NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

Possession

£55 on diesel this morning but that's £10 less than it used to be which can't be a bad thing at least.
I agree with the sentiment that your health is more important than a job which makes you ill. Over the last 6 yrs or so our household income has more than halved, because DH was so ill with stress and anxiety, and then I got made redundant. While I kick myself that we didn't save more and spend less, I wouldn't go back to how we were in terms of DH's job.

dND

GreyQueen wrote: »

Something changed about a generation ago, and this company now consumes its human capital like a power station consumes fuel, and what gets spat out the other end are wrecks. They destroy people then, when their victims are collapsing into MH and/ or physical health problems, dump them like the proverbial hot potatoes.

My belief is that it links in to when Personnel Departments were re-named Human Resources - a total depersonalisation/de-humanisation and the rise of the faceless corporation and demise of the family firm

DianaMattos

Just had a 'we miss you' letter from Next come in the post this morning, with a £10 off a £40 spend. Normally, I would have jumped straight to the sale section of the website and spent £40+ on stuff I didn't need it or really want, just because I got a money off voucher.. Instead the whole bundle of papers went straight on the fire. Feel like I have had a narrow escape!!

Islandmaid

GreyQueen wrote: »

Something changed about a generation ago, and this company now consumes its human capital like a power station consumes fuel, and what gets spat out the other end are wrecks. They destroy people then, when their victims are collapsing into MH and/ or physical health problems, dump them like the proverbial hot potatoes.

I suppose from their pov their Darwinian managerial processes separate out the wheat from the chaff and they're left with the movers and shakers, the tough and the capable, and those who fall aside are weaklings and losers whom they'd be better off without.

Trouble is, people who care and who are good at their jobs are often the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to internal problems, and the people who don't care, who abuse colleagues and subordinates, are likely to remain in post. The sociopaths end up running the organisation).

GQ - you,ce summed up my work environment completly - I work for a Government organisation which is not one of the 'big4' ie not NHS, Education, Police or Fire - all departments are being decimated, but we are not in the forfront of Public view so are being hammered - staff assaults, Management live by tick sheet, more for less, officially loads of staff support, in reality, nothing but pressure - if you go off sick - you are 'motivated' to return at the earliest opportunity as you are 'letting your work colleagues down'.

I can,t say too much more as our Social media is monitored, but put it this way - we had the offer of early departure a couple of years ago, a majority of the staff left kick themselves everyday for not opting in....

And in other news - have made wholemeal loaf and 3 x bagguettes for the freezer this morning, and all the choc chip cookies I made yesterday have disappeared.........

I love being at home, wish I could earn money from home - but there,s not much call for a home based 'feeder' x

GreyQueen

My work environment is tough, we're constantly trying to work harder with limited resources (and the ongoing certainty of those resources shrinking year-on-year). Plus having a computer program monitoring our performance second-by-second, and working under close supervision and with constant performance monitoring.

I cannot fault my management in that they are all good people who understand that we're human beings not automata, that we have lives outside of work which impact on our lives inside work, that we get sick, that our kids or other relatives get sick, that we suffer bereavements and relationship breakdowns and feel vulnerable, too.

That consideration makes a world of difference and we all pull together as a team. We have a lot of colleagues who have had managerial careers in other sectors who have decided enough was enough and that they wanted the kind of job that you can forget when not actually doing it.

I think the new brutalism in business, in government agencies, in education, in the NHS etc is vile and also counter-productive. Did an NHS Trust really have to insist that a friend of mine return to work the same afternoon that she buried her father? You just don't clock off for a couple of hours for the funeral of your sole surviving parent like its a dental check-up, for goodness sake.:mad:

We're getting to the situation where highly-skilled people are saying S0d this for a game of soldiers, I'm going to stack shelves and live on a pittance, to save my life.

The next stage forward is when youngsters won't bother to aspire to professional careers because they're too unpleasant to contemplate.

***********
I have been out 'shopping' the chazzers and my Magic Greengrocer, have a 25p paperback thriller and a £1 bargain bag of veg. Happy to be back indoors as it's starting to get a bit windy out there. This is a non-working day for me, still a bit poorly with the cold, so will be taking it easy and pottering about the home, will visit a pal's shop nearby for a chat later. Pal makes a nice cuppa and we have interesting chats.

[Deleted User]

Thistle-down wrote: »

I have a set of River cottage paperbacks that I've never read - I tried to give them to my SIL but she didn't want them. I looked up the ISBN on Amazon and they will give me £32 + the £5 bonus, so £37 total!!! I was seriously thinking of taking them to the charity shop.

The drop off point is literally across the street from our flat.

Thank you so much for posting about this NC6NH and all - you have made my day!!! :beer:

I'm so glad. It made my day reading that post :j

Slowdown

Well, I'm not at work today so have managed to put most of my boss-anger related thoughts away. I was full time last year, had been for many, many, many and I think if I hadn't dropped my days I would definitely be up the docs by now.

So what am I up to? Decluttering!! Hooray.

On my travels into the dark and mysterious corners of my house, where nought but webs, dust and long lost teaspoons lurk, I found one or two interesting finds and plenty of stuff to go.

First was my bedroom. I found enough dust to stuff a mattress, an odd sock that I had the partner for in the wardrobe(for around 3 years), and a picture one of my kids drew when they were v small. Lovely.

Next came the linen/towel cupboard. Unless you run an hotel, I'm pretty sure you don't need 41 pillow cases! Two of them were part of my first duvet set bought for me aged 16! That's more than 32 years ago. Debating their fate. Also found medicines that were out of date in 1999. Didn't debate their fate.

Then went to clean the bathroom. Mould is my new enemy. I have turned a blind eye for way too long and scrubbed it to within an inch of its life. By that I mean it's only an inch thick now!! :rotfl:

So, now in the study. We must have around 300 books in here. Lots I have not read so that's a reason for not buying more. If I wanted to read every book in this house I think I may be ok til my 60th birthday. No more books this year. Reading game of thrones at the mo. Love it.

And here I sit, bare footed from cleaning the bath and shower staring at boxes of cables, old discs, folders and files thinking "I need some boxes for ..........this "stuff". Not buying it anymore.

Kind regards and much fluff
Slowdown

Primrose

Slowdown, I hope you are having a thoroughly satisfying and rewarding day with your clearout. Sometimes it really helps to do something different, especially when you know you will have a positive buzz at the end of it for a task long overdue achieved. Have a good week-end. A good declutter abd tidy-up can feel like a big emotional sack dropping off your shoulders!

Islandmaid

Hi all,

Hoping to pick your collective brains......

I,ve just cancelled sky tv and also got 12mths free BB so monthly bill will go down from £70 pm to just under £17 :T:T

I am thinking of doing Amaz@n prime for the TV as well as free books - does anyone use their streaming service? I would like to know if my teens can watch different films on their devices than the one we,re watching in lounge, if that makes sense - I know you can 'share' the membership with upto 4 email addy,s within the same home - but don,t want to pay out £80 to find we all have to watch same thing.

Oh i,ve already used the free month before Christmas and forgot to add the kids to test this ( dohhhh!!!)

Thanks to you all x

bexster1975

Having had over 48 hours to sort a prescription and sick note, how can a GP surgery muck up both?! 45 mins later and some "assertive" behaviour on my part ( which frankly I CBA to have to do when I'm I'll) and its sorted.

Anyway, islandmaid i can't comment on Amazon but have you tried free month trial ov netflix? I have been very pleased and for £5.99 a month I have carried on. Just a thought...

Bexster:)