bad stuff thread.

[nightwolf]

*Context: A "Domestic Helper" is a common thing in most Shanghai households: she cooks, cleans and hangs out the washing for two hours a day, six days a week and costs about 150GBP per household per month. Normally they will deal with three households a day, making 450GBP a month. Doesn't seem a lot? To put it into perspective, the average security guard makes about 80GBP a month, a factory worker 150GBP a month and a fully-qualified teacher 400 GBP a month.

 

For that amount of money and time, I'd probably do the same thing, even in England. 150GBP is a month's worth of petrol, plus food shopping. Bah!

 

I always have the doors locked, whether I'm home or not, its far too easy to be doing something, such as listening to music and for someone to wander into the house.

 

Thankfully, whenever my housemate and I have forgotten, we've been at home and we have 5 little dogs who really don't like strangers and can bark over any noise to alert us.

 

Well until the person in the house goes over to the pups at least, but that's like 10 seconds of full on barking.

 

EDIT: Forgot why I was here.

 

My body has decided last night was a good time to have a full body meltdown, headache, stomach ache the works, I'm sat in work literally trying not to move from the first position I've found that doesn't cause me agony and I'm trying desperately not to get up from my seat.

[Jamba]

For that amount of money and time, I'd probably do the same thing, even in England. 150GBP is a month's worth of petrol, plus food shopping. Bah!

 

I always have the doors locked, whether I'm home or not, its far too easy to be doing something, such as listening to music and for someone to wander into the house.

 

Thankfully, whenever my housemate and I have forgotten, we've been at home and we have 5 little dogs who really don't like strangers and can bark over any noise to alert us.

 

Well until the person in the house goes over to the pups at least, but that's like 10 seconds of full on barking.

 

EDIT: Forgot why I was here.

 

My body has decided last night was a good time to have a full body meltdown, headache, stomach ache the works, I'm sat in work literally trying not to move from the first position I've found that doesn't cause me agony and I'm trying desperately not to get up from my seat.

 

WOw, sounds like appendicitis possibly... that or a harsh dose of trapped wind. Have you been chomping down chewing gum?

[MoogleViper]

*Context: A "Domestic Helper" is a common thing in most Shanghai households: she cooks, cleans and hangs out the washing for two hours a day, six days a week and costs about 150GBP per household per month. Normally they will deal with three households a day, making 450GBP a month. Doesn't seem a lot? To put it into perspective, the average security guard makes about 80GBP a month, a factory worker 150GBP a month and a fully-qualified teacher 400 GBP a month.

 

Why do they get paid so much?

[Charlie]

Why do they get paid so much?

 

Might be different in Shanghai but my friends parents have one in Jakarta (which is common for expats) and they get paid more than standard because the people who hire them get paid a lot. The helpers realise this and put their prices up.

[Iun]

Why do they get paid so much?

 

High demand and low supply more than anything else. Even the shitty ones get paid a good wage. Many middle-class families here just can't be arsed with domestic tasks - the boys are pampered and never learn how to take care of themselves and the girls are brought up to believe that they are princesses who will not need to lift a finger around the house because they will marry a rich man who can afford servants. All of them. Every single one of them.*

 

*note: this only applies to middle-class Shanghai-born families.

[nightwolf]

WOw, sounds like appendicitis possibly... that or a harsh dose of trapped wind. Have you been chomping down chewing gum?

 

I think mostly it's a combination of this:

 

1. Being a lady and having that time of the month

2. Bad posture

3. Sitting at screens for 12+ hours a day (work has long hours recently)

4. Having a bad bowel system to begin with

 

Unfortunately, its hit me all in one day, I've been under the weather for a little while, so it was bound to come a long. From what I know of appendicitis its incredibly painful, I was able to drive a car and sit here today for the last 5/6 hours. Its basically..

 

My own damn fault.

 

But thank you for your concern @Jamba! Its more than can be said for my colleagues.

[Eenuh]

Urgh, getting so fed up with this company.

 

They just keep loading more work onto me, yet you never get anything in return for it (not even a thank you). Right now I have to cover my usual two Dutch email queue and a Czech queue. That is my normal stuff which most agents would do.

