Hi Everyone,

I've been asked to sort out some translation software and was wondering what would be the best one.  I've found a web site that compares the top ten but i have no experience of what would be useful in this sort of software.  We would want to convert documents from French to English etc. with documents being in PDF, word and Excel formats as well as technical drawings.

I was thinking of :
Babylon
Power Translator

Would either of these be suitable? Can anyone advise me?

Thanks in advance!
Oceangirl

My two pennies worth is that not everybody delas with things in the same way.  Sometimes, it is just better to move on.  beating the bullies could be seen as lowering yourself to  thier level.  Why some people feel that work is a suitable place to carry on bulling people like they did at school is beyond me.  I hope that evryone who finds themselves in this siutation is able to reslove with dignity.

Just my thoughts and it's been a long time since i posted here!
it's good to be back!

Oceangirl

What would you do?

I’ve found myself in position where I am doing some more of the unit director’s day to day admin work  and all of his travel as his own PA wont do it anymore because he’s too picky. ( her words)

 It was sold to me by the boss as a way of moving his PA sideways, and that I would take all of his admin requirement while his PA would move into another role doing special projects.- I still have my own fulltime role as well. 

 A couple of months later I was also told ( not asked) that I would be taking on some admin work  from another area as the admin there had been promoted and  therefore she wouldn’t have time!  ( Her first day back she sent 3 emails about group nights out and was spotted standing taking to the same two girls for about 40 minutes – who sit opposite her within the first hour and 1/2! It didn’t go down well!)   

The idea of this extra work ( with no extra cash) made me feel some what sorry for myself. Then mad!  So I spent a very happy afternoon writing to my line manager about this as I felt it would have stopped me from any development of my own as there wouldn’t be time and I would have too much daily admin to do and not enough time increased hours etc… and perhaps extra cash would make the difference (no chance!)   And yet it would allows others to develop but not me.  Was it all about people?.  Oh yeah that the company  slogans.  Only  If your face fits is the line I find myself adding…

 My line manager felt there was little he could do but he would discuss with HR and the Boss.  Some days later  The boss did say that it wouldn’t be happening and that I wasn’t taking on the 2nd lot of admin. ( sometimes taking the boss to the railway station can be very useful!)

So nothing has happened about the 2nd lot of admin  and from the first lot The boss’s PA wont give up some of the day to day role.   (Personally I think and he has admitted it, that he’s a little  scared of her!) and she doesn’t like him- He’s a little old fashioned as he would like his PA to sort all aspects of his life out like buying his wife’s birthday present etc.  This drives her daft!  (Which amuses me somewhat as most people in our office do what she says and people find her very sharp and tended to come to me because I’m more approachable.)

I’ve spoken to my line manager today who says that it is a bit of odd situation and that there may be no real way of sorting it out.

 Anyway I am hoping that I am force the issues as I have just applied for an internal role as PA to another director of a different unit of a company we have just taken over. 
I’d be sorry to leave as I like the people. Well most of them.  It’s certainly not dull! 

  But this cherry picking is doing my head in.  I do all the grunt work and then never get to go to the meeting.  I feel like Cinderella!  Have you ever tried to type up someone else cryptic minutes?

Where is my fairy godmother when I need her? Oh by the way  it was the PA  who actually saw the job advert and gave it to me.  So perhaps that tells me all I need to know.  That I am better off moving on? Or leaving the director with her.

What do you think?

Should I:

Go back to The director and say this isn’t working for me.
Just keep calm and carry on?
Apply outside?
Shrug my shoulders and think like “WHATEVER” like a petulant 16year old?  Even down to making the W with fingers and thumbs!



Any ideas

What do you do when your directors has his head in his hand in front of his management team.  Or when members of team staff have no respect for their line manger and the manager is treated as more of a mate than their boss?  Is there any hope?

Georgie Girl.

How do you get a manager to sit still long enough so that he can show you how to do something so he can do other things?  I seem to spend quite a lot of my time playing hunt the manager.  I’m tempted to get him a GPS locator.  At least then I would know where he is!!!   I speak to him more when he’s on holiday or away on business than I do when he is in the office! How silly is that?

Georgie Girl.

If it makes you feel any better, I got a new boss a while ago and I wouldn't swap him. He's good at what he does and when you talk to him he really listens. And he travel a lot which means he away from the office and he buys choccies when he's been away......

Georgie Girl.

I have the exact same problem. Only Footnotes and web-conferencing neither of which I now want to do.    Susan, I would love something on PowerPoint/excel/access.  Especially something showing the seldom-used bits of Excel or Access.

Hope that helps?


Georgie Girl.

Can anyone tell me if there is a problem with BTU?  I'm already registered with Deskdemon and it keeps telling that I need to be registered to use BTU. When I try to register it tell me that I am already registered.  Is it me?  Or is there an error?  

I note that in the Study Hall Forum someone has posted this question already but no one has replied.  

Any ideas or am I just having a blonde moment? (No offence to blondes everywhere. I am one.)


Georgie Girl.

Hi,

I wonder if you can help me.  I am trying to design a database or excel spreadsheet that will show all the various changes that have been made to an individual’s business trip.    I have to book trips for about 100 different people (No kidding!)  And for the most part they are straightforward simple ones with no changes and for most of the time our normal method works.

