Schmonus

At someone else's birthday party I met a guy who's getting a year-end bonus the size of his annual salary. He's in finance, and apparently doing very well. Of course, year-end bonuses are performance-based. Both you and your company must've performed adequately in order for a bonus to be allotted.

Instead of the big fat bonus I much need and deserve, I'm getting an anorexic one this year. It's only typical. The only place where what I gain is positively proportional to what I put in, is food.

An innovative incentive program was introduced to us today. Any one of our staff is entitled to a $3,500 reward upon referring someone to work as an account executive at our company. The only requirement is that the AE must last at least six months. This means if I could just refer four people a month, I could be making more than I do now as an editor. It's our management's way of saying to its non-money-making staff: "We have the dough to fork out. Your effort's just not worthy."

I'd had the rug pulled out from under me before, but never had it turned into someone else's cozy cushion.