What’s on your mind?

[Scepticalscribe]

All couriers are overworked at this time of year. But this years postal strikes have increased the pressure.

That is true.

In truth, I'd be happy if they selected a specific date - and allowed for delivery to take place within a day - rather than this attempt to set an improbable and unrealistic and optimistic window of an hour.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I’ve decided to work from home this week to cut down crossing paths with all the people who are ill at work. The wife and kids are off too but thankfully my office is separate from the house so I can avoid being tasked with countless things my wife doesn’t want to do as I try and work. Looking forward to another day of peace tomorrow while I get some work done.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I’ve decided to work from home this week to cut down crossing paths with all the people who are ill at work. The wife and kids are off too but thankfully my office is separate from the house so I can avoid being tasked with countless things my wife doesn’t want to do as I try and work. Looking forward to another day of peace tomorrow while I get some work done.

I’m ill at the moment and I’d not consider going to work in the office as I am. When most people can wfh these days, I think it’s very unreasonable for people to go in sick.

 

[yaxomoxay]

I’m ill at the moment and I’d not consider going to work in the office as I am. When most people can wfh these days, I think it’s very unreasonable for people to go in sick.

Completely agree with you. Stay home, rest, and recover.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

...

Ah, despatched. A lovely, elegant and exquisitely formal verb.

And a delightfully prolix response...

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I’m ill at the moment and I’d not consider going to work in the office as I am. When most people can wfh these days, I think it’s very unreasonable for people to go in sick.

Completely agree with you.

Not only is it unreasonable for people to go to work while ill, it is also unreasonable (and unfair) for management to expect this from their staff.

As @yaxomoxay says, stay at home, rest, recuperate and recover.

Completely agree with you. Stay home, rest, and recover.

Well said.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Completely agree with you.

Not only is it unreasonable for people to go to work while ill, it is also unreasonable (and unfair) for management to expect this from their staff.

As @yaxomoxay says, stay at home, rest, recuperate and recover.

Well said.

I think the expectations come from the staff not the managers. But some people are like that. Think they have to prove being the hero coming in whilst sick.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

And a delightfully prolix response...

I thrill to the vast, subtle - exquisitely precise - and gloriously rich and descriptive vocabulary of the English language.

Now, I love the French language (and culture and cuisine...) while the strange melancholy of the sounds of Russian and the wonderfully expressive music of Italian (to my ear) both appeal enormously to me, but I revel in, and take a profound delight in, English, especially when someone expresses themsleves eloquently.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I think the expectations come from the staff not the managers. But some people are like that. Think they have to prove being the hero coming in whilst sick.

I had a boss (an unpleasant boss, if truth be told, on one of my international deployments) whose proclivities included despatching regular emails at midnight, and making it clear that any suggestion of, or display of, ill-health was merely a major inconvenience, rather than a cause for concern, let alone sympathy or support. A most unpleasant working environment, in a country that was itself torn by endless conflict.

 

[kazmac]

I’m ill at the moment and I’d not consider going to work in the office as I am. When most people can wfh these days, I think it’s very unreasonable for people to go in sick.

Feel better soon. Unfortunately, at my beloved long gone job I was the only one who called out sick. My supervisors and peer rarely did, so thank you for being considerate. Hang in there.

@Scepticalscribe I know this time of year is rough for you too sending big hugs.

Well, after the two loveliest days of my recent life in October, real life has been ridiculously obnoxious in ways I’ll avoid going into. Mom is hanging in, and I am too.

Will resume looking for work once things even out here.

Wish everyone a great 2023, I know it is great for me.
🤗

 

[ivanwi11iams]

If you work with people across multiple timezones, use the 'Send Later' feature in your email client. This will help your colleagues from receiving emails during 'out of work' time(s)...

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

I thrill to the vast, subtle - exquisitely precise - and gloriously rich and descriptive vocabulary of the English language.

Now, I love the French language (and culture and cuisine...) while the strange melancholy of the sounds of Russian and the wonderfully expressive music of Italian (to my ear) both appeal enormously to me, but I revel in, and take a profound delight in, English, especially when someone expresses themsleves eloquently.

Some languages are built for oratory. Papua New Guinea Tok Pisin is one of those. It has all the best bits of English, German and chunks from the local languages. Like English it is a language that is easy to understand, simple to mangle and yet incredibly difficult to master.

 

[compwiz1202]

I think the expectations come from the staff not the managers. But some people are like that. Think they have to prove being the hero coming in whilst sick.

Don't know where the people are posting, but in the US it's more about not getting close to enough paid time off.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I think the expectations come from the staff not the managers. But some people are like that. Think they have to prove being the hero coming in whilst sick.

We have a few of them but thankfully not in my office but the one next door. One guy is in at 7am every single morning and leaves around 7-8pm. He loves to tell everyone how many hours he works but we all know he’s been sidelined 3 times in the last 6 years and isn’t very good at his job. We also fail to be impressed as it seems sad that work is his life. Sickness is weakness to him too. I haven’t had a days sick in about 10 years myself but would never go in if I was feeling bad and spreading it to others, that’s beyond selfish. I work from home when I like though so it helps.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Little Miss Entitlement (avatar <-- see left) is on water rations tonight, as she is having an anaesthetic tomorrow.
She is not happy.
Does anybody know how to explain to a kitty that the empty tummy is for her own good?

