Asda jobs

[winseer]

… The name “Trigger” rings a bell like Quasimodo there…

“Wearing the Shirt” meant a Wincanton shirt, there were a couple of seniors “hanging on” until retirement that used to doff the actual Tescos shirts, but I think they ended up leaving whilst I was still going in there, for the last time in early 2015 if memory serves.

Wearing a contractor out-sourced T shirt was like wearing Red in Star Trek… Fine if you’re Scotty, but if you were anyone else - you just know you’re “dispensable” for whatever penny-pinch bonus some suit might be in line for that week, perhaps based around clipping people’s hours (Booked off @ 23:59, get paid “late” rather than “Night rate” for finishing before Midnight, and paid until 23:45 at that…)
It was there I learned to NOT enter the office with your keys to be chucked in just before the top of the hour, as your sheet would be being filled out for 23:58 or 23:59, rather than the 00:02 it would be by the time you actually got to the counter… “Clipping” I would call that. DHL were even worse in that you’d turn up for a shift @ say, 19:54hrs for an 20:00 start, by the time you’d get to the counter (Queue of Full Timers in front of you) it would be 20:02, and you’d then be booked on @ 20:15… The only way you could make sure you’d get paid from your actual start time already agreed - was to bloody well turn up at LEAST 15 minutes early, which of course defeats the object!!

There doesn’t seem to be any need for a multi-million company to act in this way other than local jobsworths getting some kind of bonus out of it.
It surely isn’t in an manager’s brief to “shaft everyone financially” otherwise?
It doesn’t cut both ways though. Complain that so-and-so manager is booking you off early/on late - and the others will close ranks to make you the bad guy…
If I were a manager and got caught interfering in anyones pay, then no doubt I’d be sacked on the spot, or threatened with prosecution for theft and false accounting if I didn’t at least offer to resign…
One of the reasons I’d not want to be a manager, unless it was the outright boss in that particular workplace.

[fonzi]

Winseer:

commonrail:
Why don’t you apply…winseer?
It’s decent money,and you won’t have to cross the river.
You could volunteer for all those premium uplift shifts…that nobody else wants

I’ve already been and gone from Snodland. Got called in one night, arrived and then got cancelled. My contract said “8 hours if sent home once arrived”, but Client leaned on agency to “let it go or else”.

I asked for the money and fair enough, I won’t bother going back. I didn’t go back, and they still defaulted on the pay as well.
Nothing offends my Left leaning sense of Financial Fairness other than some rich outfit stealing money from those like myself who are already living from hand-to-mouth, and cannot afford to be ■■■■■■ about by these crooks that run the “partnerships” all too often, where “outsourcing” seems to merely facilitate exploitation of the workforce whilst shielding behind layers that protect the firm from lawsuits, and the like. “Not directly employed. Not our fault if anything goes wrong, or anyone wants to claim”.

In any case, I’ve not worked there since, nor do I intend to. This is an issue outstanding I have with Wincanton, rather than Tescos. Looked at Sainsbury’s Dartford recently, but walked on by once I found out that it was indirect via DHL, and of course that old much-hated chestnut “Any five from Seven” when I’m looking for a 4x12 hour shift working week at a high hourly rate OR less, long(er) shifts per week on the ZHC basis.
Agencies from here on in my mind will end up covering full timer’s sickies, and nothing much else.
Full timers on annual leave - will be managed so that other “any five from 7” people end up covering the scheduled absences, I reckon.
That’s a pretty bleak world for agency work to come, unless 1 or 2 shifts per week actually suits one…

The thing about holding out for a 4 shift contract is that if the worst comes to the worst, one will end up working 15,15,15, &13 hours per week legal maximum, or 52 hours.
If you get the dreaded “any five from seven” then how often is one going to end up with 15,15,15,13,13 - 65 hours per week for a bloody salary■■?
“Paid by the hour” on ZHC ain’t no good if the firm turns out to be pennypinching on those drivers that like myself, - seem to be coining it in rather more than the full timers, causing sufficient resentment to get backstabbed at the first opporunity, as I’ve found from hard experience…

Now 48-55 hours over 4 per week I can manage, 55-84 hours over 5 or 6 is right out. I’m deadbeat by Wednesday, and as I’ve said on here before, I hate getting the nodding dog feeling when returning home, usually thursday morning after my third 15 hour shift that week. I’ve also got the worry that the job is the same the last two shifts of that week ahead of me, with no indication that it’ll be any shorter than 15 hours for the 4th and 5th time, which would have been totally illegal had I attempted it of course… The last time I found myself in that situation, I refused to do the thursday and friday nights, and that was another job gone for my impertinence… It seems that one does NOT have the right to “turn down a shift”, regardless of what one’s contract says…

In any case, I’ve adopted a different approach from here on, which is to be an asset rather than a liability to my employer in the shrinking marketplace that is the case these days, “Ongoingly”…
Essentially, I want to do as much as possible to make sure that I’m the “last one to go” next time around.

It may well be years and years before firms change their ways, get rid of all this “Just in time” outsourcing model, and start offering decent full time actual wear-the-shirt contracts once again.
Some of us must look back on the 70’s with nostalgia rather than dread, I reckon. I was a kid then, but I’d put it to any seniors out there - WERE the 70’s a better time to drive a truck than now, working for a unionized firm with pay way above the national average at that time??

Would without doubt agree that the 70s appeared on paper to be better. Until the real reality sets in, and the rose coloured Glasses fall off the end of your Nose. And as for the ideology of thinking that Unionised companies were the Dogs B******lks. Certainly not my experience in general haulage. Maybe in the Tanker World or some of the Big Car manufactures of the day. But they were very few and far between, and the reason that most unionised companies failed, was they became unsustainable against what the Market could sustain. But yes I did enjoy the 70s More freedom, less interference in the daily work, and although the vast majority of my work was European you were left alone to get on with it ( What I really mean is as long as you did not stop unless it was to unload and reload then you were left alone ). Oh those rose tinted glasses have re-appeared. Would I have done anything different. The honest answer is yes. I should have gone down the O/O route sooner it suited me and my work ethics. and gave me more freedom to shape the way I operated. “Great Question though”

[tmcassett]

commonrail:
But the advertisement IS for a"wear the shirt contract"
From what I’ve read…asda are one of the better companies to work for.
And you’re still not interested?

Just because you might have to do 5x9,instead of 4x12■■?

I know, its so naïve of him as he just instantly dismisses anything where you might be contracted to 5 shifts a week despite how good the job/pay might be, he just expects to walk straight into the best/highest paying work, working 4 shifts a week and then when that’s not being offered comes on here to constantly whinge about it. Often you need to look at the bigger picture, sadly he fails to realise the way in to the better jobs/shift patterns are to take something that may not initially be what suits.

