Work colleagues

[TheScarf]

34 minutes ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

This (Amazon's business operation) is one of those principles, like Google, that I find it embarrasingly difficult to act upon. Living in the sticks, and having a hobby which requires sometimes exotic materials/equipment means the tax-dodging tw@s are often my only realistic option. 

[WhiteRoseKillie]

47 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said:

Aye, I'm with you on that. The place in question couldn't even do the simple gestures correctly though. In two years nobody got any feedback, not even a "well done" or a "you need to do a bit better on this". It got to the point when I thought "why am I bothering to do good work when I get the same response for half-arseing things?

I'm in a similar position at the moment. I've just done 72 hours overtime this month. The manager had unscheduled double heart surgery and has been off recovering. Head office didn't even get in touch. We all just worked our arses off to make sure the place kept running. I can bet there won't be a word of thanks at the end of it.

I'm not fussed about renumeration to be honest as I knew what I was signing up for. Taking one minute out of their day to say "thanks for your hard work" would make a big difference though. Without it I'll certainly think twice about doing more than contractually necessary.

I've just had a bit of the "cheers for the effort, but we want more" which has pissed me off a bit. 

After having a stroke, even the pretty full recovery I made left me unable to carry out some aspects of a Prison Officer's job - mainly the rolling about with the little darlings bit. I was lucky enough to have H&S qualifications when a nearby(ish) nick needed cover for a post due to l/t illness (which became a vacancy). My daily commute went from 300 yards to 88 miles, but it's something I have an interest in, and I was on marked time pay for two years, and mileage was paid, so why not?

Anyhoo, tipped up at the new nick and started to get my head round all the regular reports, meetings and inspections I'd have to undertake. Quite a workload, but better than being bored, and I had an experienced line manager to get me used to the Company side of things (I'd been a TU H&S Rep for years).

Three weeks later, lockdown started. Line manager has immunosuppresant issues, so that's the last I saw of them. Cue seventeen months, give or take, of making it up as we go along. It has, as we are all aware, been a hell of a time, but we do what we can. 

Eventually, the Company get round to advertising the position. Simply awarding the incumbent with the position, after running the show single-handedly throughout while self-teaching the regular stuff,  would probably have gone unchallenged, but no. I got a wee bit chippy at this, but applied anyway. Mrs WRK didn't like me travelling (post-stroke, remember), and taking the post would have cost me around £400/month, between losing operational allowance and losing T&S. Not to mention the ten hours travelling every week. So, with a wee bit of self-sabotage, I didn't get the job. In honesty, I wouldn't have given it to me, the guy who's retiring next year, either*. 

Next thing I know, there's a wee billet doux in the inbox from my line manager: can I extend my secondment for a couple of months? Now, you'll remember I'm on M/T (until Feb 22), so am I, the guy who apparently isn't good enough for the job, willing to continue travelling for another eight weeks to train the lad who apparently is? For no extra money?  Eh, how about "No"? In fact, what about "Fúck, No"?

Nope, I got the extra training and associated certificates I wanted, and I will quite happily coast to a partial retirement of (Phenomenally well-paid) occasional consultancy work while spending a couple of days in a low-level, low-stress, low risk role on my doorstep. And drawing my CS Pension**. 

It's really liberating, after years of trying to deliver at least as much as would keep management off my back (interspersed with periods of actually giving a fúck) to know that the worst they can do, as long as I don't go slotting a visitor or setting fire to the Governor's car***, is what I'm planning to do anyway. 

*Obviously, age is a protected characteristic. Equally obviously, PS Interview boards don't have to show their working.****

** Not exactly "gold-plated", but a nice wee boost meaning, added to p/t work, I'll be getting roughly f/t wage.

*** If I can stop short of Gross Misconduct, I am confident I can drag any disciplinary out for at least six months, so finishing my time with a wee suspension on full pay is always an option...

****It would, in honesty, be easy to appeal based on several inconsistencies, but firstly, I don't want to work for someone who doesn't want me, and secondly, life's too short. Time to move on. 

[Ross.]

1 hour ago, The Moonster said:

I leave at 5pm every day now (sometimes earlier if I can play golf) and don't worry about a fucking thing until I clock back in. I certainly won't be offering my services to help out if we're short again. 

