Early Risers.

[skipepsi]

Morning all, recycling has just gone down the road in a large truck beats me how they recycle anything but apparently they do. DD2 is a bit better so will go to school later. It is not warm again but a bit of sunshine is better than grey dismal stuff. Doctors for me tonight my back and hip is like a rusty hinge. Happy hump day all.

[Donw]

I think a emploer who is so inflexible over a holiday is not one I would wish to work for. Does she need to book illnesses?

 

Don

[Tony_S]

    But I am certain if Aditi were a 6'3" Caucasian male, he'd be put upon less. 

Aditi thinks that being short does have disadvantages as people literally talk over her head. Though it isn't a disadvantage in meetings, she looks taller sitting down. She doesn't feel she has been discriminated against although she isn't a 6'3" white male! She was Duty Principal (anyone who isn't part-time or a student gets that task) yesterday and the "security team attending an incident" call came over her radio. It was in a room near her and she arrived at the same time as security. The lecturer had done a good job already of preventing the incident escalating by placing himself between the two lads causing it. Aditi said he was over 6'6" and "well built" (not Caucasian though!). As the students were under 18 the incident took her two hours to process and write up. Then she got the news about her leave cancellation!

 

Tony

[Coombe Barton]

Morning all.

 

Broken grey here. Frost on Sandy's car didn't need much moving. 

 

Aditi's people don;t seem like the people I work with - not pleasant.

 

Off into work for a couple of meetings tomorrow, then more next week. Meanwhile on with keeping things running.

[Tony_S]

 . Does she need to book illnesses?

 

 

Probably. 

It was in fact a illness issue that caused her to look for another job after 33 years at her previous college. She wanted to take a half days leave to collect me from hospital (I wasn't going to be allowed to go home alone while under the influence of anaesthetic!). It wouldn't have involved any change/cancellation of classes on that day. Her new manager refused to sanction the leave so Aditi asked for a half day without pay. This was grudgingly allowed after "proof" of my hospital visit was provided. Aditi wasn't amused. 

Tony

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dry, frosty & 1^oC earlier, now blue sky, sunshine and getting warmer so we should reach double figures today.

Started relaying track yesterday with promising results so far. I swapped the two problem points with each other and at the moment they're behaving perfectly! Time will tell..

Kids were great company yesterday evening. Abbie was telling me that in History at the moment she's studying the war in Vietnam. As I was at school for about 10 years while that was going on (like a lot of us  here) I now feel very old.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[Tony_S]

 

Aditi's people don;t seem like the people I work with - not pleasant.

 

 

I think there is a still a lot of tension from the incidents involving very senior management that were reported  as the big story on the regional London/SE news late last year.

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, and a touch of spring in the air, warmish and just nicer feeling.  Rain forecast later #sigh#

 

The treatment Aditi is experiencing seems to feel familiar.....while my immediate managers are in fact really good, supportive and thoughtful, the higher echelons appear to be trying to p*ss people off as much as they can.  They are succeeding too. 

 

My own rather cynical view is that this is deliberate to get us to leave/retire/take vol. redundancy early for their benefit of reducing headcount, however it appears one result of our ongoing review is going to be a lot of development work they want me to do.  No-one else here has the requisite knowledge/experience to do it, however when a similar process was undertaken in another team the project manager was two grades higher than me.  Despite repeated requests for re-grading over three years they haven't even done an assessment on my role.  I feel a prime moment for me to resign is approaching in about three months.....it's becoming a more and more attractive a proposition that's for sure.

[AndrewC]

Greetings groovy protoplasms.

 

A cool but sunny morning. The offspring is about to shuffle off to work so I have the house to myself. Much easier to concentrate on documentation without the noise and disruption. Having said that he is good about not bothering me if the office door is closed.

 

Tony, might I suggest a page from the book of Blackadder. "Blackadder: saying Phew my leg hurts when he remembers to, wouldn't fool Baldrick management" "Baldrick: It did you know" . Perhaps a few GP sanctioned days off for stress may not go amiss.

