Sliding down the poverty slope...news from the belly.

[junker]

Had occassion to actually answer the phone this morning, and of course it was a collector calling.

The point of the post is not my continuing adventures in modern day poverty, but rather that the collector-dude had much useful info to impart.

1) whole damn country is in pits. He says their call lists are growing (collection is a growth industry though low paying - he was laid off of machining for 9 months before moving to Memphis and gettign the work as a collector-caller). Anyway, he says that it is likely NOT worth moving for work UNLESS one already had a promised opportunity as they now are calling all 50 states with pretty much the same frequency level which indicates that 'things are pretty shitty all over'. He sites software collapse along left coast and industry/financial collapse along right coast.

2) he says that NO collector in his 'pod' of about 345 callers openly supports bushies. At least that he has heard in the last 5 months. He says he is repub, and that nothing opened his eyes like working as a collector talking to about 145 new people every 6 weeks. The stuff he had to say was *totally* encapsulated when he said
"well, hopefully things start changing come Nov 2".

3) the govt/Bush bashing is so prevelant a theme on the part of the callees, that the company management actually had to develop a 'script' for the call-dudes/dudettes to 'work things back around to their debt'. This in the last 4 months. He read me the scrupt. Pretty funny, basically a 'yep, yep, hear ya, bastards' gotta go, now how do you intend to settle this debt?'..

4) the management of the firm as so sure that things gonna get a whole lot worse that
4-a) they are buying a bankruptcy attorney firm locally which they intend to take national
4-b) they have already altered their scripts to counsel bankruptcy as one of the very first options mentioned as they come into contact with new 'clients' as they have projections that show things a whole lot worse over next 2 years....so in their interests the sooner you either pay up or get off their books the better, and they know that less than 2 per cent of the people they are calling can pay up...

oh well, welcome to hell, we call it USofA in the 21st Century....and let me tell you, this new century ain't a very good time at all.

[el_gato]

1. The day bush stole office I made it a personal goal

to get rid of all my debts as fast as possible.
I buy nothing but the basics now.

[MsTryska]

2. I don't know if i should be proud to say it or not,

but i was one of those godawful bankruptcy statistics from last fall.

i remember being in court, and the judge or mediator or whatever said it's been like an epidemic.

[Frances]

3. My experience

I posted on another thread that my husband and I went to a lunch on Saturday for retirees and current employees of the company that my husband used to work for. The company employed engineers and computer people.

There were about 40 people at the lunch. 3 retirees that we talked to had an adult child living at home because they had lost their job. A number of the people there were being laid off and by next year a company that used to have several hundred employees will be down to 12.

One woman commented that life is pretty good IF you have a job.

[mhr]

4. Unemployed 52 Months - Debt Free Thankfully!

The day Bush Leaves office will be the day I splurge on a margarita.