Tm's MFW ramblings

turtlemoose

oh !!!!!!, OH reckons this job is crap and he's looking for another ASAP. So scrap all of the above, no car being sold, no tax and insurance refund. Frustrating.

edinburgher

Do you reckon it might work itself out, or is it something pretty major? I thought you might have had some miniature alarm bells ringing after your comment about an extra £1k, supposedly £2k, but not in writing?

turtlemoose

no it's not that, he is confident they'll give the money - the employer themselves actually seem pretty decent (as far as employers go!). It's the travelling. The told him that he would cover the country nationally, and at least 4 days a week is spent driving to X client in Y location, do whatever you do, then come back to the office for about 4 ready to pick up your kit to do your thing the next day at a different site. Despite me advising him just how tiring all that driving would be, he felt it wouldn't be an issue. A week in and he says he can't cope with the driving and doesn't want to continue. He only passed his driving test last December so had no prior knowledge of how 5,6,7 hours on the motorway can affect you.

edinburgher

See, now I'm intrigued as to what you deleted!

I have been driving for almost 2 years now, I can absolutely imagine how stressful long distance driving would be when you're not used to it. Staying calm, hydrated and some power naps will hopefully help him remain sane in the short term, he may become desensitised through familiarity.

Mrs E passed about the same time as me, she hasn't driven on either a motorway or rural road for more than an hour or so at a stretch.

turtlemoose

I passed my test at 17, and aged 18 moved a 4 hour (motorway) drive away from my family. So I've always done lots of driving. When OH and I met, I travelled a lot for work (around 2000 miles a month) so I'm well qualified to testify how it makes you feel! I'm a little frustrated that for all these years he has essentially belittled and disregarded this as me making it up, but now he's had to do it for a week all of a sudden it's the most terrible thing ever and he NEEDS a new job asap regardless of the consequence to the household budget eh. But never mind, because turtle will have to sort it out! I hate, despise and loathe my job. I've been doing it for 2 years now and some days I sit outside in my car and am physically shaking, feel sick etc at the though of getting out of my car and walking in to that building. But I earn good money and we need it as a family, my son needs it....so I suck it up and get on with it, no matter how unhappy it makes me. I guess I'm feeling frustrated that he has no sympathy for me yet when it's him in the situation it warrants jacking it all in for something else.

My deleted bit was just rather ranty and probably a bit unfair to my OH.

edinburgher

I didn't doubt for a moment that you were qualified to say how extended driving makes you feel!

I'm also in a less than ideal work situation that I suck up because I haven't found a viable alternative *yet*.

Here's hoping we both get something more suitable in the future (and I'm sure that OH will be a bit more sympathetic in future, which is a start?)

turtlemoose

sorry I worded that poorly, I meant *OH* didn't believe me, not you

turtlemoose

I didn't get the job. I didn't even get an interview.

I did get approx 15/20 mins feedback. Overall I was told I was a strong applicant but non-existent experience in a couple of areas had me out of the running. The recruiting manager says he wants to put me on a couple of courses so that next time I apply for a role like this, those courses will tick the boxes.

He kept mentioning "what's happened in the past is done and gone, I don't want to go in to that now" - I can only presume he is referring to my tribunal.

If I get the training, well, that's a positive. But it's all bull really. I could do this job standing on my head. And certainly better than the bloke they'll be getting in to do the job.

Plus I'm sceptical the training will ever happen, so I shall just have to wait and see I suppose.

What's even more frustrating, is now they've read my application form and know what I know, I've been called in to a meeting this afternoon and been asked to do certain tasks to improve the performance of the contract. Yes, that's right, the contract I'm not good enough to manage, yet they need ME to do stuff to make it perform well... hmmm... I'm half tempted to refuse any involvement at all, stating if they want me to fix it then let me manage it (and pay me accordingly!). GRR. :mad:

lavinia21

that is just crazing why do companies overlook peoples talents and only look on experience you would get that experience by doing the role I assume?


I would say to them that if they want additional duties done then they should give you some sort of payrise in accordance with what they want you to do.

turtlemoose

thanks lavinia, the thing I don't have is the health and safety experience. You know, the H&S that while as PM you're ultimately responsible for but in reality you don't actually do any of it yourself, all your supervisors (4 of them in this case) do it for you and just give you the results. So...a simple day training course and a "here's a list of everything that needs to be done daily/weekly/monthly" would be sufficient.

Call me a cynic, but I think I'm not getting the job because I'm not a white 40-something man. I've been here too long, seen this happen too many times.

I wouldn't have applied for the job if I didn't already know I'm more than capable of it. Small positive, the admin team that the new PM will manage are disappointed I'm not getting through.

The more I think about it the more I don't want to do ANYTHING to improve that contract, beyond what is required in my job description. It's so frustrating.