I work for a high street retailer on supermarket type work in terms of pay, hours, the work, t&c’s etc which are all excellent (proper unionised job) however you only get taken on by doing his dreaded “5 from 7” pattern involving most weekends - however there is the chance further down the line to move onto either a 4 shift pattern or a rotating week so you can drop to less weekend working. I could have dismissed it as its more weekends than ideal for me but everything mentioned above was too good to turn down.

I would have thought given his current predicament of having no work and no furlough after being ditched by his agency and spending the last 2 months ■■■■■■■■ about it on here, plus having no money that he would jump at the chance of a job … any job regardless of whether the shift pattern was or wasn’t what he ideally wanted.

Edit: Just to add Winseer, I’m contracted to 43 hours and hourly paid but 90% of the time I do 35-40 hours (paid for min 43 though), OT rate over the 43 hours, so don’t assume everyone who is on a 5 day contract works 60-70 hours a week and is on a salary. I’m sure many of these jobs you instantly dismiss offer similar to what my job does if you just open your eyes a bit.

[yorkielad]

Sixties boy:
K&N had Waitrose but lost that to XPO, then XPO agreed to buy a large chunk of K&N’s UK operations, but Covid 19 may have changed that.

XPO takeover of K&N still going though,should be September completed.
K&N keeping MOD and pharmaceutical work though.

[winseer]

tmcassett:

commonrail:
But the advertisement IS for a"wear the shirt contract"
From what I’ve read…asda are one of the better companies to work for.
And you’re still not interested?

Just because you might have to do 5x9,instead of 4x12■■?

I know, its so naïve of him as he just instantly dismisses anything where you might be contracted to 5 shifts a week despite how good the job/pay might be, he just expects to walk straight into the best/highest paying work, working 4 shifts a week and then when that’s not being offered comes on here to constantly whinge about it. Often you need to look at the bigger picture, sadly he fails to realise the way in to the better jobs/shift patterns are to take something that may not initially be what suits.

I work for a high street retailer on supermarket type work in terms of pay, hours, the work, t&c’s etc which are all excellent (proper unionised job) however you only get taken on by doing his dreaded “5 from 7” pattern involving most weekends - however there is the chance further down the line to move onto either a 4 shift pattern or a rotating week so you can drop to less weekend working. I could have dismissed it as its more weekends than ideal for me but everything mentioned above was too good to turn down.

I would have thought given his current predicament of having no work and no furlough after being ditched by his agency and spending the last 2 months ■■■■■■■■ about it on here, plus having no money that he would jump at the chance of a job … any job regardless of whether the shift pattern was or wasn’t what he ideally wanted.

Edit: Just to add Winseer, I’m contracted to 43 hours and hourly paid but 90% of the time I do 35-40 hours (paid for min 43 though), OT rate over the 43 hours, so don’t assume everyone who is on a 5 day contract works 60-70 hours a week and is on a salary. I’m sure many of these jobs you instantly dismiss offer similar to what my job does if you just open your eyes a bit.

Don’t be so dismissive of my motives here. If you are contracted for five shifts, then rest assured you can expect a time in due course where 15 hours will be expected of you three times per week on a regular basis “for a salary”.

If you’re on an hourly rate on the other hand AND a full timer - then congratulations - you’ve got the best of both worlds already if you can keep it!
I didn’t moan about working any five from seven @ RM when I was there, because it was 200 bar top line per shift on average… Full Timers would get the shorter shifts, agency the 12+ hour ones usually…
they seemed to get upset (my so-called workmates) that I was getting five shifts per week in January and February last year though, seen as “taking away their docket”.
The Union came to the agreement with the firm over “shifts over 12 hours going out to agency” - NOT Me. Why get shirty about me trying to bag this “Best of both worlds” for my own benefit■■?

I prefer the longer shifts, as they have the better, longer runs. The problem with 12-15 hour shifts though - is that nodding dog thing by Thursday, so I really want to be going home thursday having DONE my bit for Queen and Country by that point in the week. 48 hours per week is comfortable. 60+ hours is NOT.
There’s also the angle that commuting four times instead of five - makes a further-out workplace on agency more viable.

When I talk of “Contractual Abuse”, I’m making a prediction for the future, and taking a stand against it now rather than find myself in the commonly-available “any five from seven” only to find that I just can’t keep the ball in the air any more at my advancing age. Life, Health BALANCE. I__f you knew that carrying on the way you have done for the past few years will get you killed in a short space longer - would you change, or would you be set in your ways?__
How many of us on here know of someone who’s ended up rear-ending someone due to “tiredness” hmm?
…Statistically, more pro drivers die in rear-end collisions driving themselves home in the early hours of friday morning in their own cars - than actually get killed whilst at work driving. Go figure!

[tmcassett]

Winseer:
Don’t be so dismissive of my motives here. If you are contracted for five shifts, then rest assured you can expect a time in due course where 15 hours will be expected of you three times per week on a regular basis “for a salary”.

If you’re on an hourly rate on the other hand AND a full timer - then congratulations - you’ve got the best of both worlds already if you can keep it!
I didn’t moan about working any five from seven @ RM when I was there, because it was 200 bar top line per shift on average… Full Timers would get the shorter shifts, agency the 12+ hour ones usually…
they seemed to get upset (my so-called workmates) that I was getting five shifts per week in January and February last year though, seen as “taking away their docket”.
The Union came to the agreement with the firm over “shifts over 12 hours going out to agency” - NOT Me. Why get shirty about me trying to bag this “Best of both worlds” for my own benefit■■?

I prefer the longer shifts, as they have the better, longer runs. The problem with 12-15 hour shifts though - is that nodding dog thing by Thursday, so I really want to be going home thursday having DONE my bit for Queen and Country by that point in the week. 48 hours per week is comfortable. 60+ hours is NOT.
There’s also the angle that commuting four times instead of five - makes a further-out workplace on agency more viable.

When I talk of “Contractual Abuse”, I’m making a prediction for the future, and taking a stand against it now rather than find myself in the commonly-available “any five from seven” only to find that I just can’t keep the ball in the air any more at my advancing age. Life, Health BALANCE. I__f you knew that carrying on the way you have done for the past few years will get you killed in a short space longer - would you change, or would you be set in your ways?__
How many of us on here know of someone who’s ended up rear-ending someone due to “tiredness” hmm?
…Statistically, more pro drivers die in rear-end collisions driving themselves home in the early hours of friday morning in their own cars - than actually get killed whilst at work driving. Go figure!

