What do you make of this??? I was just offered a promotion, but was told I would take a cut in pay!?

I do not like the sound of this job.

It is a job opening that the company has that is based on commission only. Your boss thought you would be good at it and in the long run could improve your income. If you can not afford to take on a commission only type position you need to be up front with him. There may be a valid reason he can't have you work both jobs. You have a valid reason to be concerned about pay as your livelihood depends on it.

Bob is retarded I'm convinced. First it sounds like you were offered a type of sales manager position and that would explain the lull in pay but "potential" basically they are trying to tell you that you are costing them way too much money in pay and they are trying to have their cake and eat it too.

If you take this position what will likely happen is you will be "responsible" for others performance and if they don't deliver you get to take on their workload and stress without the pay because you weren't "effective" at management. You will either quit or bust your butt trying to please them and eventually quit freeing them up from unemployment and then they can promote some other schmuck for less pay it's win win for them. Stick with your current position and look for another job you obviously have the skills in whatever field you're in.