Spending Freeze, What?!
It's official. I have re-entered the workforce after my lovely (if not extremely painful) Maternity Leave. Let me tell you, c-sections are NOT for the faint of heart. It wouldn't have been too bad if I could have gone without the raging infection and incredible acid-like rash covering the majority of my body. Weeks of intense antibiotics later I'm work ready.
I came back to the office expecting complete mass chaos. Nothing of the sort. It's relatively painless. (Although I am comparing to the weeks of hell I endured recently... anything was better than that.) I did, however, walk into what has been defined as a "Spending Freeze."
Budgets are a funny thing: they only work on paper... unless the people in charge are determined to actually follow it. Trust me, I know this because I use budgets in my personal life. If I budget $172 for groceries I must remain disciplined to not exceed $172 in order for the budget to work. If I spend, oh, let's say $514 I may find a deficit. Funny how that happens.
Happens in personal life as well as at work. So, spending freeze it is.
I learned this when I walked to the supply closet to get an envelope to mail out correspondence. Except there were no envelopes. Perhaps they were relocated, I thought. Upon attempting to seek them out I learned that we had no money to order supplies. We were in a "spending freeze."
"But we have no envelopes."
"I know."
"But it's early November... we have two full months until the new year."
"I know."
"But how are we expected to mail correspondence."
"We all have to make sacrifices."
"I get that.... but mailing envelopes?! We do a lot of mailing around here."
"The economy is bad. Like I said, we all have to make sacrifices. Oh, by the way, we're expecting quotes to come in for new flooring for the office. The carpet is looking kind of worn and I was thinking that laminate flooring would look sharp...."
I came back to the office expecting complete mass chaos. Nothing of the sort. It's relatively painless. (Although I am comparing to the weeks of hell I endured recently... anything was better than that.) I did, however, walk into what has been defined as a "Spending Freeze."
Budgets are a funny thing: they only work on paper... unless the people in charge are determined to actually follow it. Trust me, I know this because I use budgets in my personal life. If I budget $172 for groceries I must remain disciplined to not exceed $172 in order for the budget to work. If I spend, oh, let's say $514 I may find a deficit. Funny how that happens.
Happens in personal life as well as at work. So, spending freeze it is.
I learned this when I walked to the supply closet to get an envelope to mail out correspondence. Except there were no envelopes. Perhaps they were relocated, I thought. Upon attempting to seek them out I learned that we had no money to order supplies. We were in a "spending freeze."
"But we have no envelopes."
"I know."
"But it's early November... we have two full months until the new year."
"I know."
"But how are we expected to mail correspondence."
"We all have to make sacrifices."
"I get that.... but mailing envelopes?! We do a lot of mailing around here."
"The economy is bad. Like I said, we all have to make sacrifices. Oh, by the way, we're expecting quotes to come in for new flooring for the office. The carpet is looking kind of worn and I was thinking that laminate flooring would look sharp...."
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