 

For all its faults my employer has a very strict rule around leave. Once its in the system only the employee can remove it. I have been asked to move dates in the past due to project emergencies. These were accompanied by various incentives. On one occasion they paid the costs of rearranging the travel dates and replaced the leave dates with a 2 for 1. Yesterday's meeting roulette turned into a farce. I won't go into the gory details but the project is dooooooooomed to borrow a phrase from Pvt Frazer. No ranting or raving from me. I feel strangely calm and relaxed. Maybe due to that giant vat of "I told you so" sitting next to my desk. I think my employer is backwards from the norm. The higher level management is very good, approachable, and competent. Its the low level management and project managers in particular that can't walk and chew gum at the same time.

 

Finally a little ditty for everyone feeling frustrated at their work situation.

 

 

 

 

[edcayton]

 

 

The treatment Aditi is experiencing seems to feel familiar.....while my immediate managers are in fact really good, supportive and thoughtful, the higher echelons appear to be trying to p*ss people off as much as they can.  They are succeeding too. 

 

My own rather cynical view is that this is deliberate to get us to leave/retire/take vol. redundancy early for their benefit of reducing headcount, however it appears one result of our ongoing review is going to be a lot of development work they want me to do.  No-one else here has the requisite knowledge/experience to do it, however when a similar process was undertaken in another team the project manager was two grades higher than me.  Despite repeated requests for re-grading over three years they haven't even done an assessment on my role.  I feel a prime moment for me to resign is approaching in about three months.....it's becoming a more and more attractive a proposition that's for sure.

 

It happened at our college-and worked too! Pretty much everybody over 50 took the early retirement deal, so the headcount was reduced considerably. Replacement lecturers were either younger (and cheaper), or the same people part-time (also cheaper!).

 

Neil-be careful what you say on here-walls have ears! (some of the high-ups may be closet RMWebbers!).

 

Ed

[Ashcombe]

Probably. 

It was in fact a illness issue that caused her to look for another job after 33 years at her previous college. She wanted to take a half days leave to collect me from hospital (I wasn't going to be allowed to go home alone while under the influence of anaesthetic!). It wouldn't have involved any change/cancellation of classes on that day. Her new manager refused to sanction the leave so Aditi asked for a half day without pay. This was grudgingly allowed after "proof" of my hospital visit was provided. Aditi wasn't amused. 

Tony

 

That is appalling! Treating mature adults of long term standing with an institution as if they were still at school! All a sign of the mentality of the insecure management, who treat employees in a way which reflects their own attitudes to work - ie assuming you are trying to wing time off in the way that they might choose to do! I do think some bosses regard very competent (female) employees as some kind of threat.

 

Sun is still shining - hope it is wherever you people are!

[Coombe Barton]

... and the sky is grey

 

But rebuilding the latest version of the new PC - haven't bothered with it much as had to get some work out but now spending time to do it properly.

 

Problem is I have six previous backup versions (from the previous repairs) to sort through. Hey ho - some feet up time waiting for it to work.

[Tony_S]

Aditi got the job she has now in her mid fifties and got off to a good start when having been offered a starting salary at interview was presented with a contract at many points lower. The post had been advertised for years without attracting a suitable applicant and it had finally been "un-ringfenced" to allow external applicants. She did get the salary! She did ask for an optional increment when she got her doctoral qualification. HR said she should discuss it at her annual review. She hasn't had an annual review for a few years and when she did have one recently her (nice) manager said he would support it, so she asked for it to be back-dated to when she first asked. 

 

She really does like her work, even sorting out brawling students but some of the petty, disorganisation is irritating her more and more. Last week she turned up at 1pm to deliver a training session for part of the college to find no-one there. The admin person said everyone was at lunch and her session had been moved to 5pm. Unfortunately no-one had told her and she was to be somewhere else at the new time. 

 

Sherry. Aditi doesn't think it is anything to do with gender. She thinks it is to do with with people who forget what the purpose of a college is. The manager who wanted all the details of my hospital visit was female. Aditi had been acting head of that department and the permanent (though not for very long!) replacement was trying to implement her management degree ideas.

