Mortgage Free - so good they'll do it twice! Wynnvegas aiming for the big house

unhappy_shopper

Wish you luck in your negotiations with your Chairman to be designated a Director Fingers and toes crossed.

abouttimetoo

Hi Billy

Boy does your diary move at a fast pace! Congrats on the new role, sounds great! I guess by now you will have had your chat with the boss so if the Director title hasn't come off today then I hope that at least it's a possibility in the not too distant future? Hope the salary talk has gone well too! Do you follow a particular business improvement methodology? (I ask as that's the line I'm in)

The SOA is looking good though I can't resist asking what the £50k 'other' is, are we (aka me!) allowed to ask, have you been holding out on us :rotfl:

I'm just about to sit down with lovely spreadsheet and try and work out what's what for this month. I also note that the MSE site has '100 days to Christmas' banner to the side :eek:

gallygirl

wynnvegas wrote: »

Cheers Nathan.

Hiya LP,

I honestly think I could die happy if Rangers go bust. They're a fairly hateful bunch and I wouldn't miss them one wee bit.

Billy

They speak highly of you too Billy :rotfl:

wynnvegas wrote: »

We tend not to operate specific bonus schemes in my place but then isn't changing things for the better what Business Improvement is all about?!

What a star Billy. I so admire people who don't ask others to do anything they don't do themselves. Lead by example

Hope it went well, posh Mr Director-type bloke :T

wynnvegas

Hi SSTS,

Thanks for the good luck wishes. Things have gone relatively well (but not all the way that I'd dreamed).

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Hi TYO,

Unfortunately no Director in the job title yet. That was another ambition to be ticked off the list by the time I'm 40 so I've still got a bit of time to sort it out. We did discuss the probability of me making the new role work to such an extent that I force my way onto the Board. The great thing is that no-one has laughed the notion off. Whilst it seemd a bit of a throwaway notion at the start of last week, the more I've thought about it, the more sense it makes. If a;; we're talking about is the knowledge, skill and wherewithall to understand and effect necessary changes for the benefit of the Company, then there's no reason not to take a seat on the Board - just not yet!!

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Hi US,

Thanks again for the good wishes. The Director thing was really all in my head but we're sticking with Group Head of Business Improvement and Human Resources for the moment. No chance to rest on my laurels that way

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Hi ATT,

You're entirely right. That the position isn't far off is perfectly good enough for me. I've always been a big fan of EFQM but we're nowhere near ready to accept the requirements of that model in my place just now so we'll kick off with some relatively straightforward Business Process Improvements. Now that I've got a few headline objectives to alert the Board to, everything will flow down appropriately - even if it means me literally standing over people until they've done their necessary part to move the whole thing on!

The £50k is a rough estimate of our contents and various stuff kicking about the house. It's probably pretty conservative but I'm fairly sure Moyra's clothes alone account for a third of that total! We had a wee rummage about the presents cupboard yesterday and were pleased to find we're very nearly covered for Christmas so that's pretty handy. I've got a few things planned for Christmas this year but it's Moyra's 30th next month so everything is being geared toward that at the moment... more on that to follow soon.

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Hi Gally,

I bet they do! Most of the guys I know are pretty level headed about the whole thing. When I do go to the football these days (and it's a lot less than about ten years ago) I end up feeling a wee bit sorry for the people that really live it. I can't ever say I've been a die hard fan in the way that some folk I know manage to be (I just don't get how hundreds of middle aged guys can maintain any sense of self-respect having stood outside the front door of their preferred stadium singing with great gusto at some bewildered footballer who has only then realised what the hell he's signed up to). Still can't say that I'm overly impressed when we lose to Rangers in particular. All the worse when it's a fair doing and we can't blame the referee!

I thought I'd managed to get all the information to start assessing our Operational and Sales baselines but alas, the file that was downloaded from our system is about as corrupt as the local MP (and he's in the clink for fiddling his expenses!). I'm having a hard crash course at introducing myself to Windows 7 (from XP), Office 10 (from 2003), our CRM and our internal system on the fancy dan new laptop that finally got itself finished today. It's not been nearly as successful as I'd hoped it would be but tomorrow is another day full of possibility.

