Life is riddled with a procession of minor impediments

[TordelBack]

Nah, still minor - had just hoped for (a lot) more money in return.  Also, I'm over-egging the pudding saying the money should be split 'two ways' - it's a one-man job, it's just that working from home in the evenings a second person obviously has to be there for kid wrangling.  That's nobody's fault but ours.  What does annoy is that the wife came up with the idea, is spectacularly good at the work (it's an emergency advice line, and she is brilliantly soothing, helpful and knowledgeable (I just screen the pointless calls and she takes over if it's genuine)), and yet is being paid as if she just wandered in off the street.  I also feel like poo for placing her in a situation where she has to stay working for a shower of self important turds 'cos my own work has turned into a financial black hole.  Bah!

[Peter Wolf]

Nah, still minor - had just hoped for (a lot) more money in return.  Also, I'm over-egging the pudding saying the money should be split 'two ways' - it's a one-man job, it's just that working from home in the evenings a second person obviously has to be there for kid wrangling.  That's nobody's fault but ours.  What does annoy is that the wife came up with the idea, is spectacularly good at the work (it's an emergency advice line, and she is brilliantly soothing, helpful and knowledgeable (I just screen the pointless calls and she takes over if it's genuine)), and yet is being paid as if she just wandered in off the street.  I also feel like poo for placing her in a situation where she has to stay working for a shower of self important turds 'cos my own work has turned into a financial black hole.  Bah!

Its not like you planned it so that your professional life has turned into a financial black hole so never feel guilty about it as its caused by external factors like everything else concerning the economy and its quite deliberate.

[Rog69]

I have this week off work and contrary to how I normally get to spend my holiday time, I planned on doing next to nothing and just relaxing with the family for a week.

My wife's car got wind of this and decided that the electric window mechanism in the drivers door would throw a seven and leave the window stuck down. I took a look at it and found out what the problem was but decided to book it into our (usually very reasonable) local garage as I really couldn't be arsed doing it for myself, I priced the parts up for about £50 and I reckon it's a couple of hours work to fit, so I thought it wouldn't be too bad

They just phoned me back and said it would cost £320.00 to fix  

Fucking thieves, looks like I'm doing it myself after all.

[Mikey]

That happened to me recently Rog - but I'm crap at cars so had to pay up!

M.

[Peter Wolf]

I have been looking at some redecoration/repair work to Grade 1 listed buildings that is so indescribably awful and slapdash that its both painful to look at and laughable but ultimately very sad.

I dont just blame the Cowboys and Monkeys doing the work as i blame the clients who are the residents of the buildings because they are either too tight to pay for proper work or who simply dont know anything or both.They are all idiots and it makes a mockery of the fact that the buildings are listed and if the clients cant afford to pay out for repairs and maintenance then they shouldnt be living in the buildings/houses as you dont do what you cant afford.

There was one of these monkeys trying to form curved architectural detailing in plaster with a piece of Hardboard and it was extraordinary and i have never seen anything like it as it was woefully inept and if its still there on Thursday i will photograph it.

To give an example one particular building in questions maintenance contract was contracted out at 11,000 when it should have been more like 40 to 50,000 snd if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

In short its disgraceful and criminal negligence.

[Cyberleader2000]

I spent 2 days tracking down Evangelion Unit 00 LM-HG modle kit I was not very happy about thge site I finile found it on as there shiping is a bit of a rip off but I am willing to puting up with it as I want the kit more to compleat my colechion more than I can be boutheres to by a fue quid so I went to pay and pay pal is scruing me round  Scrue Pay Pal and all thros Corporate Bastards that run it

[Peter Wolf]

ignore as the problem has resolved itself.

