Industry and Jobs

What do you do when your boss is a bully?
I feel like my boss is bullying me, not all the time but probably 70% of the time. He's an elderly man in his 60s and is very set in his ways. He's not used to all the modern technology and quite frankly I don't think he really understands it.
1-Feb-12 15:28

Public sector strikes holding the country to ransom
Here we go again, more strikes from public sector employees. This of course will force lots of private sector workers to be away from work too, the end result being a loss of a days wage for some. How selfish is this?
29-Nov-11 17:58

Working with a lazy half a job Bob who cuts corners
Does anyone know what a 'Bob' is? It's seems I'm surrounded by them everywhere I go in particular in the workplace. Bob is the nickname I've decided to give someone who only does half a job, doesn't complete a job...
18-Nov-11 16:42

Undermined and shouted at by angry boss
I am working for a female friend and have been doing so for six months. Just to help her with her financial problems in the company. The problem is she often argues with me, shouts at me and undermines me in front of junior people.
31-Oct-11 17:55

Email about jobs that don't match my skills
Pointless emails from recruitment agencies are the latest spam that will hit your inbox if you decide to go looking for a job, well, that's my experience anyway! They just do a search on keywords and they don't always get that right.
14-Sep-11 08:57

Skilled ex Armed Forces people ignored by recruiters
My gripe is that like many people leaving the Armed Forces, our key skills and experiences are totally not valued or worthy of recruiters these days. As previous comments on this site indicated, all they care about are their KPIs!
21-Jul-11 17:18

Lazy co-workers not pulling their weight at work
My gripe is lazy co-workers. Apparently some people at work are quite happy to skive off at every opportunity and do as little work as possible, looking busy only when the boss appears leaving you to take up all the slack.
8-Jul-11 16:05

Keep British jobs in the UK and stop offshoring
It is incredible to see companies still offshoring their outsourced services to places such as Bangalore, Chennai and Cairo whilst the UK is suffering from a declining economy, high unemployment and a lack of jobs.
31-May-11 11:08

Some young people just don't want to work
I now teach young people and a lot of them simply don't want to work. They say they come to college just for EMA. These complete dossers get their money and just spend it on booze and cigarettes at the weekend.
27-May-11 13:30

Some of the things that bad managers do
Your first position as a manager is probably the scariest job you have ever been in, but there are some simple rules to follow and you will always be fine. However, here are some of the things a manager shouldn't do.
18-May-11 20:19

Neglect by care workers is totally unacceptable
I was recently both shocked and sickened at the attitude of three female care workers, who were accompanying a group of five disabled people in a garden centre. There was no valid excuse for the kind of neglect I witnessed.
15-May-11 20:29

Dole scroungers living the life of Riley
I would like to share with you my thoughts about the idle dole scroungers in this country. I for one, am fed up to the back teeth with the way things are and how some people can have an easy life doing nothing whilst others work hard.
13-Apr-11 13:26

Finding a job when you're over 50 is difficult
I watched an interesting episode of Panorama last night all about finding a job when you're over 50 and how difficult it actually was. The thing is some of them expect to land the same kind of job as they had before.
5-Apr-11 16:08

Sky installer laid coaxial cable in the gutter
My Sky installer laid the cable completely out of sight by simply dumping it in the gutter for a distance of over 15 meters. This cable will spend a good deal of its life immersed in water, would you be happy with this?
14-Mar-11 15:06

Poor service from a recruitment consultant
My current job hunt has been an eye opener. I've been staggered by the appalling customer service (if you can call it that!) I've received from consultants at recruitment agencies.
27-Feb-11 17:17

Foreigners aren't taking our jobs, Brits are just lazy
I see a lot of hard working immigrant families in Britain set up businesses, get jobs and make lives for themselves while underclass indigenous population sit in their council houses paid for by the taxpayer watching mind numbing TV.
25-Jan-11 16:09

Working as a care worker, what it's really like
I recently began working as a care worker and perhaps naively, I thought I could help vunerable members of the public and put something back into the community whilst earning a living. More fool me!
16-Dec-10 17:33

I'm glad they scrapped the Future Jobs Fund
I am so glad the governments Future Jobs Fund programme is coming to an end. In theory it appeared to be an opportunity for some young people to gain some training and experience in the workplace.
19-Nov-10 17:57

What it's like working in an all female team
What type of team do you work in? I am the only male in a predominantly female team, and to be honest I am finding it extremely hard day to day with all the cattiness, sick days, lateness and general lack of any work ethic.
15-Nov-10 09:31

