A chip off the old block

Well, the dream job I moved to 7 weeks ago turned out to be a nightmare and one of the worst mistakes of my whole life. While the job itself is good, unfortunately I can't say the same for the people I work for and with. Tomorrow I'll be putting in a grievance, just in case it's a just a matter of individuals; however I have a strong feeling that it's the organisation.

I am currently in a situation where the thought of going to work is making me sick; I can't look for other jobs because 1 - I am never at home to fill in applications and 2 - even if I were, I couldn't go to interviews (unless I threw sickies). If I resigned I'd be left stuck with no job and no recourse to welfare benefits for a few months.

There is another option that I've been considering in the last few days. It would involve something that is morally dubious, but it might make me a decent sum of money, enough to allow me to be off work for 2 or 3 years (just as well as if I decided to go for it, I doubt many people would give me a job for a while, until it all dies down). I've just started investigating my options with regard to this, and may be talking to a few people soon, to find out exactly how much we're talking about.

With this in view, I rang my family today to let them know what I was thinking about and to find out how they'd feel about it. First I spoke to my mother, then my father. They both reacted how I was hoping they would, both supportive. However when I put the phone down after discussing it with my father, I couldn't hep but smile as a realisation had dawned on me.
I'd told him how sick this job was making me feel and described a few incidents that had happened.
Now, when they happened in the first place, I was outraged and sure the organisation were breaking the law. My first step was to contact employment law advisors and tell them the situation. To my shock, no law was being broken. According to European Working Times Directives, workers have fewer rights to humane treatment than prisoners. I was incredulous and spent almost an hour on the phone thinking that maybe I hadn't explained myself properly, but I had. At this time, there was no point in approaching anyone else to back me up from a legal angle, as whoever I might approach could only refer me to the EWTDs, so the only option is to get out. Another thought had occurred to me: I shouldn't let this lie as it is really obscene, and at some point I should bring the matter up with MPs and other suitable people, so that the system can be changed. Just not straight away, as it wouldn't help me with my immediate problem.
When I started noticing these things at work, I spoke to a deputy manager who's also not been there very long, and who also wasn't too happy. As a lot of my colleagues aren't happy either but are too scared of losing this job to say anything, I offered to be the one who speaks up, after all of us having a meeting to discuss our issues and deciding on a strategy. That way, if that meant someone losing their jobs, it would be me and I'm not bothered about it. The DP smiled and said: "You're militant, aren't you?", and I replied that no, I wasn't, I just didn't like people moaning about things without doing anything to try to change them.
So it was that I ended up smiling when on the phone to my dad. His reactions were exactly the same as mine: outrage, disbelief, anger, before he started telling me to contact this and that person. I kept explaining that I had already contacted everybody who could help, but as the thing was completely legal, there was not much I could do, even if I contacted someone else (who'd only refer me to the EWTDs). Then my father instructed me to make this situation public so that it would start a change in the system. And this is is when I thought: "After all these years, he's still militant, ain't he?!" and it dawned on me that was exactly what the DP had called me!

Must be in the genes :)

Lovely day

Had a lovely day with a friend today. Lots of chat and a stroll down the park, followed by a Thai meal.

We went to check out a mural I'd seen started earlier in the week. As I was walking home on Monday I saw this guy painting under the Crouch Hill gargoyle and stopped for a chat with him. He hadn't finished his work yet and would finish the following day but I hadn't had the chance to go back yet.
All I can say is that it's amazing.





See more of his gorgeous work here.