End of an Era

An era is defined as:

1. A long and distinct period of history with a particular feature or characteristic.
2. A system of chronology dating from a particular noteworthy event.

I finished work today for the last time and to me this is the end of an era. Over the past 37 months I have gotten to know some wonderful people; I have also gotten to know some people who I would rather not have met. To me leaving work today for the last and final time is the end of an era.

I, along with a few others are moving on to other things, hopefully bigger and better but who knows. The many people I have worked with over the years I have to say I will miss greatly. They are like family. We spend more time together than we do with out families and have over time all taken roles to fit a family life; even if these roles are not the same with every person.

I have been the youngest in the company since I started and to a few people have taken on a daughter type role, in other words even though I don't act like a daughter they are as protective over me as parents, which I have to say has been annoying sometimes.

I've had arguments with almost everyone there, and with 2 people in particular, but as I see it all families have arguments, we can't all get along all of the time.

Even though we have had our disagreements I have the utmost respect for these people and I always will. They have been brilliant colleagues and fantastic friends. These people are irreplaceable.

This afternoon was great, we all went to the pub and have spent the afternoon drinking and having a laugh with each other. All differences have been put aside and we have just gone and enjoyed ourselves. I was the first to leave the pub as I needed to be home and finish packing for my move tomorrow but I really didn't want to leave the pub. I wanted to spend as much time with my colleagues as possible; maybe thinking that if the day didn't end then the fact I may never see them again wasn't real. Unfortunately I think it has really only just hit me that it is real, and I won't see most of these people again. Some of them I have as friends on Facebook, others I don't but I will be trying to stay in touch with everyone.

I know I'm not the most popular person, and I have a strange personality but I do hope that these people stay in touch and we do stay friends. I am like marmite, people either love me or hate me, unfortunately most people seem to hate me, but I'm not changing my personality for others.

Anyway, back to the point. I will miss everyone dearly and I do hope they all find something they enjoy soon. 

Thank you Liz, John, Mike, Sally, Jane, Shauna, Kim, Lee, Robin, Vicky, Steve B, Steve K, Roy, Dannii, Martin and everyone else for putting up with me all of this time.

This really is the end of an era for me.

Working Full Time for FREE!!!

'Hull has more volunteers, but are unpaid workers replacing staff?'

This is the title of the article I've been reading on my local news website. Basically the jist of it is in comparison to 2010 the amount of volunteers in Hull has risen by 45% which is pretty good.
I made a comment on this article.


'Well I have been on the JobCentre website a lot lately, looking for a job anywhere and I noticed quite a few vacancies in the North East that were 37 Hours a Week an unpaid. This was shop work, engineering.... anything you wanted. That to me is not volunteer work, that is manipulative and wrong when people out there need money and need to work.
It's good that more people are volunteering but the 'jobs' I've seen is not volunteering, it's slave labour.'


I personally feel this is justified.

Response from a certain person was this.


'If you are capable of work, have no disability that can stop you from working and have never worked (and therefore not paid any National Insurance or Tax) and receive Benefits then from your point of view you are effectively receiving free money.

If there is no work an area it is apparent that it has become acceptable to be subsidised by those that "are lucky enough to have a job". Those that have a job often do not get "free"money; they have to work to earn it.
Is it is unfair that someone in receipt of "free" money should not be expected to earn that money and at the same time be gaining work experience?
The whole "slave labour" argument is nonsense - unless you really believe that you should receive something for doing nothing.

The Benefits system is a TEMPORARY support net, not a long-term solution or a lifestyle choice, it was never designed that way.'


Is this person a complete moron, where did I say that people were getting money for nothing? See below my response to this idiot.


'what the hell are you on about?

My point was the jobs are 37 hours a week for free, so in other words people doing them still get to claim Dole. If these were paid jobs then people wouldn't be claiming dole and doing the jobs. Use your head!
37 hour a week work is not fair for people who are trying to look for an actual paid job.
I myself have only ever been out of work for one month, yes one month, in my entire working life and I have never claimed a penny from the government. I do not get any benefits whatsoever and don't intend to start either.
Like I said volunteering is a good idea for work experience but since when did that equate to doing a full time job for free when people who want to work, and need to work can't get a paid job because companies are taking advantage of the volunteers.
I got my experience doing an apprenticeship, I earned £80 a week for a year and look at me now, I work full time and have the experience.'


Now like I said, I think voluntary work is a great idea in many respects. The volunteer gets to learn something for work experience and it also helps the company as they are saving some money on some extra staff.

I don't think I am the only one who believes 37 hours for a voluntary job is unreasonable. How on earth can people look for a full time, or even part time paid job if they are working every day? Is it fair that they are working 37 hours a week for £65 dole a week on a voluntary job when someone who works full time in the same job but paid can be earning £250+ a week?

I don't think this is fair. To me a voluntary job is a few hours here and there, to help the shop and to help yourself.

If these jobs that I have seen were made into paid jobs rather than voluntary then this would put unemployment levels down, which means less money for the Government to pay out on people who are out of work.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks 37 hours for voluntary work is unreasonable?

What to do next?

Well I decided at New Year I was going to have a good 2012. Well within the first week I managed to find a broken fridge/freezer in my home, with all the food gone bad and then had some very bad news at work.

I haven't mentioned the work news yet, but that is because I don't particularly want someone from work finding out if they haven't yet been told by management.

I don't know whether it is good or bad at the minute. Our company is being taken over, they are closing our office down, and making us all redundant; or at least that is one possiblity. They have told us they may offer a job in the office in Cheltenham but clearly they won't offer everyone that because if they did then why close our office down and ship everyone south.

I would take up the offer of moving if they offered it to me. If they don't then I'm not in a good position. I will lose my flat; my landlord has already stated that he will not accept DSS in his properties, meaning I will have nowhere to live.
On the plus side my OH's parents have offered to take me in. Of course I would be paying rent but that means a move to Darlington.

I've been wanting to move to Darlington for a while now and I think this may be the kick in the backside I need to make it happen. To date I have only said I will move to Darlington once I find a job.

If I do get offered relocation I'd jump at the chance. I don't think they will but you have to hope and keep positive don't you?
My OH is a bit sick of where he lives and I wouldn't mind getting out of here so could be an adventure for us; a new start.

Either way I'll be happy; I have my OH and that's the main thing.

New Year, New Start.... I think not!

Well today has been the first day back at work after a lovely Christmas break consisting of 10 days of fun and relaxation.

What can I say about the first day back at work; well I haven’t been motivated in the slightest. I thought time off would help me, that somehow I would have the energy to work again, well guess what, it didn’t work.

All I have wanted to do all day is go home, curl up on the sofa and watch tv. So guess what I’m doing tonight then.

The day didn’t start off too well, that may explain a few things. The weather throughout the UK is horrendous today and I got caught in the thick of it walking from the train station to work. My umbrella was ‘killed’ so to speak. Turned inside out a few times and then the arms snapped. Has nobody else thought of creating an umbrella or umbrella type of device that is wind resistant? My hair was soaked, my clothes sopping wet through, my feet were squelching and are still every so slightly moist and worst of all my laptop was in my bag; my bag that was not waterproof in the slightest. I have been hanging on to the bag, hoping that my body would shield the rain and stop it seeping through and murdering my computer.

Seeing as I’m writing this at work I haven’t yet turned on the laptop but I did open up the bag this morning and the computer seemed dry, and my phone charger worked so I’m assuming the laptop is too.