Life is what you make it .......

startagain_2

A beautiful morning, sun shining, blue skies, all is quiet downstairs and a very peaceful night last night.... hooray!!!!

I have decided to wait for the next bout of noise and then bring matters to a head, as I was advised by the HA senior bod last week. He said that it would never work and that advising me to try and make friends with them (as Mediator lady suggested) was a non-starter. He said that he didn't even have to see or know them to know exactly what I was going through. So.... watch out for further developments, unless they turn over a new leaf following last nights events, whatever they were.

I am also going to give it until the end of next week and if nothing is mentioned regarding my probation I am going to get that sorted as well. I think I am being made the scapegoat for poor management and I am not going to accept that, given the very low wage that I am on. They are getting real good value for money with me, I am not daft, and they should be recognising it.... ooh, get me!

I have finally been paid the money outstanding from my mystery shops in March and they have put my home town on the list now. For months I was telling them that any assignment I apply for in my home town was showing as "invalid" and I could only get jobs miles away. That has now been changed so I can start doing those from next week. Every little helps. I am determined to get a refurbished notebook as well so that I can do some surveys in the evening while sitting down and watching the tv. It puts me off a bit at the end of the day to sit in my study at the computer when I just want to chill out. That way it should pay for itself before too long. They aren't expensive.

Off to feed the ducks before work. We didn't go yesterday - I feel a bit guilty, even though I know plenty of people feed them too. Daft old me!

Have a good day everyone.

Hugs

SA

dojoman

Did some say ambulance?

At least you had a quiet night SA:D Hope you get another one tonight:)

startagain_2

Thanks dojo, I just wish it had carried them all away!!!

I am tired and so I am going to have a glass of red and put my feet up. That nice young man, Rafael Nadal, just happens to be playing tennis on the tv right now, so I am strangely drawn to the lounge to watch......

Will speak to you all tomorrow.

Good night diary...

SA

savingwannabe

Off to watch a spot of tv too.

startagain_2

Good morning diary,

MrT and I are exhausted already and it is only early..... we have had a man from Yorkshire Water to put a device on our water meter so that it can be read from outside the property (good idea) and then we have had a tiler from the HA to make good the repair..... that hasn't been done yet!!!!!!
We are expecting an electrician this morning to move the dangerously sited socket in the kitchen but the cart has gone before the horse and we have got the tiler and not the sparky.... He has gone off to do another job and I have told him I will ring when the electrician has finished. Luckily, the guy lives in my home town and can come back at any time today. Whew!
MrT has been up and down the stairs answering the door so many times, he is exhausted and gone back to bed. A bit of peace and quiet before he remembers he hasn't done his "you know what" and will need to go out. Good grief, how do I keep up?
Call me daft, call me an over reactor, call me cantankerous, call me what you like... but I have woken up this morning determined to do something about my work situation. I have put a call in to the HR manager asking for a chat. Part time just isn't working out financially and I am being over managed to the point of feeling like I am in my first job and not nearing the end of my working life. The prospect of being offered full time in this position is fading away - there is just not enough work, and until I pass my probation I cannot apply for anything else. I had to listen to my manager telling two other people in the company, over the telphone, that there were "probation issues" and this was in front of an office full of people! Very professional.
So much for downsizing, both this and my last job were low paid, easy peasy jobs and both have been a nightmare in terms of the people who I work/ed with. Am I a threat? Am I that hard to get on with ( I don't think so) I have gone from consistently being the top operator in my last employment (before these) to struggling to pass a 3 month probation for a nothing job. I suspect someone is becoming a little power crazy, who knows?
Financially, I am £7 a week better off for working BEFORE I pay my petrol costs - I need to work full time and I need to be in a job that can use my skills and experience rather than resent it.
I am sorry if I sound ungrateful and I know I should be appreciative that I have a job but it is getting me down. Coupled with a reccuring health problem and the Fatty family issues I really just want to go to work and enjoy it rather than have it compound my stress. Is that so unreasonable? I have had to give up my psychology appointments as well because of this job and I miss those dreadfully. I really thought I was getting somewhere with them.
I think I am going to have a look around and see if there is anything else. Time to be proactive.... Been here before and got out of it, not the first time and probably not the last either
Once the workmen have finished I will take MrT out for a long walk and a bit of contemplation....
To be continued...........
SA

Wordsmith

Sorry to hear work isn't great, SA. I can understand the downer this is putting you in, what with the other things you are having to put up with. I know, though, that you will think things through and be proactive in putting them right. Has your manager told you what the "probation issues" are, so that you can discuss them with her? I agree, she is being totally unprofessional in speaking on the phone in public like that. This change in attitude of your manager seems to be recent, unless I haven't read between the lines carefully enough - since she came back from holiday, I think?