Okay, you just carry on believing that everyone working 5 shifts a week is being asked to do 15 hour days on a regular basis and is having their contract “abused”. Sure in some cases that happens - not in my job it doesn’t and I am certain in a lot of the ones you just instantly write off it does not either but your too short sighted to see that.

You keep taking your stand and dismissing these jobs that offer 5 from 7 patterns and leave them to those of us who have the foresight to see the bigger picture and that they are usually a way into the better things and are often the better jobs in this industry.

[drover]

Winseer:

tmcassett:

commonrail:
But the advertisement IS for a"wear the shirt contract"
From what I’ve read…asda are one of the better companies to work for.
And you’re still not interested?

Just because you might have to do 5x9,instead of 4x12■■?

I know, its so naïve of him as he just instantly dismisses anything where you might be contracted to 5 shifts a week despite how good the job/pay might be, he just expects to walk straight into the best/highest paying work, working 4 shifts a week and then when that’s not being offered comes on here to constantly whinge about it. Often you need to look at the bigger picture, sadly he fails to realise the way in to the better jobs/shift patterns are to take something that may not initially be what suits.

I work for a high street retailer on supermarket type work in terms of pay, hours, the work, t&c’s etc which are all excellent (proper unionised job) however you only get taken on by doing his dreaded “5 from 7” pattern involving most weekends - however there is the chance further down the line to move onto either a 4 shift pattern or a rotating week so you can drop to less weekend working. I could have dismissed it as its more weekends than ideal for me but everything mentioned above was too good to turn down.

I would have thought given his current predicament of having no work and no furlough after being ditched by his agency and spending the last 2 months ■■■■■■■■ about it on here, plus having no money that he would jump at the chance of a job … any job regardless of whether the shift pattern was or wasn’t what he ideally wanted.

Edit: Just to add Winseer, I’m contracted to 43 hours and hourly paid but 90% of the time I do 35-40 hours (paid for min 43 though), OT rate over the 43 hours, so don’t assume everyone who is on a 5 day contract works 60-70 hours a week and is on a salary. I’m sure many of these jobs you instantly dismiss offer similar to what my job does if you just open your eyes a bit.

Don’t be so dismissive of my motives here. If you are contracted for five shifts, then rest assured you can expect a time in due course where 15 hours will be expected of you three times per week on a regular basis “for a salary”.

If you’re on an hourly rate on the other hand AND a full timer - then congratulations - you’ve got the best of both worlds already if you can keep it!
I didn’t moan about working any five from seven @ RM when I was there, because it was 200 bar top line per shift on average… Full Timers would get the shorter shifts, agency the 12+ hour ones usually…
they seemed to get upset (my so-called workmates) that I was getting five shifts per week in January and February last year though, seen as “taking away their docket”.
The Union came to the agreement with the firm over “shifts over 12 hours going out to agency” - NOT Me. Why get shirty about me trying to bag this “Best of both worlds” for my own benefit■■?

I prefer the longer shifts, as they have the better, longer runs. The problem with 12-15 hour shifts though - is that nodding dog thing by Thursday, so I really want to be going home thursday having DONE my bit for Queen and Country by that point in the week. 48 hours per week is comfortable. 60+ hours is NOT.
There’s also the angle that commuting four times instead of five - makes a further-out workplace on agency more viable.

When I talk of “Contractual Abuse”, I’m making a prediction for the future, and taking a stand against it now rather than find myself in the commonly-available “any five from seven” only to find that I just can’t keep the ball in the air any more at my advancing age. Life, Health BALANCE. I__f you knew that carrying on the way you have done for the past few years will get you killed in a short space longer - would you change, or would you be set in your ways?__
How many of us on here know of someone who’s ended up rear-ending someone due to “tiredness” hmm?
…Statistically, more pro drivers die in rear-end collisions driving themselves home in the early hours of friday morning in their own cars - than actually get killed whilst at work driving. Go figure!

Problem with royal mail 12hr shifts is they take 1.5hrs meal relief off you…
In my experience most full-timers didn’t want shifts over 11hrs or what ever the cut off point was for the extra meal relief deduction.

Of course the best long duties with R/M in my opinion as agency are the flex duties where you could get 14-15 hrs in to make up for the meal relief deduction.
I used to work 3 shifts a week like that ( Fri,sat,sun) and earn more than the 5 from 7 that I work now.
Yes I work 5 from 7 but rarely go over 45hrs which suits me fine at the moment.

Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk

[drover]

tmcassett:

Winseer:
Don’t be so dismissive of my motives here. If you are contracted for five shifts, then rest assured you can expect a time in due course where 15 hours will be expected of you three times per week on a regular basis “for a salary”.

If you’re on an hourly rate on the other hand AND a full timer - then congratulations - you’ve got the best of both worlds already if you can keep it!
I didn’t moan about working any five from seven @ RM when I was there, because it was 200 bar top line per shift on average… Full Timers would get the shorter shifts, agency the 12+ hour ones usually…
they seemed to get upset (my so-called workmates) that I was getting five shifts per week in January and February last year though, seen as “taking away their docket”.
The Union came to the agreement with the firm over “shifts over 12 hours going out to agency” - NOT Me. Why get shirty about me trying to bag this “Best of both worlds” for my own benefit■■?

I prefer the longer shifts, as they have the better, longer runs. The problem with 12-15 hour shifts though - is that nodding dog thing by Thursday, so I really want to be going home thursday having DONE my bit for Queen and Country by that point in the week. 48 hours per week is comfortable. 60+ hours is NOT.
There’s also the angle that commuting four times instead of five - makes a further-out workplace on agency more viable.

When I talk of “Contractual Abuse”, I’m making a prediction for the future, and taking a stand against it now rather than find myself in the commonly-available “any five from seven” only to find that I just can’t keep the ball in the air any more at my advancing age. Life, Health BALANCE. I__f you knew that carrying on the way you have done for the past few years will get you killed in a short space longer - would you change, or would you be set in your ways?__
How many of us on here know of someone who’s ended up rear-ending someone due to “tiredness” hmm?
…Statistically, more pro drivers die in rear-end collisions driving themselves home in the early hours of friday morning in their own cars - than actually get killed whilst at work driving. Go figure!

Okay, you just carry on believing that everyone working 5 shifts a week is being asked to do 15 hour days on a regular basis and is having their contract “abused”. Sure in some cases that happens - not in my job it doesn’t and I am certain in a lot of the ones you just instantly write off it does not either but your too short sighted to see that.

You keep taking your stand and dismissing these jobs that offer 5 from 7 patterns and leave them to those of us who have the foresight to see the bigger picture and that they are usually a way into the better things and are often the better jobs in this industry.

