Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

misskool wrote: »

I've just committed a spend of £32k today and I don't feel anything. that is wrong.

I should feel something

It's probably a bit different in your line of work, but both Mrs McT and I have to approve fairly large spends all the time.....

We also get measured against the ROI on those spends and maintaining expenditure for the year within budgets. And if we get it wrong, it can have a big impact on our pay, a lot of which is in performance/profit related bonuses.

misskool wrote: »

No, work related spends.

But just wondering how people get used to dealing with money in such large amounts without bothering them.

It's strange.

I used to have sleepless nights about it. Not so much these days.

Although anything really big still gives me a bit of a nervous sensation when I sign it off, particularly at the very top of my authorisation limits. I'd almost rather it was slightly bigger and required more signatures, just so there's a bit more room to pass at least some of the buck if it goes pear shaped!!!

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

GDB2222 wrote: »

It's somebody else's money? Easy-peasy! The real trouble occurs when they start wanting little kick-backs for spending that money.

LOL.

As someone who worked in parts of the world where that sort of thing was endemic, that made me smile, but it's not really a problem in the UK because it's so clearly illegal.

The real trouble here is people gaming the system because it's faster, easier or they're lazy.

In our company (and every company I've ever worked for) there are sign-off limits for different levels of managers.

So for example a junior manager may be able to sign off £100. A manager £1000. A more senior manager £10,000. A regional manager £50,000, an operations director £100,000, the MD up to £500,000, etc.

But the process in terms of paperwork, evaluations and assessments is also much less time consuming for smaller spends, and of course people tend to think they have a better chance of getting something signed off if it's just from their boss rather than needing multiple signatures/approvals.

So you'd be amazed how many project proposals come through at £9,999, at £49,999, or at £99,999, ie, just within the realm of faster approval times and less paperwork. It's been the same in almost every company I've worked for. Human nature I suppose.

These days it raises a red flag for me and I'll drill down into more detail as I suspect someones's cutting corners just to get it through quicker. But I confess to doing similar things when I was younger and less wise, so can't moan at them too much for trying.

sss555s

vivatifosi wrote: »

Re geography games. Spurred on by all the sss's one, found these:

http://www.easytorecall.co.uk/how_well_do_you_know_your_world.htm
This one's a game against the clock as much as anything else. It is evil.

It sure is :eek:

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

chewmylegoff wrote: »

have six or seven pints and then go on ebay, you'll get a cracking bargain, and a load of other stuff you never knew you needed.

:rotfl:

I've got quite a large brown cardboard box collection growing in my hallway at the moment.

vivatifosi

sss555s wrote: »

It sure is :eek:

I can't get past level 11 either. It's evil. Told you so.

michaels

I struggled on the netbook - not least because I couldn't see a large section of the Pacific Ocean including New Zealand and of course the touchpad is not designed for rapid accurate clicks. HOwever I was very close to clearing section 11 and suspect that had I been able to click on New Zealand I would have made it - I will try on the PC a bit later. Do you get differnt questions if you do it again?

I forgot to say - Viva itis nice to see a bit more of you - is your other business a bit less FT now?

I am feeling very sorry for myself this morning as I had the vomiting bug last night which is not great when you can't turn over or sit up in bed because of a frozen back. However with the vomiting my back suddenly seems to have lossened off and I was wondering if the stomach bug (pain and bloating) could have been putting pressure on a nerve in my back - has anyone heard of anything like that before?

zagubov

sss555s wrote: »

It's Friday night! (almost) and time for some awesomeness from Michael Winslow (Jones from Police Academy).......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxcCC2g1Ke0

:T

Can any NPs recall what the band was that had loads of singers who simulated the sounds of instruments - bit of a youtube viral thing a few years back. Music threads haven't been able to answer it.

Generali

misskool wrote: »

No, work related spends.

But just wondering how people get used to dealing with money in such large amounts without bothering them.

It's strange.

When I was doing my first very, very lowly job in banking the Big Boss called me over to him. He was standing at a desk with a thin pile of printed A5-A4 sized papers and something that looked like a big hole punch.

He gave me the papers and said, "Know what these are".

"Urm, no".

"They're bearer bonds. We're holding them as security or at least we were. We no longer need the security."

There were about 27 of them, each with a face value of US$1,000,000. I put them into the 'hole punch' and pulled the handle. The date was punched in holes through the bonds. $27,000,000 had become worth $0. I was earning £6.50 an hour at the time. Now that's a weird feeling. Bearer bonds are pretty much as they describe them in the movies, they are effectively cash. Of course if you rock up to your bank with a $1,000,000 note they will ask you a lot of !!!!!! type questions and you will almost certainly get your collar felt.

A few years later I paid $6,000,000,000 to the US for a utility company off the back on an FX trade. That's a lot of money! The most I've ever 'handled' (albeit electronically) in one hit.

I went out with a mate on the harbour today in a kayak. It was amazing. We did about 10kms I reckon. It was 29C but the water is still lovely and cool as it's only just the start of summer.

vivatifosi

michaels wrote: »

I forgot to say - Viva itis nice to see a bit more of you - is your other business a bit less FT now?

Thanks michaels! The issue a month or so ago was that I was trying to fit a quart into a pint pot so to speak. I had commitments and deadlines and the only way of making the deadlines was to work pretty much every hour that I was awake.

Because I have a "paid job", my commitment to my employer is that I don't work over 48 hours a week, on average, when judged over a 12 week period. However that was a heavy few weeks. My employee role pays the bills, running my company pays for my fun and other stuff. I've had a really good year this year and will earn over 1 1/2 times what I will also earn from my paid job. However I'm mindful of the fact that could turn on a dime. Going back to when I was in my cancer scare and couldn't get help from the state because I ran a business, couldn't get a job because I could have cancer and couldn't get work because there was a credit crunch and a recession.... That was scary and I'm never going back there. It's why I do both, but they do have a habit of bumping into each other at times!

michaels wrote: »

I am feeling very sorry for myself this morning as I had the vomiting bug last night which is not great when you can't turn over or sit up in bed because of a frozen back. However with the vomiting my back suddenly seems to have lossened off and I was wondering if the stomach bug (pain and bloating) could have been putting pressure on a nerve in my back - has anyone heard of anything like that before?

Sounds horrible michaels. No idea about the back, but the vomiting bug is nasty. It's weird, we've probably all been far more ill, but I can't think of many times I've felt worse than having that. It's just the way it just, erm, emerges from everywhere.... A bit like being an extra in the Exorcist.

zagubov

zagubov wrote: »

Can any NPs recall what the band was that had loads of singers who simulated the sounds of instruments - bit of a youtube viral thing a few years back. Music threads haven't been able to answer it.

Found them- it's these guys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNWXwFwknIA