The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: northfifeduckling on June 10, 2010, 03:43:46 pm
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This morning a council lorry stopped outside our house for half an hour with the engine running, the guy reading the paper and having a few fags. When I asked if he could save the Council's fuel if he was just waiting here he said they were going to do the ditch...I told him to be bl...careful as the BT cables were quite on the surface and if I lose the phone connection and internet I get pretty angry (he replied that was BT's problem and I nearly shouted saying no it was my problem!!!) - an hour later there were 2 of them, which had done 30 minutes of work, then both waited in the digger (for what??), reading the paper and having a few fags...2 hours later another car arrived, all 3 guys walked up the hill to excamine the verge. 3rd guy leaves, the other 2 sit in the digger...after another hour I overheard them saying in an annoyed tone "another half hour". After their lunchbreak they leave, then just now the lorry came back here to sit outside my house, having a few fags and staring into my windows!! I'm bl...fuming!
What a dream job - can I get paid for doing nothing and staring in people's windows?? I'm not sad if a few of those get the sack as one who actually gets on with the job could have done that in half an hour...grrrr :&>
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NFD Aye and they go away on training courses to learn to do it safely at your expense as well ??? >:( :wave:
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Found this & immediately thought of Fife Council
(http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t209/daveyravey1966/abrn233l.jpg)
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;D ;D
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It's not just your council:
About 3 years ago a drink-driver smashed into my landrover (passed out with his foot on accelerator - hit me head on doing 60 & still accelerating).
Anyway, about 1/2 hour after emergency services arrived and got to work doing their thing, a council truck turned up to clean up the spilled oil, etc. I pointed out to them that my insurance had said they would be removing my vehicle in about 1 1/2 hrs (turned out more like 2 1/2), and they wouldn't be able to do anything 'til then as the landy was too badly damaged to move without a towtruck.
They just shrugged, got back in their truck and read their papers 'til it was moved. Nice to know how my council tax gets spent. >:(
mab
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Could I respectfully suggest these incidents are also reported to the respective Council Managers as well as on here?
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I work in Glasgow and for the past 3 weeks every time I walk through George Sq (various times of day) there is a van with council blokes sitting in their van just reading the Daily Record! Always annoys me.
I am a personal injury lawyer and I probably should not say on here what I think about the difference it makes what employer people have when it comes to motivation to work, time off work etc. eg after an accident ..... (I did write a big post but decided to delete it!) Suffice to say Council employees have it good as indeed do all (oops bettter delete that too!)
Getting cynical and jaded in my old age ;D ;D
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Good Morning vair Hello Annie love Anne Do you honestly think management are going to make ripples on their lovely smooth pond Get real lass.
vair from your post I see I must be carefull but what/who but a Pratt takes a sawn off old pole ladder to drill a hole in a wall.Same with her with the plastic round her ankles if she looked where she was going in her stupid footware it would not have happened more than likely. ??? >:( Its high time folk started to look after them selves a bit more instead of blaming others for their negligent behaviour :farmer:
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Suffice to say Council employees have it good as indeed do all (oops bettter delete that too!)
Have you ever worked in local government? If not, refrain from such remarks. I worked in local government for 20 years and believe me, it's no bed of roses for many. Most work really hard, sometimes with very difficult customers and in trying circumstances. Yes, there are some who take advantage, as there are in any sphere of employment - and I get just as angry about it as anyone, because I KNOW how annoying it is for those who do work hard and do their best for their communities. Most people who work in local government DO have a sense of public duty, so please don't tar them all with the same brush.
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Rosemary as I read the post the lazy idle cliques of workmen we see are are eligible for the claims stated .A touch sensitive ain't we?Would you like me to take video pictures of the similar incidents in Grimsby ? :farmer:
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Suffice to say Council employees have it good as indeed do all (oops bettter delete that too!)
Have you ever worked in local government? If not, refrain from such remarks. I worked in local government for 20 years and believe me, it's no bed of roses for many. Most work really hard, sometimes with very difficult customers and in trying circumstances. Yes, there are some who take advantage, as there are in any sphere of employment - and I get just as angry about it as anyone, because I KNOW how annoying it is for those who do work hard and do their best for their communities. Most people who work in local government DO have a sense of public duty, so please don't tar them all with the same brush.
I think this is a little over protective, Rosemary. No-one would tar everyone with the same brush but we all have incidences such as have been described on here and it is human nature to get irate about them. We are not criticising every local authority in every county, but I believe we all feel that there could be more stringent control over workers out on the road. Are spot checks done on these workers for instance. Do they have strict times for specific jobs? Perhaps you can elaborate and put our minds at rest that these incidents are isolated occasions?