Your dead right. I work 5 from 7 but never done more than 11hrs.
If they try to give us a run that would go over our set hours we can refuse, not to say that I do as they generally don’t because because the overtime rate kicks in after 9hrs daily so I’m expensive [emoji16]
The joys of heavily unionised jobs [emoji6]

Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk

[tmcassett]

Edit: double post below

[tmcassett]

drover:

tmcassett:

Winseer:
Don’t be so dismissive of my motives here. If you are contracted for five shifts, then rest assured you can expect a time in due course where 15 hours will be expected of you three times per week on a regular basis “for a salary”.

If you’re on an hourly rate on the other hand AND a full timer - then congratulations - you’ve got the best of both worlds already if you can keep it!
I didn’t moan about working any five from seven @ RM when I was there, because it was 200 bar top line per shift on average… Full Timers would get the shorter shifts, agency the 12+ hour ones usually…
they seemed to get upset (my so-called workmates) that I was getting five shifts per week in January and February last year though, seen as “taking away their docket”.
The Union came to the agreement with the firm over “shifts over 12 hours going out to agency” - NOT Me. Why get shirty about me trying to bag this “Best of both worlds” for my own benefit■■?

I prefer the longer shifts, as they have the better, longer runs. The problem with 12-15 hour shifts though - is that nodding dog thing by Thursday, so I really want to be going home thursday having DONE my bit for Queen and Country by that point in the week. 48 hours per week is comfortable. 60+ hours is NOT.
There’s also the angle that commuting four times instead of five - makes a further-out workplace on agency more viable.

When I talk of “Contractual Abuse”, I’m making a prediction for the future, and taking a stand against it now rather than find myself in the commonly-available “any five from seven” only to find that I just can’t keep the ball in the air any more at my advancing age. Life, Health BALANCE. I__f you knew that carrying on the way you have done for the past few years will get you killed in a short space longer - would you change, or would you be set in your ways?__
How many of us on here know of someone who’s ended up rear-ending someone due to “tiredness” hmm?
…Statistically, more pro drivers die in rear-end collisions driving themselves home in the early hours of friday morning in their own cars - than actually get killed whilst at work driving. Go figure!

Okay, you just carry on believing that everyone working 5 shifts a week is being asked to do 15 hour days on a regular basis and is having their contract “abused”. Sure in some cases that happens - not in my job it doesn’t and I am certain in a lot of the ones you just instantly write off it does not either but your too short sighted to see that.

You keep taking your stand and dismissing these jobs that offer 5 from 7 patterns and leave them to those of us who have the foresight to see the bigger picture and that they are usually a way into the better things and are often the better jobs in this industry.

Your dead right. I work 5 from 7 but never done more than 11hrs.
If they try to give us a run that would go over our set hours we can refuse, not to say that I do as they generally don’t because because the overtime rate kicks in after 9hrs daily so I’m expensive [emoji16]
The joys of heavily unionised jobs [emoji6]

Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk

Exactly, your place sounds similar to ours. OT is paid on a daily rate and not weekly, meaning its entirely possible to get several hours OT a week (at a higher rate) without actually going over our contracted 43 weekly hours.

Longer runs are usually given to the agency guys as our place likes to keep us within our hours and not pay us too much OT! , but same as you if I do get a longer run I just accept it as part of the job because we get a fair amount of days where I will only do 5 or 6 hours and go home but paid for 8.5 hours. We can ask for early finishes if we need it and they try their best to accommodate by giving a short/local run.

Start times - we all have a set start time - mine is 9am which is ideal for me with childcare and dropping my 2 year old daughter off at nursery before work, when I started I was told if needed we are expected to be able to move that an hour each way if needs must, however since I’ve been there I have learnt that on the rare occasion they ask we don’t actually have to do it if we don’t want, I always do where possible because I am on to a good thing with this job.

Winseer no doubt your reading this, so the point I’m making is I wouldn’t have known any of these things I mention before I got the job, I could have just looked at the shift pattern and the weekends and thought “no” and not bothered applying - however in hindsight it is the best thing I did because I am on very good money (by industry standards), have excellent t&c’s, a really good work/life balance and have now accepted the weekend working because of everything else.

So next time you see one of these jobs advertised by a supermarket/royal mail/other higher paying work don’t just dismiss it, try it and you never know what you might find once you start … go on I dare you!

[winseer]

tmcassett:

Winseer:
Don’t be so dismissive of my motives here. If you are contracted for five shifts, then rest assured you can expect a time in due course where 15 hours will be expected of you three times per week on a regular basis “for a salary”.

If you’re on an hourly rate on the other hand AND a full timer - then congratulations - you’ve got the best of both worlds already if you can keep it!
I didn’t moan about working any five from seven @ RM when I was there, because it was 200 bar top line per shift on average… Full Timers would get the shorter shifts, agency the 12+ hour ones usually…
they seemed to get upset (my so-called workmates) that I was getting five shifts per week in January and February last year though, seen as “taking away their docket”.
The Union came to the agreement with the firm over “shifts over 12 hours going out to agency” - NOT Me. Why get shirty about me trying to bag this “Best of both worlds” for my own benefit■■?

I prefer the longer shifts, as they have the better, longer runs. The problem with 12-15 hour shifts though - is that nodding dog thing by Thursday, so I really want to be going home thursday having DONE my bit for Queen and Country by that point in the week. 48 hours per week is comfortable. 60+ hours is NOT.
There’s also the angle that commuting four times instead of five - makes a further-out workplace on agency more viable.

When I talk of “Contractual Abuse”, I’m making a prediction for the future, and taking a stand against it now rather than find myself in the commonly-available “any five from seven” only to find that I just can’t keep the ball in the air any more at my advancing age. Life, Health BALANCE. I__f you knew that carrying on the way you have done for the past few years will get you killed in a short space longer - would you change, or would you be set in your ways?__
How many of us on here know of someone who’s ended up rear-ending someone due to “tiredness” hmm?
…Statistically, more pro drivers die in rear-end collisions driving themselves home in the early hours of friday morning in their own cars - than actually get killed whilst at work driving. Go figure!

Okay, you just carry on believing that everyone working 5 shifts a week is being asked to do 15 hour days on a regular basis and is having their contract “abused”. Sure in some cases that happens - not in my job it doesn’t and I am certain in a lot of the ones you just instantly write off it does not either but your too short sighted to see that.

You keep taking your stand and dismissing these jobs that offer 5 from 7 patterns and leave them to those of us who have the foresight to see the bigger picture and that they are usually a way into the better things and are often the better jobs in this industry.

If you want, just consider this as my way of dealing with poor treatment in the past already.
I didn’t ask to be got rid of at cushy work locations don’t forget… For me to be able to dust my feet off, and move on though? - I need to tell myself that I don’t want or need to ever go back to such venues.

