Life is riddled with a procession of minor impediments

[House of Usher]

Friday afternoon is no time for butt-kicking, but boy do I feel so inclined, as I sit down to rewrite 10 pages of plagarism.

Outrageous. They've been paid a week's wages for doing nothing, and tried to disguise the fact. At least in the past when I've done nothing it was plain for all to see. I'd never try to pass off someone else's work as my own. You'll have to wield the big stick on Monday morning.

Usher, you've encapsulated the demands of the academic perfectly.  Sorry they're weighing heavily on youl.  Hope you get a better job soon.

Thanks. The job I'm doing now isn't that bad. GCSE classes are a pleasure to teach. It's just one of those jobs that, by giving me plenty of work to do on my days off, gets in the way of pursuing other better remunerated opportunites.

The newsflash is although I got off to the worst start imaginable today, not being able to find the place in time, I still managed to give an interview performance that exceeded my expectations. I don't even mind if they offer me the job or not because at least I know I gave it my best shot and made a good impression in the end. Next week I can take my time over lesson preparation and just concentrate on the job I've already got, which is quite a relief!

[Mike Gloady]

Lazy so-and-so needs to be made aware of 1. the utter stupidity of plagarism - you WILL be found out. 2. The massive increase in YOUR work-load as a result of his/her laziness and 3. the distinct possibility that he/she will be bounced like a tennis ball for that.  Does that count as gross misconduct I wonder?  Reckon it's close enough for jazz if it isn't.  Wield that big stick.  And stick it somewhere unpleasant.

*sound of lazy selfish scumbag sliding across pavement towards job centre*

[Trout]

Laughs bitterly at Jim's use of the word "career".

There are no careers in journalism any more. It's dead.

[House of Usher]

Careers are a funny thing these days. It seems there are fewer employers who want to pay somebody day-in, day-out to be there all the time. It seems more and more employers are promoting patterns of working that only commit them to paying by the job or by the hour. It's really not conducive to careers as we used to know them.

[Kerrin]

Friday afternoon is no time for butt-kicking, but boy do I feel so inclined, as I sit down to rewrite 10 pages of plagarism.

That's grounds for a seriously frank exchange of views. Don't forget to wear your steel toe capped arse kicking boots TB.

[Jim_Campbell]

Gaah! Literally going out of the door to meet the missus and a mate down my local for a couple of Friday pints and my phone goes.

Just in case it's notification of lateness on the part of either of the above, I check. No. It's an e-mail. Amends to ten pages of the lettering job that has to be complete by Monday.

What with me being at BICS all day tomorrow and away from the desktop machine until I get home on Sunday afternoon, that's my Friday evening down the crapper.

Bah!

Jim

[uncle fester]

What kind of humourless so and so sends that sort of request on a Friday evening?

[Jim_Campbell]

What kind of humourless so and so sends that sort of request on a Friday evening?

Unfortunately, the sort that's in a time zone where it's only quarter to two in the afternoon. :-(

Cheers!

Jim

[TordelBack]

1. the utter stupidity of plagarism - you WILL be found out.

This is what mystifies me.  The person in question has completed a post-grad degree in the subject in question and has been a teacher so it's not like they're ignorant of the principle, and they know that I am an obsessively anal proof-reader.  It
was a very nice job, but when there are fabulously polished phrases expertly summing up whole areas of knowledge it doesn't take a genius to notice that you're reading something by the authority on the subject, and not just a colleague working to a deadline.

2. The massive increase in YOUR work-load as a result of his/her laziness

Sadly, I've been really enjoying the work (Christ what's wrong with me!).  I spend so much of my time editing and arguing and mediating and playing with spreadsheets full of never-enough money that it's deeply pleasurable to just throw out a whole section, get my arse down the library and start from scratch.  It's buggering up my weekend no end but the client was okay about a postponement to Monday, and now that my kitchen table is groaning under the weight of library books and photocopies I'm as happy as the proverbial pig.  Mmmm, The Fiants of the Tudor Sovereigns, that's what I call a Friday night!

3. the distinct possibility that he/she will be bounced like a tennis ball for that.  Does that count as gross misconduct I wonder?

Well it's certainly gross silliness, in a situation where I'm daily fighting to keep people in work, and running a business out of my mortgage account!   When the current spell of work finishes in December there'll probably have to be some redundancies, and I certainly wouldn't advise sticking my head above the parapet like that. 

A stern talk will be had. 

[Dandontdare]

Do you pay this git's wages? If so, photocopy a bunch of tenners and give him them instead. Seems appropriate.

[Mike Gloady]

The person in question has completed a post-grad degree in the subject in question and has been a teacher so it's not like they're ignorant of the principle, and they know that I am an obsessively anal-proof reader.

Fixed.  No charge.

[House of Usher]

Girlfriend's laptop is on the fritz. The LCD screen has gone weird. It's only weeks old. Back to the shop tomorrow.

[Trout]

I hate taking stuff back to the shop.

[Noisybast]

OK, so I mentioned winning a couple of free tickets for Mott The Hoople at the Hammersmith Apollo this coming Monday. Turns out everyone I know is either working or ill or just plain doesn't know how to rock.

I know I could probably flog the spare to a tout and make back some of my train fare, but I have a general dislike of those parasitic bastards and don't really want to fuel their greedy little industry.

Does anybody fancy laying claim to the second ticket?

[House of Usher]

We've been checking our household finances. They're not good. Frivolous expenditure has been kept to a minimum, but we're still spending more than we're earning. My earnings are up on last year, but my partner's are down. My overdraft is stretched to its limit. And I don't get paid for September until the end of October, and so on for as long as I continue in my current employment.