Work shy on benefits versus us proud workers
A few news headlines have been brought to my attention that make me sick. The one that springs to mind is the one about the jobless couple raking in £815 a week in benefits and yet moaning they don't have enough!
12-Oct-10 10:52

My first experience claiming benefits
Just had my first experience of contacting job centre plus! After 28 years I have been made redundant, naturally first thought was better register for work and benefits. This department has an attitude problem in my opinion!
1-Oct-10 10:20

I'm overworked and underpaid by my employer
I hate my job and really don't want to do it any more. At first the job seemed pretty ideal as I got to work from home. However, I have found that this is the worst paid job I have had with the highest workload since I finished college.
14-May-10 16:19

Fed up with call centres and their staff?
Are you sick and tired of call centre staff who are unhelpful, badly informed and sometimes rude? Do you get frustrated and angry? Do you sometimes find yourself being rude and abusive?
20-Apr-10 22:10

Benefit stopped for not taking minimum wage job
I know there are some who just will not work. But is it right that skilled workers should be treated like cattle and sent out to large companies for a minimum wage, just so the government can keep unemployment figures down?
15-Mar-10 18:44

Pointless performance reviews and stupid targets
These companies are so quick to go go with you on the good times and dance around with you when you make them tons of money, but when things are bad (recession?) that's when your employers turn on you.
13-Mar-10 15:54

Temporary recruitment agencies unhelpful
Like many people out of work at the moment I'm spending quite a bit of time contacting temporary recruitment agencies in an attempt to secure some temporary work to bring in a bit of cash to make it through the hard times.
25-Sep-09 15:43

Getting a job after being made redundant
I have been looking for work since being made redundant back in April. During this time I have made on average 5-10 applications a day country wide and have had an average of 2 interviews a week from end of May until today.
4-Sep-09 12:05

Other duties as assigned - in a job description
When it comes to job advertisements are you familiar with the term 'Other duties as assigned'? This is the single biggest corporate conspiracy facing America's workforce today.
1-Jul-09 08:55

Strike action by selfish workers
My general gripe with strike action is that they happily accepted the pay and conditions when they took the job, so if they didn't like it, they shouldn't have taken the job in the first place.
15-Jun-09 08:00

Employment law and unfair dismissal
It's not just a tough for those of you out there looking for work, it's even tougher now trying to stay in a job without your employer taking advantage of the system. Current employment law is not fair on workers at all!
12-May-09 14:12

Minimum wage for young people is pathetic
Young workers under 18 can only expect to earn £3.53 per hour under the minimum wage. Is this some kind of joke? Employers, of course, will quite happily exploit this cheap labour and pay these youngsters peanuts.
25-Mar-09 17:57

Looking for a job and getting no response
If there's one thing that really gets up my nose about the whole job hunting process, it's indifferent attitude of employment agencies and employers towards those who apply for jobs. Looking for a job is hard enough!
18-Mar-09 15:00

Our fitness director, fired because of pure jealousy
When the new parks director found out that our fitness director had filled in doing his job until he was hired, he became very jealous of her and ultimately (and unfairly) fired her in November of 2008.
12-Mar-09 17:33

Home care worker, poor pay and conditions
Who could afford to work as a home carer? Well I tried, for about six months and in the end I had to leave because I couldn't afford to stay on. My clients were extremely upset when I left and I was sad to leave them too.
17-Feb-09 18:10

Employers not employing British workers
Hundreds of workers across the country, mainly at oil refineries and power plants, have been protesting about the use of foreign workers at the Lindsey Oil Refinery in Lincolnshire. What about British jobs for British workers?
30-Jan-09 15:33

Why recruitment agencies are useless - by a candidate
Moving to a new town means a new job and you need help finding a job in that area. You'd think that recruitment agencies would be the answer wouldn't you? Perhaps they are unless you are looking for a change in direction.
14-Jan-09 18:59

Care assistant staff need more help
Why are care assistants and nurses always blamed for poor care in residential care homes, when most of the time the bad care is delivered because the owners of these private homes do not provide enough staff.
16-Dec-08 15:11

I really hate filling in job application forms
Does anyone else out there hate filling in job application forms as much as me? Having the same job for over six years and therefore not having had to fill them in makes you forget just how annoying they are.
24-Nov-08 20:01