…Of course this invites you all to brag about how good your top line is at such venues where the door has already been closed firmly behind me now, how little the management bother you, and how cushy your job is now going to be forever… Welcome to the world of replacing the very people like myself who you tell me that were got rid of “because they rubbed others up the wrong way”…

It is just the dishonesty of how it was done that continues to annoy me from here on. As a consequence of that very dishonesty - I’m more wary in the future as to how people can be “politicallly abused” in the workplace, in order to get rid of those it might prove impossible to get rid of by fair rather than merely legal means otherwise. “Face Fits” will come to mean “Able to be routinely abused whenever we see fit” in the times to come. I’m predicting that THIS will end up being the “New Normal”, just as in the 1930’s slump - plenty of actual EMPLOYERS back then would contract workers to all kinds of built-in abuses, because they knew there were thousands of people looking for jobs, and they had the only job in town!

Same old Same old. History will end up repeating itself as it so often does.
Perhaps some workers on here have already experienced some kind of “tightening up” of their contracts?

Before that future “tipping point” is reached however, there will be other signs that it is coming…
Defaulted “Death in Service” payments
More “Sick Pay” systems being moved onto a “Discretionary” basis, with the mis-direction that perhaps “too many sicks” isn’t the sackable offence it used to be meanwhile…
“Defined Contributions” company pension plans - ending up with significantly less pots than what was paid in by retirement
“Defined Benefits” company pensions, moving on from “closing to new members”, and now actively encouraging existing members to “drop out” (bad move!) or “defer” (because they cannot afford to pay you out now for some reason) or even snuff it in the meanwhile, with any “widow’s” version of that pension involving a rather lower payment than what one would receive by staying alive…

We’ve just seen the stock market plunge over the past few weeks and months, only to almost have bounced fully back by this point - on BOTH sides of the Pond.
What’s the betting that our illustrious pension funds ended up bailing out of a load of stocks and shares at that “market bottom”, only to be left behind on the “V” shaped upwave that happens to be the case, at least for the Western Stock Markets hmm?

“Sorry your pension pot has become disappointingly low. We accidentally threw away half your money as part of our ongoing ‘Churn and Burn’ investment policies of ten years ago” says the “Pension Consultant” in the early 2030’s…

“Rest assured our mistake, although it now leaves you with an impoverished retirement, was an honest mistake on our part. We didn’t go to Jail at any time since for our ‘mistakes’, but you can now pay a second or subsequent visit to the poor house, having foolishly trusted us to invest your money wisely in an obviously deflationary environment for the past decade and longer, where high-yield dividend stocks bacome a must, and ultra-low-yield bonds become a big no-no. We acted the exact opposite here. We figured a guaranteeed small loss over time was better than taking a 0.00001% change of blowing the lot on the open market where some kind of economic recovery would effectively need to be bet upon to take such a drastic risk.” Letter from Pension Funds to Pension Holders, dated April 2030.

[juddian]

As above, for good jobs you sometimes have to get a start by accepting the shift pattern and hours you don’t want, once you get your feet under the table as others leave or change shifts then you get the chance to move up so to speak.
I asked when i took my current job is the shift pattern (the only one going, not great but paid well) i accepted to land the job was permanent or could i change in due course, the answer was yes when it gets to your time and you’ve been there long enough (seniority in time served counts) you can apply for any job, which i did and am now a happy bunny, no way could i have walked into this job on the shift i’m on and nor could anyone else.

[winseer]

drover:

Winseer:

tmcassett:

commonrail:
But the advertisement IS for a"wear the shirt contract"
From what I’ve read…asda are one of the better companies to work for.
And you’re still not interested?

Just because you might have to do 5x9,instead of 4x12■■?

I know, its so naïve of him as he just instantly dismisses anything where you might be contracted to 5 shifts a week despite how good the job/pay might be, he just expects to walk straight into the best/highest paying work, working 4 shifts a week and then when that’s not being offered comes on here to constantly whinge about it. Often you need to look at the bigger picture, sadly he fails to realise the way in to the better jobs/shift patterns are to take something that may not initially be what suits.

I work for a high street retailer on supermarket type work in terms of pay, hours, the work, t&c’s etc which are all excellent (proper unionised job) however you only get taken on by doing his dreaded “5 from 7” pattern involving most weekends - however there is the chance further down the line to move onto either a 4 shift pattern or a rotating week so you can drop to less weekend working. I could have dismissed it as its more weekends than ideal for me but everything mentioned above was too good to turn down.

I would have thought given his current predicament of having no work and no furlough after being ditched by his agency and spending the last 2 months ■■■■■■■■ about it on here, plus having no money that he would jump at the chance of a job … any job regardless of whether the shift pattern was or wasn’t what he ideally wanted.

Edit: Just to add Winseer, I’m contracted to 43 hours and hourly paid but 90% of the time I do 35-40 hours (paid for min 43 though), OT rate over the 43 hours, so don’t assume everyone who is on a 5 day contract works 60-70 hours a week and is on a salary. I’m sure many of these jobs you instantly dismiss offer similar to what my job does if you just open your eyes a bit.

Don’t be so dismissive of my motives here. If you are contracted for five shifts, then rest assured you can expect a time in due course where 15 hours will be expected of you three times per week on a regular basis “for a salary”.

If you’re on an hourly rate on the other hand AND a full timer - then congratulations - you’ve got the best of both worlds already if you can keep it!
I didn’t moan about working any five from seven @ RM when I was there, because it was 200 bar top line per shift on average… Full Timers would get the shorter shifts, agency the 12+ hour ones usually…
they seemed to get upset (my so-called workmates) that I was getting five shifts per week in January and February last year though, seen as “taking away their docket”.
The Union came to the agreement with the firm over “shifts over 12 hours going out to agency” - NOT Me. Why get shirty about me trying to bag this “Best of both worlds” for my own benefit■■?

I prefer the longer shifts, as they have the better, longer runs. The problem with 12-15 hour shifts though - is that nodding dog thing by Thursday, so I really want to be going home thursday having DONE my bit for Queen and Country by that point in the week. 48 hours per week is comfortable. 60+ hours is NOT.
There’s also the angle that commuting four times instead of five - makes a further-out workplace on agency more viable.

When I talk of “Contractual Abuse”, I’m making a prediction for the future, and taking a stand against it now rather than find myself in the commonly-available “any five from seven” only to find that I just can’t keep the ball in the air any more at my advancing age. Life, Health BALANCE. I__f you knew that carrying on the way you have done for the past few years will get you killed in a short space longer - would you change, or would you be set in your ways?__
How many of us on here know of someone who’s ended up rear-ending someone due to “tiredness” hmm?
…Statistically, more pro drivers die in rear-end collisions driving themselves home in the early hours of friday morning in their own cars - than actually get killed whilst at work driving. Go figure!

