Boy, the bad news just keeps coming.

In an internal memo to employees after the holiday sales earnings were announced, Marshall said “we have some difficult changes to make in the days and weeks ahead within our organization. There is no way around it–without increasing sales, we are forced to continue to adjust our cost structure to allow our company to operate as we go about transforming the organization.”

Bearing this gloomy sentiment out, sources tell DailyFinance that Borders will lay off between 10-15% of its workforce on Thursday, though the specifics have yet to be confirmed. When reached for comment, Borders spokesperson Mary Davis said “We cannot rule out job eliminations, but I cannot confirm what you have below, and have nothing to share specifically today.”

It’s my understanding, that as a part-time employee, the company does not “owe” me any hours. I do not get vacation time, or health insurance from Borders: my benefits are limited to my 33% discount on just about everything in the store (20% on DVDs).

But my full-time coworkers are vulnerable to lay-offs. Last year, Borders eliminated several store-level management positions (Training Supervisor, and Media Manager & Supervisors) which wound up providing additional payroll for booksellers. I blogged about this here. That provoked a complete mix of emotions in me: on one hand, some really good people lost their jobs in the middle of a horrible economic downturn. On the other hand, because of their departures, money started flowing to booksellers, and I started getting more hours after having spent nearly two full months only working one day a week (which wasn’t helping my income much at all).

I suspect that’s what is going to happen when I go in to work tomorrow. I’ll find out that R.J., or Stephen, or Rob K., or Jim, or Serena, or any of an almost unending list of good, smart, hardworking people will be gone.

Of course it’s just as possible the layoffs will pass over my store altogether: that number may be met just by the closing of all of the Borders Express and Waldenbooks stores nationwide. It’s also possible that if the layoffs hit the Superstores, they’ll hit low-performing stores heavily. Or the layoffs could hit Corporate HQ in Ann Arbor the hardest: and if this post is correct in Mike Edwards, currently Borders’ interim CEO (formerly Chief Merchandising Officer), that may well be the case.

And there are rumors that this coming Monday may bring an announcement of Chapter 11 bankruptcy … or liquidation.

To be honest, I would heartily welcome a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Again, this is a selfish response. Chapter 11 allows for corporations to reorganize, which for Borders would involve shuttering large numbers of superstores. In the DC area I can think of three stores off the top of my head that would probably be closed. Fortunately, none of those stores are mine. Closing underperforming stores would free up money to staff the remaining stores, which would mean my hours, while they might not increase, would at least stay the same (currently, I work Monday and Thursday evenings, and all day Sundays).

I won’t lie: I’m scared. I need my Borders income. It isn’t a huge chunk of what I bring in, but it’s enough that the loss of it would hurt my wallet. As much as I’d be hurting if that paycheck stops coming in every two weeks, I’d be okay.

I mean, sure, I’d be eating Saltines and drinking water until I found another part-time gig (or took up bank robbery), but I wouldn’t be in nearly as much trouble as those coworkers of mine for whom Borders is their only income.

It’s too bad. Tonight, I hosted a bunch of my coworkers from my Office job at my apartment for a screening of Inglourious Basterds. It went pretty well, and tomorrow I’m finishing two projects that’ve been driving me nuts for most of the last week and a half. And in the afternoon, my team is heading out for our quarterly lunch. But the whole day, what’s going to be going through my mind isn’t, “Hey, Friday I get two paychecks plus my bonus!”, but rather: “Tonight, I might find that some coworkers have been thrown to the wind.”

I don’t think I’m going to sleep well tonight.

UPDATE: 125 jobs lost, so far, all from Corporate HQ and Distribution Centers.