Tony

[Adams442T]

Morning early risers. No weather news from Norfolk this morning. At 3.25am, all I can tell by looking out of the window is that it's "dark".

Now the reason for my insomnia is that I'm worried I might have done something really, really stupid. For a couple of months, my wife has been without a car so I thought I'd do something about it. Now she's never been a city car, eco-friendly 1.0 litre engine kind of person and has owned Alfas, 4x4s and other daft cars and that's the way she likes it... Sitting on the drive now is an immaculate 2 owner semi-automatic 2.5L Fiat Stilo Abarth. 9 years old with just 55k on the clock and a full service history. Now I've heard all the jokes about Fix It Again Tomorrow etc etc, but apart from a warning on startup that the rain sensitive windscreen isn't rain sensitive any more, there's nothing wrong with it and that's my problem... bearing in mind how much (little) it cost, I'm now worried how long it will be before all the other gadgets realise they're Italian and stop working... aren't some cars just too damn complicated?

 

Not to worry you, but...............Electrics are definitely the major problem on Italian cars.  In a moment of weakness I bought a beautiful, red of course, Alfa Romeo MiTo Quadrifoglio.  It had a system which shut down the engine when stopped at traffic lights when the gears were moved to neutral.  It was more than slightly disconcerting to find then that when slowing down to turn right and passing from 3rd say, to 2nd gear the engine promptly died on me.  This happened despite turning the cut-out system firmly to 'off'.  I took it back to the dealer, who promised that after re-booting the engine management system all would be well.  It wasn't!  It happened on two further occasions, one of which was quite hairy!  I swapped it for another Mazda MX5 (my previous cars) which, like most Mazda's in my experience, is flawless.

 

When Jane & I went to Italy this year we had a Fiat booked waiting for us.  It wouldn't even get out of the compound without mis-firing and losing power, so I refused it and took the only other spare vehicle they had.  An Alfa Romeo Guilietta.  Beautiful car, slightly faster than the MiTo, and great fun!   Coming down a seriously bendy, vertiginous hill near San Gimigiano, I went to change gear and guess what.............................. Don't worry, I'm sure yours is fine.....................................

[New Haven Neil]

Ed, I have made my feelings openly known at work!  Thanks for your concern though.

 

Just had the oddest (or most odd) staff meeting, almost surreal at times.  Perhaps the strapping on the loose cannons has come undone.

[New Haven Neil]

Ah, a friend had a Fiat 500, on which the engine cut out every time you raised the clutch pedal after previously stopping in neutral.  Foot down, engine started, let clutch out in gear, engine stops.....again and again. 'Fixed' three times....not fixed. He has a BMW now.

 

My Fiat Ducato camper is OK though.....mostly.  We had a screen leak which was sorted out (eventually....), but I have recently heard from another owner that if not detected, this causes part of the wiring loom in the dashboard to get full of water and corrode, resulting in total electrical disaster.  Lucky escape.

[Tony_S]

I don't recall ever having driven an Italian car. Dad had a Fiat Mirafiori after I left home. It had rust (though lots of cars did then) problems and various electrical problems. He had actually gone out to buy a Lada but came home with the Fiat. It was eventually replaced with a Cavalier and Dad's last car was some large Rover 800 series thing. He had always wanted a Rover having worked for Rover in the 1950s. After my mother died we found a note from Dad asking her out (she worked at "The Rover" too) written on the back of a "Meteorite" engine inspection card!

[Oldddudders]

Italian cars have style and brio by the bucketful (1980s Maseratis and many recent Lancias excepted) and the mechanics are generally very good. Electrics are famously rubbish - so fitting anything electrical into the throttle system is doomed on an Italian car. My friend's 1985 Ferrari (he's had it from about 2-years old) hasn't had working aircon in living memory, and the electric windows are the slowest I've ever encountered. Some years ago the engine kept dying - even the fuses didn't fit properly. And for a 150 mph car the headlights are derisory, as the magazines noted at the time.

 

All that said, my last boss had a company Alfa 156 and loved it. 77k miles, then it was written off when he was tail-ended on the M11.