Problem with royal mail 12hr shifts is they take 1.5hrs meal relief off you…
In my experience most full-timers didn’t want shifts over 11hrs or what ever the cut off point was for the extra meal relief deduction.

Of course the best long duties with R/M in my opinion as agency are the flex duties where you could get 14-15 hrs in to make up for the meal relief deduction.
I used to work 3 shifts a week like that ( Fri,sat,sun) and earn more than the 5 from 7 that I work now.
Yes I work 5 from 7 but rarely go over 45hrs which suits me fine at the moment.

Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk

Agree with you entirely there. I was indeed quite happy to do just as you described. I was real chuffed to be continuing to get such runs and duty rosters going into January 2019, but then I got carpeted three times in quick succession for “running late” come March, made haste to make sure I turned up at Canterbury “bang on time” one night shortly after, only to have the barrier which was apparently frozen open as I approached it - come down between my cab and trailer just as I went over the speed bumps… Job Gone then and there. If I’d been driving my normal laid-back careful self, I wouldn’t have been bothered about turning up a couple of minutes late - but I was already under pressure to “run to time”, with the disasterous result to my personal finances that began then and there. I could even argue that it would have happened to someone else had I not been crossing the treshold EXACTLY at my arrival time… Maybe the barrier was only temporarily frozen in the upright position, and duly got manually closed at 03:00:01 because “All the runs were in by that point” for this particular rush period? It doesn’t matter though. I can speculate as much as I like, but ultimately I was in the right place at the right time for it to come down on my head, rather than some other chumps, which I was told locally was a “regular occurance”…
As I never got an official “Ban from site” in writing by either RM or agency, I guess I’m probably free to have another go “past sins forgiven” in a couple of years, but by this point I feel that I should do everything I can to avoid the toxic environment that it now represents to me for even attempting such a parody by this point. If I ever work for RM again, I’ll stick to some venue where “they don’t know I’m a c—” to put the thoughts of some on here into words, if you will.

[winseer]

Juddian:
As above, for good jobs you sometimes have to get a start by accepting the shift pattern and hours you don’t want, once you get your feet under the table as others leave or change shifts then you get the chance to move up so to speak.
I asked when i took my current job is the shift pattern (the only one going, not great but paid well) i accepted to land the job was permanent or could i change in due course, the answer was yes when it gets to your time and you’ve been there long enough (seniority in time served counts) you can apply for any job, which i did and am now a happy bunny, no way could i have walked into this job on the shift i’m on and nor could anyone else.

I know what you mean there.
It took me 20 years before I had enough seniority as a full timer to pick into a decent duty, but there was yet another re-sign soon after, with the only artic night runs left at that point for someone of my level of pecking order “being a job with no docket built into it”, which gave me the choice of either a flat short 5 shift night run, or pick into a day/late run that I think had longer shifts, but involved something like working Monday 10, Tuesday 11, Wednesday Off, Thursday 14, Friday 9.45 for what I think was something like 8 hours scheduled attendence (contract overtime) built in… I chose the flat shift, thinking that it would uphold any exit premium on any forthcoming MTSF voluntary redundancy, should it ever be offered me - which of course it WAS come 2010. I didn’t regret my decision. The payoff I got would keep me going for a full year giving me ample time to find another job, or sign up with an agency and climb high enough in pecking order to get the regular work there. In the end I left in December 2010 and didn’t start that regular job until November the following year, most of my money gone just on living expenses by that point, and doing up my house… The years I spent on agency have given me a broader outlook on the haulage industry in general, and I think it is worth pointing out that NO one has a monopoly on the things we hold dear - be they the Plum Paid Job, the Comfortable Shift Job, the Well-perked Workplace, or indeed “Just the Truth” told you by management…!

[tmcassett]

Winseer:
If you want, just consider this as my way of dealing with poor treatment in the past already.
I didn’t ask to be got rid of at cushy work locations don’t forget… For me to be able to dust my feet off, and move on though? - I need to tell myself that I don’t want or need to ever go back to such venues.

…Of course this invites you all to brag about how good your top line is at such venues where the door has already been closed firmly behind me now, how little the management bother you, and how cushy your job is now going to be forever… Welcome to the world of replacing the very people like myself who you tell me that were got rid of “because they rubbed others up the wrong way”…

It is just the dishonesty of how it was done that continues to annoy me from here on. As a consequence of that very dishonesty - I’m more wary in the future as to how people can be “politicallly abused” in the workplace, in order to get rid of those it might prove impossible to get rid of by fair rather than merely legal means otherwise. “Face Fits” will come to mean “Able to be routinely abused whenever we see fit” in the times to come. I’m predicting that THIS will end up being the “New Normal”, just as in the 1930’s slump - plenty of actual EMPLOYERS back then would contract workers to all kinds of built-in abuses, because they knew there were thousands of people looking for jobs, and they had the only job in town!

Same old Same old. History will end up repeating itself as it so often does.
Perhaps some workers on here have already experienced some kind of “tightening up” of their contracts?

Before that future “tipping point” is reached however, there will be other signs that it is coming…
Defaulted “Death in Service” payments
More “Sick Pay” systems being moved onto a “Discretionary” basis, with the mis-direction that perhaps “too many sicks” isn’t the sackable offence it used to be meanwhile…
“Defined Contributions” company pension plans - ending up with significantly less pots than what was paid in by retirement
“Defined Benefits” company pensions, moving on from “closing to new members”, and now actively encouraging existing members to “drop out” (bad move!) or “defer” (because they cannot afford to pay you out now for some reason) or even snuff it in the meanwhile, with any “widow’s” version of that pension involving a rather lower payment than what one would receive by staying alive…

We’ve just seen the stock market plunge over the past few weeks and months, only to almost have bounced fully back by this point - on BOTH sides of the Pond.
What’s the betting that our illustrious pension funds ended up bailing out of a load of stocks and shares at that “market bottom”, only to be left behind on the “V” shaped upwave that happens to be the case, at least for the Western Stock Markets hmm?

“Sorry your pension pot has become disappointingly low. We accidentally threw away half your money as part of our ongoing ‘Churn and Burn’ investment policies of ten years ago” says the “Pension Consultant” in the early 2030’s…

“Rest assured our mistake, although it now leaves you with an impoverished retirement, was an honest mistake on our part. We didn’t go to Jail at any time since for our ‘mistakes’, but you can now pay a second or subsequent visit to the poor house, having foolishly trusted us to invest your money wisely in an obviously deflationary environment for the past decade and longer, where high-yield dividend stocks bacome a must, and ultra-low-yield bonds become a big no-no. We acted the exact opposite here. We figured a guaranteeed small loss over time was better than taking a 0.00001% change of blowing the lot on the open market where some kind of economic recovery would effectively need to be bet upon to take such a drastic risk.” Letter from Pension Funds to Pension Holders, dated April 2030.

