Early Risers.

[monkeysarefun]

I can honestly say I've never had to suffer bad management but I  have seen managers told to their faces by workers that they are f(*(8en d!ckheads" etc, so I guess that keeps them in line here. In fact the first time I heard that was when I was 16 and still at school, but doing 2 weeks "work experience" at the civil engineering department of the local council, so I learned the "Keep the boss honest"  trick very early. 

 

The opposite of bad management was at the oil company I worked  for in the 80's and '90's. I was in the exploration department that was made up of Geologists and geophysicists from all over the world.

 

We were a small company  so there was only a dozen or so of us  in the department,  the manager was a Brit, 2nd in command was a Canadian, the lead  Geologist was a New York guy, the lead Geophysicist was a Russian Jew,  2 other geophysicists  were Brits, and another was Canadian, the other geologists were Dutch and Italian, and the balance were Australians. It was like  working at the UN, assuming that  the UN liked knocking off early on  Friday  and  spending the rest of the day going to the pub, or ferry rides, or drunken picnics on the harbour.

 

It was  a time when "business"lunches were a taxable deduction and our manager was an enthusiastic tax deductor.  I have many a hazy memory of sitting outside some pub at The Rocks, or restaurant outside circular quay, with the Harbour bridge to the left, Opera House to the right, thinking why is the sun going down?   Or working away at our desks when suddenly the boss would stick  his head into our open plan work area and say  "2 metre swell at the Heads (ie Sydney Harbour mouth )  - whos' up for  the Manly Ferry?!"   And off we'd all go to get tossed around and thoroughly soaked, then off to the Governors Pleasure at The Rocks for a pub lunch. . The expats definitely embraced the Australian work ethic. 

 

Brilliant times, and as a bonus we discovered enough oil and gas in between the fun to still make money for the company.

Edited January 31 by monkeysarefun

[jjb1970]

On eggs and breakfast, the traditional breakfast in Singapore is boiled eggs with kaya toast. Doctors would feint at the kaya toast, the butter is applied in slabs, literal slabs.

[Rich_F]

10 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

On eggs and breakfast, the traditional breakfast in Singapore is boiled eggs with kaya toast. Doctors would feint at the kaya toast, the butter is applied in slabs, literal slabs.

 

Butter makes lots of things better....

[Gwiwer]

18 minutes ago, Rich_F said:

 

Butter makes lots of things better....

But not elevated cholesterol levels. 

[Barry O]

I have worked for a number of excellent managers. They exuded happiness and team work. Two others were carp.. their attitude was "me, me , me!" But were clueless., ( and cost their companies a lot of dosh to calm me down). Neither lasted long after my departure.

 

I must admit that, as a volunteer, my current "manager" (paid) is a clueless person who, unfortunately  thinks he is gods gift. Well.. he ain't.. 

 

My team from over 30 years ago still meet up (and invite me to attend), old nicknames are still used.. we were a great team but what a handful!

 

As an umpire management of players, your colleagues (scorers and umpires) plus coaches, parents and spectators is an integral part of the role. You can teach some of it..  but you need to be a good listener and learner to get it anywhere near right (whatever "right" means). 

 

Baz

Edited January 31 by Barry O

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Smiffy2 said:

I have long wanted an egg opener -

I don’t know why but after a lifetime of tapping the egg and removing the cracked shell, I have become a person who hits it with the knife edge attempting a clean cut to remove the top. 

[Smiffy2]

10 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I don’t know why but after a lifetime of tapping the egg and removing the cracked shell, I have become a person who hits it with the knife edge attempting a clean cut to remove the top. 

Tricky, isn't it? My father could do it cleanly, but I usually end up knocking the egg over...
Big question - big end or little end?

[Tony_S]

14 minutes ago, Smiffy2 said:

big end or little end?

Little end, but that may be due to the rather minimalist stainless steel egg cups we normally use. I think these questions are safe to answer here, but having seen your posts elsewhere perhaps ‘hit it with a Hillman Imp” is the correct answer. 
Some eggs we had recently required a bit more effort. We had blue eggs with very yellow yolks substituted  for our usual sort recently. They were smaller and had slightly rough shells, that were very tough. I wondered if while they were free ranging they had been eating Kevlar or,similar. 

[Erichill16]

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

It was  a time when "business"lunches were a taxable deduction and our manager was an enthusiastic tax deductor.  I have many a hazy memory of sitting outside some pub at The Rocks, or restaurant outside circular quay, with the Harbour bridge to the left, Opera House to the right, thinking why is the sun going down?   Or working away at our desks when suddenly the boss would stick  his head into our open plan work area and say  "2 metre swell at the Heads (ie Sydney Harbour mouth )  - whos' up for  the Manly Ferry?!"   And off we'd all go to get tossed around and thoroughly soaked, then off to the Governors Pleasure at The Rocks for a pub lunch. . The expats definitely embraced the Australian work ethic. 

 

Brilliant times, and as a bonus we discovered enough oil and gas in between the fun to still make money for the company.

And you got paid as well???????

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Smiffy2 said:

Tricky, isn't it? My father could do it cleanly, but I usually end up knocking the egg over...
Big question - big end or little end?

 

Whichever end fits the egg-cup currently in use...

 

[petethemole]

Last night the front door got slammed shut vigorously once too often and the lock mechanism failed.  It would still shut but not securely so I resorted to the traditional chair to jam it shut overnight, rather than pay for callout at that time.. This morning I rang a locksmith I've used before. He was on holiday; his phone diverted to a colleague who mainly does car locks and couldn't help but referred us to another firm who could.  New lock duly installed and keys distributed.  Failure down to wear & tear; apparently UPVC front door locks typically 10 years or so.  This was installed in 2008 so it's done well despite being  frequently slammed shut vigorously.

[Smiffy2]

45 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

Whichever end fits the egg-cup currently in use...

 

Anarchist!

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. 

6 minutes ago, petethemole said:

Last night the front door got slammed shut vigorously once too often and the lock mechanism failed.  It would still shut but not securely so I resorted to the traditional chair to jam it shut overnight, rather than pay for callout at that time.. This morning I rang a locksmith I've used before. He was on holiday; his phone diverted to a colleague who mainly does car locks and couldn't help but referred us to another firm who could.  New lock duly installed and keys distributed.  Failure down to wear & tear; apparently UPVC front door locks typically 10 years or so.  This was installed in 2008 so it's done well despite being  frequently slammed shut vigorously.

I have a problem with my (UPVC) front door, I can't lock it from inside. Fortunately it is secure but I have to make sure that I have a key with me so that I can get back in again. It's merely a case of adjustment but thats a specialists job. I've made arrangements to view my new car tomorrow afternoon, I can't wait to get mobile.  

[NGT6 1315]

7 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I saw my fair share of over promoted and inexperienced senior officers.  The problem was that if they stuffed up big time real people got hurt.  There were some very telling comments in the initial Hillsborough enquiry report. Nuff said. 

 

More carpentry today. 

 

Jamie

 

That's something not unheard of in our line of work here either! While it may not immediately be a risk factor, one example that comes to my mind immediately would be team leaders for driving staff who are not themselves certified drivers. This doesn't exactly inspire credibility when said team leaders need to assess incidents or complaints without having first-hand experience of their own.

 

I suppose issues like this one becoming slowly more common among public transport operators may be another result of the skilled labour shortage which is making itself increasingly felt. It does make me wonder whether all other sensible options, such as recruiting team leaders primarily among qualified drivers, are really being exhausted or whether employers are merely copping out.

[Ian Abel]

HUMP day.

 

Yesterday a nonevent.

 

Today, Mrs off to a memorial service for the hubby of one of her book club ladies.

Later we're heading to the theatre, "Dial M for Murder" at the Guthrie Theatre, well respected premiere locale in the Twin Cities. Revues all been good, so will be fun.

 

+1c and sunny first thing, 10-11c the forecast high. We keep on breaking records for warmest and least snow winter, and looks like it's going to continue that way.

 

Tally ho.

[DaveF]

My back door works a lot better since I had the new lock fitted a few weeks ago, I hadn't realised how awkward it had become.  I too was told about the expected life of locks on uPVC doors, mine had lasted since the mid 1990s.

 

It's been dull damp and windy so I have stayed at home today with just short trips outside to get something from the car and to the bins and garage a few times.  

 

I've got some photos ready to caption, read quite a lot of my book, moved things round in the kitchen, put a few things away on the shelves in the garage and sorted out some paperwork.  The accounts didn't take long, I got to within 4p of the bank's figure and then realised that I not added up the last line correctly so it then agreed.  Then I tidied up a file which contains bank statements, important receipts, a copy of my will, deeds for the funeral plot and so on.  The idea is that when I die all someone has to do is retrieve the file and take it to the solicitors along with anything in the drawers of my desk.  A friend knows where the things are kept.

 

I did some work on the model, painting a piece of translucent plastic so it looks more like water in a fountain than a plastic moulding.  Fortunately I had photos to look at, Swiss fountain water is often brighter than many as they seem to keep the whole thing clean.  It just needs a coat of varnish then I can put the remaining bits on it.  For a very small thing it seems to be taking a long time.  I think big buildings are a lot easier.

 

This evening is likely to be book and music again unless I can find something to watch, I haven't yet.  Hopefully the wind will start to die down soon.

 

David

[TheQ]

Afternoon, Awl,

Many hours spent on the MRC accounts spreadsheet. Fixing the errors caused by the trying to make it pretty didn't take that long.....

However..

I did a major review of the entire multiple page spreadsheet, added a checksum err ummm...

We have just under £300 too much money, or to be precise the checksum is reading £300 ish too low because I know the cash plus bank figures are correct.

