My hours have been cut

[roothorick]

I probably shouldn't say too much but: We have three techs now. My attendance problems prompted Big Boss to hire another game tech that WAY outclasses me in qualifications (Seven years experience and a technical college AAS!). Since he's already been hired, they can't just send him away, so he's gonna get the bulk of what I've been doing. Which means, I'm getting about a third the hours I used to be. I'm still valuable to the company though; both the new guy and my friend they hired a week or two earlier are clueless when it comes to IT, and our business relies pretty heavily on some oddball proprietary software, the kind where I'm the only person in the state that can solve most problems.

I deserved it, honestly. I'm not mad at them or anything, that's not the issue. Just, I don't know how I'm gonna make ends meet. I've got a car payment and cellphone bill... and I'm still under contract so I can't just cut that off, and my car... well, carless is jobless in Appleton. There's now, officially, more money going out than coming in, and I haven't paid for food yet.

I hate myself sometimes.

[Geek King]

Speaking as someone who spent almost five years laid off or underemployed, time for damage control right now.

First, cut off any unneeded expenses. If possible, and you can do so without massive penalties, cut off any pay TV, Pay-to-play online games, and cell phones. Go back to just a land line phone if you can. If you need a cell for work, see if they will provide it.

Look through your expenses and cut out anything that is not a need. This will be hard, but you need to do this. Go cheap on your food--no eating out!--and fix your own lunches to take into work.

Secondly, while you have a car, go get a second job. Oddly enough, it is easier to get a job when you already have one. Be willing to work retail, and you should be able to find something. Just be honest with your availablity, and let your primary job know you are working elsewhere. Maybe we can get you down to where you can afford your car, apartment, and food.

Once you have your expenses down to the bare minimum, you can start adding wants back in. One tip though, look through places like Odd Lots or Big Lots for cheap overstock food. Pay attention to the use by dates, as most of their food is nearing expiration. Some ramen and tuna can go a long way, if you get creative.

[blas]

There's always room for people to come work with me

I feel for ya, though. Carless is jobless around this part of Wisconsin as well.

Good luck to you!

[TheMike]

Does your Boss understand the I situation? If you can make this clear and fix said "attendance problem" maybe you can get some hours back just as IT. Hope something works out.

[roothorick]

I'm already down to bare minimum expenses. I have some pretty comfortable arrangements with my parents that I probably don't deserve; I house-sit for my mom so no rent or utilities, and my dad is buying my food... so yeah. My only big expenses are car (loan, gas, insurance) and the cellphone that I can't get out of without paying an ETF I don't have. I don't play any games that have monthly expenses, thank goodness. Mostly TF2 which is already bought and paid for, end of story.

Does your Boss understand the I situation? If you can make this clear and fix said "attendance problem" maybe you can get some hours back just as IT. Hope something works out.

I think they do get it, but I've already had way more breaks than I ever deserved. Also, there's just not much IT work to do. There's a grand total of two servers and 8 desktops in the entire building and they rarely if ever need any attention. I'm the one-and-only IT guy, always have been, and when I was working full-time, it was a footnote compared to the rest of my responsibilities.