The Night Mail

[pH]

13 minutes ago, polybear said:

…

(Bear just happened to know that there was no other Bear that had any idea of how to do the job......).

…

It’s a very nice situation to be in, but it doesn’t happen to a lot of people.

 

The IT department of an organization I worked for was being sold(?) to a not-very-well-regarded multinational organization. I did not want to be included. The handover date was right in the middle of the organization’s fiscal year end process, which I had handled for the past several years for our particular system. We also had a total replacement of the system happening in three weeks time, which I had been very involved in developing and planning.

 

I wasn’t alone in not wanting to go. We were told that no IT jobs would remain in the organization, so it was “go or be made redundant”. I said formally that I would not go. Each day,  I worked till 4.30 in the afternoon. At 3.30 on the day before the handover, I got an e-mail from HR saying that the CEO had approved my transfer to a non-IT job (though my duties would not change!).

 

I think one other person had managed not to transfer. Over the next few years, the organization recognized that the whole process had been ‘not a Good Thing’ and started to take back specific individuals. In the end, the whole IT operation was taken back in-house.

[Dave Hunt]

Tomorrow I'm off to darkest Surrey to see No. 2 son and family for a brief visit then on Friday relocating to Twickenham for a couple of days to attend a friend's wedding. I'll be sure to wave towards the Hill of Strawberries in case Rick is at home. 

 

Dave 

[Gwiwer]

43 minutes ago, SM42 said:

It never ceases to amaze me how many companies think an employment contract only has one contracting party; them. 

 

They often forget the other party in the contract might have something to say about any changes. 

 

Andy

It is often educational to carefully read the small print of a contract.  It is equally fascinating to understand what is not written at all.  

 

For example my current contract of employment (TUPEd, as it happens, though that is not relevant in this context) defines who my employer is and who I am then clarifies that we are the parties to this agreement.  The employer agrees to employ and the employee agrees to accept employment upon specified terms.  

 

My role, job title, grade, rate of pay, allowances and enhancements, leave entitlements, career structure, position in the chain of command and means of termination (by either side, by any of several lawful means) are all set out clearly.  

 

The tasks required of my role, job title and grade are specified including the catch-all "And any other reasonable task as may be determined from time to time".  The criteria by which my performance is assessed and the steps to rectify any under-performance or misdemeanour are itemised clearly.  

 

The hours and location at which I am required to attend are defined.  The required uniform, standards of appearance and presentation and safety equipment, together with who provides what, are all there.  All very nicely put.  They might think they have thought of everything.  

 

But at no point does it say I am required to work!!!  

 

So far as the contract is concerned I could turn up dressed correctly, at the right place and time, be competent, willing and able to perform any of my designated tasks and be paid.  Without doing a stroke of work.  A fact I remind my colleagues of from time to time.  It seems that the simple phrase "You are required to work ..... " has been overlooked for years.  

.

Edited February 22, 2023 by Gwiwer
Who let the auto-corrupt bot out?

[Talltim]

2 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

It is often educational to carefully read the small print of a contract.  It is equally fascinating to understand what is not written at all.  

 

For example my current contract of employment (TUPEd, as it happens, though that is not relevant in this context) defines who my employer is and who I am then clarifies that we are the parties to this agreement.  The employer agrees to employ and the employer agrees to accept employment upon specified terms.  

 

My role, job title, grade, rate of pay, allowances and enhancements, leave entitlements, career structure, position in the chain of command and means of termination (by either side, by any of several lawful means) are all set out clearly.  

 

The tasks required of my role, job title and grade are specified including the catch-all "And any other reasonable task as may be determined from time to time".  The criteria by which my performance is assessed and the steps to rectify any under-performance or misdemeanour are itemised clearly.  

 

The hours and location at which I am required to attend are defined.  The required uniform, standards of appearance and presentation and safety equipment, together with who provides what, are all there.  All very nicely put.  They might think they have thought of everything.  

 

But at no point does it say I am required to work!!!  

 

So far as the contract is concerned I could turn up dressed correctly, at the right place and time, be competent, willing and able to perform any of my designated tasks and be paid.  Without doing a stroke of work.  A fact I remind my colleagues of from time to time.  It seems that the simple phrase "You are required to work ..... " has been overlooked for years.  