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Most of my jobs except this B&B have been mainly for Leicester City or Leicester County council and now Clackmannan in a minor role!! I have noticed a lot of money wasted on the wrong things so money could not be spent on the more needed things!!!! Wrong things,Staff Sickness, Old, malfunctioning buildings, Corperate entertainment, Transport mainly but I would rule out training as that IS necessary, Right things, exiptment, staffing, services to service users!
Most white collar workers in the council work reasonably hard BUT, the private sector is very differnet, I had much more target driven work and DID reap rewards from it in the form of bonus whereas, as a council employee, no more reward than your wages and job satisfaction.
Manual workers are the same, if you push your self too hard and get the job done quickly you get no reward just put onto another job, if one worker dose loads then all the others will suffer!! Hope you understand as I am rambling on and not finishing my private job of cleaning this house ;) Motto, the more you do, the more you are expected to do but still end up with the same wage!!!!
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I must say that what I described does not only apply to work appointed by the Council, they might be contractors for all I know. At my local hospital I do wonder who all these women are who are standing around chatting with clipboards cradled in their arms??? What's the job desciption? I feel like going back to my academic roots and do a study if someone might pay me for it ;D
Sandy , I just read your post - this is really sad in a way and one reason why stuff doens't get done and costs a lot! In the private sector this attitude would just not be acceptable, would it? You'd get fired... :&>
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And just to think- if these wasters think they earn their money now for sitting in their wagons- whats goin to happen when all these cuts come in? I can just see them sitting on their fat asses thinking they shouldn't have to get out and do anything because their money is less than it was when they only sat in their wagons for half of the day-
awww- i feel better now!!!!
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Did you know each council worker has to sing this song every morning when they get to work?
WE'RE BUSY DOING NOTHING,
WORKING THE WHOLE DAY THROUGH.
TRYING TO FIND LOTS OF THINGS,
NOT TO DO.
WE'RE BUSY DOING NOTHING,
ISN T IT JUST A CRIME?
WE'D LIKE TO BE UNHAPPY,
BUT WE NEVER DO HAVE THE TIME.
;) ;D
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Does Highways/ roadworkers amount to the same thing here. We recently had a Council highways truck pull up outside our field gate and park turning their engine off. After it had been sat there for about 45 mins I thought I would just be nosy and see what they were up to , thinking we were obviously going to have our patch of lane dug up. As I walked nonchelently passed the cab I noticed 2 people in it both fast asleep in the sunshine. my dog jumped up against the cab door startling the driver awake. ''Sorry '' I said as I pulled the dog off, ''thats alright love '' the driver replied,'' another half hour and we knock off''.
''oh thats alright then '' I said,(sarcastically but they didnt notice) ''would you like a cup of tea whilst you wait''. ''nah your alright love'' they said ''we've brought a flask with us''
I must admit it did make me smile a bit however if they had accepted the tea I think I would have been bloody annoyed.
My husband used to work for Bath City council, he worked for them for about 12 yrs before saying he couldnt stand it any more. However now he says that the perks and benefits ie final salary pensions, 40p mile petrol allowance and that was 10 yrs ago!!! he now gets 16p a mile in the private sector!!, he used to get luncheon vouchers.........bloody hell the list goes on and on............ yes he used to work hard between the hours of 9am - 5pm and then came home and his time was his own. Not now he can still be working at 11pm and starts every morning at 6am. (his computer makes a little jingle when it starts up). I am sorry the public sector in my opinion needs a damn good shake up, not all of it but a hell of a lot of it. :'(
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A stupid question to some no doubt "Did you know he's Chief Exec; at the council now and earns £180,000 a year.Earns EARNS for doing what did you read about our so called he got the option then they whoever they are gave him an alleged £500.000 hand shake to go.They grant themselves huge pay rises far beyond the cost of inflation.Who cares its YOUR money they are getting hold of.The same with this Bank crash Grimsby had £m7 invested don't matter its its not theirs.They should be made to pay it back.I know well if you do that you wont get any worthwhile person take the job.Worthwhile and hes just wasted £M7 and taken another pay increase but we are going to have some redundancy's to save money ??? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D :'( :'( :farmer:
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A stupid question to some no doubt "Did you know he's Chief Exec; at the council now and earns £180,000 a year.Earns EARNS for doing what did you read about our so called he got the option then they whoever they are gave him an alleged £500.000 hand shake to go.They grant themselves huge pay rises far beyond the cost of inflation.Who cares its YOUR money they are getting hold of.The same with this Bank crash Grimsby had £m7 invested don't matter its its not theirs.They should be made to pay it back.I know well if you do that you wont get any worthwhile person take the job.Worthwhile and hes just wasted £M7 and taken another pay increase but we are going to have some redundancy's to save money ??? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D :'( :'( :farmer:
I'm not sure I understand this post as I find it incoherent but if it's aimed at local government, it's nonsense as CEO salaries are set nationally.