 

After tearing what left of my hair out for some time I gave up and let Ben take me for his long walk. He chose the maximum route, he was limping a bit, from the lower leg that has the worst arthritis in. 

 

On return another future RDF carrying lorry was attacked to remove cab, a bit more tidying up to do then it will be ready to be rebuilt with RDF.

 

[tigerburnie]

9 hours ago, TheQ said:

Sadly professional managers are often useless because they are to busy managing a business they don't understand. The courses they've taken have to be generic, and generic solutions don't work in many businesses, you need to know and understand the technical purpose of the company, not just see it as a profit centre.

 

 

 

Amen to that, I sadly watched a few very large companies go down the route of promoting an accountant to run the show with near disastrous results.

They tended to promote "yes men" who in turn surrounded themselves with idiots so they wouldn't show themselves up as incompetent. I left and found more satisfying employment working for a family firm, at ;east they cared.

[Grizz]

How about a manager from a large grocery retailer then managing safety critical track and signal maintenance with no railway background or understanding of what the systems are or what could potentially happen?
 

What could possibly go wrong? 

[iL Dottore]

Regarding “management”, I always thought the Hale and Pace “The Management” as rather good fun.

 

Anyway, back to the real world. Currently I have to report directly to the company CEO and he can be a real nasty barsteward when he wants to be. After one business trip to London, he carpeted me over a dinner that cost more than the permitted £5 for an evening meal. When I said “what about your dinners at Tom Kerridge’s restaurant?” He went ballistic. “Know your place” and “rank has its privileges” were some of the things he screamed at me. Basically, “do as I say, not do as I do”. He’ll never fire me, as I do all the essential senior level work for the company and he can’t- quite literally - live without me. Mind you, after that last tirade, I’m ready to walk….

 

Problem is, I work for myself….

 

Edited January 31 by iL Dottore
Punctuation

[grandadbob]

Evenin' each,

AWOL for a few days due to not getting a round tuit.

Nottalot been happening here, just the usual mundane daily stuff although I have been in The Shed testing locos that haven't been run for a while.  Sixty plus now done and seven or eight to go.  One for the scrap yard (Mazak rot) and a couple needing traction rings.  I'll probably have another go tomorrow.

Today, unusually for us, we went out to lunch.  A friend had given us a gift voucher for our birthdays last year and at long last we got around to using it at a local Toby carvery.  Not a bad meal and although the place was heaving the service was excellent and we enjoyed our food.

Talking of food, specifically boiled eggs and the opening thereof I used to use a sharp tap with a knife and then inserted a spoon to lever the top off.  However many years ago I obtained a useful little tool which is idiot proof and makes a clean cut every time.  Supplied by a firm called Kleeneze but it doesn't look like they do them anymore.

 

Edited January 31 by grandadbob

[jamie92208]

43 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Regarding “management”, I always thought the Hale and Pace “The Management” as rather good fun.

 

Anyway, back to the real world. Currently I have to report directly to the company CEO and he can be a real nasty barsteward when he wants to be. After one business trip to London, he carpeted me over a dinner that cost more than the permitted £5 for an evening meal. When I said “what about your dinners at Tom Kerridge’s restaurant?” He went ballistic. “Know your place” and “rank has its privileges” were some of the things he screamed at me. Basically, “do as I say, not do as I do”. He’ll never fire me, as I do all the essential senior level work for the company and he can’t- quite literally - live without me. Mind you, after that last tirade, I’m ready to walk….

 

Problem is, I work for myself….

 

That's interesting.  I was under the impression that you were No 4 at Schloss ID,with Lucy and Schotty at 2nd equal, all  ruled by Mrs ID.  Maybe she just let's you have delusions of grandeur. 

 

Jamie

Edited January 31 by jamie92208

[monkeysarefun]

5 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

And you got paid as well???????

 

Friday lunchtimes and afternoons  in Central Sydney in the 80's were like one big party, then the Fringe Benefits Tax got introduced which meant that businesses could no longer claim long lunches as a tax deduction and some of  the fun dampened down a bit.

 

The death knell for our company good times  was when we got bought by an oil  company from Midland, Texas who turned out to be Southern Baptists, that was a culture shock for us AND them. It started when their executives came out for a meet and greet and they got taken on a Harbour Cruise, trips to the Blue Mountains and so on, in return when ours went over there they got taken squirrel hunting. yeeh hah.

Edited January 31 by monkeysarefun

[The White Rabbit]

To continue on an Australian theme, there's one picture I've been wanting to post for a few days since the comments about the size of the country. A bit late to the party, sorry but I have it now... 

 

[PhilJ W]

 

1 minute ago, The White Rabbit said:

To continue on an Australian theme, there's one picture I've been wanting to post for a few days since the comments about the size of the country. A bit late to the party, sorry but I have it now... 

 

In fact New Zealand is directly opposite Spain on the globe. The only land exactly opposite the UK is a tiny Island in the Southern Ocean south of New Zealand called Antipode Island.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipodes_Islands