... and boy did that not go down well!
Firstly I was told I'd ruined his life, then that I didn't know what I was doing, then that I wouldn't amount to anything elsewhere, then he begged me to change my mind.
I've just finished begging call number four, where only during that call did he actually realise that by saying 'I've accepted the job' I meant 'have returned the signed employment contract'.
He rang off in a huff.
The next three months of my notice period are going to be fun...
tell my partner about it.. 3 months of working for a complete **** and resisting the urge not to tell him (being professional)... the same boss lost 4 staff on the same day (day after their bonuses were confirmed), yet the company still won't accept there a management issue..
I had a similar situation but thankfully I handed my notice in a week before a 3 week holiday shutdown so I only had to endure the misery for a week...doesn't help your situation mind. I was hoping gardening leave would be on the table (since I was going to a direct competitor) but that didn't happen.
make sure you formally hand in your notice !
Congratulations and I guess it's nice to be wanted, but sounds like you are much better off getting away from a boss like that.
When I handed my notice in at my last job, my department manager (so my boss's boss) didn't speak to me at all. Not a why/where are you going, not even a good luck or goodbye on my last day. It made the exit interview with HR a lot easier though. I didn't feel so bad telling them what a terrible manager he was and how not one person in the department has any time for him 😀
Sounds like your best off without him. Good luck for the new job.
Never had that kind of reaction - usually they are pleased to see the back of me!
I remember handing my notice in for a job many years ago. Walked into the bosses office holding a letter, boss said "Who is it this time?" as we'd had a few staff leave in recent months.
"Me"
"Ah. Sit down".
Had a very amicable chat, he understood the reasons, couldn't believe I'd haggled a 40% pay rise out of it, accepted it was a great career opportunity for me. Last working day he took me out to lunch at the s****iest local eatery and picked my brains on what the company needed to be addressing to retain people, and what he needed to do as a manager to improve for his team.
Wow, that's shocking behaviour! I'm on the last two days of a 3 month notice period and my boss has been great. There's no call for that kind of nonsense - its a job, none of us is indispensable (even if we like to think we are!) and life goes on.
Not sure I'd be feeling very motivated to work the notice in those circumstances (and it's felt like a very long time for me when the relationships are good!)
Sounds like he went through a few stages of grief in a very short time frame. Congratulations!
then that I wouldn’t amount to anything elsewhere, then he begged me to change my mind
Lol. What a pillock.
My wife's workplace haemorrhages staff, and they never do exit interviews or even discuss it.
Careful now, he’ll have a key logger installed in no time!
As an employer myself it is very stressful - indispensable or not, the recruitment and training process in itself can be challenging - especially in high-growth businesses like we are in where getting good staff is very hard (with there being so much competition around).
I especially hate the late night emails saying 'can I have a quick catch up first thing in the morning' which invariably means the same thing every time - so I get a sleepless night and extra stress that I don't need. Recently we had one sent to my business partner and myself last thing on the Friday afternoon asking for the meeting on Monday FFS.
Much more of that behaviour and I would be using it as an excuse to go sooner. A reference only needs to be a confirmation of job title and period of employment anything more is a bit old fashioned
The next three months of my notice period are going to be fun…
Will they take you sooner?
Firstly I was told I’d ruined his life, then that I didn’t know what I was doing, then that I wouldn’t amount to anything elsewhere, then he begged me to change my mind.
If you can get him to say that in writing, I think you'd have the basis to say the mutual basis of trust and confidence on which the contract was based was now gone and you'd not work your notice (get some advice before doing that). I suspect that would be best done by you the day of/after payroll as he doesn't sound like he'd be too happy!
I guess it’s nice to be wanted
At the last job I resigned from my line manager started crying as I told her, I didn't know when I sat down that 2 other members of my team had already resigned that morning, 3 out of 5 gone in a day, it wasn't in any way planned either.
Felt like a bit of an arse initially but that soon wore off as I was frog-marched out the building and put on lovely lovely gardening leave, it was 100% the right move.
Couple of jobs back, I handed my notice in and I was then sent to any project which involved me being at least 3hrs away from the office for my entire notice period. Taking resignation personally isn't a good way of doing it. They need to learn why people want to leave, not throwing a tantrum.
When I left my last job, with another one to go to, I’d had 10 months of micromanagement, weekly one-to-one meetings, an extended probation and , essentially, bullying by my manager. When I gave her my notice she said ‘job too much for you then?’ To which I replied “it’s not the job, it’s the manager”. That knocked her back a bit.
I told HR in the exit interview why I was leaving.
A week after I finished, the only other BA in the team also handed in her notice, only somehow she managed to wangle no notice period, so our manager had lost both her business analysts within a week of each other.
I bet that went down well with the management team. I would have liked to be a fly on the wall in that discussion
I'd say dont in any way escalate it. I resigned from a job and there were multiple attempts to get me to stay / crossed with a fair bit of attitude that I was ruining everything (neither my direct manager or site manager said goodbye on my last day). I just stuck to being professional and not responding to any jibes about the situation. I thought bridges were probably burned, but less than a year later they were ringing up to persuade me to go back and (almost) name my price, circumstances werent right but its good to keep those sort of options open...
Also note of course you can take unused annual leave to shorten notice period
He rang off in a huff.
The next three months of my notice period are going to be fun…
😄
they never do exit interviews or even discuss it.
The last role I was in, they pretty much admitted that they didn't do exit interviews because they knew they wouldn't like the answers.
People are weird. Absolutely no need to take a resignation so personally. I had one yesterday and am gutted as she's a great member of the team, but it's more money and better prospects. So I gritted my teeth and gave my congratulations.
Sounds like he went through a few stages of grief in a very short time frame. Congratulations!
It did actually sound like what I imagine an abusive partner to be like - firstly abusive then begging me to come back, promising me he'll change!
Careful now, he’ll have a key logger installed in no time!
Lol!
make sure you formally hand in your notice !
Will do - other people are aware, but I thought I do them the courtesy of telling them first before sticking it in (so to speak!).
As an employer myself it is very stressful – indispensable or not, the recruitment and training process in itself can be challenging – especially in high-growth businesses like we are in where getting good staff is very hard (with there being so much competition around).
Yep, I completely understand - what prompted the immediate call was we were due to interview someone else later this week, so I thought he needed to know before we did that.
Will they take you sooner?
I'm sure they would, but (so far!) I'm happy to work my notice - I don't want to let anyone down at my current place. If they want me to go sooner, I'd be happy to - and the dream would be garden leave, but I suspect not a chance!
If you can get him to say that in writing, I think you’d have the basis to say the mutual basis of trust and confidence on which the contract was based was now gone and you’d not work your notice (get some advice before doing that
Nah, he was just being a drama queen. Can't do anything without soliloquising about it!
put on lovely lovely gardening leave, it was 100% the right move
The dream!
I’d say dont in any way escalate it.
No, not intending to. It's going to be hard if he keeps this up, but I'll manage. TBF the money (a 1/3 increase) is the only reason, so I like to leave a place on good terms just in case. You never know when you might need a favour!
… and boy did that not go down well!
Oh dear how sad never mind. Did any of those subsequent phone calls offer you a financial incentive to stay?
The next three months of my notice period are going to be fun…
Is that enforceable? Are you in a senior position / been there twelve years, is it going to take three months to find a replacement?
Some people take it REALLY badly god knows why they will bin you off soon enough to save their business. I once left a job where my then boss told me it was the worst career decision I could make, (I was doubling my salary) and that leaving within a year I was required to pay the recruitment fee. I told him my contract didn't say that and he said "I will come at you with everything I can to get my money back" didn't want me to work a notice and told me to leave there and then. I didn't hear from him or his company ever again.
I'm on a sabatical after resigning a couple months back...
There were many straws that broke the camels back, micro management, frequently shifting goalposts, monthly consulatation style 'justify your existence' meetings dressed up as 1-2-1's, getting bollocked for submittimg an overtime claim for a business critical issue without prior authorisation, being refused technical resourses to get things done and then getting blamed for said things not getting done...the list goes on.
The final straw was being told to take on an ongoing task that would probably take up to 25% of my time, on top of my normal stuff. I almost launched my laptop across my home office in frustration after that call. It was at that point I decided life was too short to deal with that, and resigned, whilst getting signed off with stress for my notice period.
The attitude very quickly changed, "what can we do to make things better, how can we support you? etc".... well remember all those 1-2-1's that I would repeat the same old issues every time, and you'd deflect the issue right back onto me?? The horse had well and truly bolted by that point though, so my answer was a professsional - "nothing, I've made up my mind, all the best".
Oh dear how sad never mind. Did any of those subsequent phone calls offer you a financial incentive to stay?