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Morning All,

Aside from the update above, there's not a great deal more to be said about the job situation. We've not knocked the idea of Director on the head yet but it's not likely to come about at the moment due to the unholy hell that would likely break loose (I don't do petty politics well) due to me still being very much new to the place. My view is that the guys who have been there 10, 20 and 30 years should have showed a bit of drive and gumption to stretch themselves for the betterment of the whole so they can't be overly concerned about me coming in and doing exactly that. I can't say I'm overly disappointed but I've yet to have the chat about additional benefits of the new role with the Chairman but delivery against my pretty tough objectives propelling me to a position where I can both effect the changes that are necessary and putting me in a much better position in terms of future career moves will be high on the list of what we sit down to discuss six months hence. A wee bit more money and a few more holidays just now will do fine.

My wee sister had her interview and trade test today to become a massage therapist on the Stena cuise liners. She thinks it went pretty well so I'm hoping she gets it. The first contract on offer is 9 months headed down South America way which sounds fantastic. I'm sure the intensive work schedule puts a bit of a downer on the idea but she'll hopefully get it and have a ball doing it.

Moyra has decided that we need to do something in the October holidays so we're having a weekend up at St. Andrews the week before her birthday, a week of festivities for her birthday and then a few days down to Gateshead, York (entirely her idea), Manchester and London. I was all for a week in Cyprus or a city break to Barcelona but I go where I'm told and this is the plan. No prizes for guessing I'll be the deliriously happy person wandering about the Metro and Trafford Centres with armfuls of crap on her behalf. Apparently this is the pric I pay for having my birthday somewhere flash every year.

Her birthday plans are coming on a treat already. Everyone has clubbed ideas together to get her 30 rubber duck things for her to open at the annual family get together. You would be amazed at what absolute rubbish there is out there for a hoarder of crap / collector. Already, we have shoelaces, bath bombs, candles, coasters, bookmarks, a ring, earrings, hand towelsdart flights, a hot water bottle, wellies, socks, t-shirts, pyjamas and a bizarre assortment of rubber ducks. I was looking for a set of rubber ducks (celebriducks is the official line) based on Bon Jovi (no such luck) ans, bizarrely, found that Job Bon Jovi and his drummer Tico Torres have set up a baby clothing company called Rockstar Baby which, in it's well hidden accessories section, sells a Rockstar Baby Rubber Duck. That one will no doubt take pride of place in the duck infested bathroom. The main thing is that she'll be thrilled with it all.

What she doesn't know yet is that I've done a 30 "Moyra loves" thing to take account of her favourite music, books, films, foods, holidays and lifestyle things that are specific to her. She was complaining tonight that I'm really hard to buy for. Thankfully, the same can't be said of Moyra so there's everything from a puppy birthday card to Dairylea Triangle earrings (the wonders of eBay!) with Steven Tyler's autobiography, new DVDs of The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family, Mitch Benn's Twitter book, Michael McIntyre's autobiography, Bon Jovi Christmas tree baubles, a rare Friends trivia game, a 30th anniversary edition of Rainbow (the TV series, not the band), a fancy Nails Inc nail varnish set, duck toppers for fairy cakes that I'll hace to try and surruptitiously make on the night of the 12th, a new badminton racket and the latest Katy Perry and Lady Gaga CDs (all that being around kids all day seems to have had a very negative effect on her taste in music!) in the middle my best to come up with 30 words that will really hit home for the birthday card and I'll find 30 comic book strips from Calvin and Hobbes that I can attach to each present. I'm contemplating doing a treasure hunt for her where she'll need to find things in a specific order but I've not made my mind up about that yet. I've started on what was going to be stocking fillers but two of the items are rubber duck groups (one set of carolling ducks which she'll get on the 1st to go alongside the manic mood that comes with putting up the Christmas tree and the other being the entire cast of the nativity in rubber duck form which will come out twelve days before Christmas). I'm sure there must be something sacriligious in there but I can't see her caring too much.

I'll sign off for the night with a promise of getting some photos up tomorrow of the front garden as it stands. We've had a few ideas now for it so I'll canvas opinion on what's been said so far and look for any additional suggestions as to what we can do with the bare bit out front.

Hope everyone is grand and dandy out in the world!

Cheers,

Billy

[Deleted User]

Aw what a fab idea for gifts!! Im sure Moyra will have a ball on her birthday and love the idea of the 30 things!!
Im also a big calvin and hobbes fan- love it! have quite a few books here if you need some photocopies winging thier way up north!

Sounds like steady progress being made on the job front - Sounds more of a "political" move/issue rather than anything else which is frustrating, but good (as politics are rarely based on skill/reality etc...)

mini break sounds good- even if it involves being a personal shopper! *wonders if mrtyo fancies a mini break as my personal shopper*