Perhaps 'work' is considered a 'reasonable task'?

[Gwiwer]

16 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

on Friday relocating to Twickenham for a couple of days to attend a friend's wedding. I'll be sure to wave towards the Hill of Strawberries in case Rick is at home. 

I shall wave back if I see you passing by.  The big white block right beside the station (Up, or Twickenham-bound, side) set at a somewhat lower level.  

 

I'll be the one turning the air blue because something or another doesn't quite work on the new muddling project.  An extra millimetre is sure to be needed somewhere.  Failing that I'll be dealing with the overgrowth in the gardens.  There's too much in some spots to call it undergrowth.  Nature knows it's Spring all right.  At least I've got the roses pruned, the hedgerows sown with wildflower seeds and the borders edged.  

[Gwiwer]

3 minutes ago, Talltim said:

Perhaps 'work' is considered a 'reasonable task'?

The contract still only says "any other reasonable tasks ..... "   

 

Not "You are required to carry out any other reasonable tasks".  

 

The devil is in the detail.  In this case the unwritten, or omitted, detail.  

[Talltim]

3 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Oh what fun that was (being an HR professional at the time) when the Ayse Suzen case law exploded into being.  AND Oh how I don't miss it! 

For those who positively need to know https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:61995CJ0013&from=EN

[Canal Digger]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

They got known as butterfliescas everyone knew that they would move on within 3 years, unless they were arrested for nepotism or suchlike.  They invariably did a study and then implemented changes before moving on.  Obviously we were left to pick up the pieces.  I suggested that they should actually be called seagulls as we all know what they leave behind.

We also knew similar individuals as Seagulls, they fly in, pinch your food, make a lot of noise, leave cr*p all over and fly out!

[polybear]

27 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

I shall wave back if I see you passing by.  

 

Perhaps if @Dave Hunt were to over-fly at 100ft then immediately perform a climbing four-point roll on full reheat might suitable announce his arrival?

[Winslow Boy]

6 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Perhaps if @Dave Hunt were to over-fly at 100ft then immediately perform a climbing four-point roll on full reheat might suitable announce his arrival?

 

Couldn't we just let some red balloons off.

 

If anybody asks we could say that the Mod are trialling some spy balloons.

[New Haven Neil]

47 minutes ago, Talltim said:

For those who positively need to know https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:61995CJ0013&from=EN

 

Didn't that create some interesting CIPD meetings!  I'm very happy to have turned my back on the profession and gone into youth offending, much easier to manage. 😆

[Gwiwer]

20 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Couldn't we just let some red balloons off.

 

[SM42]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

The contract still only says "any other reasonable tasks ..... "   

 

Not "You are required to carry out any other reasonable tasks".  

 

The devil is in the detail.  In this case the unwritten, or omitted, detail.  

 

Custom and practice.

 

Work is an implied term.

 

It has always been expected and accepted that work is done to some extent or other and thus it is implied in the contract. 

 

Such things kept us free work place parking when they threatened to remove it as a cost cutting exercise. 

 

It wasn't in the contract, but had been going on for so long it was a given and thus an unwritten term.

 

Andy

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Do you think Beth will suspect something is amiss when you keep nipping out to ring the lady's doorbell?

 

Dave

Depends on which button he presses.

[Northmoor]

40 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

 

I played that and then Youtube recommended next one, the video of A-ha's Take on Me.  Hard to believe that was produced coming up to 40 years ago, it is technically so far ahead of its time. 

[Winslow Boy]

10 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

I played that and then Youtube recommended next one, the video of A-ha's Take on Me.  Hard to believe that was produced coming up to 40 years ago, it is technically so far ahead of its time. 

 

How time flies.

 

Somehow the songs-music of our youth always sounds much better. Don't ask me how I know it just does.

[SM42]

I have been perusing satellite maps trying to work out what the ropeway I saw earlier was carrying. 

 

It starts from near a big hole in the ground which happens to be behind the Lafarge cement works. 

 

It ends at a salt works. 