[House of Usher]

This week I accepted the offer of a week's work, Monday to Friday, fixed hours. This morning I turned up to work only to be told that no agency staff are needed today and that the agency was told last night. Bullshit. I was asked to work the whole week and I agreed. Nobody said to me anything about reviewing the needs of the business on a daily basis and adjusting the staffing accordingly. I now have 2 days off work to do with as I please. They may well have notified the agency yesterday, but I'm not convinced they did so within the agency's office hours, so the agency may have been none the wiser. In any case, that's not the point.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the future of work: 100 people turn up, they take the first 60, and the rest can go home, the way they used to hire dock-workers.

The recession is already being used to attack workers' rights, perks and rates of pay, and cuts made now will not be reversed when (I mean if) the economy ever recovers. Once you've made a saving you don't go reintroducing slack back into your organization to make everyone's lives easier and more comfortable at the expense of profit.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Went down town to the comic shop after 12:00, as the postman seems to always arrive before then. You know what's coming!
Arrived back about 13:30 to see a 'while you were out' card on the mat and it's for my pic off Dylan 

Shall have a walk down to the collection office this evening with Sam to pick it up 

[House of Usher]

That was the employment agency on the phone. Sorry if you didn't hear it ring - I picked it up quite promptly. The depot that decided it didn't need any casual staff on Thursday has decided that it does need people after all today at short notice. They probably need us now to clear a backlog that built up because we weren't in yesterday.

It's a pity - for them - because I'd already decided this week was a write-off and made other plans. We had an arrangement: 8 hours a day, Monday to Friday, all this week. They broke that arrangement. That's it for this week, I'm afraid; if they want us next week they can inform the agency. If you're going to drop your casual workers mid-week you need to think about whether you'll need them at the end of the week and either a) let them know in advance, or b) not drop them in the first place just to be on the safe side.

[Dandontdare]

I've lost all my TV channels and I don't know whether the digibox is fucked or it's the the ariel on the roof that needs fixing. Whichever I spend money on. it'll be the other. Any tips on locating the problem?

[House of Usher]

My pay slip just arrived. I've been paid for 32 hours instead of 56. The payroll bosses at the main depot didn't know how many hours I worked at the satellite depot, so they just guessed and came up with 4 days at 8 hours a day instead of the variable number of hours over 6 days I actually worked and which can be confirmed by the boss of the local depot. The agency didn't query the hours authorised despite the fact I informed them of my hours worked twice during the week. This is turning out to be a really shit gig and I think I need to move on to something else as quickly as possible. F***ing story of my life.

[Banners]

This is turning out to be a really shit gig and I think I need to move on to something else as quickly as possible...

This time last week you were really happy with the job. Stick at it, Buddy - I'm sure it'll work out soon!

M@

[staticgirl]

dunno.... if it's Royal Mail....

My brother ended up giving up his flat and going home to mum sick for a few months after working for them on an agency basis. Too much stress! (He is in a now a highly-paid-for-the-area IT monkey job and is much happier.)

But you are aware of your rights and sound prepared to stand up for them unlike some people so you'll be okay in the long run I expect.

[TordelBack]

My pay slip just arrived. I've been paid for 32 hours instead of 56. The payroll bosses at the main depot didn't know how many hours I worked at the satellite depot, so they just guessed and came up with 4 days at 8 hours a day instead of the variable number of hours over 6 days I actually worked and which can be confirmed by the boss of the local depot.

If you are seriously thinking of chucking it in, you should at least try to tackle some of the problems you've encountered - you've nothing to lose if you've no intention of hanging on.  This latest one is fraud, pure and simple, and should be easily resolved.  As the Agency is presumably taking a cut they even have motivation to assist.  As you noted earlier in the week this shite is now endemic, the 'lucky to have a job' mentality of employers that's about one step away from Dickens' most biting grotesques.  And it's not just in the (forgive me) unskilled sector, where it's sadly always been part and parcel of the casual labour scene.  A 'colleague' of mine recently decided that he was going to cut his professional staff's wages to "a tenner a day above the dole, and I'll still be drowning in CVs" - and he was right.