Work

[Browser Brady]

I work as part of a 4 person team. 1 manager, myself and 2 peers.

 

Quite often My manager will send a mail to us with a specific query or question.  1 person is new, the other is equally experienced as myself.
 

There will be silence from the experienced colleague until i reply all and then he will reply all to the initial mail with essentially my response reworded. Then a few minutes later he will reply to my mails saying “oh sorry, didn’t see your response”

The first couple of times i was curious was he just genuinely not seeing my mails and it was just co-incidence?

But this happens all the time. Even this week we were asked a query via chat, he actually went first and replied back with an incorrect answer, i replied with a correct answer and he EDITED his chat to reflect the correct answer.

 

It’s just a weird thing to do. I’ve never challenged him on it but it’s been going on years .

 

 

 

 

[westlondonmist]

2 hours ago, Browser Brady said:

I work as part of a 4 person team. 1 manager, myself and 2 peers.

 

Quite often My manager will send a mail to us with a specific query or question.  1 person is new, the other is equally experienced as myself.
 

There will be silence from the experienced colleague until i reply all and then he will reply all to the initial mail with essentially my response reworded. Then a few minutes later he will reply to my mails saying “oh sorry, didn’t see your response”

The first couple of times i was curious was he just genuinely not seeing my mails and it was just co-incidence?

But this happens all the time. Even this week we were asked a query via chat, he actually went first and replied back with an incorrect answer, i replied with a correct answer and he EDITED his chat to reflect the correct answer.

 

It’s just a weird thing to do. I’ve never challenged him on it but it’s been going on years .

 

 

 

 

One of the manager's in my department does that, he has three other managers at the same level and he always follows up on Teams or even in meetings with the same answer but reworded or just "I think they are spot on and we have to do that etc". It's actually become a running joke because everyone expects it.

[Briefcase]

So I've been fed up in my job for quite sometime, being in hospitality for 15 years I think has finally taken its toll, I've done my time, done all the silly hours and at a different stage in my life that worked really well, but in the last year or so I think its caught up with me and I feel like I need more routine (bodyclock, sleep, food etc) and I seriously feel burned out and lost the drive to want to do a good job.

Anyway I handed in my 2 week notice the other week and leave this weekend, Going to take a couple months break to hopefully recharge and decide what to do next, luckily have some money aside to get me through a few months, call me brave or call me stupid it just needed to be done and feel a big weight off my shoulders, may even freelance or pick up part time work to stretch not going back full time for a bit or even study for a new career. 

[LaGoosh]

Good for you! I wish I could do the same but financially can't take a break. 

It's a funny thing working. I like my job just fine I suppose and I'm doing ok at it but sometimes I wonder how the fuck I ended up here. Nothing I do is even close to any of my interests or what I would like to be doing in a perfect world. But now I'm too far in to make a drastic change without being financially fucked.

Edited February 25 by LaGoosh

[DavidB6937]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

Good for you! I wish I could do the same but financially can't take a break. 

It's a funny thing working. I like my job just fine I suppose and I'm doing ok at it but sometimes I wonder how the fuck I ended up here. Nothing I do is even close to any of my interests or what I would like to be doing in a perfect world. But now I'm too far in to make a drastic change without being financially fucked.

Absolutely exactly my thoughts and experience. I'm in the same job I got 17 years ago which was just meant to be a quick fix when I was unemployed. 

Presumably I'm alright at it but there are so many times I wish I could do something more rewarding or more interesting but it would definitely mean taking a hit financially and that's just not possible with everything being so bloody expensive all the time.

[deathrey]

Full of admiration for you @Briefcase, I hope it really pays off for you.

I think I'm pretty burned out with my work and need something new but seem to spend a lot of timing wondering if I m actually good at anything else and what I could retrain as. It's a question I've been asking myself for years and just seem to be a bit paralyzed by it now. Ideally, I'd like to stop working all together but unless a lottery win comes my way, it's unlikely.

[LaGoosh]

55 minutes ago, deathrey said:

I think I'm pretty burned out with my work and need something new but seem to spend a lot of timing wondering if I m actually good at anything else and what I could retrain as

Likewise! There's loads of fields I'd like to try but essentially starting from the bottom of the ladder isn't really possible when you're in your late 30s with kids. But it would be nice to actually have the chance to have a go and see what I'm good at.

One of the few things I'm jealous of older generations is it just seemed easier to get a job and try stuff out. You meet someone in their 60s upwards and so many of them just did loads of different jobs in widely different fields. Pretty much everyone from my generation onwards it seems like you got a job when you were in your early 20s and no matter what it was you're pretty much stuck in that field forever now.

