Economic hardships

Bobby and Pam have a beautiful home, new vehicles, and have always been able to have the extra luxuries in life. Now they are faced with the monthly reminders of bills that were established when there were two incomes in the household and trying to change their living habits to accommodate the recent drastic changes. Now he is faced with deciding what he is interested in doing now for a career, trying to overcome the idea of learning something new, and still being able to keep his head above water.
             The next affected by this were the companies that transported the mills' materials to and from the mills. I would probably guess that this was where a majority of the secondary impact was felt. Some of these trucking companies depended a lot on the material from these mills to get the drivers out on the road or to possibly get them home to their families for the weekend. This is where I was affected. I was employed by Hartt Transportation which transported a lot of material to and from these mills to their customers. When the management at Hartt Transportation heard that the mills were going to be closing, the downsizing started. There were drivers that were laid off and office staff that had their hours cut-back. Rick, the manager of the Safety Department which I worked in, informed us that our department was not going to be affected by the cut-backs and that our positions were secure. Within two weeks after he made that statement, I was laid off due to the enormous loss of product that Hartt's had previously transported and I found myself filing for unemployment. What a blow to the system! I had been there for over a year, felt that I was a valuable asset to the company and had the in-depth knowledge of this profession. If there had to be any cut-backs within this department, I felt that it should have been Mandy. She had only been there a few months, didn't have the experience that I had, and had a husband to fall back on.