My boss handed down a memo today that probably should have been called “Next to Worst Case Scenario”. She wanted to know what a 15% cut in payroll would do to our staff. For my first draft, I threw together a spreadsheet that cut everyone’s gross income 15% across the board. Ouch. It reaffirmed to me how most of us are pretty much living paycheck to paycheck, or pretty close to it.
Then, I made a new spreadsheet that was realistic – cutting real-time fat from each department to ensure that we have only minimal staff on hand at any one time. Some people just get creamed, and others aren’t impacted as much. But you know who is impacted the most? Guests. Repeat, guests. Yeah – the people that have kept coming this winter, and allowing us to make our payroll and show a profit, in spite of their own personal downturn. We thrive on repeat clientele, and a 15% cut in payroll would jeopardize that service that our guests are used to. It would be a horrendous business decision to do ‘whatever it takes’ to improve today’s profit margin, because the long-term effects would be 20-fold.
So, I’m going to return a report that is a compromise of her wishes and ours. I may get the beatdown, but after last Saturday at the White Tanks – you could drive a truck over me and it would hurt less.
I’m glad that I woke up this morning and immediately sent in our back country permits for a Grand Canyon 4-day hike in May. Having that journey on the books will be a huge circled date to look forward to. Me, Dad, and Uncle Steve goin’hiking into the Wild! Well – sorta. It’s the first time for my Dad and we don’t want to get too crazy. There’ll be small, but established campsites, toilets, purified water, and well marked trails – all in the middle of nowhere. This sounds more accurate: Me, Dad, and Uncle Steve goin’ hiking in paradise, baby.
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