I’ve not got a clue what any of the above means or what you are going on about now!

However I have tried to give you some friendly advice about finding a good job but as per usual its gone straight over your head and set you off on one of your rants about … well I don’t actually know, although I did detect a little bit of “the world is against me” and “its not my fault” within your post.

[drover]

Winseer:

tmcassett:

Winseer:
Don’t be so dismissive of my motives here. If you are contracted for five shifts, then rest assured you can expect a time in due course where 15 hours will be expected of you three times per week on a regular basis “for a salary”.

If you’re on an hourly rate on the other hand AND a full timer - then congratulations - you’ve got the best of both worlds already if you can keep it!
I didn’t moan about working any five from seven @ RM when I was there, because it was 200 bar top line per shift on average… Full Timers would get the shorter shifts, agency the 12+ hour ones usually…
they seemed to get upset (my so-called workmates) that I was getting five shifts per week in January and February last year though, seen as “taking away their docket”.
The Union came to the agreement with the firm over “shifts over 12 hours going out to agency” - NOT Me. Why get shirty about me trying to bag this “Best of both worlds” for my own benefit■■?

I prefer the longer shifts, as they have the better, longer runs. The problem with 12-15 hour shifts though - is that nodding dog thing by Thursday, so I really want to be going home thursday having DONE my bit for Queen and Country by that point in the week. 48 hours per week is comfortable. 60+ hours is NOT.
There’s also the angle that commuting four times instead of five - makes a further-out workplace on agency more viable.

When I talk of “Contractual Abuse”, I’m making a prediction for the future, and taking a stand against it now rather than find myself in the commonly-available “any five from seven” only to find that I just can’t keep the ball in the air any more at my advancing age. Life, Health BALANCE. I__f you knew that carrying on the way you have done for the past few years will get you killed in a short space longer - would you change, or would you be set in your ways?__
How many of us on here know of someone who’s ended up rear-ending someone due to “tiredness” hmm?
…Statistically, more pro drivers die in rear-end collisions driving themselves home in the early hours of friday morning in their own cars - than actually get killed whilst at work driving. Go figure!

Okay, you just carry on believing that everyone working 5 shifts a week is being asked to do 15 hour days on a regular basis and is having their contract “abused”. Sure in some cases that happens - not in my job it doesn’t and I am certain in a lot of the ones you just instantly write off it does not either but your too short sighted to see that.

You keep taking your stand and dismissing these jobs that offer 5 from 7 patterns and leave them to those of us who have the foresight to see the bigger picture and that they are usually a way into the better things and are often the better jobs in this industry.

If you want, just consider this as my way of dealing with poor treatment in the past already.
I didn’t ask to be got rid of at cushy work locations don’t forget… For me to be able to dust my feet off, and move on though? - I need to tell myself that I don’t want or need to ever go back to such venues.

…Of course this invites you all to brag about how good your top line is at such venues where the door has already been closed firmly behind me now, how little the management bother you, and how cushy your job is now going to be forever… Welcome to the world of replacing the very people like myself who you tell me that were got rid of “because they rubbed others up the wrong way”…

It is just the dishonesty of how it was done that continues to annoy me from here on. As a consequence of that very dishonesty - I’m more wary in the future as to how people can be “politicallly abused” in the workplace, in order to get rid of those it might prove impossible to get rid of by fair rather than merely legal means otherwise. “Face Fits” will come to mean “Able to be routinely abused whenever we see fit” in the times to come. I’m predicting that THIS will end up being the “New Normal”, just as in the 1930’s slump - plenty of actual EMPLOYERS back then would contract workers to all kinds of built-in abuses, because they knew there were thousands of people looking for jobs, and they had the only job in town!

Same old Same old. History will end up repeating itself as it so often does.
Perhaps some workers on here have already experienced some kind of “tightening up” of their contracts?

Before that future “tipping point” is reached however, there will be other signs that it is coming…
Defaulted “Death in Service” payments
More “Sick Pay” systems being moved onto a “Discretionary” basis, with the mis-direction that perhaps “too many sicks” isn’t the sackable offence it used to be meanwhile…
“Defined Contributions” company pension plans - ending up with significantly less pots than what was paid in by retirement
“Defined Benefits” company pensions, moving on from “closing to new members”, and now actively encouraging existing members to “drop out” (bad move!) or “defer” (because they cannot afford to pay you out now for some reason) or even snuff it in the meanwhile, with any “widow’s” version of that pension involving a rather lower payment than what one would receive by staying alive…

We’ve just seen the stock market plunge over the past few weeks and months, only to almost have bounced fully back by this point - on BOTH sides of the Pond.
What’s the betting that our illustrious pension funds ended up bailing out of a load of stocks and shares at that “market bottom”, only to be left behind on the “V” shaped upwave that happens to be the case, at least for the Western Stock Markets hmm?

“Sorry your pension pot has become disappointingly low. We accidentally threw away half your money as part of our ongoing ‘Churn and Burn’ investment policies of ten years ago” says the “Pension Consultant” in the early 2030’s…

“Rest assured our mistake, although it now leaves you with an impoverished retirement, was an honest mistake on our part. We didn’t go to Jail at any time since for our ‘mistakes’, but you can now pay a second or subsequent visit to the poor house, having foolishly trusted us to invest your money wisely in an obviously deflationary environment for the past decade and longer, where high-yield dividend stocks bacome a must, and ultra-low-yield bonds become a big no-no. We acted the exact opposite here. We figured a guaranteeed small loss over time was better than taking a 0.00001% change of blowing the lot on the open market where some kind of economic recovery would effectively need to be bet upon to take such a drastic risk.” Letter from Pension Funds to Pension Holders, dated April 2030.

Seriously you have too much time on your hands get a job [emoji2960]

Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk

[truckulent]

yorkshire terrier:
Iv applied 3 times me up here in West Yorkshire and not ever got an interview,clean licence,good references and many years experience,sent in a decent well thought through application for every advert and still didn’t get in.
I’m not applying anymore as it proper gets to you when you don’t get a chance.

You’ll be over qualified.

When I worked at Asda for a subby I thought one or two regular employed drivers were spot on lads. But most were thick as ■■■■ workshy louts.

If you’ve experience and a good track record you’re way too good![emoji16]

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

[winseer]

tmcassett:
I’ve not got a clue what any of the above means or what you are going on about now!