I know it's hard, but please try not to feel undervalued. If you are happy you are doing your job properly, then this is a problem with other people and not with you. I know from your writing that you would put your heart and soul into a job, and you are worthy of so much better than this. What is it you are looking for out of a job? What would be your ideal working situation?

Well done on getting in touch with HR. Quite right, too. Hopefully you can sort out the issues with your manager and also look for another job. We're here to help if we can, so sound off if you need to.

I hope this work situation isn't making you dwell on he-who-should-not-be-thought-about.

Keep us posted. My thoughts are with you today.

startagain_2

Hooray - the electrician has arrived and is knocking the wall to bits as I type. I expect Mrs Fatty will be up in arms soon or I will be paying the price tonight in repercussions.... oh,oh!
MrT is supervising, of course.... now , I have just got to get the cart back (the tiler) seeing as the horse has arrived.

Work.... I am going to tread carefully here.... it has always been "strange" from the word go, but I thought things would improve and I also thought that I would automatically pass the probation period and be able to transfer. Wrong on both counts. My manager is newly promoted, 30 years younger than I am, not British by birth, and seems to see the new department as a pet project that she picks up and puts down as and when she feels like it. It is a very real case of "Do it my way or No way". Nobodys desk, work or space is their own. I am just not used to this - well, not for the last 20 years, anyway!
I have nothing in writing about the "issues" and that is one of the things I want to speak to HR about. Nor have I got a date for when it is being reviewed. Most peculiar.

Moving on.... I am going to go to the market shortly and buy some flowers and stop off at the pet shop for the weekly pigs ears order. The electrician has just told MrT that he is a lovely boy - little does he know that he might have a passenger in his van when he leaves, if he is not careful. He has already tried to leave with the Water man and the Tiler this morning, I think I had better pack his stuff up ready. Mind you, 2 minutes of him on board their vans and they will soon bring him back!
Updates to follow...

SA

miggy

startagain wrote: »

Work.... I am going to tread carefully here.... it has always been "strange" from the word go, but I thought things would improve and I also thought that I would automatically pass the probation period and be able to transfer. Wrong on both counts. My manager is newly promoted, 30 years younger than I am, not British by birth, and seems to see the new department as a pet project that she picks up and puts down as and when she feels like it. It is a very real case of "Do it my way or No way". Nobodys desk, work or space is their own. I am just not used to this - well, not for the last 20 years, anyway!
I have nothing in writing about the "issues" and that is one of the things I want to speak to HR about. Nor have I got a date for when it is being reviewed. Most peculiar.
SA

You have my sympathies - this is a very frustrating situation. I've had similar. Has the workplace really changed so much (I was a full-time mum for 15 years) or is it just the places we've landed in? I have found work is micro-managed often by colleagues not management! I do think some policies that have come in to safeguard confidentiality work against individual interests: it's possibly for people to make allegations (even unfounded ones) with no come-back.

However in your case - sounds like an over-zealous manager who wants to be seen overcoming the odds! I think you're right to raise it with HR. You've done well in previous work so I can't think it's a problem with you. The only thing that comes to mind is that younger people don't on average have as much life experience so may not see why things might reasonably be done differently?

Anyway - best of luck with it - and let us know how it goes.

RosaBernicia

Sorry to hear about the work situation SA - I can assure you that not all managers in their 30s are like this, because I am one and have managed people 20 years older than myself since I was in my early twenties. Of course I've made plenty of mistakes but I hope not this kind. It seems shortsighted and wasteful to me to turn away people's knowledge and enthusiasm. I didn't believe this kind of thing really happened until a friend who previously ran a finance department was turned down for a retail manager job that she could have done while standing on her head.

I think speaking to HR is a good plan but it may be worth treading very lightly to start with - if you can go to them as "I so want to do my best for this company and I just want to know how to do that" then it will be easier for them to quietly arrange to consider you for other positions than if you are already engaged in an issue re. your manager. I know that doesn't seem fair, but it looks like a question of picking your battles.

I have a suspicion my staff are much more likely to moan about being handed a list of stuff that needs doing and asked to phone me if it doesn't make sense :rotfl:

Rosa xx

savingwannabe

Just stay strong SA keep believing in yourself.

I had my appraisal today and it went so well. But it has started me thinking deeply at how unhappy I am at work. I dont feel comfortable where i work but i am considered to be v good at what I do. I am listening to my inner voice and it keeps saying why are you here? Hopefully i will snap out of it soon. Why can't life can't be peaches and cream all of the time? We must still do our best to enjoy everyday and keep our heads above water one day we will be happy it might not be in this job but it'll happen, just hang in there, one day at a time and believe in yourself. Big hugs.