Yep, in very general terms and with vague promises about the future, but couldn't match the current offer!
Is that enforceable? Are you in a senior position / been there twelve years, is it going to take three months to find a replacement?
Probably, yes/no, and probably if not longer! I don't want to leave anyone in the lurch, I'd like to be a 'good leaver' and wrap up as much as I can before I go. The market for my role at the moment is very much candidates hold all the cards as there's a dearth of people around so they can be very expensive and hard to come by.
nd that leaving within a year I was required to pay the recruitment fee. I told him my contract didn’t say that and he said “I will come at you with everything I can to get my money back” didn’t want me to work a notice and told me to leave there and then. I didn’t hear from him or his company ever again.
My boss tried the "you'll have to pay the recruiter fees" until I pointed out I applied directly for my present job, and there's nothing in my contract. I think he was desperate and not really thinking straight at that point!
There were many straws that broke the camels back,
I have had a lot of micromanagement - but otherwise it's a great place to work, and I'll be sad to move on, but that sadness will be allayed by the large wodge of cash in the new place!
If they were getting you cheap then of course they'll be sorry to see you go.
😉
My first boss lost it with me when I handed my notice in, turned really nasty - I remember I had a (shitty) company car and he made me leave it at the site (in Croydon) and get the train home on my last day. He threatened some other stuff that I just laughed off and he told me I wouldn't like it where I was going.
This is the fella who gave me my first ever job, promoted me to office manager, poached me to the new site, the Croydon one, when I lived in Portsmouth... He'd been great to me right up until that time, then started slagging me off and saying how this other guy (that I'd recruited) was so much better than me!
Funny thing was, he tried to stop my final wages and they ended up paying me twice for the last month I worked, so I got the last laugh 😛
I did consider sabotaging his car (I was young!), but never bothered in the end. 😆
Not sure which industry you're in, but in IT it always pays to not burn bridges, It's scary how many people have worked together and know each other, it's a damn small world!!!
Been in IT for over 30 years and never encountered someone from a previous job... But then again I've only worked for 4 or 5 different companies in all that time.
Congratulations on the new job OP.
Sounds like you're best off out of it. That's a weird set of reactions.
The first boss I handed my notice in to (summer job at sailing school) told me I wouldn't amount to anything and besides which she knew everyone on the outdoor education business and would see to it they wouldn't employ me
She now lives locally, and 30 years later I'm so tempted to pop a business card through the door with my "Scotland Director, National Outdoor Learning Charity" on it. 😎
especially in high-growth businesses like we are in where getting good staff is very hard (with there being so much competition around).
If you are having trouble recruiting then you are underpaying. Market forces and all that
She now lives locally, and 30 years later I’m so tempted to pop a business card through the door with my “Scotland Director, National Outdoor Learning Charity” on it. 😎
😂 revenge - a dish best served 30 years cold!
Latest was another 20min call where he said he'd taken legal advice on termination of my new contract with my new employer and I could pull out if I wanted to...🙄 had to end that call as a client called, but dreading calling him back now!
My boss tried the “you’ll have to pay the recruiter fees”
I've literally never heard of that being a thing before.
I must have led a sheltered employment life - some of these responses from bosses are absolutely insane
I got made redundant and my job moved to the Philippines, we were asked if we'd have an exit interview and i agreed, thinking it would be with manager in UK, nope, i got a call from an anonymous person in the philippines, first question "why do you want to leave your job?" !!!
An old boss of mine didn't speak to the entire dept for a couple of weeks after I handed my notice in. I bumped into his wife a while after and she said he sulked at home as well!!!
' If you are having trouble recruiting then you are underpaying. ' Not always - there simply may not be enough suitable people around. We're horrifically busy, and annoyingly part of my team resigned a few weeks ago. Replacing here will take months/years as you've got to find someone, then get them used to the data and science of our project, so we probably won't.
The attitudes recounted here are amazing, unbelievable. I wished her good luck, she's done good work for me, and she's got good reasons for leaving - career change, and a change in location, so good luck to her.
there are some interesting stories there. are these horror bosses in small businesses/owners of the business? i can imagine the situation being taken personally in those cases, but doesn’t make it acceptable.
the guy asking for “his money” back is interesting.
If you are having trouble recruiting then you are underpaying.
Well no, we aren't really. We just happen to work in a particular sector of the business that is quite niche (web development with a strong focus on NHS and public sector). So many potential employees just don't find it as sexy as working for consumer brands.
‘ If you are having trouble recruiting then you are underpaying. ‘ Not always – there simply may not be enough suitable people around.
That's the whole thing about tj's "market forces" point though. Unless it's literally such a specialist field that enough people don't exist in the whole world.
Unless it’s literally such a specialist field that enough people don’t exist in the whole world.
Welcome to my world...
When people left my group I always wished them well and thanked them for the valuable contribution they have made. In a small field it's good to see outside, collect best practice and further the field. Many come back. If companies are recruiting from your talent pool for better opportunities than you can offer, that's a compliment.
Not sure which industry you’re in, but in IT it always pays to not burn bridges, It’s scary how many people have worked together and know each other, it’s a damn small world!!!
IT is a *huge* field. And it's only getting bigger and more diverse. It's easy enough to avoid people if you really want to.
Ugh, another call with lots of emotional blackmail. I am really not enjoying this...
Presumably you're after hours? Turn your phone off?
Refer to the prior legal precedence of Arkell vs Pressdram?
Normally a recruitment agency will charge a hefty fee if you employ someone. A 'finders fee' if you like. That's how they make money.
If said employee is taken on full time and subsequently quits.. That's a contractual argument between the agency and the employer. Nowt to do with the employee.
If you are having trouble recruiting then you are underpaying.
Well no, we aren’t really. We just happen to work in a particular sector of the business that is quite niche (web development with a strong focus on NHS and public sector). So many potential employees just don’t find it as sexy as working for consumer brands.
Nah, you're missing TJs point. It always comes down to market forces. If clients are commissioning work from you, you need to understand how big the market is and price it accordingly. Then the work those expensive developers you need to recruit, can be spread out over more contracts, or if the work cannot be reused, then the contract needs to be priced accordingly as a one-off.
And if the client doesn't like your prices, they can either kill the project as not cost effective or just off-shore the work and your business goes under...the brutal reality of market forces 😉
getting bollocked for submittimg an overtime claim for a business critical issue without prior authorisation
Ah, the old "one-way door."
We had a clampdown on people basically taking the piss, had a company-wide email blanket-banning with immediate effect any overtime that wasn't authorised prior.
At 4pm that self same day, maybe two hours after the email dropped, our core switch exploded and I was first man on the scene. It took out all the networking on our site, and the entire business's telephony. I responded by variously rounding up network engineers who could reprogram a switch, phone engineers who could redirect the external phone lines, logistics guys who might be able to provide hardware, a manager who could fend off the board of directors, and a screwdriver and a hammer.
An hour later, pissing sweat and blood and with a lower intestine's worth of cable hanging round my neck I saw the manager milling about outside and went to ask him, "in light of the email today, am I going home in 20 minutes then?" and basically got back "shut the **** up, stop taking the piss and get back in the comms room."
Neither of us took each other seriously, Brett and I got on very well and he knew I was kidding. Point is that it's suddenly OK when it benefits them.
So your boss has made multiple unwanted calls; suggest you tell him clearly and politely that it's unprofessional behaviour, reflects badly on the company and could be defined as harassment.
What happed, did he threaten to install a key logger?
We just happen to work in a particular sector of the business that is quite niche (web development
Web... deve... ? No, you've lost me, I can see why you're struggling.
This is a bit of a devil's advocate argument, but if you pay enough then you will attract people to do anything. Offer me five million a year, I'll retrain and relocate. I'll come be a fluffer or a jizzmopper for that sort of wedge. I'll bring Drac's sponge.
I'm staying where I am because my boss is a **** and staying annoys him far more than my leaving would. Also, I don't really have much contact with the fat *****r
The final straw was being told to take on an ongoing task that would probably take up to 25% of my time, on top of my normal stuff. I almost launched my laptop across my home office in frustration after that call. It was at that point I decided life was too short to deal with that, and resigned, whilst getting signed off with stress for my notice period.
Yikes, I'm about 90% along this road, phone has a few dents from being flung across room...
Worryingly enough, handing in my notice might be hardest part of process, don't think my current employers realised I'm only on 4 weeks notice!
Web… deve… ? No, you’ve lost me, I can see why you’re struggling.
Are you suggesting web development isn't a thing or doesn't deserve to be development?
I’ve literally never heard of that being a thing before.
Because it’s absolute nonsense!! Recruiter fees may be repayable, but that’s by the recruitment firm, not the candidate!
Op..if the guy is that desperate to keep you (and it sounds like he is), can’t you ask for a huge hike in pay to stay? Although given he sounds borderline insane I’m not sure you’d want to..
Ah, the old “one-way door.”
Sounds very familiar.. I'm in service management and on this particular escapade I managed to rally a few key devs and our best infrastructure guy, we were all up until about 2am getting things fixed and my part mostly was fending off the customer to let the experts do thier stuff.
It was an out of hours software release that went wrong. The release manager was unavailable so I was basically doing that and major incident management at the same time.
I never got a thank you, just a bollocking for presumably running up a few thousand quids worth of expensive dev and infrastructure overtime.
Boils my piss hahaha.
I'm out now. I think I just want to drive a van or something.
Our team was given a ridiculously unrealistic deadline set by management consulting with the marketing team for a new site release. Dev management had no idea what was involved and never even asked us if it were feasible. When they told us jaws hit the floor. We worked like nutters for two weeks and then to meet the deadline we worked straight through from I think it was a Wednesday morning to hometime on Thursday. We managed it, sort of. I didn't trust myself to drive an hour and a bit home so I had to stay at a colleague's house nearby. As I was leaving the office I jokingly said 'I may be a little late in tomorrow' to the manager, he said in all seriousness 'no I need you all in at 8am tomorrow in case there are any issues'. At my colleague's house I went straight onto jobserve.com and fired off a load of applications. I got one quite quickly, and this was just inside my 6 months probation so I was still on one week's notice. It was highly satisfying to tell them that as I think they'd forgotten 🙂
Op..if the guy is that desperate to keep you (and it sounds like he is), can’t you ask for a huge hike in pay to stay? Although given he sounds borderline insane I’m not sure you’d want to..
I think it’s heading in that direction ie they’ll make me an offer to stay. They’ve already said they can’t match it, and even if they could it come with bigger strings attached I think.
I’ve never had this before - you hand your notice in, everyone says thanks, and off you trot.
I have to say this whole episode is making me reconsider whether or not I’d want to stay even if they matched the new offer.
Congratulations Jakester, sounds like you are better off well away from a boss like that.
Sounds like gaslighting behavior, maybe this is a good place to leave this : Mother Gothel, the villain of Disney’s Tangled, is one of the best on-screen examples of gaslighting.
I have to say this whole episode is making me reconsider whether or not I’d want to stay even if they matched the new offer.
No reconsideration necessary.
getting bollocked for submittimg an overtime claim for a business critical issue without prior authorisation
There was a large IT services company who put a blanket ban on travel without authorisation at director level. Some big Tier 1 Telco's network went down and they called out for priority support. It was at a WE and no one (in support) could get hold of a director to authorise the travel, so the call went unanswered (it needed a site visit to resolve). They lost the contract over it!
It is kind of a thing in IT from my experience.. You'll never get a pay rise by sitting still. Maybe a 2% standard rise.
You'll only get a raise by jumping ship.. (that's a risk in itself, better the devil you know etc.) At which point your old employer may or may not be in a position to offer more.
But by then it's often too late in the day.
When i left the last job my boss said he wasn't surprised and then didn't bother saying goodbye.
Can't say i was bothered as he was an arse who was just waiting for everything to go pearshaped and he could get redundancy.
I told my old team that they should get the f out as soon a they can because of that, simply as he didn't care about keeping the place going.
Was a bit sad and i actually felt sorry for him about his attitude
If you are having trouble recruiting then you are underpaying.
Or have a reputation for treating people badly.
We're a charity, pay less than many business but above average in the sector we are in. But we have a reputation for being a great employer, family friendly, flexible and train people.
We have a deeply loyal, hard working team with huge breadth of experience.
We never have difficulty recruiting or retaining staff. But they could earn more elsewhere.
This makes me remember the job I had for 14 years before I left the U.K. the last few years I was struggling with the workload and the lack of ability to drive change in teams in the Us. It wore me down and when the CISO starting behaving like an arse, I started looking seriously.
Got offered a job working for Amazon in Ireland, did not take it. Got offered a job working for Huawei, did not take it, eventually starting looking in Sweden so I could move here, got offered a job at a bank and took it.