However I have tried to give you some friendly advice about finding a good job but as per usual its gone straight over your head and set you off on one of your rants about … well I don’t actually know, although I did detect a little bit of “the world is against me” and “its not my fault” within your post.

Who’s ranting? I’ve explained myself, I’m not prepared to compromise who I am to fit in, and I’ve got another job for the past two months already. What I don’t have any longer, is any hassle at work from people resenting me for being there, and trying to get rid of me the moment I rub them up the wrong way. I leave politics, religion, and socializing at the door, (Easier during Lockdown btw) and the knowledge that I don’t carry a smart phone means no one pesters me for my number neither. I’m “hidden in plain sight” you might say, as I make no secret of who I am still, with my online prescence under the “Winseer” name being for rather longer than I’ve held even a car licence, let alone one with LGV entitlements on it.

I’m now dug-in for the deep recession to come… If I was to be written off as some kind of “Loadsamoney” character, duly run over and got rid of in due course, then presumably everyone else is going to duck and dive just to maintain their own positions from here on… Now that they realize what a cushy but inherantly fragile work position they might be clinging onto in these ever-deepening times of Austerity that we continue to face…

[fonzi]

Winseer:

tmcassett:
I’ve not got a clue what any of the above means or what you are going on about now!

However I have tried to give you some friendly advice about finding a good job but as per usual its gone straight over your head and set you off on one of your rants about … well I don’t actually know, although I did detect a little bit of “the world is against me” and “its not my fault” within your post.

Who’s ranting? I’ve explained myself, I’m not prepared to compromise who I am to fit in, and I’ve got another job for the past two months already. What I don’t have any longer, is any hassle at work from people resenting me for being there, and trying to get rid of me the moment I rub them up the wrong way. I leave politics, religion, and socializing at the door, (Easier during Lockdown btw) and the knowledge that I don’t carry a smart phone means no one pesters me for my number neither. I’m “hidden in plain sight” you might say, as I make no secret of who I am still, with my online prescence under the “Winseer” name being for rather longer than I’ve held even a car licence, let alone one with LGV entitlements on it.

I’m now dug-in for the deep recession to come… If I was to be written off as some kind of “Loadsamoney” character, duly run over and got rid of in due course, then presumably everyone else is going to duck and dive just to maintain their own positions from here on… Now that they realize what a cushy but inherantly fragile work position they might be clinging onto in these ever-deepening times of Austerity that we continue to face…

Hahahaha Winseer You must be an absolute joy to live with. Very funny to read your posts, but please do not park up next to me as I would be Suicidal within twenty minutes of listening to you depressing look on life.

[winseer]

fonzi:

Winseer:

tmcassett:
I’ve not got a clue what any of the above means or what you are going on about now!

However I have tried to give you some friendly advice about finding a good job but as per usual its gone straight over your head and set you off on one of your rants about … well I don’t actually know, although I did detect a little bit of “the world is against me” and “its not my fault” within your post.

Who’s ranting? I’ve explained myself, I’m not prepared to compromise who I am to fit in, and I’ve got another job for the past two months already. What I don’t have any longer, is any hassle at work from people resenting me for being there, and trying to get rid of me the moment I rub them up the wrong way. I leave politics, religion, and socializing at the door, (Easier during Lockdown btw) and the knowledge that I don’t carry a smart phone means no one pesters me for my number neither. I’m “hidden in plain sight” you might say, as I make no secret of who I am still, with my online prescence under the “Winseer” name being for rather longer than I’ve held even a car licence, let alone one with LGV entitlements on it.

I’m now dug-in for the deep recession to come… If I was to be written off as some kind of “Loadsamoney” character, duly run over and got rid of in due course, then presumably everyone else is going to duck and dive just to maintain their own positions from here on… Now that they realize what a cushy but inherantly fragile work position they might be clinging onto in these ever-deepening times of Austerity that we continue to face…

Hahahaha Winseer You must be an absolute joy to live with. Very funny to read your posts, but please do not park up next to me as I would be Suicidal within twenty minutes of listening to you depressing look on life.

Au contraire, Blackadder - by preparing for “s…t happening”, I actually take a far more optimistic view on life than most other people.
There’s always another angle, and I continue to look forward to my ship coming in one day…
“Setbacks” I’ve found are most often the machinations of other people. “Get too far ahead, too correct, or too cheesy-smile “correct” on ANYTHING” - and there will always be someone else out there playing “Sheriff” who’ll take you down a peg or two… I’ve no doubt that I might have been sucked in at an early age myself, and totally corrupted by those more upmarket early life experiences… You know, the ones where people “have it all”, only to then want to pull the ladder up so others cannot share that prosperity. We laughed when people like Nick Leeson brought down the bank because we ordinary folk didn’t lose out personally as a result… Not so the case with Bernie Madoff. We’ll laugh if some driver were to smash up so many vehicles at their yard that an unpopular yard goes under - but we won’t be laughing if we’re one of those workers at the same depot who then couldn’t find employment elsewhere, due to the now-bad reputation of that firm.

It isn’t “Depressing” then, not to me at least - if one prepares for an oncoming recession where a lot of us will choose to take early retirement, consider a complete career change, or even lucks up and can afford to completely turn over their life for the better… The ones that to ME would seem “depressing” are those who will eagerly accept downward moving T&Cs in their jobs, rather than risk losing those jobs to the next person in line who’d now be prepared to do it for even LESS.

If you are too eager to compromise youself - you WILL be compromised at any and every opportunity.

I’m post-lockdown ready now, like I’ve been post-Brexit ready for the past 4 years.
The main worry left to me - are those criminals who’d attack me and my family because I don’t support their politics…
We don’t have any “2nd ammendment” in this country, which leaves us all vulnerable should home invasions come later in this forthcoming economic depression we now face. Who are we gonna call?

NOT “Ghostbusters”, clearly…

I’ve seen gangs of youths wandering around parked cars on the streets of late, as if looking for something to either nick in one of the cars (they seem to be looking in different car windows…) OR steal the entire car.
To date though, a resident coming out to their front porch, glaring at the perps, and folding their arms as if to say “I’m keeping an eye on YOU”… - no outbreaks of violence and/or theft/vandalism have taken place - YET.

Because I don’t drive a flash car, I worry less about such “crimes” myself of course.
These youths are all masked, meaning that one benefit of the lockdown ending officially now - will be that criminals can’t hide in plain sight any longer.
Curfews meanwhile, don’t apply to “Protestors”, so they will hardly apply to criminals going about their daily business neither - will they?

Despite living in a neighborhood with a fairly high crime rate - the only aspect of it that bothers me is having to pay more for my car insurance premiums, just to park my car at my house at night now that I’m not working the graveyard shifts at agency any longer.