The Bah Humbug Thread

[Beef Oven!]

I like the people I work with
some are in the UK
some not
I don't find them hideously unpleasant and avoid them as some seem to

Having always been self-employed I sometimes find people's attitudes to "work" puzzling.

But few people can have the same relationship to the means of production as you have.

[Beef Oven!]

talking of jobs, I had a meeting with the big boss the other day, and he told me with a straight face
" I enjoyed reading your appraisal report".


I'm really, really worried now.

Can you post it here so we can understand what he meant?

[Stillhomewardbound]

I haven't had a day job for the last three years now and, yes, not having to endure a works 'do' has been a blessed relief. No more the MD working his way around the room, spending time with his lowly workers, so we might imagine him to be something other than the monster he actually was. All the staff turned out in their finery, dressed to the nines but by the end of the evening looking like pimps and hooker as might spill out of a downtown paddywagon. There was also the bugbear in that last company of being the 'only gay in the village', so not long after 10pm I'd discretely sleep away and venture over to Soho where I could spend time with something more like 'my people'.

[teamsaint]

Can you post it here so we can understand what he meant?

I" ll PM you.

It contains what referees used to call " foul and abusive language".

And a number of one word answers .

Anyway, back to the OT.......

[Padraig]

What I was going to say was........ not worth reading.

[EdgeleyRob]

Why do so many people seem to persist with working at jobs they obviously hate and with people they don't like?
Some folks really don't have control or choice in their lives BUT many do and seem to simply carry on making themselves miserable while moaning about how horrible it all is.

Well I would have loved to have been a concert pianist,or a composer,or an artist.
Trouble was I couldn't really cope with school,I won't go into details.
I drifted away from skule in the mid 70s and it was a case of finding a job,any job (I wanted to be a bin man)but there were no jobs for people with no qualifications.
30 odd years ago I somehow by accident ended up working for a large police force as a support staff clerk.
Dunno how but 30 years on I'm still there and,amazingly,in a quite responsible position.
I've never enjoyed the job but stuck with it out of necessity (family,kids,pension etc)always wondering what might have been.
Just can't wait for early retirement,redundancy or whatever.
Anyway I'm rambling seriously off topic.
For years I pretended to like Christmas,now I do,I think.
Having children then grandchildren helps I suppose.
Never liked office parties,no one ever seems to want to talk about Vaughan Williams,Alkan ,Barclay James Harvest or Stockport County

[richardfinegold]

I like the people I work with
some are in the UK
some not
I don't find them hideously unpleasant and avoid them as some seem to

Having always been self-employed I sometimes find people's attitudes to "work" puzzling.

Out of curiosity; do you have children? Elderly parents to support? Mortgage payments?
Many people need to make compromises because of their responsibilities.
I just returned from a Holiday work party. I don't hate my coworkers and we had a good time. Still, I do work with these people all week and would have rather been watching my grand children, whom I never get to see enough...oh well, end of rant

[MrGongGong]

You are, I think, self-employed and your hobby is your work and that's as about as ideal a situation as you can get.

zzzzzzzzzzz (no offence meant)
but really

"hobby is your work"
"ideal situation"

etc etc etc


ALL I said was that some folks seem to complain all the time about their work and the hideous folks they have to work with when they could have chosen something else.
(NOT EVERYONE)

If you don't like parties there's a simple solution

Don't go to them..... but don't make a whole load of stuff up about the people who do.

[teamsaint]

Out of curiosity; do you have children? Elderly parents to support? Mortgage payments?
Many people need to make compromises because of their responsibilities.
I just returned from a Holiday work party. I don't hate my coworkers and we had a good time. Still, I do work with these people all week and would have rather been watching my grand children, whom I never get to see enough...oh well, end of rant

And compromise doesnt have to be a bad thing.
i "compromised" by changing career/ job to do something that enabled me to spend a good deal of time with my children as they grew up, although there was a financial cost, I suppose. It would be easy to dwell on that cost, but i dont regret one moment, or one lost pound .
And by a rather zig zag path has led me into something that works reasonably well for me now, and that , as many jobs go, is fairly enjoyable.

[Beef Oven!]

zzzzzzzzzzz (no offence meant)
but really

"hobby is your work"
"ideal situation"

etc etc etc


ALL I said was that some folks seem to complain all the time about their work and the hideous folks they have to work with when they could have chosen something else.
(NOT EVERYONE)

If you don't like parties there's a simple solution

Don't go to them..... but don't make a whole load of stuff up about the people who do.

You're always whinging about how bad life in England is, and how bad the government, schools etc are, why are you still here!!!

Bit like the pot calling the kettle black, innit?

[MrGongGong]

Out of curiosity; do you have children? Elderly parents to support? Mortgage payments?
Many people need to make compromises because of their responsibilities.
I just returned from a Holiday work party. I don't hate my coworkers and we had a good time. Still, I do work with these people all week and would have rather been watching my grand children, whom I never get to see enough...oh well, end of rant

Yes
Yes (not financially though)
Yes

and NO, I don't earn loads of money

Depends on what you think is important in the end.
You really do only get one go and there is no heaven or reincarnation.

I guess all i'm saying is that it seems sad that so many people who are relatively affluent (and i'm not talking about anyone specific) seem to hate what they do, hate the people they do it with and seem to just get more and more miserable as time goes on.
In 1989 I went to work for a charity in a special school in Romania doing a music project, one of the results was that I decided to try and stop moaning about lacking things like security (there really is none in the end, we all go the same way) and money (if it's scarce you can live on lentils and vegetables).

[MrGongGong]

You're always whinging about how bad life in England is, and how bad the government, schools etc are, why are you still here!!!

Bit like the pot calling the kettle black, innit?

Where were you matey?
You missed Ellen Fullman and Stephen O'Malley

Lightweight

The Government is a pile of sh*te but many schools are great in spite of them

Anyway

Back to the annual moan about how commercial Christmas has become
Not like the good old days when Saturnalia really meant something

[Beef Oven!]

Where were you matey?
You missed Ellen Fullman and Stephen O'Malley

Lightweight

The Government is a pile of sh*te but many schools are great in spite of them

Did you go? Why didn't you say?

[MrGongGong]

Did you go? Why didn't you say?

You'll have to speak up
it was LOUD (even with earplugs)

[Beef Oven!]

You'll have to speak up
it was LOUD (even with earplugs)

You went and didn't tell anyone!! Which you wrongly accused me of about the Laibach gig!!@*

I was actually about 100 yards away - was it good?