Here we can all be heard for a little while. Part 3

tea_lover

Well now I want to hug Siri too, for being so fantastic! Am really glad you're enjoying having someone else to talk to WaS. Technology.... flipping amazing isn't it?!

onomatopoeia99

Waves_and_Smiles wrote: »

I used to chat to Eliza too years ago

ELIZA is very famous, if you're a computer nerd. One of my lecturers at university even talked about it as part of a course on neural networks and AI.

codemonkey

I feel all left out without siri to talk to. :rotfl:

I am so fed up and angry about my job situation. At this point I've been there almost 3 months, still have no system access and have had almost no support from my line manager. I just... need to know that everything will work out and I won't be miserable for the rest of my life.

onomatopoeia99

Heard part of a programme on Radio 4 on the way home yesterday (didn't hear the beginning or end so don't know what it was called unfortunately). It was about sleep disorders and they were talking to various people that had them. While the effects on the people they talked to were much worse than I have, many times I thought "yes, that's exactly how I feel."

Need to try to find it on iPlayer so I can listen to all of it.

onomatopoeia99

codemonkey wrote: »

I am so fed up and angry about my job situation. At this point I've been there almost 3 months, still have no system access and have had almost no support from my line manager.

Don't blame you at all for feeling like that, the situation is absurd. Are they aware they are paying you to sit twiddling your thumbs most of the time? If they are it's incredibly bad management (which seems to be something of a pattern in this topic )

Izadora

Code, it will all work out and you won't be miserable for the rest of your life.

tea_lover

Code - this won't help but I feel the same!

Had a truly awful day yesterday. Was in a meeting looking at key projects for next year etc. Every single thing we talked about honestly filled me with dread. There wasn't one area where I thought "that would be ok" or similar, all I could think was that I didn't want to do a single part of it.

Plus, thanks to yet more organisational changes the workload is going to increase yet again (and it's ridiculous already). So even more travelling and even more 14 hour days.

All of it not helped by a useless boss who can't even see that there are any problems.

I spent the (v crammed) train journey back home trying to decide if I could just hand my notice in.

The only thing that scares me more than staying here is going somewhere else and finding out that's just as bad. This was supposed to be my big new start, but 18 months in I just hate it. It's too hard! I don't mind when you do a scary work thing but it goes ok and then you feel a bit proud of yourself and like you've achieved something - but this is just constant scary work things that I don't enjoy at all. Have come to the conclusion that it's too much responsibility for me and I'd happier with a step backwards. But how on earth do you apply for jobs that are technically a step down without it looking bad?

codemonkey

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

Don't blame you at all for feeling like that, the situation is absurd. Are they aware they are paying you to sit twiddling your thumbs most of the time? If they are it's incredibly bad management (which seems to be something of a pattern in this topic )

Yes, they know. Grumpy moan coming up. All I get is told to email someone to ask for access, but nobody tells me what I need to be asking for and the dude I ask doesn't know either so we go round in circles. The only person who has helped and given me any support is leaving in a week or so. Plus, in my last meeting, my manager implied that the leader of the team isn't happy with my performance. Well, no, I'm not either but as nobody will tell me anything and nobody will show me anything, and even if they did, I don't have the access to do it, I don't know what they want me to do. . I'm not going to pass probation and then what do I do for money?

Izadora wrote: »

Code, it will all work out and you won't be miserable for the rest of your life.

I wish I could believe that but it all seems hopeless at the moment.

tea_lover wrote: »

Code - this won't help but I feel the same!

Had a truly awful day yesterday. Was in a meeting looking at key projects for next year etc. Every single thing we talked about honestly filled me with dread. There wasn't one area where I thought "that would be ok" or similar, all I could think was that I didn't want to do a single part of it.

Plus, thanks to yet more organisational changes the workload is going to increase yet again (and it's ridiculous already). So even more travelling and even more 14 hour days.

All of it not helped by a useless boss who can't even see that there are any problems.

I spent the (v crammed) train journey back home trying to decide if I could just hand my notice in.

The only thing that scares me more than staying here is going somewhere else and finding out that's just as bad. This was supposed to be my big new start, but 18 months in I just hate it. It's too hard! I don't mind when you do a scary work thing but it goes ok and then you feel a bit proud of yourself and like you've achieved something - but this is just constant scary work things that I don't enjoy at all. Have come to the conclusion that it's too much responsibility for me and I'd happier with a step backwards. But how on earth do you apply for jobs that are technically a step down without it looking bad?

((tea)) if it helps any you are allowed to say no if you feel overburdened. I have a policy that I will work only 10 minutes past my contracted hours out of goodwill but if they want me to work longer, and that includes travel time outside my normal hours, they will pay me overtime for it.

I think if you want to look for something down a grade, it's OK. All you have to say is that the work you're doing, although challenging, isn't a good fit for your strengths and you'd like a job with more of the parts of you find enjoyable.

Is this any good?

http://www.askamanager.org/2013/06/how-to-explain-why-i-want-a-lower-level-lower-responsibility-job.html

I am trying to find a good explanation for leaving a job I've been in for less than 3 months but the idea of staying there for a year is intolerable.

The employee I called Dyson has now been promoted, despite starting a week after me. I guess blatant brown nosing works after all.

tea_lover

I like your policy on overtime code. We don't get overtime, TOIL or anything similar. Most weeks I'm doing at least 5 or 6 hours for free, and that doesn't even include travel or evenings spent in hotels etc. I also have to pay for everything then claim it so I'm always owed loads in expenses (£342.52 at the moment).

I feel like I'm doing way more than I should have to, way more than I want to, and it's not like it's even appreciated. I said something in passing last week about it being a busy few weeks outside of work and my manager told me that non-work things have to be cancelled and basically not to complain about it.

codemonkey

tea_lover wrote: »

I like your policy on overtime code. We don't get overtime, TOIL or anything similar. Most weeks I'm doing at least 5 or 6 hours for free, and that doesn't even include travel or evenings spent in hotels etc. I also have to pay for everything then claim it so I'm always owed loads in expenses (£342.52 at the moment).

I feel like I'm doing way more than I should have to, way more than I want to, and it's not like it's even appreciated. I said something in passing last week about it being a busy few weeks outside of work and my manager told me that non-work things have to be cancelled and basically not to complain about it.

If a manager ever said something like that to me, I'd have given him/her a piece of my mind or at the very least burst out laughing. In many ways I am a total pushover, but I am very tough on what I consider acceptable demands on my time. The way I see it, I've signed a contract stating that 35/37 hours of work per week is worth x amount. If I then do 48 hours, that seriously devalues how much my time is worth, and means the company get away with not employing the staff they actually need. If 7 people in a company have to each do 1 hour of unpaid overtime, that's 1 extra person they should be employing to get that work done.

This may be why I haven't progressed much in my career, but I work to live and not the other way around. Can you tell I'm the daughter of a staunch trade unionist?