So I am here, trying to cut $37,000 from my next FY budget.
Joke.
So far, I’ve shaved off $900. I have one of the leanest, maximized budgets on the planet. I do not spend money on anything other than printing, postage, occasional generic supplies and freelancers. The freelance and travel budget just went buh-byes. I did allow myself a few stories, but now that Cruise Director has me farming out these ridiculous stories on our divisions to one of my writers, my budget is shot in the ass. Completely.
And for some reason, Ad Angel is making $80K/yr. in commission out of my budget alone. Funny, but the revenues from these ads sure as shit aren’t credited to my budget! My boss is looking into whether that $80K can be broken up among some other departments; otherwise, I’ll finish this year at $20K over budget, and that’s not nice, given how I never, ever apply for reimbursement for my mileage, meals or anything else.
Anyway, I am tearing out my ridiculously red hair right now (I’d like to know why, no matter what color I dye my hair, the red always shines through. It’s that very color that I am sick of! Nothing says Irish chick like the green eyes, freckles and red hair). There is no bloody WAY to cut out the other $36K, although I did suggest that if Cruise Director didn’t just buy $50K in office furniture, and if Solitaire weren’t making nearly double my salary, then perhaps I might be a little bit more willing to do my part. Fuck this shit.
It is sincerely looking like I am going to have to publish 11 issues per year instead of 12. Un-fucking-believable. We pay consultants a LOT more than I make per hour — consultants who overbill and who don’t do half as much work. We pay for our presidents to stay in luxury accommodations all over the country. We pay Town Crier and Mouth Almighty, who seem to have nothing but time on their hands while the rest of us are running ourselves ragged, carrying three or four positions’ worth of work. I am so very annoyed and sick of this shit. So very annoyed. I am going to write a note to Cruise Director right now, proposing some budget-saving ideas whereby maybe I can combine my efforts with Membership’s efforts to save a few bucks.