 

On top of that however, I do weekly benchmarks for other agents, I analyse/review the survey scores that come in for my team, I am one of the two persons people can come to with questions regarding troubleshooting etc.

 

Then now, they have also asked me to do translation work on emails for another queue, translate and record the phone survey, help with interviews for Dutch people, cover other people's queues while they are on training/holiday...

 

It's like the list becomes neverending and they just keep shoving more stuff my way. What pisses me off most about all this, is that I applied for a different position 2 months ago, however they have not replied about it yet. Me and another colleague have been enquiring about it and nothing has happened yet. Finally she got told today by someone that she was unsuccesful. They only told her this because she kept asking this person the same question again and again. No official message or anything. And in the meantime they have put the position online again for people to apply to. So since I haven't received any information yet about my application, I am just going to assume I was unsuccesful as well. Urgh.

 

 

 

I really wish I could just start working for myself, so I wouldn't have to deal with crappy management etc.

[jayseven]

@Eenuh they can't fire you if you say that you feel there is too much work. Do you have a line manager or someone in HR you can sit down with for a brief meeting? If I was your employer and I was risking losing a talented member of staff who was able to deal with a lot of stuff that my other workforce can't hire, I'd make sure I wasn't pushing them out the door by overworking them. It may be that they simply don't realise they're asking too much of you. If you're excelling at your job currently then the natural assumption for them is to think that your current workload is too easy.

 

Ultimately, though, your employers or your manager or whoever sheds the work your way is simply not thinking about you. They aren't worrying about how they'll impact upon your working life. You have to play the politics a bit - if you can surmise to them that doing x y and z takes a certain amount of time per day to do to a certain level of quality, then you can show that introducing another task will detriment things all-round.

 

Essentially the number one rule in the workplace (in my limited experience) is simply; if you don't ask, you don't get.

 

I've got colleagues who have a small list of qualms of over-work/under-pay, but the fact is they never mention it to our supervisors. I went to my boss and highlighted an area of my working day where I'm being unproductive due to this and that, and they've altered things. Ultimately my job is about output and results, and as a consequence if I can structure an argument that proves I can be a more productive employee if things changed... well, they'll change! Of course I've had ideas shot down as well, but I really do feel that I've done myself a world of good by bringing my displeasure to the attention of my superiors.

 

tl;dr your bosses may not know what a burden the extra work is, and may be willing to compromise. Your working life is a huge chunk of your day, don't let it eat into the rest of your life

 

(and @Frank I know what you mean - there are whirlpools out there that do nothing but drain you of your attention)

[Eenuh]

@Eenuh they can't fire you if you say that you feel there is too much work. Do you have a line manager or someone in HR you can sit down with for a brief meeting? If I was your employer and I was risking losing a talented member of staff who was able to deal with a lot of stuff that my other workforce can't hire, I'd make sure I wasn't pushing them out the door by overworking them. It may be that they simply don't realise they're asking too much of you. If you're excelling at your job currently then the natural assumption for them is to think that your current workload is too easy.

 

Ultimately, though, your employers or your manager or whoever sheds the work your way is simply not thinking about you. They aren't worrying about how they'll impact upon your working life. You have to play the politics a bit - if you can surmise to them that doing x y and z takes a certain amount of time per day to do to a certain level of quality, then you can show that introducing another task will detriment things all-round.

 

Essentially the number one rule in the workplace (in my limited experience) is simply; if you don't ask, you don't get.

 

I've got colleagues who have a small list of qualms of over-work/under-pay, but the fact is they never mention it to our supervisors. I went to my boss and highlighted an area of my working day where I'm being unproductive due to this and that, and they've altered things. Ultimately my job is about output and results, and as a consequence if I can structure an argument that proves I can be a more productive employee if things changed... well, they'll change! Of course I've had ideas shot down as well, but I really do feel that I've done myself a world of good by bringing my displeasure to the attention of my superiors.

