questions: "what is your salary? is there vacation and sick leave? a medical plan?" my spouse answers politely, but has a difficult time holding back his emotions--which range from hysterical laughter to anger to sadness.

when he tells these poor souls he is paid an hourly wage that ain't deviating too far from minimum wage and that there are no benefits of any kind, these folks asked, stunned, "how on earth do you support yourself and your family?" when my husband says "we have no children. we can't afford it. we live in poverty. we're barely making it." these folks shake their heads. wow.

when you've been out of the job market, out of touch with the reality of today's job scenario, you can indeed suffer from a bit of "sticker shock" upon hearing such information.

i wonder how many of them are rethinking their desire to depart...........