So, the axe finally dropped, today, in that Pres Mark sent out an email to the whole university saying that we're looking at a pretty dire deficit this year (largely but not solely because the University Hospital is part of the University financial structure as a whole), pay increases are frozen, hiring is frozen, furloughs are voluntary now but may not be at some point in the future.

Now, this is not actually a problem for my team, by and large. We are (once more with feeling) the only instructional design unit for about seventy percent of the university. They're already talking about doing Fall fully online. They can't actually furlough any of us without massive disruption of critical service.

But you betcha I spent an hour or so intermittently shrieking CRITICAL SERVICE, YOU ASSHOLE, I'M TRYING TO REPLACE STAFF WHO ARE LEAVING, I'M ALREADY SHORTHANDED, GIVE ME BACK MY JOB SEARCH YOU LITTLE WORM. It's not unlikely I'll /get/ my job search back, really, because again, critical staff. But this has not been a warm and fuzzy day.

So I went out on the porch, and ordered some comfort food by delivery, and now I'm going to make good use of my newly arrived rum and have a nice mojito.