Who here was a victim of the first Bush recession (Daddy)

Every time I see another thread started by someone who lost their job from downsizing, outsourcing or something else related to the recession well it reminds me of when I went through those problems about 12-13 years ago when I lost my job during the first Bush recession.

Believe me it was tough back then but fortunately it was right before the technology field was exploding and I was able to get into an entry level job.

My story?

I worked for an Environmental Testing Firm which was a subsidiary of a Specialty Compressed Gas company. (I have a degree in Biology). It was my first real job out of college that got me the hell out of redneck Perry County PA (I moved to the Philly suburbs). I did pretty well with my job and I actually moved into sales about 3 years into the job.

And then the recession hit and our job was cutting back on positions. I was doing OK in sales and unfortunately I was one of the lower folks on the totem pole (about 20-30 of us had lost our jobs it was a small company).

I tried everything feasible to get a job even if it meant going back into the lab but there was just nothing out there available. I ended up selling cars for 2 years until I got burnt out. Then I worked for Jenny Craig Weight Loss Center for 1.5 years (I hated that job especially selling those damn packages). And I did a variety of other jobs because god forbid I didn't want to collect unemployment. Finally I just got fed up and realized I had no choice but to collect unemployment but after a week of doing that (and I think anyone who has been to the unemployment office realizes that its a horrible experience) I decided I'd wait tables until I figured out what I would do for the rest of my life. By then a new president was in office (Clinton) and I figured things would get better. I found a job waiting tables that made decent money AND had health insurance (crappy ones - but the sufficed).

From there the rest is history - I started with a computer contracting company and eventually got hired by one of the companies that had contracted me.

But it was a rough few years there trying to make ends meet. And everyday I pray that I or anyone I know ever has to go through with this.

So am I the only victim from the first Bush recession? Anyone else have a story to share?



Side Note: I was pretty supportive of Bush when we went to war with Kuwait. I could actually admit I liked the guy enough (although I had voted for Dukakis). But I still had my first job. But believe me, when I lost my job and found myself with more free time on my hands - I was campaigning with a vengence for the democrats (and ultimately Clinton)

Laid off from a software job October 1991 due to end of project /no business. I didn't find another job until May 1993.

Laid off from a software job Novemrer 2002 due to end of project /no business. I didn't find another job until January 2004.

When Clinton was in office, I went back to the workforce making 16K. My salary kept going up and 3 jobs later, I was making over 70K+.

Making a lot less now. Gotta work my way back up (again).

I never have voted repug and there are 2 execellent reasons for me never to.

gettin it from father and son...
There oughta be a law against this sort of thing.

as a direct result of George I, which worked out rather well. But only cause I was still working. Things could have gone very weird with a new baby, living in expensive DC, under the circumstances.

...many of my customers were.

On the other hand, this time around my mother, father, brother-in-law, two cousins, and I have all been laid off. Fortunately I was laid off in 2001 and found something right before 9/11

JM

My wages and rent remained stable, but prices on most consumer goods went down, so I bought a lot of electronics and the only new car I ever bought.

I could see the job market drying up as my last semester came to an end. Fortunately my expenses were low, and also fortunately I was in the DC metro area, which was as good a place as any to find some kind of work. I figured that if I got on with a Beltway bandit somewhere I'd do okay.

Finally got a full-time situation in 1991 with an EPA contractor in one of their libraries, and I've stayed with it through two more contract changes and a couple job upgrades.

"Would you like fries with that degree?" because people were taking anything they could get to earn money. I recall the job market being saturated with job applicants (100 for one position, for instance)...sound familiar. It feels worse this go around.

had a layoff. They were good people. It was really sad. :cry:

.

After I dropped out of college (the VOLUNTARY time) to have fun, the Ford "dip" ate my store and I was homeless for six months. Did you know that most Chinese restaurants will feed non-smelly non-drunk homeless? And even if they DON'T, they have the freshest, cleanest dumpsters on the block, at least in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Fighting up through apartment maintenance through retail to automotive again was fun. Then came 1977, and by 1979 I was penniless and going into the Navy to pay the bills. I don't blame Carter, and I sure as FUCK didn't vote for that pig Reagan.

I worked through the end of Reagan and into Bush I, whose little recession ate my entire Medical Lab Station just before the 1992 election.

Going back to automotive has sucked the big one. The Lower Middle class is a dreadful treadmill to run on .

And didn't get any help from the government then either. The difference is I wasn't sick then just noone was hiring. Now it's worse.

Also, then people saw that it was the economy and not having the attitude that the unemployed were inherently lazy. Now everybody thinks the economy is good because of Bush's fuzzy math.

I was in research and funding was cut. Substantially.

Wonder how ole Ronnie is these days?

Bought an overpriced home in Aug 89. Took a teaser rate of 10.25%. The house dropped over $40K before we closed escrow and kept falling. Had a job with a big firm, making big bucks. The Bush recession and the real estate crash caused layoffs, including me. We lost our shirts on the house, but we learned from it.