Life Spugs because...

[Mikey]

Sorry to hear the woes TB, a lot of people wouldn't have even lasted as long as you did. Hopefully you can come out with yer knackers intact.

M.

[Banners]

That's awful, TB.

I run my own business (though I don't think it's on the same scale) and would be heart-broken if I had to call it a day. I'm sure you have done everything right, and I wish you are able to find a like-minded client before you wind things down too far. Take care...

[Old Tankie]

All the best, TB, I had to walk away from my business some years ago through ill health.  I tried to fight the inevitable for a couple of years but, in the end, had to give up.  I know the circumstances are very different but the day I said, "f**k it, I can't do this any more", it was one of the best feelings of my life.  The stress and worry lifted in an instant, hopefully it will be the same for you.

[SmallBlueThing]

The thing is TB, that I've read your occassional posts on here, detailing when things get bad work-wise, over the last year or two- and while my initial reaction is always "oh my grud, not again, the poor bloke!", I've been continually taken aback and massively impressed with your attitude to management throughout. Believe me, I think it's fair to say that everyone I've worked for who holds a similar position to you would think nothing of shedding workers, cutting wages, cutting corners and whatnot. In fact, the Federation of Small Businesses would be urging you to do so immediately, I think. It makes no difference and allows no improvement to your current situation, I know, but from an outsiders point of view it does restore your faith in humanity a bit.

Sincerely hope the perfect solution presents itself posthaste.

SBT

[TordelBack]

Thanks again for the supportive words, much appreciated, although ill deserved.  I have ranted about work far too often  on this here comic fan forum over the past few years, and don't mean to give the impression that I have anything other than the regulation amount of crap to deal with, but as I think I noted before, I've found that it's a useful outlet for frustrations that I find hard to express in the real world.  Many of my oldest and closest friends are colleagues and competitors (not that I socialise much through work, but it's a small field and I've known most of them since we used to volunteer together as kids, the rest since college or early work) and 'shop' talk is neither desirable  (doubly so now most of us are out of work) or (as a business owner) advisable.  Obviously I also don't like adding to the missus' already considerable stresses with incessant doom-laden pronouncements like some Irish Pvt. Frazer.  

At this point I find most of my overlapping circles of friends have developed active policies of avoiding boring and depressing work-related moaning (as far as possible), since when we do start it never seems to stop, and life's too short.  It's also a fact that the more stressful work becomes the more I find myself sitting in the office at unsociable hours staring at my computer.  Thus my first port of call in getting work-related off my chest and thus regaining some perspective seems to be the faux-anonymity of this thread.  Even atheists yearn for the confessional.  Apologies.

[maryanddavid]

Tord, that crap, I see it at work here too, the amount of people getting stressed and ill health over thing that are out of their control. Im not making light of anyones situation, but ill health is no use to anyone. Take care.

David

[maryanddavid]

Just got the news today that I am to be put on a 3 day week from the first of may, bit of a bitch.

David

[Van Dom]

Shit news David. I know what thats like as I went through it for a bit last year. Its tough....and having to queue up for the dole for the days you are off is soul-destroying, demoralising stuff. Hopefully it will only be for the summer months, as ours was. It's very possible we could get hit with it agan this summer...

[locustsofdeath!]

Three day week? Is that something businesses do during slow times instead of laying folks off?

In any case, if you're bummed about it, David, I'm bummed about it. Hope it gets better for you.

[TordelBack]

Just got the news today that I am to be put on a 3 day week from the first of may, bit of a bitch.

Wow, short-time leave is just swell - inadequately paid work and the time-wasting hassle of signing-on, the perfect summer medley.  

There is a trick you probably know about, David, but it's worth restating - when you are filling out the form for partial Jobseekers Benefit it asks which days you do not work.  If you are only working (say), Mon, Tue, Wed, you should tick all three remaining working days, Thu, Fri, Sat as the days you do not work, even if you only normally work 5.  This should entitle you to three days benefit rather than just the two that you have been cut.

Obviously no guarantees that someone won't put the kybosh on it in your specific SW office, but it's nothing more than an honest answer to the question "which days do you not work" and those few extra quid are not to be sneezed at. 

You can see I've spent a lot of time looking into these options lately.

[maryanddavid]

Cheers all, and nice one tord, I do work some saturdays, and the amount will be cut prorata the amount of time I will be off, Its near 15 years since Ive been near a dole office(or whatever trendy name is on it now) Ill tick any box I can!
david

[Mardroid]

Its near 15 years since Ive been near a dole office(or whatever trendy name is on it now) Ill tick any box I can!
david

Heh. It's not just called a Jobcentre now. It's called Jobcentre Plus! Not a whole lot of 'plus' from what I can see (they send us on courses after a long time out of work, etc, but I suspect that's not a new thing) although there's online jobsearch options...

[TordelBack]

Yeah, it's a strange sensation coming to grips with this whole strange system - I've somehow managed to never be on the dole before, at the ripe old age of 40 (although there have been long periods of non-paying work).

A good friend of mine was similarly blessed, and on getting two months notice spent much of that time applying to literally even company and agency she could think of.  When she finished work she duly  organised the thick wodge of rejection letters in a folder, waited until her P45 arrived and then presented herself at the Social Welfare office.  They wanted to know what she'd been doing in the days since her job finished - she told them she'd been waiting for the paperwork so she could bring it to them and thus prevent a wasted visit where she'd be asked to bring her paperwork next time, and they told her that because of this they had no proof she hadn't been out of the country on holiday.  She explained that she'd been working for 20 years, had two very small children and a husband who had himself lost his job the previous year, and had had to take a minimum wage job instead, and if they hadn't taken a holiday since their honeymoon 5 years previously it was pretty unlikely that they were going to start the day they lost their main source of income.  

They asked her for evidence of actively looking for a job, she showed them her folder of 30+ applications and rejections, they pointed out that none of them were from 'this period of unemployment' (i.e. the week since she finished). Apparently she should have sat on her arse waiting to leave so that she could ensure showing up bright-eyed and clueless at the SW office.   So she had to write to the same companies again.  

The idea that someone might not want to be on the dole and would really like a job instead please seems to be incomprehensible to SW.  The mind of the working man is not well suited to a system that operates on that basis.  

[johnnystress]

 

grrrrr

[The Legendary Shark]

Makes you wonder why we all put up with such a system. It's supposed to work for us, not against us - or is that just me being naive?