Has the economic crisis affected you personally?

[Shearwater]

Originally Posted by MothBalls

I even bough domestic beer yesterday. Gawd I hate American beer, it's one thing we don't excel at.

That's why I'm drinking German beer, right now

On a more serious sidenote though: A friend of mine is currently faced with the perspective of unemployment. They phoned him during the holidays and told him that if the economic situation does not improve until the end of September, they'll sack him. Since they did it on too short notice, it could be that he does not receive unemployment pay (you need to tell the employment agency 3 months in advance before your contract expires).

Fortunately, both of my parents are employed in the public sector and thus their jobs aren't affected by the crisis. I'm really glad of that.

I was working during the current semester break, which in itself is a good thing because finding vacation jobs has also become increasingly difficult, but since I've done it a couple of times before and have always done a good job, I was lucky enough. However, a colleague of mine who was also working there just graduated as an engineer and couldn't find a job because the company he was working for during his studies has just imposed a hiring freeze about two months before he finished.
So bottom line: I'm not affected personally, but I know a couple of people who are.