Office Move / Reshuffle

[gee4]

Well, we are moved.  A few slights issues, but all in all it's done.

The purse however is lighter this morning as we had to have our tea-break in the canteen, so not happy about that.  I did have a scone but only to cheer myself up...will have to try and knock that on the head!

My colleague is not as settled as me this morning but mainly because her workstation has to accommodate more hardware than me.  We did have some staff asking for things this morning - you would have thought they would have left us alone for an hour or two whilst we got unpacked - just nosy I guess.

Anyway here's to a short week as I am off on Friday for a long weekend.

[officepa]

Gee, hope you are now settling in.  Haven't been able to post on DD for sometime but have been following your progress.

You have certainly been through it with this company - looking on the bright side, you seem to be the sort of person who copes with whatever thrown your way to your advantage.

Keep posting - makes good reading.
Best wishes.

[gee4]

It's actually quite funny...

I have found it ok whilst the others are struggling.  I put that down to the fact I have temped, been made redundant and therefore moved about more than say someone who has been with this company 20 years.

I found out last week on the days my boss has not been travelling, he has been going back to his previous location, making a cuppa and having his lunch at the desk of someone who is out on sick leave.  Not only did I laugh as I found it quite pathetic, but I was annoyed he would eat his lunch at someone else's desk especially when he no longer resides in that building!

[gee4]

I thought moving and carrying boxes for archiving and storing was over, but no.  For the second time I have ruined another outfit which is now also covered in yellow dye.

I'm losing the will to live...........Get Me Outta Here!!!

[Jackie G]

Company insurance, Gee!

Jackie, Peer Moderator

[gee4]

Jackie,

If I can't get a cold air vent shut off, what are the chances of costs being recovered for damage to my clothes?

It's like anything else, you are only a number, and in my case an insignificant one.

[Jackie G]

Gee

You seem to have your boss in your corner now.

If you were asked to take part in something without notice, requiring you to still wear good office clothing and it was ruined, I would definitely ask your boss about the feasibility of claiming against the company's public liability.

And if he has gone off the boil, then I would take it up with HR and not let it rest until you get an answer why you can't claim.  They couldn't provide you overalls to protect your clothes?

Jackie, Peer Moderator

Edited by jackie on 20/05/09 12:42 PM.

[gee4]

Everyone seems to have a grey coat but when I started (even after I got made permanent) it didn't seem forthcoming.  Still now no one has mentioned it.

I washed said garments last night and the dye came out thankfully.

As regards my boss, now that we have screens installed at the end of our cube, he had the cheek to ask yesterday, "if everything was sorted".  I think this place prefers to sweep everything under the carpet, whoops, factory floor!  They don't seem to want to address issues.

[rose.winter1980]

Gee,

I'm sorry for your troubles.  It sounds such a lot of hassle - poor you.

When I worked in a company years ago and we moved buildings, my boss went on holiday for three weeks.  I know it couldn't be helped because she was dependent to a certain extent on her husband.  But I wasn't happy because I had to sort and pack up over 50 years worth of documents.  I gave her a severe look and said that I would, then, arrange the office to my own taste.  

She brought me back, from her holiday, a splendid present.  And she's still alive.  Somewhere. Hehehe.

Winter Rose

Laugh long, sing loud and dance when you get the chance

[Jackie G]

Gee

I think you have to ensure you get a grey coat (I presume this is some kind of coverall) before you ever do anything like this again or refuse to do it until you have a chance to go home and change into old clothes.

As for your boss, time to go past him and deal with the nurse or HR or some kind of H&S person on site.  If they won't listen, talk to the HSE for advice and see what they can do.  There are laws and it sounds like they might possibly be breaking them, or close to it.  While it's hard to be a whistleblower, if you're not planning to stay in the long term, sort it for the time you are there.  (Workplace, Health, Safety and Welfare) Regs is what I think I'm thinking of - where employers have to provide a safe working environment.  There is also something about - I can't remember the names - Provision and Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) where employers have to provide the correct equipment (this includes protective stuff) for employees.

From what you've said there are breaches there and you would have a case.

If you ended up with a permanent stiff neck as a result of sitting in a draught, then there are other things there.

In fact, stuff the nurse and H&S folk, go and get some legal advice!

Jackie, Peer Moderator

[gee4]

Jackie, thanks for your advice.  My next step will be to go down the legal route.  While most of this week has been extremely warm, (temperature wise), this morning is back to what it was before, so the screens haven't made any difference.

I spoke with the nurse on Monday morning who actually came to see me last week when I was off.  She informed me that she sat at my desk to experience the cold air conditions.  I told her that if matters did not improve, and I was ill again, I would take this further.

I am so fed up of hearing, oh facilities are hard to nail down, it's because the buildings are purpose-built as factories, not offices.  Then my advice is house staff in the proper buildings away from shop floor workers and take on board my complaint.

I tell you, last week I was very close to submitting a doctor's line for a couple of weeks.  I won't rule it out yet.

[rose.winter1980]

That's no excuse, Gee.  I have worked on a building site in the past when my eventual workplace was in the process of being built.  We worked in a portacabin and those facilities can get might cold in the winter and mighty hot in the summer.  So we dealt with the problem.

In another place I worked many years ago, the cold was indescribable and I became very ill indeed (falling off my chair at work and being confined to bed for several weeks type of ill).  My doctor wrote a stiff letter to my employers about the lack of heating.  

No modern company in a civilized country has any excuse for treating its workers without consideration.  

Winter Rose

Laugh long, sing loud and dance when you get the chance

[gee4]

I don't know what else to do.  I have raised it with my boss, the nurse and Facilities.  They all know the problem exists but as I said the temperature conditions have to be in keeping with equipment and material.

I bumped into the nurse this morning in the canteen and when she asked me how things were, I told her things were just the same eg. cold.

When co-workers actually stand at my desk they notice it too and realise what I am suffering.

Short of handing in a sick line or worse, becoming unfit to get to work, I have no idea what else to do.

I'm not the kind of person to be off sick unless I cannot get out of bed but maybe that's what it will take.

[duque]

Hi everybody ... been out of touch for a long time.

Gee, I gather your co-workers do not have your same problem. Is there any way you can move your desk out of the draft while you are waiting for bossies etc., to buck up?

[gee4]

Oh believe me they do, but complain in different ways.  My colleague and co-worker is never at her desk, I have no idea where she goes or what she does.

She has mentioned she feels the cold but is never at her desk long enough to suffer it all day.

Because we moved to a totally different environment, those are the conditions.  I guess everyone else puts up with it cos it's a job.