Any time I ever even look into doing something else I'm pretty horrified by all the qualifications and experience I need (apparently) to take what looks like a junior position for fuck all money.

[westlondonmist]

15 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Likewise! There's loads of fields I'd like to try but essentially starting from the bottom of the ladder isn't really possible when you're in your late 30s with kids. But it would be nice to actually have the chance to have a go and see what I'm good at.

One of the few things I'm jealous of older generations is it just seemed easier to get a job and try stuff out. You meet someone in their 60s upwards and so many of them just did loads of different jobs in widely different fields. Pretty much everyone from my generation onwards it seems like you got a job when you were in your early 20s and no matter what it was you're pretty much stuck in that field forever now.

Any time I ever even look into doing something else I'm pretty horrified by all the qualifications and experience I need (apparently) to take what looks like a junior position for fuck all money.

Yeah I remember once saying I hated my job and a family member saying "stop fucking moaning and just get a new job". They quit their job all the time and got a new one within the week. I found nobody really wanted a call centre worker. 

 

I ended up in my current job as I was unemployed and forced to take a LLW maternity cover which gave me the experience for my current one. Not a route I'd really recommend as I was skint during the LLW job and went through my savings. 

Edited February 26 by westlondonmist

[BomberPat]

19 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

One of the few things I'm jealous of older generations is it just seemed easier to get a job and try stuff out. You meet someone in their 60s upwards and so many of them just did loads of different jobs in widely different fields. Pretty much everyone from my generation onwards it seems like you got a job when you were in your early 20s and no matter what it was you're pretty much stuck in that field forever now.

I think it's about affordability as much as anything. My Dad told me that when he wanted to leave his factory job and applied for a job at a supermarket, the first thing they asked him at interview was, "don't you think you're a bit old to be changing careers?". He was 24. Now, my Dad was able to have the kind of life you describe, because he did end up working in supermarkets for years, then went to university in his 30s, and got into teaching when he graduated - but that's because he could afford to become a student with a part-time job despite having four kids and a mortgage, and my Mum also only working part-time. That would just be unthinkable now.

But most people I know of my parents' generation did just have one job and stick to it. The proper 45 years of service and then a carriage clock on your last day stuff. 

My own experience has been bouncing between completely unrelated jobs until something stuck, while my Dad and others of that generation either can't understand why I didn't stick around in place, or not believing I was applying for jobs at all. I had a massive row with my Dad when I was unemployed, because he was convinced I wasn't putting any effort in to job-hunting as I wasn't getting any results - he wasn't quite doing the "just get out there and go door-to-door asking every business if they're hiring", but not far off - and I'd mentioned an interview I'd had recently, and he asked if I'd heard anything. I told him he hadn't, so I assumed I hadn't got the job, and he said, "they wouldn't just not tell you", so decided I must have been lying about having had an interview in the first place, because he couldn't accept that you could have a job interview and they wouldn't let you know if you didn't get the job. I pointed out that what he was suggesting is that I lied about applying for a job, lied about being invited to interview, got dressed up and went into town to not attend an interview, and then just decided to stop lying at the point when they didn't reply, rather than just saying, "yes, they phoned and said I didn't get the job".

My job history is fucking ridiculous. I did the same job in the same warehouse for two different companies about three years apart, uni job in a record shop, three years at a petrol station, three years at a call centre, a summer job on a fairground, an admin job for a weird rich bloke, a few months in a menswear shop, a few months in the accounts office of a Zoo, and then fell into working in colleges and universities, which is the only job where I've managed to move from one employer to another still doing basically the same role, so the first thing that feels anything like a "career". But I don't think there's any future in it, given the state of the sector, and I'm fully expecting to lose this job within the next year, and probably have to start all over again doing fuck knows what. I'm almost 40, with no qualifications, no idea what I really want to do with my life, and dreading job hunting again - last time around, I applied for literally hundreds of jobs and got maybe seven or eight interviews, and things have only got worse since then.

[gmoney]

19 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

One of the few things I'm jealous of older generations is it just seemed easier to get a job and try stuff out. You meet someone in their 60s upwards and so many of them just did loads of different jobs in widely different fields. Pretty much everyone from my generation onwards it seems like you got a job when you were in your early 20s and no matter what it was you're pretty much stuck in that field forever now.

