... Now that we have been over the gory details of our disastrous first quarter , Ed ! Give us some good news . How are things looking for us in terms sales this month ?   Uh well ... would you like the bad news first or the really bad news ?   What ? Ed , don ’ t tell me you only have bad news !   Well sir , our sales have dropped , no plunged , fifty percent in the past month alone . We are currently overstocked and overstaffed and our profits refalling fast . The market is in recession and we have no way of moving our inventory , or getting rid of our staff . If we consider redundancies , it would cost us a fortune because of the new regulations governing compensation packages . It ’ s a real mess . 