So having moved back to the UK and now having started back to work, albeit after almost three months of trying to find a job and spending much of my time at home, I am not back in the real world of living in England.

Working for a family owned company here is very different to working in Corporate America, where there are so many rules and regulations as to what you can and can’t do, and many of the traditions that might have been have long since gone.   Here for example, people in the department take it in turns to get tea/coffee for everyone, something that I haven’t seen in years.   The boss took us all down the pub for lunch on the first day, and it’s still acceptable to have a drink at lunchtime, whereas the mere mention of alcohol at work in the USA is a big “no no”.   Companies don’t necessarily have microwaves and water coolers here for the employees, in fact ours has neither, but there is a good supply of hot water to make a decent cup of tea as you would expect!

Driving to work is also very different to what it was in the USA, and for me it’s a step backwards.  No more driving 25 miles down the highway for me, or like in my last job 45 miles, which I could do in about 45 minutes.  Now it’s just over 8 miles to work, but it takes me between 40 minutes to an hour.   Only 1/4 mile of that is using a road that has 2 lanes each way, the rest is on just regular roads, and of course much of it is just one big traffic jam.

I guess this is just one of the downsides to living in the UK again, having to deal with the traffic, whereas in both Indiana and Florida where I was living in the USA, the traffic levels were much lighter.  Not only that, once I got out of the residential areas, the rest of the journey was on main highways with at least 2 lanes in each direction.  The traffic in the UK has always been terrible and it gets worse every year, but I am grateful at least that I am not working in London.  Most people working in London have to take public transport to get to work, and that just seems to get more unreliable every year too, so all in all I am pretty lucky to just have a 30 minute journey every day.

My next task, having moved house this weekend, is to sort out a food system for work.   In Florida I used to make myself oatmeal for breakfast in the office, and could bring in leftovers at any time to heat up in the microwave.  I also used to drink a lot of water, and kept bottles that I would fill up from the water cooler.  Now without either a water cooler or a microwave I am looking at alternative options, so will have to bring in my own water from home (since I object to paying an arm and a leg for bottled water), and will probably have cold cereal in the office, since there is a fridge that I can keep milk in.   We don’t have enough money for me to splash out on buying sandwiches etc more than once a week, and besides that, I prefer to know what I am eating, trying to eat healthy as much as I can.  Having lost more than 20lbs in weight over the last two years, I am determined to not put it all on again, as I feel so much better these days.

Well enough rambling for now… Please feel free to leave a comment…

Having commented on this at length, I thought that my comments, together with the topic would make a good blog posting.   The economy is in such a mess, so many companies are struggling to stay afloat, and if like me you have a full time job, no doubt you have worries and concerns over what may happen in 2009.

Personally, I think 2009 is going to be a tough year for many people – too many people, and definitely having a secure job is a new status symbol.

But defining secure?  I don’t think you can.

My job got eliminated 5 years ago.  I was working for a musical instrument manufacturer in Indiana, got called into the boss’s office in the middle of a Friday morning, “Sorry to say your job has been eliminated”…   I thought I was secure, being the most acquainted person with the main accounting system.  But no – bang went my job along with 27 others, all either people who had been with the company the longest or those who were earning more.  I learned a hard lesson that day.  Now I never feel safe.

Right now the company I work for, which is a multi-billion dollar corporation, has made a lot of cut backs.  No pay rises, no perks of any description, no employer 401k matching, and some management had apparently taken pay cuts.  They haven’t said whether our usual annual bonus will be eliminated or not, but I’m not banking on anything.   Of course any action that they take to avoid cutting jobs is good, but there is always the worry that the economy will not recover in time to save us all.

Now this company I work for manufactures household appliances.  You know, toasters, microwaves, blenders, fans etc.   With sales being hit this year, the company has been forced by the big stores (Walmart, target etc) to cut their margins, and if you have been to any large store in the USA in the last few months you have to have seen the amount of consumer goods that are being dumped out at crazy prices.

It’s not just appliances.  Take a look in any store and see all the televisions, computers etc that are being offered at amazing discounts.   They just want sales, to keep their inventory turning over.

My fear is that in keeping sales up by dropping prices, many people have now purchased new items, which will last for years.  having bought a new television, toaster, fridge etc for a low low price, how many years is it going to be before these people need a replacement?

In 6 months therefore, are many companies who cut their margins to the lowest levels possible in order to maintain sales levels, going to see sales dry up as their customer base has already acquired the items that they need, often ahead of time because of the cut in prices?

Either the marketing plans that these companies have is based on some solid long term plan unknown to me, or before the end of the year we will see major problems in both the retail stores and the manufacturers that supply them.

I hope this doesn’t happen, but it really does scare me.

My fall back plan ideally would be to work for myself and to eek out a living on the internet, between blogging and earning income from affiliate programs, but obtaining the knowledge to do that is not easy.  I have been trying for more than 10 years (on and off) and still haven’t acquired the necessary skills.   Maybe 2009 is the year when I have to quit procrastinating and start seriously looking at finding alternative forms of income, just for my own security.

So what are your plans for 2009?  Are you actively looking to supplement your income, already self-employed and living off the Internet, or are you just keeping your fingers crossed that nothing bad happens with your employment status this year?