Rabbit Thought of the Day

All my stuff is now in the car and there it will remain until I start with my new employer on Monday. So with very little to do (I still can’t get on and input the data on to excel sheet because someone still as it open), so I am listening to music on my MP3, (Black Sabbath – Headless Cross) I think next on the playlist is Iron Maiden and ‘The Number of the Beast’ I just feel like heavy metal at the moment.

I have just spoken with my line manger and agreed that it is pointless me coming in on Friday, as I am obliged to return my laptop and mobile (which doesn’t work anyway) on Thursday there will be nothing for me to do. I have just emptied by desk draws into the obligatory cardboard box not really a lot of stuff, but it is mine.

Well the exit interview went ok, no problems I put forward my issues some of which will be addressed as a matter of course. One of the issues was training and the fact that two training course to which I applied was cancelled despite being essential to do my job. I got an applogy for them and a reassurance that this type of thing will not in future happen.

On the subject of leadership, and the direction given by senior management, those issues are already being improved and I have to agree with the MD that things are improving, but a little too late for me.

The main issue however,  one of me not doing the job for which I was employed, was a little difficult to harder to address, I was taken on in an engineering role, but yet I have not been fully employed in that role, and it would have been another 12 months before I actually doing that role. Unfortunately because of the economic downturn we have had a number of projects cancelled, the company was not making people redundant but because projects have been cancelled then they have put people in roles they are not accustomed too. If they had communicated this better than perhaps I wouldn’t have felt the need to leave.

I would have finished all my work by now, however, I have a problem, the excel spreadsheet that I am supposed to input data, is open by someone else and is therefore locked for editing. Which of course cause me a small problem, I have been through the document and I know how much I need to put. It will actually take me less than an hour to do, but unfortunately it will have to wait until I am able to gain access. Which really is not as bad as it seems, because in twenty five minutes I have my exit interview.  

Our guys played five a side football last night against another side from our office block. It wasn’t a good night for them, but they are disclosing the score but from what I gather listening to them, it’s something close to an ‘All Black’ score when they play rugby, even though our guys were playing football.

One of the players is now at causality having an x-ray after suffering what is thought to be a couple of broken ribs. Thank god am too old to run playing football, cycling is enough for me, it about 10 years since I played football and probably close to twenty years since I play competitive football.

Thad Starr, a stay-at-home dad from Pleasant Hill, Ore., win the 34th annual pumpkin weigh-off in Half Moon Bay, shattering the competition's old record by almost 300 pounds.

"You'll see me kiss all my pumpkins," Starr told reporters, after winning $9,144 in prize money for the 1,524 lb. pumpkin. "It kind of sounds corny, but you develop a bond with your pumpkins. ... They're almost your friends."

Starr's gourd was just 11 pounds short of the California record. The world record pumpkin is a 1,689-pound squash grown by Joe Jutras of Rhode Island.

Police in Derbyshire have defended the use of a helicopter to track a stolen mobility scooter. The scooter was spotted in Long Eaton by the owners on Monday, a week after it had been taken from outside shops in the town.

The helicopter and foot patrols were called in after the scooter and a suspect were seen going into a park. Despite not locating either, the force maintained it was a sensible use of police resources.

Officer John Jameson from the Midlands Helicopter Support Unit insisted they were right to take the incident seriously. "We are talking about an 82-year-old man whose quality of life had gone down because someone had stolen his mobility.

"This thief might also have committed other offences so we wanted him caught and the best method of searching we have in the police in open spaces like parkland is the helicopter.

"Within 18 minutes we could say to the police on the ground that he was not there, the scooter is not there, and you can go onto other duties."

If the aircraft was already in the air and no other serious incident were taking place then maybe the use of the helicopter would be justified. A crime is still crime and just because it’s a mobility scooter does not make it any less serious than speeding joy riders for the victim.

This was copied from an email that I received from an old army mate:  

Recently Marines in Iraq wrote to Starbucks because they wanted to Let them know how much they liked their coffees and to request that they Send some of it to the troops there. Starbucks replied, telling the Marines thank you for their support of their business, but that Starbucks does not support the war, nor anyone in it, and that they would not send the troops their brand of coffee. So as not to offend Starbucks, maybe we should not support them by buying any of their products! I feel we should get this out in the open. I know this war might not be very popular with some folks, but that doesn't mean we don't support the boys on the ground fighting street-to-street and house-to-house. If you feel the same as I do then pass this along, or you can discard it and no one will never know. Thanks very much for your support. I know you'll all be there again when I deploy once more.
 

Sgt. Howard C. Wright
1st Force Recon Co
1st Plt PLT


PLEASE DON'T DELETE THIS. .. ALLOW IT TO BE PASSED TO ALL IN MEMORY OF ALL THE TROOPS WHO HAVE DIED SO THAT WE MAY HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE TO SUPPORT THEM OR NOT!!

2 Days, 4 hours, 53 minutes and 30 seconds, left on my countdown clock before I finish working with this company (assuming I leave at midday on Friday). I didn’t get round to finishing off my work yesterday, because I had to leave early to take Rosemary to the doctors. But I estimate it shouldn’t take me more than 3 or 4 hours to completely finish off all that I have to do.

Also this morning I have my exit interview, I intend to speak my mind but be not overly critical after all I still need a reference and in this world nobody knows what will happen I might at some point come back and work here, plus this is an area of work where everyone knows each other and getting a bad name could be disastrous.  

Saying that the powers that be need to be made aware of the feelings of the work force and where we think the company is going wrong. I was taken on as an engineer to be based on site, in the 12months I haven’t been near a construction site and if I stayed here, I probably wouldn’t be on site for at least another 12 months and that is unacceptable. They are two others leaving in out department which doesn’t seem many, but when I say that 30% of the work force then it is a lot. I do know a quite a few more on other projects that are also leaving, rats and sinking ship springs to mind