 

tl;dr your bosses may not know what a burden the extra work is, and may be willing to compromise. Your working life is a huge chunk of your day, don't let it eat into the rest of your life

 

(and @Frank I know what you mean - there are whirlpools out there that do nothing but drain you of your attention)

 

Thing is I am being ordered to do different things by different team leaders/managers. And they all seem to ignore each other and not mention stuff to others. For example I am one of the only 3 Dutch speaking people in there. They needed to get stuff translated two days ago, but the person who was supposed to do it said he would be too busy. But because the team leader responsible for this job was not in, I was not told to take over this job until this afternoon. And then suddenly they were rushing to try to get it done. I told my team leader about it (as she came over to tell me to take over someone's email queue) and I told her I can't keep doing all this stuff. And she got annoyed that the other team leaders did not pass it by her.

 

So yes, lots of mismanagement. Even when you mention something, nothing gets done about it. For example I was asked to do assessment for new Dutch people. I told them I would do the written one but not the verbal one. Yet two days later they sent me some more assessments and told me to do the verbal ones. I just replied and said I wouldn't do it. I have the feeling they are still gonna come back and get me to do it though... Urgh.

 

Anyway, the company is a bit shit and lots of people are unhappy by the way things are handled. All they care about is getting everything done quickly, they don't really care how you do it. I mean I have had to cover Spanish, Italian, French and German queues and they still expect you to get good quality work done quickly. =/

[Charlie]

Ultimately, though, your employers or your manager or whoever sheds the work your way is simply not thinking about you. They aren't worrying about how they'll impact upon your working life. You have to play the politics a bit - if you can surmise to them that doing x y and z takes a certain amount of time per day to do to a certain level of quality, then you can show that introducing another task will detriment things all-round.

 

Essentially the number one rule in the workplace (in my limited experience) is simply; if you don't ask, you don't get.

 

I've got colleagues who have a small list of qualms of over-work/under-pay, but the fact is they never mention it to our supervisors. I went to my boss and highlighted an area of my working day where I'm being unproductive due to this and that, and they've altered things. Ultimately my job is about output and results, and as a consequence if I can structure an argument that proves I can be a more productive employee if things changed... well, they'll change! Of course I've had ideas shot down as well, but I really do feel that I've done myself a world of good by bringing my displeasure to the attention of my superiors.

 

These paragraphs are brilliant, Jay. Nothing more to add than that really but just wanted to say that I think you're playing the game at work perfectly.

[Iun]

The online marketplace - taobao.com - where I buy all my shit has just changed somehow and I can no longer buy shit from there. They won't accept my foreign ID anymore...HOW AM I GOING TO GET MY MIDORI NOW, FUCKERS???

[Blade]

Fucks sake!

 

I ended up missing my bus as I was too busy reading this chuffing forum to even realise it whizzing pass!!

 

Its absolutely freezing!!

[Beast]

I'm not pissed off or anything, just confused as to how to feel more than anything. So let me tell you what happened and then you guys tell me, if you were in my shoes, how you would feel if this happened to you:

 

Basically, what happened was that my manager was counting the tills (there's only two) and she said "Huh, that's strange?"

I asked her what was strange.

"There's a pound missing from each till..."

Admittedly, I thought it was strange too. "Exactly one pound?"

"Yeah"

"How strange. Do you normally find money missing like that?"

"Yeah but it's not usually bang on on either till"

"That is quite weird!" I said.

Then she said "Yeah, it seems dishonest".

So I said to her "Well, check on the tills who were serving handling cash"

So she checks both and, since she counted last time, I served on both tills with cash. Now, I'm pretty sure that I gave the customers correct change. I couldn't stake my life on it but I'd say I were pretty confident enough to say I did.

Anyway, she then said "Ah no Dazz, you're a suspect" with a half-smile, half-serious face like she was joking but there was some seriousness behind it (in my opinion anyway)

"I may have mis-changed but I'm pretty sure I gave them correct change...sorry" but all was okay after that. We did checks and stuff like that.

 

Unfortunately, on my drive home, I replayed the scenario in my head. What did she mean by "dishonest" and "I'm a suspect"? I mean, don't get me wrong, I can totally see her point of view of me being the only one on the tills since the last check-up but why didn't the possibility of her counting it wrong come up either? I guess I felt a little bit like she were accusing me or something. Should I have spoke up or shouldn't I? Am I overreacting and reading into too much (most likely) or am I making a fair point?

