Recessionistas

We've all seen the news and know what scary times we live in. And I keep wondering when I"m going to feel it specifically. This week we had lay offs that made it feel like we were in a slaughter house. No one knew it was coming, but suddenly people were in the large conference room and then gone. Just gone for good. People who are the heart of this agency, people who never complain or frown, or show frustration when things get tough, people who took their kids out of school in LA to move up here for the job a mere month or two before.
This summer we hired so many people that every office has six people and we had to stick desks in the halls. Some people who were hired four months ago still have to sit on the couches in the reception area. As the economy was crumbling all around us, we were hiring as fast as we could. People who are good at their jobs and reach the executive levels are rarely good at managing a business, clearly.
In one department everyone had to take a 25% pay cut. In another department they had a meeting where they were told they needed to work 30% more. (They already work until 11:00 pm). People are crying today and the tensions are high. But we are still having Rodeo Wednesday. Our beer man just arrived. They're setting up for the band, spreading tables with western style table cloths and setting out food; setting up the ping pong table for beer pong. The timing is odd but maybe we need this.
I was not unaffected by this. In addition to my duties I now have to be a receptionist for half the day. About a month ago everyone was congratulating me on my "promotion" to being a planner which meant I was a planner and an assistant. Now I"m an assistant and a receptionist. After a year of busting away at planning and being told I'd get promoted I feel as though I've been demoted.
I don't know whether the planning work will fall away. My ad. strategy was just picked definitively by the clients and is being executed creatively. My boss said it was some of the most creative work he's seen in the planning department in a while. And now I have to pick up old food and dishes from client meetings, load and empty the dishwasher, direct calls etc.
I keep reminding myself: I should be happy I have a job. I should be grateful in these times for what I have. And I am. But the 13 hour days are tough. Tougher when they are followed with a demotion instead of a promotion. I'm that much farther away. We all are.