Yesterday my boss pulled me and my supervisor aside and said “starting Sept. 1, we are going to have to cut each of your hours down, probably to 3 days a week. Whatever amount allows you to keep your benefits intact. You two can work it out between you how you want to do that, either working 3 days, or working a few hours each day. We hope this will only be for a month, but it could be 2. We don’t think it will be more than that, but we cannot promise anything.”
This came two days after I posted about doing hard things, doing things that don’t come easily. It also came within a week after I was actually talking to God about how much I would love a 4 day work week. Apparently I wasn’t specific enough…. I was hoping for 4 10-hour days, not 3 8-hour days. I don’t want to talk salaries too much here, but this will be a significant monetary issue for us. A 40% pay cut isn’t gonna be good for anyone! I will be looking for part-time work if possible to tide us over. I will be looking for full-time work in the knowledge that this could very, very easily last longer than 1-2 months. In my heart of hearts I want my husband to say “It’s okay, we can make it on you working 3 days a week. This will give you 2 days a week to take care of things, cook meals to freeze (cutting down on lunches and dinners eaten out), and de-stress.” (Being highly-sensitive puts me in a near-constant state of overload and overwhelm, even with anti-anxiety / anti-depression medications, and the need to find ways to de-stress is constant.) But I know that he can’t say that! Not unless we want to lose our house. And, you know, stop eating. Little things like that.
So what is doing the hard thing? Is it battening down the hatches and holding tight to weather the storm? Is it looking for a new job (which I sincerely do not want to do!)? Is it giving it up to God and not worrying about it? That last one makes me laugh at the imagined sheer impossibility of me doing that! Forget HARD! So, that probably is doing the hard thing…. doing nothing for now. Not trying to be in control and not trying to fix the problem. Sometimes I am a control freak. I need to let things be a little loosey-goosey and give things time to work out. For me, that’s the hardest thing I can do.
Anyway…. be careful what you ask for!! You might get the opportunity to put your money where your mouth is sooner than you think!
I’d just ask everyone to be remembering us in their prayers, and count your blessings! I’m certainly giving thanks for you all.
Silently Surviving 
August 20th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Wow! I’ll be thinking about you. What a drastic change — I hope you get something positive out of it: a new opportunity, more time with family, etc.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:42 pm
That’s crazy. But couldn’t you consider how much you’d save not driving and not eating out and factor that in? Also, more time to do things like cook, always saves money! Check out the More With Less Cookbook and some other books on savings. I bet it would be a great break. Sometimes they come when you need it. I’d help you learn how to stretch it.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:00 pm
We are thinking about those things. 10 miles a day isn’t a lot, but it’s worth counting. We don’t eat out a lot, but we do tend to take out food frequently, and my husband likes to do the gourmet cooking thing, which is expensive. I will definitely be cooking more, and portioning out into lunch sizes, not to mention making lunches for my husband. (I already make my own.) We shall see how it all goes. I’m much calmer today after taking the day off and sleeping 12 hours instead of my usual 6 or 7.