 

I probably misread the situation but I felt accused a little. I mean, why the hell would I risk my job over £2?! Ugh, I think I'm overthinking things...

[jayseven]

@Eenuh keep telling them that you're too busy. If someone else can do it because they know that they can bung it onto your work queue then you can do it too. If it's mis-management then keep bringing it up and your team leader will have a duty to chase it up and sort it out. Hope work doesn't get too unbearable though

 

@Animal you are overthinking it :P a pound here and there can simply mean a mistake or two. Nothing major. Maybe the till wasn't set up with the right change in the first place! Plenty of legislation in place to protect you from being fired by a suspicion of theft, especially for such a minimal amount.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

@Animal, I understand perfectly how it can feel, but I do think you're overthinking it as well. Since you were the one at the tills since the last count, your manager logically has to consider you a suspect, but seeing how quickly she let it go, I hardly think she genuinely suspects you of stealing. I say don't sweat it. Of course, if it comes up again, you should defend your case, but unless it does, I'd say just forget about it.

[Fierce_LiNk]

I'm on her side, @Animal. A pound from each till means £2 per shift. Let's say 3 shifts a week, that's 6 quid. We'll say you work 40 weeks a year, making it £240 a year.

 

It's the perfect crime. You could already have bought your holiday home in the Bahamas by now for all we know. True suspect.

Not serious, she probably miscounted.

[nightwolf]

Ah @Animal don't worry about it! These things happen.

 

I've hit that wall with my housemate. I don't know if you guys get the same thing, but its that feeling where everything is going well and then suddenly they do something pretty bad in your eyes. Then you can't seem to let it go and everything that didn't bother you before, bothers you now?

 

Well, its not too bad at least, its been 18 months we've shared a house together, for me to get to this point isn't bad. Unfortunately, the wrong doing doesn't involve me directly, but affects her dogs and not something I approve of (the situation, the pups are awesome). I'm pretty tired and cannot step in directly. But I'm concerned and annoyed.

 

Oh goodie!

[ReZourceman]

What happened yo?

[martinist]

I've been recalled for jury duty on December 12th

[bob]

Our Christmas tree is a bit wonky.

[Gentleben]

I've been recalled for jury duty on December 12th

 

Every year I hope I get jury duty and every year so far I haven't.

[Iun]

I'm peeing blood again.

 

Good times.

[nightwolf]

@Iun damn, I'm sorry to hear that!

 

@ReZourceman sorry it took me a while to reply, but I've been slightly angry about it for the past few days, so I thought it best to calm down before replying.

 

Let me start by saying, usually and the last 18 months that I've known her, my housemate has been an excellent carer for her dogs, everything is put aside for them, they get all the food, love and warmth they could need. They are lovely dogs (obviously not perfect). They could not want for anything.

 

However, the last few weeks/month or so, the dogs, in my eye, have taken a back seat, left for very long hours (the other day is was for a good 20 hours before I heard them being let out).

 

Whilst I get that you cannot be there of every second of every day, I've noticed a lot since I've stopped letting them out or taking care about the most needed (such as empty bowls or pee/poop around). I've done this because soon I'll be leaving the house and do not feel the dogs nor my housemate should depend on me.

 

I'm now just concerned, this is happening quite a lot and most of this weekend my housemate has been away and off out with people - that's fine, but it means that if I hadn't let them out when she stayed out til gone 6 pm (she'd left 5pm the previous day, I hadn't expected her back so late). They would have been pretty crossed legged.

 

Perhaps overall I'm looking into it too much, but I feel personally they are left on their own too much and this is why they misbehave sometimes, that they need the attention and just aren't currently getting it.

[Blade]

@nightwolf have you spoke about it to your housemate?

[nightwolf]

@nightwolf have you spoke about it to your housemate?

 

No.

 

Therein lies the issue. I like my house mate, she's a nice lady! But how do you go around and say that the pets she obviously cares about are being neglected? Well, that you believe they are.

 

I can imagine its going to either go well and she'll realise or its going to cause some massive disruption in the house and I just don't want to deal with that.

 

But then, I can't have the dogs being ignored.