Post by Dave on Mar 10, 2009 19:52:46 GMT
Yes this is a serious question and its only because of what I'm seeing happen to so many good small companies and real people that I know, that I'm trying to understand just what is going on.
I'm not some thick Devon boy(merse may disagree
) ok I never took any GCE's or A levels and I sure don't have a degree, but then I left school at 15 years old and spent my last year there,not doing the normal school work, but stuff that was aimed to help me join the navy.
I do have a bright mind and its not enough for me to switch on a PC and use it, no I had to understand how it worked and then wanted to build one for myself. The only problem with that is, I now get so many phone calls, you know the ones, "can you come round on the way home from work, my PC is not working"
I've told you that only to show that I'm the sort of person who loves to learn and aways needs to understand the who's, whys and wherefores of everything, but one thing I can't get my head around is this credit crunch and the real damage it is doing.
Yes I know some banks lent money to some risky people etc, money they would never see back and I'm told it mostly was the fault of banks in the USA. Is that all there is too it? is that the only reason I drove past today a very lonely figure, stood at a snack bar on the industrial estate where he works.
Head down and not even bothering to wave to me, someone he has known, ever since he started working for one of my customers. I was to find out why in a very short time, his boss was now telling me he had to let him go, sales down the pan and the boss was nearly in tears while he was telling me. Something I have never seen from him before, he is an ex rugby player and always acts the hard man.
He started talking to the other director, they felt it was best just to send the worker home when he returned from the snack wagon, maybe it was just to painful for all concerned, this young man only got married last year and now, well for today anyway his world to him seems to have fallen apart.
The sad thing he is just one of so many and our company being a power tool repair company is linked very closely to the building trade, the tools we would hope to repair would be owned by some tradesman, he could be a builder, plummer, electrician, but what ever he does he will be find work hard to come by.
Every single day I walk into some builders merchants, hire shop, power tool shop and find someone who I have known due to my job, gone and gone for good as these companies continue to make cutbacks as they try to survive. Today I spent time looking more closely in the builders merchants I called on, most have now got very low stock levels, maybe just trying to not have to pay out for new stock, just get some money in the till from what they have in the yard.
Todays news about this young man who found out he no longer has a job, has brought home to me more than the others just how bad things seem to be getting. Trouble is I only know him from the place where he did work and I probably will never know what happened next in his life.
Please tell me there is more to all this, it surely can't all be down to some bad loans or other, but what I really want to know is where and when does it all end, so people who are all so Innocent in this, can get their lives back and not be the sorry shells they are at this time.
I'm not some thick Devon boy(merse may disagree
) ok I never took any GCE's or A levels and I sure don't have a degree, but then I left school at 15 years old and spent my last year there,not doing the normal school work, but stuff that was aimed to help me join the navy.I do have a bright mind and its not enough for me to switch on a PC and use it, no I had to understand how it worked and then wanted to build one for myself. The only problem with that is, I now get so many phone calls, you know the ones, "can you come round on the way home from work, my PC is not working"
I've told you that only to show that I'm the sort of person who loves to learn and aways needs to understand the who's, whys and wherefores of everything, but one thing I can't get my head around is this credit crunch and the real damage it is doing.
Yes I know some banks lent money to some risky people etc, money they would never see back and I'm told it mostly was the fault of banks in the USA. Is that all there is too it? is that the only reason I drove past today a very lonely figure, stood at a snack bar on the industrial estate where he works.
Head down and not even bothering to wave to me, someone he has known, ever since he started working for one of my customers. I was to find out why in a very short time, his boss was now telling me he had to let him go, sales down the pan and the boss was nearly in tears while he was telling me. Something I have never seen from him before, he is an ex rugby player and always acts the hard man.
He started talking to the other director, they felt it was best just to send the worker home when he returned from the snack wagon, maybe it was just to painful for all concerned, this young man only got married last year and now, well for today anyway his world to him seems to have fallen apart.
The sad thing he is just one of so many and our company being a power tool repair company is linked very closely to the building trade, the tools we would hope to repair would be owned by some tradesman, he could be a builder, plummer, electrician, but what ever he does he will be find work hard to come by.
Every single day I walk into some builders merchants, hire shop, power tool shop and find someone who I have known due to my job, gone and gone for good as these companies continue to make cutbacks as they try to survive. Today I spent time looking more closely in the builders merchants I called on, most have now got very low stock levels, maybe just trying to not have to pay out for new stock, just get some money in the till from what they have in the yard.
Todays news about this young man who found out he no longer has a job, has brought home to me more than the others just how bad things seem to be getting. Trouble is I only know him from the place where he did work and I probably will never know what happened next in his life.
Please tell me there is more to all this, it surely can't all be down to some bad loans or other, but what I really want to know is where and when does it all end, so people who are all so Innocent in this, can get their lives back and not be the sorry shells they are at this time.