 

If it was salt (it was very white)  at least one train load of rather large lumps in open wagons  was seen on the railway that runs from the cement works / quarry leaving the area. ( another train I just missed)

 

I'm also pretty sure the white dust everywhere was not salt related purely due to the vegetation still growing under and through it.

 

More enquiries needed methinks

 

Andy

[SM42]

A bit of internet searching has revealed the ropeway is in fact the only one in Poland and links a limestone quarry with a soda ash works 7 km away. 

 

It seems limestone and salt are needed to make soda ash and now it has all become clear. 

 

Andy

Edited February 23, 2023 by SM42

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[jjb1970]

The most accurate job description/specification was one I received on a handwritten note from a fleet personnel manager in P&O - 'do as you're effing well told'. If only legal contracts could match it for accuracy and concision.

[jjb1970]

The girl was fourteen yesterday, seems like the years fly by ever more quickly. We went out to a nice Korean restaurant to celebrate, Korean food being one of the two food styles (the other being Japanese) that both the boy and girl like.

 

Korean food and culture is becoming quite trendy in London, in much of Asia people are obsessed with it. Korean restaurants and hawker stalls are everywhere here, K-marts, people are mad about K-pop and K-drama, even Korean hair dressers and beauty salons are everywhere. Even the wife and I are now avid enthusiasts of K-drama, production values tend to be very high and it is just entertainment.

 

This is one of the biggest changes I've observed in Asia. When I first started coming to Asia 30 or so years ago the music scene was dominated by American rock and pop, and music from the anglo-sphere in general. Ditto for imported TV and cinema, and upmarket consumer brands tended to be US or European. Now they still release big budget US movies at cinemas but it doesn't dominate the way it once did, TV and streaming tend to be dominated by Korean, Japanese and Chinese content, K-pop has replaced US rock/pop and although US and European designer brands remain popular the retail segment has a lot more high end Asian names.

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

 

 

The UK version was released forty years ago this year and remains one of Bear's favourites.

 

7 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Somehow the songs-music of our youth always sounds much better. Don't ask me how I know it just does.

 

Absolutely - this Bear can barely name any singer/band performing nowadays, let alone what the song is called; as for recognising any of them in the street - forget it.

And as for that Rap stuff - well it's 3/4 of the way to cr@p (see what Bear did there?).  Clever it may be - but diddlysquat else.

 

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

Korean food and culture is becoming quite trendy in London, 

 

I'm pretty sure that Londoners are less than ready for "deep fried chysalliss" and "pickled silkworm pupae" somehow.....

[BoD]

Apropos of nothing in particular..

 

I see some total idiot had to be rescued from the Scafell ridge in the Lake District.  The search involved more than seventy people from nine mountain rescue teams.

 

Why total idiot?  He was trying to navigate using google maps!!!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-64736602

 

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by BoD

[SM42]

Today is breakfast at the in laws followed by a day in town. 

 

This will mean Mrs SM42 spending hours in C&A. ( they're still going out here) 

 

Luckily there is a model shop not too far away and the cake shop is across the road. 

 

Dinner will then follow at a place that does traditional Polish food, just off the  bomb site that is the old Market  place.  ( currently all dug up for drainage works that are due to last till autumn)

 

It's going to be a long day, but a good one. 

 

The weather is a crisp, sunny winter's day. Hopefully it stays that way.  

 

Till later

 

Andy

[jjb1970]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

I'm pretty sure that Londoners are less than ready for "deep fried chysalliss" and "pickled silkworm pupae" somehow.....

 

Yes, it's definitely the none threatening stuff that travels well. Korean BBQ, bibimbap, bulgogi, noodles, pancakes, stews etc. 

 

One that you can find if you look which I love is naengmyeon, chilled buckwheat noodles in soup. It's not weird or threatening and is great on a hot day, it's often served with ice cubes in the broth. As with many simple dishes it has to be done well as there's nowhere to hide, needs good buckwheat noodles. Well worth keeping an eye out for and trying (well, providing you like noodles and aren't looking for a winter warming meal).

 

You see it here too, the food sold in the downtown is none-threatening and 'normal' for want of a better word. When you go out to the heartlands you start to see some pretty alien chinese and peranakan food.