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Don't know where the people are posting, but in the US it's more about not getting close to enough paid time off.

I have no idea what the standard is in the US but in the UK we get 20 days per year that we can choose, plus bank holidays. The standard minimum by law is 28 days holiday in a 12 month period.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Feel better soon. Unfortunately, at my beloved long gone job I was the only one who called out sick. My supervisors and peer rarely did, so thank you for being considerate. Hang in there.

@Scepticalscribe I know this time of year is rough for you too sending big hugs.

Well, after the two loveliest days of my recent life in October, real life has been ridiculously obnoxious in ways I’ll avoid going into. Mom is hanging in, and I am too.

Will resume looking for work once things even out here.

Wish everyone a great 2023, I know it is great for me.
🤗

Wishing you a great 2023 as well.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Don't know where the people are posting, but in the US it's more about not getting close to enough paid time off.

I’m in the UK. I get 25 days holiday and 8 days of national holidays. We get paid sick pay, but people don’t take those as extra holiday generally. But I don’t take sick days. Just wfh.

 

[Apple fanboy]

We have a few of them but thankfully not in my office but the one next door. One guy is in at 7am every single morning and leaves around 7-8pm. He loves to tell everyone how many hours he works but we all know he’s been sidelined 3 times in the last 6 years and isn’t very good at his job. We also fail to be impressed as it seems sad that work is his life. Sickness is weakness to him too. I haven’t had a days sick in about 10 years myself but would never go in if I was feeling bad and spreading it to others, that’s beyond selfish. I work from home when I like though so it helps.

My official hours are 8-4:30. I rarely leave too late. Maybe 5 or so. But I often start work again in the evening. But that goes with the territory with senior management.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I have no idea what the standard is in the US but in the UK we get 20 days per year that we can choose, plus bank holidays. The standard minimum by law is 28 days holiday in a 12 month period.

Not many firms offer only 20 days these days. You should point that out to your employer!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Feel better soon. Unfortunately, at my beloved long gone job I was the only one who called out sick. My supervisors and peer rarely did, so thank you for being considerate. Hang in there.

@Scepticalscribe I know this time of year is rough for you too sending big hugs.

Well, after the two loveliest days of my recent life in October, real life has been ridiculously obnoxious in ways I’ll avoid going into. Mom is hanging in, and I am too.

Will resume looking for work once things even out here.

Wish everyone a great 2023, I know it is great for me.
🤗

What a lovely post, and thank you.

Wishing you a wonderful 2023 as well.

Don't know where the people are posting, but in the US it's more about not getting close to enough paid time off.

Some of us are posting from Europe, the EU, the UK and/or British Isles, where paid annual leave is decent - my father's close to the end of his career was around 35 days per annum - not counting public holidays - (he was a relatively senior public servant), and we enjoy paid maternity leave, paid sick leave, and so on.

 

[scubachap]

I thrill to the vast, subtle - exquisitely precise - and gloriously rich and descriptive vocabulary of the English language.

Now, I love the French language (and culture and cuisine...) while the strange melancholy of the sounds of Russian and the wonderfully expressive music of Italian (to my ear) both appeal enormously to me, but I revel in, and take a profound delight in, English, especially when someone expresses themsleves eloquently.

Here's a little Xmas video for you - from a year or two ago. I often seem to stumble across Simon Roper's stuff on Youtube and they're always fascinating so I thought I'd share...

London (well SE accents) through the ages:

 

[Scepticalscribe]

My mother is on my mind; she passed away four years ago today.

On Monday, I headed in to the French bakery for the bread I had had to cancel on Saturday (due to the fact that I spent ten hours in A&E) and had a coffee there (not surprisingly, the coffee in the French bakery - they also have a small, but excellent, café - is excellent) with an academic friend that had been deferred three times the previous week (icy weather conditions and massive nosebleeds both equally culpable).

While there, awaiting the (belated) arrival of my friend, I found myself remembering how Mother adored their croissants, especially their almond and chocolate croissants, - which meant that whenever the carer or I were purchasing the usual weekly French bread order we always added some almond and chocolate croissants for Mother, - and I vividly remembered (and couldn't help grinning at the memory) the sheer greedy and uninhibited delight she took in devouring her almond and chocolate croissants from the French bakery.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Here's a little Xmas video for you - from a year or two ago. I often seem to stumble across Simon Roper's stuff on Youtube and they're always fascinating so I thought I'd share...

London (well SE accents) through the ages:

That is brilliant, absolutely fascinating.

I love this sort of thing, and, while I normally refuse (or prefer not) to watch videos posted by others, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Sub-titles with some of the earlier sections would have been very helpful (I recall that I had an edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales where the respective "modern" English and Middle English spellings were on facing pages which greatly enhanced my enjoyment of, and appreciation of, - not to mention my understanding of - the work).

Thank you for sharing. That was excellent.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

And I have been informed (their website and a text message) that I can expect to receive delivery of my (artisan) sausages today.