My mum would change jobs in her twenties every few months, with seemingly very little reason behind it. She was telling me about one job or other she had that she'd loved in the early 70s, small family company with great bosses and how she wished she'd stayed there. When I asked why she'd left she said "I don't know really, it's just what you did"

[westlondonmist]

Just got out of a meeting, some senior managers moaning that I hadn't gone about a project right. Yeah I fucking know, I'd been asking for help for the past 2 fucking years because I'm not qualified to manage a project that involves planning and construction. The calls for help to senior managers has been forgotten/ignored and now they are taking over as if they are these really helpful people. Fucking good, I'm not paid enough to manage the project anyway. I wanted to tell the Senior Managers (who are on more than double my salary) to go fuck em selves but I'd be the villain. Shower of cunts. I can't complain because the senior managers will just say that I said i could do it or that help was offered. 

 

 

Edited February 26 by westlondonmist

[Rossman]

I'm in that position (which I thought was strange), where I'm in my late 30's and been doing the same job for 18 years. And not sure I'm qualified for anything else or would risk shifting careers as have a young family to support.

I work for a small family company which is run a bit ad-hoc, akin to these disastrous fly on the wall business documentaries. Somehow we still make decent money. We have quite a high turnover of staff and noone in management, really understands why. They go crazy in winter over the heating bill, and when someone kept leaving the back door ajar (lift the handle, 5 point locking door). The managing director sent step by step instructions on how to open & close the door to every employee.

I've got a contract which I don't think is worth the paper it's written on. If you have been there longer than 3 years, you have to work a 3 month notice period. Which seems excessive. And also you're not allowed to move to another company in the same industry. (Specialise in products for blind and visually impaired) That can't be legally binding and would get thrown out if went to an employee tribunal.

[deathrey]

35 minutes ago, Rossman said:

I've got a contract which I don't think is worth the paper it's written on. If you have been there longer than 3 years, you have to work a 3 month notice period. Which seems excessive. And also you're not allowed to move to another company in the same industry. (Specialise in products for blind and visually impaired) That can't be legally binding and would get thrown out if went to an employee tribunal.

I can't comment on all of this but my husband works for a huge energy company in the UK and he has a similar clause in his contract, if he gets a job with a competitor, due to the information his role gives him access to, he has a 3 months notice period and the common practise is that people are put on 'gardening leave' (at home being paid but not working) until their notice is served.

[westlondonmist]

1 hour ago, Rossman said:

I'm in that position (which I thought was strange), where I'm in my late 30's and been doing the same job for 18 years. And not sure I'm qualified for anything else or would risk shifting careers as have a young family to support.

I work for a small family company which is run a bit ad-hoc, akin to these disastrous fly on the wall business documentaries. Somehow we still make decent money. We have quite a high turnover of staff and noone in management, really understands why. They go crazy in winter over the heating bill, and when someone kept leaving the back door ajar (lift the handle, 5 point locking door). The managing director sent step by step instructions on how to open & close the door to every employee.

I've got a contract which I don't think is worth the paper it's written on. If you have been there longer than 3 years, you have to work a 3 month notice period. Which seems excessive. And also you're not allowed to move to another company in the same industry. (Specialise in products for blind and visually impaired) That can't be legally binding and would get thrown out if went to an employee tribunal.

When working for a Thames Water contractor I had something similar in my contract, which was valid 6 months after i left, they never followed through on it though to the best of my knowledge. Would they really want to go to the effort of taking you to court over it? Not just effort but financial burden which likely wouldn't be worth it. 

 

The 3 month notice period might be negotiable, but I don't think it's unfair. It's them preparing for recruitment and someone else to come in after their notice period. 

[DaGangstanator]

On 2/26/2026 at 3:17 PM, deathrey said:

I can't comment on all of this but my husband works for a huge energy company in the UK and he has a similar clause in his contract, if he gets a job with a competitor, due to the information his role gives him access to, he has a 3 months notice period and the common practice is that people are put on 'gardening leave' (at home being paid but not working) until their notice is served.

Clauses preventing you from going to a competitor aren't uncommon, they can be challenged, in certain circumstances, but they are generally legal and enforceable. Most people leave jobs for similar organizations if they're doing the same kind of work, it's more a clause for people with specific product knowledge or client contacts and such.

I've been on 3 months notice before and had to work all of that out, there's nothing illegal about that if you agreed to it. It works in your favour if they're making you redundant. I've known people quit without doing their notice without anything being enforced, but a company could if they wanted the trouble. Most won't, as someone who doesn't want to be there can cause a lot of damage in 3 months, but I didn't want to burn any bridges so I always work out my notice.