Day 32

One percent. That is what one of my colleagues was in near tears about this morning. Her husband whose pay would put him in the 4% furlough pay reduction category is in the union, and is only a 50% employee, which means that if he has to face the temporary layoff the union may allow the university to impose, he will fall below the mandatory half-time level for benefits. He will not only lose accruals such as vacation and retirement, he will lose his health insurance for as much as four months. The two of them are contemplating the option of him joining the START program (a voluntary pay reduction program we have here at Berkeley started sometime last year), which has a minimum of a 5% pay reduction. In this program, he would still be considered at his normal status for benefits. But is the extra 1% pay reduction worth more or less than the risk of not having health insurance for a short while along with the loss of retirement accrual? Would she be allowed to add him to her health insurance mid-year, and how much would that cost? How much financial benefit is the university really gaining by totally screwing over people who make barely anything, and are reduced to losing sleep over 1% of a drop in the university's bucket?

On Fridays around here--as I'm sure in just about every office in America--we've pretty much had it for the week by mid-afternoon. Sometimes we leave a smidgen early to go to the faculty club for cocktails and gossip. Sometimes we have a five minute "dance party" and I blast some old disco from my computer speakers. And other times we share funny YouTube videos or silly websites that make us cackle with laughter over someone else's foolishness or misfortune. Today, we read aloud to each other a few tidbits of prank emails that someone found on a website that collects these gems. After the whistle blows for the day, we'll be joining some of our graduate students for a late afternoon happy hour in the student lounge complete with cheap beer and Elvis sandwiches. Financial stress be damned! It's the simple things that get us through the day.