I’m on an unofficial work to rule now which is pretty much as you say above(Except the stick ball). Basically from February last year until around 4 months ago we were working 12-16 hours a day at least 3 days a week, often 4 or 5 days. One colleague quite due to the stress, another ended up getting sacked because the workload resulted in them making a huge number of f**k ups, and we couldn’t get anyone hired who had experience in the area we work which meant the 3 of us that remained had to pick up the extra work that was creating on top of everything else. We managed to rehire someone who had previously taken early retirement and things have generally calmed down a bit, but I could easily still be doing 12 hours a day every day and not catch up with everything we have going on. I told my boss at the start of the year that I was not going to keep that up, not just because I doubt I could have, but also because it was affecting my relationship and meaning I wasn’t spending much time with my boy. Now I am 8-5 or 9-6 depending on what needs done and I don’t do anything over and above that unless absolutely necessary. I think my boss accepted it because the alternative was me quitting, which would in all likelihood have led to one of the other 2 in my team quitting and going back to his old job, and that would probably have just seen them shut the team down and move the department to one of our offices elsewhere.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

31 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

Fair play. If I was to list some of the stuff I use in my hobby, eyebrows would be rightly raised, but the resuklts can be worth the social exclusion..

 

Edited August 24, 2021 by WhiteRoseKillie

[Caledonian1]

1 hour ago, Arthur daley said:

Used to have a guy years ago called terry working for me ,before he  got married and moved to Australia,some of the things he used to get up to , you could have made a tv programme about him . 

I actually thought things improved when Ray started working for you......

[Arthur daley]

17 minutes ago, Caledonian1 said:

I actually thought things improved when Ray started working for you......

“The ray years “ are not something I look back fondly on if am honest ,if he wasn’t family I would have punted him and his multi coloured shirts long ago .

ray didn’t even have a driving license or a flat when he started working for me and what thanks do I get off him ? 

Edited August 24, 2021 by Arthur daley

[Boghead ranter]

4 hours ago, thistledo said:

See I like dogs (Tommy from Snatch meme) but, I don't think I'd fancy walking around half he day with them picking up shite and trying to stop them pumping each other. Out of all of the one's so far who enjoyed their job this would probably be the winner so far though. 

Most dogs are desperate to crap within 2 or 3 minutes of getting out of the van. All my routes involve me parking where a bin is near, and all come back along the same bit for the last 5 as I started on in the first 5. So I just bag it, drop it, and then collect and bin it when I come back an hour later.

And I don't have an issue with humping as I only have 1 dog on my books who still has his baws, and he doesn't hump.  I know some (a lot actually) walkers don't take complete males, just because there's more chance of humping or aggression (both are dominant behaviours) in dogs that still have their nuts.

[Boghead ranter]

9 hours ago, Theroadlesstravelled said:

It’s constantly pishing with rain man.

 

No quite.

This was my office today.

[Newbornbairn]

I get paid a very good wage to drive around the country in a nice car blethering to people who are always pleased to see me. Nice hotels, restaurants etc all on expenses.  Wouldn't say I love my job, but it's very nice.

[die hard doonhamer]

Re the chat of office jobs are shite, it really does depend on what you are doing in said office. If you're just processing data, moving it from one place to another, that type of thing, that would be horrendous (I have the occasional task like this in my job, but they are few and far between, thankfully). If the job requires actual critical thinking, then it's not all that bad, imo. I'm a pricing analyst for an insurance firm, it's behind a computer screen all day, and for the most part, I enjoy it.

[Boghead ranter]

14 minutes ago, Newbornbairn said:

I get paid a very good wage to drive around the country in a nice car blethering to people who are always pleased to see me. Nice hotels, restaurants etc all on expenses.  Wouldn't say I love my job, but it's very nice.

^Susan Calman^

[101]

13 minutes ago, Newbornbairn said:

I get paid a very good wage to drive around the country in a nice car blethering to people who are always pleased to see me. Nice hotels, restaurants etc all on expenses.  Wouldn't say I love my job, but it's very nice.

Sadly not all of us have the looks to be escorts.

 

Working in kitchens is great, the people are usually sound or mental but it's hot work for long hours working late at night and weekends. Being in an office or at home means I have more money and more me time. Although less people who are properly unhinged.

