School Doings...and the Denver Quilt Festival

My thrifty friend over at Grocery Cart Challenge must be having a slow day...she's currently obsessed with dryer lint. A weird but useful post.

I am so tired my eyes aren't focusing straight. Went in to the Festival REALLY early (was there by 7 a.m.), then sat out in the parking lot putting a sleeve on a quilt, because I couldn't persuade the entryway people that I 1)wasn't some retail flake who'd gotten there early, and was trying to talk her way in (their first guess), and 2) I was a judge, and was supposed to be there. No matter what they said.

Finally, I managed to find the other judges and have breakfast. Then we worked...and worked...and worked. Judging means lots of trudging back and forth to compare quilts, double-checking details, trying to cover comments both positive and workable...then signing all the pages before you finally end.

Got home, dead. Dogs hungry -- put the teakettle on, fed them, laid on the couch and watched Judge Judy for a while. Too tired to sleep. Husband finally came home -- he'd been to a meeting of Douglas County employees. The Powers That Be have scheduled a mandatory meeting tomorrow to discuss how they're going to cope with the upcoming budget shortage. As near as Husband can figure, he thinks his position has a very good chance of being cut to 9 months, even though administration is "helpfully" offering to parcel that pay over 12 months.

Which. Means. A. 25%. Pay Cut.
OUCH.

Ask you whether the salaried employees are being asked to take a similar pay cut? Of course not. (Bear in mind that Husband already took a 10% cut a year ago -- this new cut is on the revised pay.) Ask you whether the new superintendent or any other members in administration are taking similar pay cuts?

Silly you, to even think such a thing might happen. Our new superintendent is, in fact, one of the highest-paid superintendents in Colorado. She's making $40,000 more than the previous super, whose salary was the subject of much discussion around these parts, as well. (And if you're wondering whether he and other administration members took a 10% pay cut at the same time Husband and other hourly people in D.C. were forced to do so...once again, naaahhhh.)

Now ask if the non-salaried (i.e., hourly) employees are all being asked to do this? Pretty much right across the board, though there are some faint noises being made that suggest extra hours may be offered here and there during the summer months.

Add to that the new suggested deductible for health care -- more than $11,000. Yes, we have to pay $11,000-plus out of our own pockets before insurance -- which we also pay for -- kicks in. No wonder we feel loved.

Who knows. Maybe Husband's position will escape the cut tomorrow. Maybe he'll be asked to a salaried position, which offers a lot more protection...but even if he comes out of the fray whole, we have plenty of friends and acquaintances who are going to hurt.

At least, like Crazy Aunt Purl, we are still not bugs. (Thanks to you, Mr. Kafka.)

I'll keep you posted.