[trisonic]

Strangely enough Audi's are very prone to weird electrical problem too. My Wife had a 2001 (from new) A4 Quattro 3.0. It blew a fuse on average every two weeks - one time all the lights went out when we were coming home from Manhattan at 2:00am - you really don't want that to happen...

I will not mention the failures in both the EFi and coil over plugs...

It was gone in less than two years. Shame because when everything was working it was a real joy to drive, particularly in the wet...

 

Best, Pete.

Edited March 5, 2014 by trisonic

[Steve Williams]

That is appalling! Treating mature adults of long term standing with an institution as if they were still at school! All a sign of the mentality of the insecure management, who treat employees in a way which reflects their own attitudes to work - ie assuming you are trying to wing time off in the way that they might choose to do! I do think some bosses regard very competent (female) employees as some kind of threat.

 

Sun is still shining - hope it is wherever you people are!

 

Sadly, it would seem that an increasing number of managers are rising to the level of their own incompetence.

[Tony_S]

Strangely enough Audi's are very prone to weird electrical problem too. My Wife had a 2001 (from new) A4 Quattro 3.0. It blew a fuse on average every two weeks - one time all the lights went out when we were coming home from Manhattan at 2:00am - you really don't want that to happen...

I will not mention the failures in both the EFi and coil over plugs...

It was gone in less than two years. Shame because when everything was working it was a real joy to drive, particularly in the wet...

 

Best, Pete.

A white Audi would seem to be the fashion statement car at the moment in this part of Essex. They always look cleaner than Aditi's white Fiesta! I nearly got to drive a nice Audi as a loan car while my car was having its starter motor replaced. I rejected the Audi as the nearside front wheel was damaged and the tyre sidewall had lumps out of it. I had a Hyundai i30 instead.

Tony

[Steve Williams]

I don't recall ever having driven an Italian car. Dad had a Fiat Mirafiori after I left home. It had rust (though lots of cars did then) problems and various electrical problems. He had actually gone out to buy a Lada but came home with the Fiat. It was eventually replaced with a Cavalier and Dad's last car was some large Rover 800 series thing. He had always wanted a Rover having worked for Rover in the 1950s. After my mother died we found a note from Dad asking her out (she worked at "The Rover" too) written on the back of a "Meteorite" engine inspection card!

 

I was once in the back of a two door Alfa when it caught fire. It was leaving a trail of flame behind it in the road like something from wacky races. It is surprising how fast you can get out of a car when you have to. The person in the front passenger seat nearly went through the windscreen as I pushed the seat forward! That was a fuel pipe that had come disconnected.

[trisonic]

I'm a starter of Essex Trends. unfortunately. Btw "hers" HAD to be Silver! Looked very nice too.

 

Best, Pete.

[Steve Williams]

A white Audi would seem to be the fashion statement car at the moment in this part of Essex. They always look cleaner than Aditi's white Fiesta! I nearly got to drive a nice Audi as a loan car while my car was having its starter motor replaced. I rejected the Audi as the nearside front wheel was damaged and the tyre sidewall had lumps out of it. I had a Hyundai i30 instead.

Tony

 

Presumably, they complement the white stilettos!

[AndyB]

The only Italian car I have experience of was a Buggatti concept car (flash s@d, I hear you all mutter!) £600k in the mid 90s. 

I was over in Italy for a few months and one of the undergrads asked me why his computer simulation of the car didn't match reality. 

Normally, the answer would have been...because the simulation is dodgy. 

Not so. He'd set up the fluid dynamics simulation correctly according to the cars drawings. But sadly, Buggatti hadn't built that car. Oh, no. 

So, the reason the air conditioning didn't work was....drum roll....because they had put leather trim on the inside of the car, covering the air vent that let air out of the car. The fans had basically stalled. Amazing bit of engineering as there were flaps that opened on little hydraulic gizzmos to allow air out - but sadly sabotaged by styling on the inside.

I offered to take a Stanley knife to the problem but for some reason this wasn't taken up. 

Andy