24 hours later..

Still convinced I did the right thing last night by emailing out my CV, so I guess it cannot be the wrong thing, can it? After all I've slept on the decision, I have been back into work, and have calmed down (a tad, although not completely), and it still feels right. So I must be right.

I never knew until yesterday that the company I worked for had so little regard for the people they employ. In fact "little regard" is a tad weak, contempt for the people they employ would be closer to the mark. And that's what pushed me over the edge.. I know work has been a bit shite for a while, but I always thought that I could bimble along, doing my job and both parties involved in this "contract of employment" would be happy.. that would seem not to be the case..

Despite it being 24 hours later, I am still being threatened by "the messenger" that I will feel the full wrath of the HR Director if I refuse to give up my free time and come in and bail out the company that holds me in such contempt. Bring it on, I say.. If they make it that difficult for me to work there, then I shall seek advice from a solicitor about where I stand.. An industrial tribunal wouldn't look kindly on their bullying tactics.

It's a shame it's come to this, and I felt bad about having to send out the CV last night (it took 4 cans of lager, and two very large brandies to dig me out of the melancholy state I got myself into).. It's not something I do lightly.. but, sincerely, fuck 'em if that's their stance

Right, that's it..

Tonight I will be mostly updating my Curriculum Vitae.

Today the developers on our project were told that they would have to do compulsory overtime in the evenings and weekends.. And we're talking in the run up to and including Christmas and New Year.

Why?

Because we hadn't been working up to scratch?
Because we'd been slacking off?

No, because people in responsibility for running our project are incompetent twats, who have not performed their job properly, not got machinery and processes in the production plant in place in an adequate time to deliver the requirements to us, so -consequently- deadlines are now stupidly tight for software to be delivered.

And how was this news broken to us?

Did they say that they'd dropped a bollock and needed a favour, offering a juicy incentive for people to give up their free time to come in and bail the company out of the shit?

No, they got all heavy handed, offered the shittest of incentives for clearing up their mess for them, and basically said, it's do that or walk.

Fuck em, I'll walk.
I refuse to be treated like that.

So I'm off to pastures new, no doubt I'll not be missed, but I don't care what they think anymore.. I'm not spending one more minute away from my family for those snide cunts.

Dread

Another monday morning..
Ugh..

I have that Monday feeling I used to get when I was in school, "Oh no, not another week of this shite".

Aye 'fraid so..

It is that grim at work at the moment.. As I've stated earlier, it's only the coolness of the people I work with that makes this job semi bearable at the moment. Trying to resist looking at websites like jobserve (always remember, you need continuous employment to get a new mortgage and that is on the cards for the future), but it's getting harder and harder not to point my browser in the general direction.

Still only four more working weeks and I break up for Xmas -phew! Really looking forward to Kirstyn's first Christmas, and of course all of the other festivities (booze, turkey, gifts, turkey, seasonal goodwill, turkey, etc, etc).. Should be excellent..

And in other good news, I've finally increased my gamerscore (see above) after it was sat at 70 for about a month. I don't know how some people find the time to increase this score (it can take a hell of a long time to unlock game achievements and get these points), and you should see some of the scores out there, we're talking tens if not hundreds of thousands. It's a system just not designed for thirty-somethings with two kids, I tell you..

Quandary

I am becoming aware of the fact that, once again, it's only the people I work with that make coming to work in any way enjoyable or rewarding any more. The job itself is beginning to suck a tad.

This situation happened the last place I worked. The job ended up being awful with the company not investing in the majority of the staff, leaving them working with redundant technologies and treating them like dirt. I ended staying too long, stuck in a rut, mainly because the people I worked with were so sound.

I've either been very lucky in that respect or, in general, Software Engineers are a pretty sociable, easy-to-get-on-with bunch (despite the "geeky" stereotype). It does help that conversations can vary between discussing the relative merits of an actresses arse one minute to reminiscing about 8-bit computer games the next. And when it comes to beer (not that I get the opportunity for the long drunken sessions that I used to very often these days), they drink it like someone's just about to take it away from them. These are my kind of people.

Now I will admit this company is better.. They have invested in my skill set (I can now code -to a greater or lesser degree- in C#) and the financial reward is a tad better admittedly. However, some things still suck..

And anyway, I thought that things were going to change next year.
The plan was to get back home, to North Wales.
Indeed originally the plan was to get a pub, but I think that may well be a few years off yet. So we were just going to move somewhere a bit more leafy and quiet, where it's a nicer environment to raise children and I could be a bit closer to my kid sister. For a while I planned to commute, but I can honestly see the daily battle with the M56 meaning that I'd eventually look for something closer to my new green and leafy abode. So there was a "Sell By" date on my current role. It also meant that I'd stay here until I moved as you don't want to move too often in jobs, and also it's good to have continuous employment when applying for a new mortgage (See people, my life make look like lots of random decisions strung together, but there is some thought going into it. Not much. But some).

However, now it would appear that my lad will need a Cochlear implant for his profound deafness which, between the preparatory stages, the operation itself and the after care, could see us needing to be in the same health authority for at least another year (as the care we're currently getting is fabulous, so we're loathe to go somewhere else and risk his health suffering). This means Wales could be off the "to do list" until at least 2008.

So do I stay or do I go?
Employment wise I mean..

This may be a knee-jerk reaction, admittedly. It's been a shit week at work and I'm probably just blowing off steam a little, but the thought is in the back of my mind, niggling away, knocking on my conscious stream and saying "update your CV you twat". It's not helped by the fact I keep receiving job adverts via email offering me positions of up to 40k. Decisions, decisions.

Guess I'll see how the next couple of weeks pan out. But things had better start improving soon as if I'm stuck geographically for another 12 months then other things may well have to change!