Coming into work with a hangover
These people spend the whole weekend inebriated (or on something). They then come in to work with a hangover and probably aren't even remotely productive in their job until Tuesday afternoon (and that's on a good week!).
18-Nov-08 23:12

Employment discrimination - there's no glass ceiling
The so called 'glass ceiling' in business is a myth in my opinion - it just doesn't exist. If you're a woman looking to start a family but also want to have a career, you need to think about what's really important first.
24-Sep-08 23:12

What future has Britain now then?
Well the script-writer of Life in Britain, that dreadful soap-opera, has decided to write down or out the current cast, economically to begin with, and truly and wholly later on. This show is surely in its last episodes.
20-Aug-08 19:53

Pathologist's Assistant job just like any other
I must admit my job wouldn't suit everyone as I'm employed as a Pathologist's assistant and also work in the mortuary of a local hospital. The thing that really gets to me is the fact that people think I must be odd to do such a job.
12-Aug-08 10:28

Another Royal Mail 'Sorry, we missed you' card
I regularly take days off to receive deliveries which don't come and then miraculously I notice the 'Sorry, you were out' card has been put through the letter box with no attempt whatsoever to deliver the parcel.
29-Jul-08 22:51

Dislike braggarts, people who toot their own horn
I work with two tooters that spend most of the day reminding me and anyone who will listen about their special abilities. It's a virtual symphony of bragging where I work.
30-Jan-08 17:54

Why be a nurse if you're not up to it?
I have been a nurse for the past 16 years and I am sick and tired of these nurses who are university trained and think they are immune from certain duties such as changing beds and washing/dressing patients etc.
22-Jan-08 17:47

Interview for job that's already gone
My main gripe is knowing, soon after you have sat down to be interviewed, that the job you have yearned for for so long is probably going to an internal candidate and there's nothing you can do about it.
21-Jan-08 23:04

Make them work for benefits
What a great idea the Conservatives have come up with. Send all those long term benefit scroungers out to work and cut their benefits back if they refuse to take a job. It's about time someone took a stand!
9-Jan-08 15:22

Recruitment agencies - the truth
I work in recruitment and have done for about two years. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. I was a yes sir man until the start of this year when I started working for a huge recruitment company.
19-Sep-07 17:50

British Industry and the Metric System
Everyone who gripes about the metric system has contributed to the loss of all UK motor and engineering factories, which continued manufacturing their products designed in inches after 1975.
10-Sep-07 12:27

Company meetings a waste of time
Well company meetings are all a waste of time in my opinion. The scenario is always the same. There you are happily working away, making progress and perhaps earning money when suddenly THAT email drops into your inbox.
18-Jun-07 15:53

Working in a call centre, what it's really like
I've worked for various companies, usually in a call centre environment and I can totally sympathise with the problems faced by staff. Poor pay and abuse from both customers and the company they work for is normal.
21-May-07 21:15

Workplace bullying: my boss is a bully
My boss is a bully and has been horrible to me at every possible opportunity. She nit-picks at everything I do, she ignores me in the workplace while laughing and talking to everyone else.
10-Apr-07 14:33

Lazy people don't use their swipe cards
At my place of work we are required to use swipe cards for access to the buildings. However, I am fed up with lazy people who would rather follow me in than use their own cards.
28-Mar-07 19:55

Abusing the rights of the vulnerable
I believe that that the rights of vulnerable individuals are being abused by some public service workers. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the workers like to play God on some of the vulnerable people they have responsibility over.
9-Mar-07 15:11

Young workers exploited by their employers
My gripe is exploitation of young workers. My son signed a contract on December 19th 2005 as an apprentice joiner to a local firm. By the contract date he should be eligible for a pay rise as he has started his second year.
30-Jan-07 15:06

Parking spot tantrums at work
On the second day of my new job I parked in the back row of the parking lot thinking that I was in a free parking spot that no one would want. Well I was wrong, because this woman threw a right tantrum at me.
9-Jan-07 13:17

Employers want too much
Why is it though that my employer is increasingly expecting me to work my lunch, come in early, leave late, and to dedicate my life soul to the company? I do not want to sit at my desk until late at night in case I get made redundant.
28-Nov-06 14:40

Health and Safety at work - my office chair
One day a large important looking man came into our office and said he was going to carry an assessment to ensure that we comply with health and safety regulations. I needed a new chair and my boss is now fuming!
12-Nov-06 15:42

