Work

[DavidB6937]

I think financially more than anything it's putting me off. I commute from Ipswich so it was costing me like 6.5k at least a year. I was fine with that at the time as there wasn't much around here.

Now I look at two options - I can either pay something like £80 a day or buy one of those flexi tickets which actually don't work out that much cheaper than a season ticket anyway. They're pretty shit to be honest.

So yeah, no one's enticing me in with pizza. I'll stay at home and Uber Eats my McDonalds breakfast.

[waters44]

Pizza and beer at work - sign me up! I have to buy my own milk and tea bags at my place 

[neil]

19 hours ago, 69MeDon said:

Is there anything to the idea that it might be a bit of "well, shit, Sarah and Les and back in the office, I'll look bad if I don't do it"?

Definitely an element of that going on. One of the teams I work with had their office reopen recently and a small group of them have already returned to the office and over time you're seeing more people go in seemingly just to be visible. It's sad because I'm sure this will be the ruin of remote work.

I've been one of the most vocal people around keeping the culture of remote work alive. I personally never want to see a return of conference rooms, they destroy the ability for anyone to join remotely because those people are deemed "the problem" when the reality is that shitty conference room contributes all the issues - ever had to deal with finding an open room? Then waiting for the previous people to get out of it? Then having the twat who taps on the table next to the mic? The person who sits as far away from the mic as possible but insists on doing most of the talking?

The greatest thing about the forced remote work is that it instantly solved most of these issues. But yes, let's just go back to "normal", maddening.

[David]

19 hours ago, MPDTT said:

Maybe, but i hope not given that we have put zero pressure on anyone to return if they don't feel comfortable yet. The offer of pizza Mondays, beer Fridays may have had some bribery impact however.

Why go to the office for that? Every day has been Pizza Monday and Beer Friday for me since I started working from home.

[neil]

On 10/27/2021 at 11:11 AM, David said:

Why go to the office for that? Every day has been Pizza Monday and Beer Friday for me since I started working from home.

Someone I worked with commented "the food is free here" as a reason to come into the office...seemed to assume their commute was free as well.

[RancidPunx]

In a previous job i was a FTE at a managed service provider and was based fully at the client’s office. 
I had to travel frequently and i queried if i should be getting paid for time that i spent travelling to/from places that were often 10 * hours flights away.

My manager dismissed it saying that because the client was US based and that my US colleagues dont get it then we dont get either. And that we’re bound by the US terms. Sorry !!

 

At i time i bought it but thinking back it that was complete bollocks , i was based in Ireland so surely Irish law applied in that sense  ?  

Anway separately I ended up moving to a new job soon after but it always bugged me that i’d potentially been done out of cash essentially …

 

Anybody have any experience about getting paid to travel for work ?

[RancidPunx]

On 10/26/2021 at 9:09 PM, Your Fight Site said:

Culture innit? Companies install ping pong tables and beer fridges to take the edge off of an otherwise shit role and their ‘competitive’ salary offering.

The worst isn’t even the likes of Google and Facebook (Meta) with their wacky office but the offices that try to copy them and fail miserably.

Forced fun and wackiness for the sake of wackiness.

 

A call centre in my city installed a wacky slide in their office. Someone was telling me that when it opened they all had to go down it , and the rest of the staff were cheering at the bottom.

My mate said ‘demeaning’ wasn’t the word for it.  

 

Although i believe all the big tech companies have cut back on the wackiness in recent office builds so thankfully thats a trend that will die out…

[MungoChutney]

24 minutes ago, RancidPunx said:

In a previous job i was a FTE at a managed service provider and was based fully at the client’s office. 
I had to travel frequently and i queried if i should be getting paid for time that i spent travelling to/from places that were often 10 * hours flights away.

My manager dismissed it saying that because the client was US based and that my US colleagues dont get it then we dont get either. And that we’re bound by the US terms. Sorry !!

 

At i time i bought it but thinking back it that was complete bollocks , i was based in Ireland so surely Irish law applied in that sense  ?  

Anway separately I ended up moving to a new job soon after but it always bugged me that i’d potentially been done out of cash essentially …

 

Anybody have any experience about getting paid to travel for work ?

I drive regularly to visit different services for work. My paid working time starts as soon as I leave the house, although mileage is calculated from home or office, whichever is the lesser distance. 

Edited October 28, 2021 by MungoChutney

[Carbomb]

On 10/26/2021 at 9:09 PM, Your Fight Site said:

Culture innit? Companies install ping pong tables and beer fridges to take the edge off of an otherwise shit role and their ‘competitive’ salary offering.

