Having a Back-up Plan

My friend was supposed to leave 2 weeks ago to go on a 2 month long archaeology dig. ONE DAY before she was supposed to go, she received a phone call saying that she was no longer on the dig because her spot was cut.

She was going to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 60 straight days. So at around $22 an hour, this added up to a lot of money that she needed (her and her fiance are house shopping out-of-state and they need to plan their wedding).

This was especially bad, because she already had a full-time career in her field and a part-time job so that she could pay off her loans faster.

Her employer at her full-time job was willing to let her go for the summer because it would be great experience for her and she would be able to bring her knowledge back. Her part-time job said it was alright as well and they would just hire a temporary worker for the summer.

She made all of these plans, and thought they were all positive and wouldn't fall through. But honestly, we all thought the same. Her jobs all seemed very secure, but her summer job ran into financial difficulties and couldn't afford to keep all of the workers they employed.

Both her full-time and part-time jobs don't have room for her now that they have temporary workers. So now she has no job and will be making no money this summer for 2 months. But luckily, she will have both of her jobs back soon.

However, even with all of this bad news, all of this has worked out well. She has had a part-time and full-time job since high school (she is 28 now), so she finally has time to rest and finally move on with her life. She can finally look for houses with her fiance (they've been together for over 12 years, but he is always moving for his career).

Even though everything worked out for her in the end, at first she was very upset and emotional about it all of course. If she didn't have such accommodating jobs, this could have ended much worse. All 3 jobs could've fired her.

With me, I always think of the best and worst of most things. Yes this makes me pessimistic, but also realistic. Not everything goes the way it's planned. A good back-up plan will help prepare you for what might happen, so that if it's something bad, then it doesn't hurt as bad.

Also, I'm a big planner. I like to see and plan how things will turn out. This can be where my career will lead me, what would happen if I don't do so great on a test, if something in the house broke and so on.

Of course an emergency fund helps out when it comes to things going wrong in the house and other things, but if I lost my job, what would I do?

I've never really thought too hard about what I would do if I lost my job. I would have to apply many places and I would really hope that I would find something stable. Some things that I have been doing lately to keep myself “current” is making sure that my resume is up-to-date, keeping my skills current, and networking.

P.S. Jen had a post similar to this last week! Check hers out.