Bad news at work

1) I got my contract for next year. For the fourth year in a row it says, "I regret to say that we are not able to accommodate salary increases for the next academic year."

This totally sucks. I have to admit that it's not that bad for me because I got an increase when I got my new position. It sucks for everyone else, though. I don't know how employees with families make it. Many of the male professors have wives who are stay-at-home moms. They must be moonlighting.

2) My assistant is not resigning this summer as planned. I was so looking forward to hiring someone of my own choosing who doesn't talk all day and do class work and who actually does the work he/she is paid for.

Now it means I'm going to have to be assertive and stop letting things slide thinking I only have a few months to deal with it. First up, making her shelve the boxes of journals that have been sitting on her cart for over a week.