I find Jackie's previous post frankly insulting.
Annie, if you want answers to these questions, ask your local councillor.
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DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT ROSEMARY LOTS OF OTHERS DO JUDGEIN BY MY EMAILS
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Has anyone been on a golf course mid week and encountered all the CEO s that are supposed to be working? Also try the really posh restaurants and see how lunch goes on til about 3.30pm.
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To mention but 2 Sheila you must surely remember the Chief Exec; debarcle a couple of years ago ??? :farmer:
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When I worked in Local Government we had a saying ............... "if only the rate payers knew"
If you think that sums it up, think again, we had a bloke who went playing bingo nearly every afternoon. Everybody knew about it and one day he was hauled into the office. His excuse was that he'd been missing because he'd gone down the basement, sat down and fell asleep.
If you'd ever seen the basement there was no space to walk never mind sit down and it was that cold you'd have a job to fall asleep. Boy, was he hauled over the coals, they told him not to do it again.
Another bloke came in early, on flexi time, sat and drank coffee, picked his horses and then went out "on his rounds" (to the bookies). He generally went out again mid pm. ( to collect any winnings ) and the flexi time system automatically clocked him off at the end of the day.
And that's only the half of it, none of the above is why we said "if only the rate payers knew"
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i have gone from private to public sector and wow it was a culture shock. But me and my direct colleagues(most of them) do work hard at our jobs. I did once complain(to a different council) about a council van i saw parked up with the engine running and workman asleep, i went off walked the dogs and when i came back over 30 minutes later engine was still running. I rang the council management and told them i would appreciate if my money was not spent on leaving engines running while people had breaks, he was very appologetic and said he would remind all the team to knock engines off. Whether he did or not i'll never know.
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i have gone from private to public sector and wow it was a culture shock. But me and my direct colleagues(most of them) do work hard at our jobs. I did once complain(to a different council) about a council van i saw parked up with the engine running and workman asleep, i went off walked the dogs and when i came back over 30 minutes later engine was still running. I rang the council management and told them i would appreciate if my money was spent on leaving engines running while people had breaks, he was very appologetic and said he would remind all the team to knock engines off. Whether he did or not i'll never know.
love the fact he was going to tell them to turn the engines off not actually that they shouldnt be sleeping in their trucks!! :D :D
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On a seperate thread I have mentioned I put an old static caravan on my land for the goats to use as a bed and that one of my neighbours reported us to the Council for not having plannning permission. Well, apparantly because we are a business we do need permission, had we been a private house then for the exact same caravan in the exact same place we would have needed no permission, mental, crazy or what? Anyway, 2 weeks ago a man from the planning dept came out and took pictures. Well today our only other neighbours (who are huffed as we will not sell them a piece of land and this is only their holiday home so only here once in a blue moon) had a visit from planners from the council. This time it took 2 of them and they took pictures - what were wrong with the set the first guy took???? Why was a second visit deemed necessary?
What a ridiculous waste of us tax payers money, the Council deserves every bit of flack they get when they do not give things so often wrong - they deserve the flack these previous posts have mentioned.
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Well, apparently because we are a business we do need permission
Even if it's an extension room for the hotel?
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Well, apparently because we are a business we do need permission
Even if it's an extension room for the hotel?
I think that would probably make the situation worse Annie! :) It's such a carry on, it really is.
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Can it be any worse? I think your neighbours may be objecting because it is an animal house, and they are anticipating smell and noise?
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Can it be any worse? I think your neighbours may be objecting because it is an animal house, and they are anticipating smell and noise?
I don't think they could get away with that as an excuse because the animals are already there and have been for almost 4 years now. They are a bunch of stuck up sods who need a day in the real world - oh did I really say that in public??? ::) :P
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Yes, you did and I agree - probably because I can't afford a holiday home. ;D ;D ;D
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Surly their must be a potion of your property that is 'home' and not business.
My property is mainly business, ie the land and outbuildings have the deeds drawn up in the business name, however the house I had to buy personally and the deeds are in my personal name. This is because its seen as a 'benefit in kind' if I were to live in a house owned by my business unless I payed rent to my business for it. Cant you mention that the animals are 'pets'?
Back to the thread - I can tell you one thing - I'd be the same if worked for the council a good cup of tea every couple of hours and a sit back in the van. In general a happy employee is a more productive one. Yes there must be people who do take the piss, but in general I bet they are judged on their work at some point and do have to work for a living.
Its always the case when I am out working, you bust a bollock all morning then the moment you sit back and have a cup of tea and a break somebody walkers go by and exclaims 'ah thats the life mate in't it, sitting back looking at that view'. - Yes it is a nice view - but I am too busy getting my wind back from the mornings work to really take it in right now!!
Ta
Baz
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That will be my next bargaining tool when it gets official. :)