Freddy and Jenny

My previous post just seemed to raise more questions and confuse people, so I'm going to tell you the story of our friends....let's call them "Freddy" and "Jenny"...

Freddy and Jenny moved to the NYC area in September of 2001. Freddy was excited because his new job had promised him a lot of growth and potential, but he would still be a public servant and helping children, things that were very important to Freddy. Freddy was also given a scholarship to get his Master's degree. Freddy and Jenny moved from a small town in Alabama to pursue their dreams of living in the big city.

Freddy's new job began well but during his commute on his second week of work a plane crashed into the World Trade Center, and I don't think I have to tell you what happened after that. The monies that had been previously set aside for Freddy's job in NYC where now being channeled into Homeland Security and things began changing rapidly. The potential for Freddy's job quickly declined but he was still able to complete his Masters degree. Freddy and Jenny had been living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to make ends meet but they thought that once they had completed their graduate degrees things would change.

Freddy and Jenny both completed their graduate educations and believed that soon they would be able to make enough money to live comfortably in their chosen city. They both have jobs as public servants and typically these are not high paying positions, coupled with the administration at the time, things were not good in the land of non profits. Their salaries increased but the cost of living increased more. Freddy and Jenny had a baby, and they were thrilled but also in a predicament that Jenny could not afford to stay home but daycare was also EXTREMELY expensive (think mortgage payment). Freddy and Jenny continued working and hoping that THINGS would improve (mainly they would magically make more money and NYC would magically become cheaper). Jenny became increasingly frustrated with Freddy's Saturday work days because he was missing their child's swim classes and family weekends but Freddy's work required Saturday hours.

Jenny was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with her job but she felt she was stuck there because it was only a few short blocks from their child's daycare and her work was flexible with her hours if she needed to leave to pick up a sick child or attend a program. Twice Jenny threatened to quit and twice she was given tiny raises and promises of new and better things to come...Twice these promises really didn't pan out.

Freddy and Jenny began discussing OPTIONS because they were not living their dream in NYC as they had hoped. They didn't make enough to do anything other than live comfortably and eat, there would be no extras and no vacations, there was no hope of EVER buying a place to live, and Freddy was still working on Saturdays. Freddy would ALWAYS have to work Saturdays and the options of moving on to bigger and better things with in his place of employment were becoming almost non existent. Freddy began talking to Jenny about pursuing his PhD. Jenny agreed under the circumstances that she would ONLY move back to the town where her sister and Freddy's brother were living because if she was going to move to the middle of no where she had to at least like the people that live there.

Freddy was accepted into the University and given a great deal where he would make a teeny tiny amount of money but he would not have to pay tuition and Jenny was so frustrated with her job she was THRILLED at the thought of moving on. Freddy and Jenny planned on giving their jobs two months notice and started making plans to move.

If you didn't know, moving is EXPENSIVE and Freddy and Jenny will also need to buy a car. They are saving as much as possible but don't know if they will have enough to make things easier for them, while also having a bit of padding in case Jenny doesn't find a job right away. Freddy is a couple days away from announcing his resignation when he receives an email sent out to ALL employees that they are offering buyout packages so they may be able to stave off layoffs. Freddy would have to sign up and attend a counseling session and a couple of meetings in order for the powers that be to decide if he was eligible for the buyout package.

Freddy and Jenny wondered if there were ethical/moral concerns about taking a buyout when they already planned on quitting....

That is where our friends Freddy and Jenny are now...to be honest, they are going to try and get the buyout but are curious if others believe this is a wrong/unethical/immoral thing to do.


Why is this whole post in italics?...well, it started out as an addition on yesterday's post but then I cut it and past it into a new post and it won't let me fix it, so maybe you can pretend like it is a dream sequence or something...