[ScottR96]

9 hours ago, Fullerene said:

"Sorry I missed the Christmas Party but it really is not the sort of food that I would ever eat".

Worked in a calI centre when I was at Uni and one of the team leaders would point blank refuse to go to a Christmas night out unless steak pie was on the menu.

[TheScarf]

32 minutes ago, Newbornbairn said:

I get paid a very good wage to drive around the country in a nice car blethering to people who are always pleased to see me. Nice hotels, restaurants etc all on expenses.  Wouldn't say I love my job, but it's very nice.

^ ^ ^ Deuce Bigalow.

[The Moonster]

14 minutes ago, ScottR96 said:

Worked in a calI centre when I was at Uni and one of the team leaders would point blank refuse to go to a Christmas night out unless steak pie was on the menu.

A fair request. Turkey is shite. 

[V.Aye.R]

Worked in a calI centre when I was at Uni and one of the team leaders would point blank refuse to go to a Christmas night out unless steak pie was on the menu.

Sounds like one of the good guys.

I've noted a strong correlation between Steak Pie Eaters and being sound.

[thistledo]

56 minutes ago, 101 said:

Sadly not all of us have the looks to be escorts.

 

Working in kitchens is great, the people are usually sound or mental but it's hot work for long hours working late at night and weekends. Being in an office or at home means I have more money and more me time. Although less people who are properly unhinged.

I love cooking, but it's all my focus on one or two dishes, while drinking copious amounts of beer. I think the pressures of rattling out f**k knows how many dishes in a short space of time would stress me out big time.

 

1 hour ago, die hard doonhamer said:

Re the chat of office jobs are shite, it really does depend on what you are doing in said office. If you're just processing data, moving it from one place to another, that type of thing, that would be horrendous (I have the occasional task like this in my job, but they are few and far between, thankfully). If the job requires actual critical thinking, then it's not all that bad, imo. I'm a pricing analyst for an insurance firm, it's behind a computer screen all day, and for the most part, I enjoy it.

I mean no disrespect, but that sounds even more dull than what I do. Least you enjoy it. 

[steelmen]

At my last work we used to all get a bottle of champagne at Christmas. Then staff who didn’t drink alcohol complained and it got changed to a box of chocolates. 
 
The entitlement was off the scale. The chocolates would get delivered to our part of the building and we would invite teams down at a time to collect their chocolates. From the moment the deliveries appeared we would be getting people from all over the place turning up demanding their chocolates or emailing or messaging asking when they would be getting theirs. One woman, two years in a row, turned up at our desks making a big fuss because HER team hadn’t been called down yet and she needed HER chocolates pronto because she was finishing up and didn’t we understand that this was her mother in law’s Christmas present?!?!
Then people started complaining because there was liqueur in some of the chocolates. The company rightly then just knocked it on the head. 
 
People are awful.

I love the company i work for but we have a shed load of people like this. Our last Christmas present was white Beats headsets(quickly sold mine on eBay) and there were people complaining that they didn’t get to choose the colour!!! There was even some trying to sell them on the company intranet.

Our Christmas party is alright, we get 5 drinks tokens each and managers have ways of getting a more so no one needs to put their pocket. Suppose it’s to stop folk getting to wasted if they need to speak to their boss to get more. There was an arsehole in front of me who tried to get a bottle of wine with one of his!

[Meldrew]

5 hours ago, Arthur daley said:

Used to have a guy years ago called terry working for me ,before he  got married and moved to Australia,some of the things he used to get up to , you could have made a tv programme about him . 

 i applied from a job once and i was more than qualified for it, big fella who's more than handy, while having a heart of gold, but as usual these days, i lost out to nepotism, i think the fella employed his nephew.

[Thorongil]

13 minutes ago, steelmen said:

I love the company i work for but we have a shed load of people like this. Our last Christmas present was white Beats headsets(quickly sold mine on eBay) and there were people complaining that they didn’t get to choose the colour!!! There was even some trying to sell them on the company intranet.

Our Christmas party is alright, we get 5 drinks tokens each and managers have ways of getting a more so no one needs to put their pocket. Suppose it’s to stop folk getting to wasted if they need to speak to their boss to get more. There was an arsehole in front of me who tried to get a bottle of wine with one of his!

Absolutely unreal. I just do not understand these people.