Dear Ik09:

I am glad you asked how I am doing because I need to vent just a bit: I moved far north and live on top of a mountain with lots of trees around, and enjoyed a few years of  mild summers (never a need for an air conditioner) and cold winters. But this weekend, the temperatures hit record highs and there is no escape from the heat. Residents here know that these temperatures never happened before in this area. Yesterday at the local taproom there was a discussion about global warming and I feel that the-end-of-the-world is upon us. The “best” news is that tomorrow will be even  hotter than today!

Other than that, I am fine, thank you for asking (I would have added an emoji here if I knew how!)

“I first thought that maybe I am not working hard enough that is why they are not paying well… But despite working all the time… I get the same results… I don’t know if I am not competent enough to work or is my work situation actually bad”- they are paying you less not because you are incompetent, but because, like you wrote, the company suffered losses due of the pandemic (but maybe, just maybe, they are able to pay more than they are currently paying employees, but are using the pandemic as an excuse not to).

“I have been very irritable these days, if someone jokes about the same thing more than thrice, I shout at them to stop and leave me alone”- I will make sure then that I don’t repeat my (rare) jokes more then twice!

“Sorry for venting out”- no problem. You vented and I vented (while having an ice pack on my chest to cool off).

anita