Decisions, decisions

Well I reckon I've taken ample soundings & advice from those who know me well work-wise (particular thanks to Ms. Cor-Blimey & Mr. Futures Positive). After mulling things over considerably the decision is to take a punt on the new job. It's not about the dosh, more about the chance to leave behind the crapola of the current place, and try something different. I know diddly squat about the new sector, but then again what did I know about security or the Middle East 2 yrs ago, and probably considerably less re. electronic surveillance & cyber security etc. 12 yrs ago...but managed to blag my way through a career in both those sectors ok :D

I had a good natter to my prospective boss about some housekeeping stuff such as the amount of travel involved/time away from home so I could square that away with the sproglets as they are the ones who feel it most when I'm not there. They get why I want to do it, what it means for them etc. and have encouraged me to sign on the dotted line, so I spent the afternoon filling in a stack of forms accepting the position, and signing up for death in service, medical cover etc. Only thing left to do is have the conversation with my current boss....gulp!

Flipping heck!

just when I'd started to think about staying put an offer of employment lands in my in box!!! If that had arrived a couple of months ago I would never have given accepting a second thought but things have improved at work; I have a new boss and approval to get the staffing levels closer to where they need to be and consequently am enjoying work again.

The offer is highly tempting but I think I'm having a mild crisis of confidence and need to try to reason out my concerns....I've actually showed a couple of friends the job spec and asked them to take a critical view on whether there's anything that they think is beyond me. I can't help fretting they want something i can't deliver. I mean, I have no idea about their business sector at all, nor half the countries they operate in!! There's a stack of stuff to do, half of which I've never actually put into practise on that sort of scale.... plus no direct reports so all influencing.... Can't help worrying it's too big a step for me....

Dead End

Young Blood is home and bemoaning her lack of job satisfaction as a retail management trainee. To be fair, half the problem is that she was working as a checkout supervisor at weekends before she went to Uni, carried on in the same role for the last three years...and which section did they put her on when she started her training..? You guessed it! She's taken the obvious route and tried a couple of conversations about moving to a new department but to no avail.

So...she's bored rigid at work, earning diddly squat, living in a nice enough flat, but rough area of the City, wondering what she's doing with her life and the point of spending three years studying for a degree. Having spent a couple of days at home being fed & looked after the prospect of returning to reality has really hit her. She even started talking about moving back home!

Panda, Young Blood and I had a natter about what she could do if her Masters application is unsuccessful and have spent most of this evening searching job sites and applying for work in the charity sector which is where she wants to be.... until then she's stuck in a supermarket :o/ Much as I keep trying to tell her that retail's a good grounding for anything as you gain an appreciation of business, customer service and dealing with both staff and the general public... I'm not sure she's convinced....

Got to keep everything crossed something better materialises for both of us.

Laugh out Loud

I seem to be working my way through seeing half the panelists of 'Have I got news for you' in the last year or so...This was the turn of Reginald D. Hunter...a man with charisma, depth, intellect and a wicked sense of humour!

Last night I caught his 'Sometimes even the devil tells the truth' tour at Cheltenham Town Hall. Reg managed to create the impression that 800 people in vast Victorian auditorium were just down the pub having a natter with him. He chatted away often philosophising as much as telling jokes. The topics covered ranged from Americans' views of 'abroad', his "Momma" and her old-fashioned sense of child nurturing, politics, multinational organisations, to a debate with his girlfriend about *nal sex, and questioning the audience about the appropriateness of holding people to the promises they make during sex. I loved his witticisms and shrewd comments, but was also seriously impressed with his presence and ability hold the room in the palm of his hand even when there was an underlying seriousness in what he was saying such as his obvious care about some of the issues he addressed such as racism, misogyny, childhood abuse. A talented guy & superb night out.

Before & After

Over the last few months due to being lax whilst she studied for exams Miss Sensible's bedroom has slowly disintegrated into a case severe enough for a life laundry programme.

BEFORE: She has been asked nicely, cajoled, nagged and ranted at to no avail. In the end drastic measures were required and she was informed in no uncertain manner that there would be no more driving lessons or horse riding until the tip was tackled. As the first day of half term, today was D-day.

AFTER (five hours):It might not look much of an improvement but 4 carrier bags of Horse magazines have made their way to the re-cycling, along with 1.5 large refuse sacks of sundry paper waste, and a bag of general rubbish. Plus 50+ books and 2 carrier bags of stuff have now been donated to the charity shop....

During this exercise Miss Sensible was transported into reminiscence mode with every item of previously forgotten gubbins she found. I admit I am prone to a bit of nostalgia from time to time myself, but she does not get her hoarding gene from her mother!

I was quite glad when her shift at Waitrose meant clearing could legitimately cease for the day. Worn out...and we still haven't braved beneath her bed!!!!

I need to vent my spleen

I've had such a week of Machiavellian activities ...we're talking the highest order of assignations and manoeuvring, underhand plans, continual change of allegiances, careerist tactics, divisiveness, extreme Teflon shouldering etc. etc. and that's just in HR ;o) We're talking about a manpower business where people are not an asset...they're there to be used, burnt out and then disposed of. I have never met such a dysfunction set of management in my life! ....I'm thinking of writing a book :o) 'How not to manage people'

ps. that's Niccolo Machiavelli in the pic in case you wondered

Yet another unbelievable tale

When I joined the organisation almost 2 years ago I inherited a team of staff and all that entails. They were not of my selection but you have to just accept that and deal with whatever comes your way. One of the team, a young lady in her mid 20s has been particularly high maintenance. She has had just about every conceivable problem with her flat requiring time off to let tradesmen in, as well as boyfriend trouble resulting in tears in the toilets on a regular basis. One particularly bad occasion she txt myself and the Team Manager in the early hours of the morning to inform us she was at the police station pressing charges against her chap and consequently would be in late the next day. The poor Team Manager had to explain to his wife why a young woman was txting him in the middle of the night!!

On top of this she had difficulty managing her finances which necessitated myself and Ms. Cor-Blimey taking her to one side and assisting with provision of cash advances and instruction in the art of balancing the books. Having undertaken the role of financial advisor/surrogate mum and therefore been aware of how much in the red she was, we were shocked when she approached us to inform of her intent to have a ‘boob job’. This was duly booked and off she trotted.

All did not go according to plan however and she had to go back to her surgeon to have remedial work. Having run out of leave and unable to take time off unpaid, she was permitted to draw a couple of days holiday from the forthcoming year.

Now, most reasonable people would think that having been so supportive she would go out of her way to pull her weight at work…. Oh no…. instead she began to repeatedly be late for work. Cue the disciplinary process. Two warnings for poor time-keeping later, the date for a potential dismissal meeting loomed. At this stage the penny dropped and she decided to resign. We accepted her resignation on the basis she came in the next day and completed a handover….. and she was late!! Talk about add insult to injury.

So that is where you’d expect the story to end, no doubt? I too thought I had drawn a line under it all until I received an email from the CIO informing me that the IT bods had been cleansing previously owned Blackberries and found inappropriate images on one. One of the techies proudly announced he knew whose it was from the copious pics… of a pair of ladies breasts!!! I laughed my socks off…... Yep, you'd think she'd....but I’m getting to the stage where not much surprises me any more….