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People are literally seeing fire! Things are difficult. In many homes these days, downgrading has become the order of the day. Many are failing to service the huge mountains of debt that they have accrued. Some cannot even service mortgages and are losing homes as a result. Those who use houses as collateral are also in danger of losing them.
Those who give loans to friends and family are also in trouble.
In fact, word on the street nowadays is that one should not lend their money to anyone if they wish to maintain good relations with friends and family.
This is because many who have given money to friends and family thinking they were bailing out loved ones are regretting it. Half the time, those who borrow nowadays do not pay back.
Companies are flooded with requests for advances and loans from employees who are failing to make ends meet.
A colleague who works in the personnel department of a certain company was telling me that daily he is attending to correspondence from clothing and furniture shops who are owed money by employees.
They resort to coming directly to the employer upon realisation that the individuals who owe them are not paying. He said it has also become common for male employees to default on their maintenance payments, leading to visits by estranged spouses and partners, at times with minor children in tow. Things are that bad.
Many companies are also struggling to pay salaries. This has seen some workers going for months without being paid while others no longer have a set date for salaries. Instead; they come as and when the money is found. There is nothing like being guaranteed of one’s salary.
This is irrespective of whether a worker would have put in the necessary hours. But can you blame the companies? Production is low and losses have become common.
Some are just functioning to pay salaries, which does not work.
A colleague from one of these super profit-making firms was also sharing how cost-cutting had visited them while another was sharing how performance bonuses, which for long had become assured on an annual basis, had been denied because their company failed to meet the target by a couple of million dollars.
They actually made a profit in this time when everyone else is making losses but according to their bosses, at the rate everyone is always calling someone even if it is to whinge about how broke they are or to borrow some money; they should have met the targets set for them.
Otherwise it is cost-cutting everywhere you look. I was at the hair salon recently and engaged two hairdressers in conversation after I realised that the normally busy place was rather subdued. The two ladies went into a long explanation about how things have not been the same over the past seven months. They spoke a tale of clients who no longer prioritise minor issues such as doing their hair. I was shocked. For as long as I have been a grown-up, I have believed that money to do a woman’s hair is the one thing that will always be found.
I still subscribe to the same but have had to accept that for many others this necessary part of my life, has become a luxury.
The two hairdressers told me that many women now opt to cut their hair. They even challenged me to look around and see how many women now wear their hair short.
While there are still many wearing long expensive pieces of Brazilian and Peruvian hair, truth be told; many more have opted for short hair. While this has been done in line with fashion trends by some; for others it is purely an economic matter.
The hairdressers told me of many of their colleagues who have since stopped coming to work upon realisation that high rentals that are not matched by the business coming in are simply leading them to spend the little they have which should be going towards feeding their families. Nail technicians have also become fewer and fewer as women push things like nail jobs and pedicures to the bottom of their priority lists.
It is that bad. With basic groceries becoming a headache for many, things like beauty care go to the very bottom of the list.
We can only hope that when schools open, there will be no disaster. During consultation at my children’s school, a fellow parent nudged me asking just how we were going to be able to pay fees for next term.
She said she envisaged a situation where many of us would struggle. “This headmaster and team that are smiling widely at us will not be smiling so widely next term.
“Almost every parent I have spoken to is struggling. Even those we used to think are rich are crying. I pray that some miracle happens before next term.
“Otherwise only those whose employers pay fees for their children as part of their benefits will manage,” she said.
A sibling who teaches was telling me of teachers whose cars have since gathered dust and cobwebs while parked under the tree at home because the owners have since realised that it is more economical for them to use public transport to go to work than to drive. The costs of diesel and petrol have just become too huge a burden for these people. If you are still driving your car on a daily basis, you might need to thank your lucky stars. The effects of the hard times we are living under can also be seen in the increase in the number of people who are selling one thing or other.
At workplaces, some people have become known for selling something or the other. In fact, most of these people do not concentrate enough on the task at hand and interrupt others who will be working by always brandishing some product or other. The products on sale range from farm produce, chickens, second-hand clothes, new clothes to hair products.
Terms are attractive.
The only challenge is that those people who always take whatever is on sale are the same people struggling to service the mountainous debts that keep piling up.
To survive, one truly ought to live within their means. That may spell the difference between having debt collectors at your neck and living a peaceful life where only the basics concern you. These are tough times.
The difference will come in how we choose to deal with them. It is evident that solutions are needed to pull the economy out of the rut it is in so that people may become cheerful once more!
Online Reporter