Call centre staff suffer abuse from customers
People talk about how useless call centre staff are, customer service skills are lacking or the call centre has been outsourced to India etc. But often little is said about the abuse we have to put up with.
19-Sep-06 13:58

Sales and marketing jargon - what it really means
Here are a selection of phrases and titles with alternative/real meanings for people who work in sales and marketing. I am pretty sure it may be applicable to more than just Sales and Marketing.
14-Sep-06 19:36

Immigration policies in the UK
News reports are warping the truth about immigration policies. Please get the facts right before extolling the benefits of open door immigration! Greedy industrialists comment that immigration is great for the economy.
4-Sep-06 13:12

The freeloader on sickness benefit
I’m fed up with freeloaders in society. I'm not referring to the people who really are sick and cannot work. But isn’t it strange that this country breeds a small minority of scum that expect everything to be handed to them on a plate?
22-Aug-06 12:29

There's no point working
Here I am, a lone parent stuck in the poverty trap and thanks to the child support mess I'd be better off not working. The lone parent advisor told me I will be financially worse off if I take a job, so I might as well not bother.
30-Jun-06 17:18

Why does the boss get a longer lunch break?
Why is it that managers and people who work locally, can get away with taking long lunch breaks when those of us who commute can't. It would seem that the business lunch and flexible hours are only for a privileged few.
16-May-06 11:09

Over worked and under paid, is it worth working?
Do you feel over worked and under paid? If you put in around forty hours a week and spend another ten commuting, you could quite literally be killing yourself to live.
20-Mar-06 16:53

Nuisance cold calls from mobile companies
I'm fed up with mobile phone operators cold calling and harassing me. The T-Mobile call centre in India is the worst offender. Their constant calls and offers of a free mobile are extremely irritating.
2-Mar-06 20:30

Office cleaner leaves desk in a mess
I thought cleaners were supposed to make the place 'cleaner'. Well, I wasn't very happy when I walked in to the office this morning and saw the state of my desk, it was like a whirlwind had hit it!
10-Feb-06 16:30

Fed up with nine to five traffic jams and commuting
Coming into work this morning I got stuck in a traffic jam, yet again! I am beginning to get seriously fed up with this nine to five rat race. Maybe I should just give up work and go on the dole.
7-Dec-05 13:39

Management jargon and phrases, what does it mean?
Why is it that middle management talk in a different language? I am currently on an all day conference call with my sales manager and in the last three hours he has used some really stupid phrases. Check these out...
1-Dec-05 17:48

Working from home can have it's share of problems
Working from home as a programmer has its good points and bad points. I’m not sure if it is a lifestyle that would suit everyone however. Care must be taken to separate work from your personal life, particularly if you are in a relationship.
29-Nov-05 16:58

Finding a work from home job proving difficult
It is proving difficult to find work from home. And if I want to work part time too that is even more difficult. I use a couple of job search web sites to hunt for work but its still proving difficult.
18-Nov-05 17:47

Christmas office parties and work do - a nightmare
Well the ones that actually take place in the office definitely do, because for one thing you don’t get a chance to escape the boring office environment.
7-Nov-05 21:02

Filling in timesheets, what's the point?
I hate filling in timesheets. I'm always late with them and usually end up doing them on a Monday morning instead of before I go home on a Friday. I Also hate time sheet software, it's usually to clunky and a real pain to use.
2-Nov-05 17:39

Stupid dumb managers and team leaders
It doesn’t seem to matter how straightforward you make a process, or how foolproof you think the system you have developed is. There is always a manager out there who takes it upon themselves to throw a spanner in the works
17-Oct-05 17:46

Not enough holidays from stingy employer
I think that the statutory right to four weeks paid holiday annually is actually pretty pathetic and when you consider that the most you can expect from mean employers in this country is two or three extra days on top of that.
10-Sep-05 21:36

Call centre outsourced to India by UK companies
Calling customer services or a help desk these days seems to be getting increasingly frustrating. It used to be the case that it was just a real pain because you were transferred from pillar to post.
16-Aug-05 16:41

UK fishing industry almost destroyed
Now I understand that the, once proud, Scottish fishing fleet has been decimated over recent years; apparently to conserve fish stocks. I find it amazing that it is considered acceptable for Spanish boats to plunder what is left of our fish stocks.
16-Jun-05 17:15

Rover in administration who cares?
So Rover has gone to the wall and its all very sad, but the simple fact is that so have many other companies. Why should they be bailed out when so many others have gone to the wall?
25-Apr-05 16:00