Our travel company deals with tickets and e-tickets and provide me with a reservation number, which I can access through the Internet and give to the traveller.
Normally this is enough, however, for example, I have got some guys over in Saudi whose tickets are now unable to be changed by our travel people and I have had to do it for them.  And our travel company wont be able to see the latest info nor make any changes to the flights. Hence the need for a database in case I get hit by a bus. Someone needs to be able to see what is going on.

Does any body have any ideas?

I want to be able to dump all the stuff that is currently written in my notes into a database so that I can go on away safe in the knowledge that everything is written down and I don’t have to worry.

I was going to do it in excels but I can’t think how to do it.  Then I had a look at Access and got even more confused then I got to thinking there must be other people who book travel and have issues.

The database/spreadsheet would not be for invoicing as this already tracked and recorded in Access (too large for excel!) for recording invoice detail prior to entry in S A P.  (Oh Joys of Joys!)

Any Ideas?


Georgie Girl.

I know it's a shock. It's an awful feeling to get fired.   It's happened to me and it felt horrid. Take some time out and think were you really happy working there?  Were they nice people? If the answer is no to either question then why worry about it?  But it did take me a little while to come to terms with it and I went on to find a job I love working for a big international engineering firm I wouldn’t have this job had I not been sacked from the other.  

Georgie Girl.

Of the  last minutes changes.  No more will I put with it!!

One minute  it's can you get me on a flight to Paris, and then it's can you change it to Basel, No now I need to go to Hong Kong.  Then the boss says no you can’t go! One chap half way to the airport gets call back to the office as the meetings been cancelled….. and it  goes on and on.

So how do you cope for the changes to the changes?  What are your views on the subject?

(I do travel for all of our office! And someone is always going somewhere!)


Georgie Girl.

 I have always found that once you have a new job to go to the old seems really nice and good and you wonder why you’re leaving in the first place!  However are you deep deep down sure you can do this role?  Or is there a gremlin saying you can’t do this?  Are you listening to him?

Georgie Girl.

I was made redundant 3 years ago, before that I had been in 3 different departments that had all been closed down but always got a job somewhere else in the company.

One of the best pieces of advice I got was this:

They are getting rid of the job.  It is nothing to do with you personally. It is not a reflection on you.  However this is how it feels. You need to take care of yourself.  

Would there be any chance that you’ll be offered another position elsewhere in the company?  Do you want to stay with the company?  Way everything up carefully.  Talk it through with other people that you trust.

List all things you can do, and all things you’ve always dreamed of doing.  

Could you make any of them work for you? Could you take a chance and work for yourself?

Could you do that degree course you’ve always wanted to do?

If there are delays in the process and there will be, just think it’s more one months payment into your pension, one less mortgage repayment to worry about.  Sometimes it can stretch on for months( 12 in my case),  I saved money, so I would always have running away fund!! (I still have it It’s a very nice feeling knowing I can say stuff it all if I want to!).  The redundancy money wasn’t much, but I enjoyed spending some of it and the rest I saved.  Just think of all those Jimmy Choos you could buy!

My husband to be ( We get married on sat!!) was made redundant just after we started seeing each other and he vowed that he would never work for anyone else ever again.  He’s worked in interim project management now for six years and is happy doing it.  He’s fitter, happier and so much healthier that he was.  He has a lot more free time and a lot less stress.  For him it was the best thing that could have happened to him.  But it didn’t feel like that at the time.   The first thing He did was to go to Japan for holiday.  It took him away from his normal environment. It made a difference.  When he got he found it easier to adjust to not working.

If you are finished suddenly then see if you can get a long-term temping job while you decide what you want to do next.  (Temping worked for me -  I went to an agent on the Monday had an interview on the Tuesday and was working there on the Wednesday!)

Various people who did take redundancy when we all worked for Refuge Assurance all say now that it was the best thing that happened to them.  That they wouldn’t be where they are now if the department hadn’t closed down.
It can be the making of people.

So be positive it could be the best thing to happen to you.  You could get the job you’ve always dreamed of but were afraid to go for now you have nothing to lose and everything to play for.  
Have faith in yourself.  You got this job didn’t you? Why wont you get another one?


Best wishes georgina.

Georgie Girl.

For Information here in the UK our company policy is that we are not to use own cars for business use.  We are to use in order of preference the following:  Pool Car, Managers (Company) Car, Hire car, Taxi and if all these have been exhausted use our own cars.  Hence we have a very big account with a hire car company!

Georgie Girl.

I do a lot of telephone work and use a telephone headset.  The people around me know I’m on a headset and that I am very often on the telephone, but what do you say to people who walk up to you and say “I know your on the phone but………………”  Because it’s driving me daft!  The constant interruptions mean I’m getting distracted, taking info down wrong as people are trying to talk to me and I’m listening to the person on the other end of the phone and write what they are telling me.  I sometimes leave things not quite finished off as I’ve been sidetracked and right now I just want to crawl under my desk to get on with my work in peace no telephones and no interruptions. Please tell me that someone else feels like this! And I’m that I am not alone!

Georgie Girl.