My current situation is that I run my own business; most of my previous jobs have contributed to me feeling like this was the best decision I ever made work-wise, but none more so than my last one. The boss did similar things like Beer Fridays, that sort of thing, and it always had me on red alert. Years of shit bosses, combined with a union family background, meant that I adopted the policy of "While they're giving out gimmicks with one hand, keep an eye on what real stuff they're taking away with the other", and that last boss was doing exactly that. Basically treated me like I was ripping him off, practically insulted me on a couple of occasions, then sacked me over me taking holiday time he'd agreed I could have in the job interview, even after I said I could change my ticket to shave off a couple of days to fit in with what he said would've been acceptable after the fact.

If they're offering you little trinkets and frou-frou, just be prepared for the possibility you could have to fight for something much bigger down the line.

[neil]

The funniest version of the "tech company" culture are the ones that go uber aggressive on you. Like I once had a recruiter reach out to me with the usual spiel but the description went something like "CompanyX is a high energy and demanding company where you'll get to work with the best in class engineers out there. If you manage to get through one of the hardest interviews out there you'll be expected to make IMMEDIATE impact day one. This is not a position for people looking for an easy job, you will be worked hard, you will be expected to constantly exceed expectations, and you will always put the team first. When we're not working at the highest level possible we like to relax with beer and wine provided by the company".

I hate to imagine the types of people that actually appeals to.

[patiirc]

10 hours ago, RancidPunx said:

In a previous job i was a FTE at a managed service provider and was based fully at the client’s office. 
I had to travel frequently and i queried if i should be getting paid for time that i spent travelling to/from places that were often 10 * hours flights away.

My manager dismissed it saying that because the client was US based and that my US colleagues dont get it then we dont get either. And that we’re bound by the US terms. Sorry !!

 

At i time i bought it but thinking back it that was complete bollocks , i was based in Ireland so surely Irish law applied in that sense  ?  

Anway separately I ended up moving to a new job soon after but it always bugged me that i’d potentially been done out of cash essentially …

 

Anybody have any experience about getting paid to travel for work ?

Depending on the sector its been different. 

For the NHS got milage and train tickets back through expenses once in a blue moon as the expenses system was always down, so ended up massively out of pocket locally. Working in Leeds though would always get travel and a night over as that was 'home base' despite living the other side of the country. Work there but not on my own patch started the minute I left the house. Locally though it was when I got to a destination. 

It ended up with a weird situation where some times I'd do 16 hour days and get paid for it all but others where Id work the same but get paid for only 6 hours as the travelling wasn't included and I'd end up skint waiting on expenses that never/hardly ever came. 

[Jazzy G]

We've had 9 people off on one of the departments today, and at no point has their team leader shown somebody what to do in case something goes wrong with an order. So when I took something across for them earlier, before I realised this was a thing, I ended up having to puzzle out what they usually do if something goes wrong, and then show the two most experienced people there what to do. Good job as well because they ended up needing to get a replacement for something that has to go tonight. 

[Slapnut]

I’ve just been turned down for a job interview which guarantees an interview for all who declare a disability providing they meet the minimum criteria. I declared my disability, and I comfortably meet the minimum criteria and went into great detail for each point in my application, yet no interview.

Does anybody have any experience with this? It’s quite a large company so I have little hope of speaking to anybody about how this decision was made, but I’m not happy to just sit back and accept the decision without further clarification.

[Chili]

There isn't an MH thread anymore so yeah, I'm on Universal Credit still. I'm not fit to work yet, but I'm hoping to at least get some help rebuilding my CV with the National Careers folk. Anyone know if they're shit? I very much would like anything that isn't retail (11 years of that) or anything that involves ringing old people selling stuff as the idea just makes me feel sad. The other issue is, I don't want a 'career' just something eventually that doesn't mean I'm massively anxious spending anything with so little money. 

I find everything really frustrating at the moment. I've lived in Manchester for over three years and just finally got a bike fixed. But I've got nowhere to go or really anyone to see. I keep catastrophising and it's difficult. 

Edited November 1, 2021 by Chili

[Keith Houchen]

18 minutes ago, Chili said:

There isn't an MH thread anymore so yeah, I'm on Universal Credit still. I'm not fit to work yet, but I'm hoping to at least get some help rebuilding my CV with the National Careers folk. Anyone know if they're shit? I very much would like anything that isn't retail (11 years of that) or anything that involves ringing old people selling stuff as the idea just makes me feel sad. The other issue is, I don't want a 'career' just something eventually that doesn't mean I'm massively anxious spending anything with so little money. 

I find everything really frustrating at the moment. I've lived in Manchester for over three years and just finally got a bike fixed. But I've got nowhere to go or really anyone to see. I keep catastrophising and it's difficult. 

The thing to remember mate is that you have a lot of transferable skills. *You’re good with people, engaging, likeable etc. those skills work well in loads of types of jobs. That sort of thing goes well in admin roles that support front line sales and customer service. 

*This applies when wearing the mask and I know how exhausting that is  also bear in mind that the person giving you this advice hasn’t worked or been declared officially fit for work since a psychotic breakdown lead to an overdose and hospitalisation a few years ago so is in no place to be dishing out advice!!