So when do you all slope off for Xmas?

[steve_earwig]

Oh blimey I'd still rather be poor than put up with all that!

Waking up in the early hours is one of the things shrinks look for when they're checking for depression.

[Doggy]

Feel for you Welly.
You're just going to have to wise-up and become efficient like the younger generation - just re-send someone else's tender after a half arsed attempt to dress it up as unique to the client. (That's about the standard of most of ones I receive. I can't tell if they're genuinely thick, bone idle or both).

[Welly]

Suspected 'cover' pricing?

You send out three enquiries and although you get three Tenders back you only effectively have one price....great.

As a nice retirement shake up you can spoil the process by informing/not informing only one Tenderer of some special information and see if it finds its way onto the others submissions..........

[DaiRees]

So been back in work 3 and half days (early finish Fridays) and the Christmas break is already a long forgotten memory.

I never manage to get any sleep on Sunday nights (although t'was Monday night this week of course). I'm generally a bit more rested after the weekend so my brain goes "you don't need sleep, here, worry about all this shyte!!" After that I'm increasingly tired for the rest of the week so usually fall off to sleep OK, getting varying amounts of sleep and often waking early. So by the weekend I'm totally knackered and tend to sleep well on Fridays and Saturdays without having to worry about getting up for work, sometimes aided by a little medicinal tipple, and the whole cycle starts again. It's all a bit crap really!!

[Welly]

Work is the crap bit mate. I think sometimes when you're young and building up a career for yourself then work is great, a big learning experience with seemingly endless possibilities........then you get used to it, you get experienced, perhaps even good at it and even find it very easy and then you begin to wonder why you're doing it, who's benefiting, and is it worth it. The trouble comes when you think about changing career and trying to match the money you're on with starting a new job you know little about.

I believe there's the perfect job within all of us, I know I'm not doing it and often feel frustrated about it and kinda stuck with it. Perhaps when the kids have left home and the mortgage is paid off I'll just throw the towel in and do something else.

Dai I kinda thought your new job was less hassle for you as the previous one was doing your head in so you moved?

[DaiRees]

It is considerably less hassle, much more convenient and better paid, fixed hours with some flexibility if needed, and only 10 mins walk from home. Sounds ideal but it has it's problems (as I'm sure all jobs do). Not wishing to whinge here but it's a really weird place to work. There's poor communication, no teamwork and certainly no job satisfaction. It's one of those places that's stuck in a rut, could be very good with the right management and a bit of investment but you just get the impression that everyone's accepted that this is how it is. I find it extremely frustrating. The company seems reasonably secure for now though, at least as much as it can be, so I'm going to stick it out (unless something better falls in my lap of course) .

I think it's the way jobs are going these days too, there are targets and stresses with any occupation, I'm sure everyone on here has their own tales. And having now done fairly responsible jobs in two completely different sectors I'm pretty convinced that the grass isn't always greener. And you kinda get yourself into this cycle of relentlessly trying to maintain and improve your lifestyle so, as you say Welters, taking a cut to make a change is very difficult. I always think that if anyone genuinely loves their job and is satisfied with their income then they're the luckiest person in the world. And these people who say they wouldn't give up work if they won the lottery jackpot...

[dirtydirtydiesel]

Dai,
I could not agree with you more ,
I have worked for the same company now for 18 year's this March.
I am not blowing my own trumpet, but the manufacturing side of it would crumble if I left.
But I have never felt more undervalued & taken for granted than in the last year
But a mortgage & two young boys, ah well.
Just carry on I suppose

Oh and a happy new year