Back to the grindstone

[Welly]

I was lucky enough to have 2 weeks off for xmas but I'm back at work today and it hurts me, got myself in a right mood about it yesterday and then driving in today I went really slowly and saw 'that bloke' on the way to work, you know, someone you only see when going to work - you don't know him but he reminds you of going to work and you hate him for it.

Am I the only one who kids himself into thinking things should be different (or better) in a new year? when really you know it's gonna be the same old sh*t.

I really hope this year will be an improvement on the last few, I do have plans to make things better but this will take time.

I hope all you other working folk are well and coping ok.

[DaiRees]

Mate, I feel your pain!

I'm really hating work at the moment. I'm not sleeping properly, even over the holidays I was waking up panicking about stuff, and as you say Sunday nights I'm well grumpy! I wish there was a way out but being a shareholder I'm kinda stuck with it, I sometimes really wish I'd never bought the shares because now the success of the company has a very real direct effect on my livelihood, to the point where it could cost us the roof over our heads, 2013 was very difficult! Things are looking more promising for 2014 although it's still very scary! Of course if we have a very successful period I may end up with some dividends, but I think I'd rather be on a good wage and be able to concentrate on my job without all the added stresses and strains of worrying about the finances.

As I said I'm stuck with this (at least for now), but is a career change an option for you?

[Welly]

I'm more pissed off about the amount of work I put in but don't really see much benefit in return. I have a non-official Directorship (means nothing) but do a Directors job which means putting everything I've got into my work. Having the time off just now gave me too much time to think about how crap the deal is - this is what I want to improve this year and to be fair the signs are looking ok for 2014 so I should be in a better position to haggle a better deal hopefully.

I hope your situation improves, if you can manage a new business in a recession then you should do well in a recovery, easy to say but it's mostly right. I bet you get fed up with people thinking you're minted because you have this company when really they don't know the half of it!

[DaiRees]

I bet you get fed up with people thinking you're minted because you have this company when really they don't know the half of it!

Oh yes, ain't that the truth!

Our biggest problem is that we rely on Government funding because no-one wants to pay for training. We're too small to get a direct contract so we have to subcontract to the large colleges etc to draw down that funding, and the people holding the purse strings in those establishments are typically academic "business" types with no concept of working in the real world, so targets are often unachievable. We also have to comply with all of the rules of the Awarding Organisations (such as City & Guilds) who again think you've got a classroom full of willing learners, when you're actually trying to deliver a course to some dude while he's still running a machine. Couple that with the government changing the funding rules every 2 mins and we end killing ourselves to provide a service which is bottom of most of our customers' priority lists, and then performing like a circus act to satisfy the nutters in charge.

[Welly]

So they all want 2lbs of flesh for Pennies? fairly typical in Business at the moment and these Colleges/Academies all seem to be skint now they're self-funding etc? (although I don't suppose the Principle goes hungry).

What's your Bread & Butter Training that you'd do most of the time?

[DaiRees]

It's mostly "Modern Apprenticeships" these days. We've got 2 main "departments", one covers Engineering, Manufacturing, Warehousing, Lean, Waste Management, Recycling etc, the other is Customer Service, Business Admin, Management, Team Leading etc. We also do loads of other stuff including Train the Trainer, Assessor and Verifier Awards, other stand alone NVQs and a variety of short courses such as Health & Safety and Environmental Awareness.

The colleges still get a huge amount of government funding, some of which they're allowed to sub out. It's only higher level stuff that students have to pay for themselves so the Universities are affected worse by that, most of the stuff going through the colleges is level 1 or 2 anyway, which is still (usually, subject to a load of rules) funded.

[Doggy]

I 'finished' lunchtime on the 24th Dec and went back on 2nd, so I'm mostly over it, but know what you mean. Today was the first proper traffic grief of 2014 too.....

Feel for you guys, I'm not feeling desperately agrieved with my work-life balance these days, but I've certainly been there over the years.

[jasper5]

Business for me is very quiet at the moment, only thing I did today was to help out an old lady who burst a tyre hitting the kerb....I lifted my trolley jack out my van and promptly hurt my back ....killing me right now

Anyone needing a good mechanic anywhere near me let me know

[lozz]

Im back at work next week carnt wait,

new employer is gona be asponser on Mot side, so imight have an easy job in a year or so,

[dave406]

I havent been off at all Was working all xmas and new year (yes both xmas day and boxing day) (aslo new years eve/day)

[Captain Jack]

I forgot all about Christmas now and it seems such a long time ago now. I had the Christmas week off, except the 23rd. No relaxation at all as I spent most of it with the in-laws. Not a terribly bad thing as they feed me well (hence I am very fat now) but I did want a bit of me time. Spent the whole of December listening to Christmas tunes but just couldn't get into the Christmas mood at all this year. The warmest winter I remember in ages isn't helping. Wouldn't mind a snow flake or two...

Last week, I was back at work but worked from home all of it. Was surprisingly busy, though, so again, no relaxation time. Went to the office yesterday and it was actually nice... for some odd reason. Didn't enjoy the 30 min delay in traffic jam (that's A38/M4/M5 interchange for you). Going to the office tomorrow too!

Oh well, back to work...

[Welly]

but I did want a bit of me time

I spent 4 days sorting my Garage out after 3 years of accumulated crap had built up (and put all the stuff back in the roof space that was supposed to be Car-Boot Sale'd out of there ). I spend a whole afternoon one day with no interuptions just sorting my tools out, was quite enjoyable, I now know where everything is!

[scotty73]

I didn't have any time off, not even Christmas day. In fact i put more work in that day than any other day of the year.

[Captain Jack]

I didn't have any time off, not even Christmas day. In fact i put more work in that day than any other day of the year.

Anything to avoid 'family time', eh?

[scotty73]

I didn't have any time off, not even Christmas day. In fact i put more work in that day than any other day of the year.

Anything to avoid 'family time', eh?

Nahh mate It was a joke I was being all housewifey, being forced to be house husband my work is never done.


Especially when I can't be f*cked to do it.