Grumble Thread

[Dave2002]

Very sad to hear this Joseph K …… let’s hope this cloud has a, swift, silver lining ……

Sorry to hear about this too, though ultimately the silver lining might be that you get a job doing something more interesting than cleaning lavatory floors.

Without having some ideas of your background and skills we probably can't help much, but it seems to me that the job market is really quite fluid at the moment, with people finding new opportunities. Before the Covid lockdown we were actually employing someone as a cleaner - for not a lot - but then she got a job with Amazon doing deliveries as the firm was short of drivers, which paid more, and was more certain. After a while Amazon moved her to an office position - so presumably she's a lot more financially secure and has an easier (in some ways) life than before. We also employed a business consultant as a gardener for a very short while, but I think he must have gone back to (more lucrative) consulting - and we can't blame him for that. Some other people did odd jobs while their (paid?) work in charity shops was suspended.

Things are in quite a state of flux in these times I think.

Illegitimi non carborundum - was the "Latin" phrase suggested upthread I think.

[Joseph K]

Thanks for the messages.

[Serial_Apologist]

Two guys with skip lorry just dumped a big load of building detritus in our back driveway - b*stards! The what-to-do factor always clicks in too quickly for effective action: upstairs shouted the moment they heard something; their CCTV captured something and the wife got a phone camera shot of the back of vehicle leaving the driveway, which unfortunately had its flap down probably obscuring the number plate. It had disappeared completely in the few secs it took me to dash to the nearby junction - which now I realise is the last sort of thing I should be doing with my heart condition - but one still kicks oneself for not responding faster. Not quite clear what to do - would this constitute a 999 situation? To find the related council report category online takes an age. No addresses or paperwork on the materials this time.

Upstairs have now rung the council who say they will collect within 24 hours. Charles, the resident directly above me, expresses amazement that such an act would even be contemplated in broad daylight - I opined that it would be a minor consideration for anyone intent on stabbing a teenager in a busy high street in broad daylight. A neighbourhood watch website reports this has been happening all over the Crystal Palace district.

As a sequel to the above, for the benefit of anyone else here experiencing such a misfortune, it turns out the council will not be picking up the dumped rubbish as it is on private grounds; our management company has arranged for a clearance firm to remove tomorrow, which will cost us £360. However, we managed to find paperwork among the débris potentially connecting the dump with a recently closed betting shop in Balham which, if confirmed, might just result in re-imbursement.

Watch this space!

[Jonathan]

Really sorry to hear your news JK, I hope that something better turns up very soon.

My own grumble at the moment is my inability to sleep. It's beginning to annoy me intensely and I am completely exhausted. I think it's been going on for well over a month now, far longer than my usual short time disruption.

[Richard Barrett]

Good luck JK with sorting out a new job. I was just reading that owing to Brexit and the pandemic, the UK supposedly has a labour shortage at the moment, so that might make it easier to find something else. Something unionised would be preferable!

[Quarky]

Sorry to hear this, SA.

The other day walking back from work along the industrial estate I saw a police car flashing its lights and wondered what was up, then I saw a swan - and it became evident that that was what the police were for!

My own bit of grumble news is that yesterday I got sacked. I was reported by a member of staff for not mopping the toilet floors adequately - apparently there was a stain thereon which my inadequate mopping failed to remove. No warning about this beforehand. I am gutted because I had made plans for saving money and although I have saved a bit, it is still very irritating. I think I know that it must have been the boss of the factory (not my boss, you understand) who reported me. The utter cretin. Oh well, more guitar etc. in the mean time...

My sympathies JK. No written warning? Grounds for unfair dismissal?

[Mario]

Illegitimi non carborundum - was the "Latin" phrase suggested upthread I think.

It was indeed Dave, thank you!

Good advice I think, not only for Joe.

Mario

[oddoneout]

Good luck JK with sorting out a new job. I was just reading that owing to Brexit and the pandemic, the UK supposedly has a labour shortage at the moment, so that might make it easier to find something else. Something unionised would be preferable!

The difficulty is that many of them are the jobs which weren't wanted by the indigenous workers and still aren't. Poor pay and conditions coupled with long and/or anti-social hours and poor job security are nothing new but so long as they were done by a temporary work force which could supply replacements quickly and with minimal input/involvement from employers it all worked fine, but the mix of Brexit and Home Office offensives and covid has disrupted that convenient set-up. To what extent the current labour shortages will drive improvements remains to be seen and may well depend on the line that DWP takes with benefit claimants.
I do hope you can find something suitable JK before too long.

[Serial_Apologist]

My sympathies JK. No written warning? Grounds for unfair dismissal?

I think, as Joseph K mentioned, the fact that he had only been in the job a short while means he is not covered by employment rights protection. You can bet this was deliberately envisaged so that employers could just carry on being unscrupulous.

[Serial_Apologist]

The difficulty is that many of them are the jobs which weren't wanted by the indigenous workers and still aren't. Poor pay and conditions coupled with long and/or anti-social hours and poor job security are nothing new but so long as they were done by a temporary work force which could supply replacements quickly and with minimal input/involvement from employers it all worked fine, but the mix of Brexit and Home Office offensives and covid has disrupted that convenient set-up. To what extent the current labour shortages will drive improvements remains to be seen and may well depend on the line that DWP takes with benefit claimants.

Nothing speaks louder than the abovedescribed realities to the moral and ethical bankruptsy of capitalism, raw in tooth and claw. It really is back to the Victorian values espoused by Madame Thatcher in terms of worker exploitation today.

[Bryn]

Looks like the "Triple Lock" for State Pensions is under threat, too, manifesto promises to the contrary notwithstanding. The 8% 'anomaly' predicted for this year would only help adjust for contrary anomalies in recent years when the timings of the three criteria mitigated against recipients.

[Joseph K]

Thanks for all the subsequent messages, too!

[french frank]

Doesn't compare with some people's grumbles, I know, but - just had an email from Bristol City Council to say that they are operating with a significant reduction in drivers (Covid etc) and have therefore suspended garden waste sack collections with immediate effect. As I had a collection booked - first for many months - for Monday, that collection is cancelled but they will notify me of drop-off points when dates are known (though I can't see me getting on a bus with my garden waste sack or walking any distance dragging it behind me).

Still, doesn't compare with NHS staff shortages in the hospitals.

[Quarky]

Doesn't compare with some people's grumbles, I know, but - just had an email from Bristol City Council to say that they are operating with a significant reduction in drivers (Covid etc) and have therefore suspended garden waste sack collections with immediate effect. As I had a collection booked - first for many months - for Monday, that collection is cancelled but they will notify me of drop-off points when dates are known (though I can't see me getting on a bus with my garden waste sack or walking any distance dragging it behind me).

Still, doesn't compare with NHS staff shortages in the hospitals.

Yes, garden waste is a big problem this year, all the wet weather making trees, bushes and weeds grow like billy-o. Brambles are my particular problem. They won't go through a 'chipper' machine, and won't go into a plastic sack without tearing the sack. The compost heap of my dear friend in N. London is full to overflowing, so we started a subscription to the garden waste service today - not cheap! But I do hope the service does not suffer the same fate.

[french frank]

Brambles are my particular problem. They won't go through a 'chipper' machine, and won't go into a plastic sack without tearing the sack.

Good luck! I bought (bad buy!) a couple of dog roses last year which have outgrown my back yard already. But I just put on my stout gardening gloves and chopped them up into smallish pieces to go in the sack. Very labour intensive Have taken some ruscus aculeatus cuttings in the hope of adequately replacing them.