By the time I handed in my notice, my boss had been fired and two of my other team mates had bailed to Apple and ARM. One of the others was pretty much out with stress from trying to do stuff in florida and India. The new boss, in Florida, called me as soon as he got my e-Mail, but I think he knew there was nothing he could do. I left on the Friday without a leaving do, card or pretty much anyone from my team around and started the new job on the Monday in Sweden.
The CISO became an embarrassment and “left” soon after. Which did not make up for him screwing over a team.
Had similar, relented got sucked back in...
After a week I was kicking myself.
6mths later I left but only after yet more bribery and emotional blackmail.
If your unhappy and it's not just a leverage tool for more money dont change your mind!
Recently we had one sent to my business partner and myself last thing on the Friday afternoon
Now you know what it’s like for employees when redundancies/poor bonuses/pitiful pay rises are announced on Friday afternoons.
I've only ever really quit 2 jobs properly. The first a couple of people took offence which was disappointing. I'd joined as a graduate trainee, spent 2 years there working on some pretty fun, interesting and critical projects. Reported to directors so had some great mentorship. I didn't leave because I didn't like the job, it was a personal decision as my GF (now wife) were splitting our time between Bristol, Newcastle and London.
My last job I quit after 12 years. They weren't surprised, I'd had plenty of conversations about how I wasn't happy with the department culture, my role and where I saw things going. It was professional and I worked my notice diligently making sure everything was in a place to be handed over. Handy, because this was right at the start of covid and I was on the phone to the HR and Research directors asking for an extension to my notice period when things went a bit wrong.
I had a guy work for me as a student. He had graduated just before the placement so in the market for a permanent job but had taken a placement to fill a gap and gain experience. He was really good so I tried to help him find a permanent job in the company. I got him another temporary position and we were promised it would be made permanent. He was really apologetic when he handed his notice in. I pointed out it was our loss, we should have made more of an effort and in his position I'd do the same thing. Promises don't pay, so if you are offered a good job, take it.
Not sure I'd ever stay in a job if there was a counter offer. IT would have to be amazing. If the only way you can get paid what you are worth is by handing in your notice it doesn't say much for the company.
@OP even if they matched your offer I wouldn't stay now.
Well no, we aren’t really. We just happen to work in a particular sector of the business that is quite niche (web development with a strong focus on NHS and public sector). So many potential employees just don’t find it as sexy as working for consumer brands.
This is a bit of a devil’s advocate argument, but if you pay enough then you will attract people to do anything.
Got to say I kind of agree with this but it doesn't have to be money. If the job is not as appealing for whatever reason there needs to be something else to compensate for that. It might be money, it might be perks, flexibility, shorter hours, training, child care but there has to be something.
I appreciate it's difficult though as the people I know that own / run their own business are usually pretty passionate (they need to be to put the effort in and cope with the stress!) And it's very hard to see why there maybe other things at play.
My boss knew I was leaving as he's only a few weeks behind me and the area manager who hired me is my previous boss.
I’m out now. I think I just want to drive a van or something.
Ha! Your whole situation has a very familiar ring to it, it pretty much describes the situation I was in up until five or so years ago. I was with a print company that specialised in work for the charity sector, I was taken on because I had knowledge of certain very old processes that hardly anyone used any more, and over time I was trained in a range of other processes so I could swap between them as necessary. Then the owner died, his family shares were bought out, and ‘angel investors’ brought in. From that point the micromanaging started, minute examination of any mistakes, failure to follow a procedure that someone else arbitrarily decided I should follow, instead of doing things the way I always had done, personal reviews, where errors were brought up, and questions asked as to why errors were made; “So, why did you forget to do such and such?” “Because you keep adding more and more things to what you expect me to do in a given number of hours” How can we help?” “By taking away some of the workload” “Oh, we can’t do that, but how else can we help?”
That’s almost verbatim, just before I got the boot, for failing to perform to their expected standards. I’d been there eleven years, and I felt that a load had been lifted as I walked out the door!
I’d actually been to my doctor because of the stress, afraid my forgetting things was a sign of early-onset Altzheimers, and just before the deciding meeting, I had a panic attack in front of my supervisor.
I ended up getting a job as an agency driver for British Car Auctions, which I did for two years, and I enjoyed pretty much every minute of it! Often long days, but I didn’t have to plan routes or anything, our driver did that, the team of five just had to pick up a car, do basic checks on condition, then drive it to a specific destination, where we’d be picked up, rinse and repeat! I drove lots of different vehicles, saw more of my home country than I’d ever seen before, I drove roughly 100,000 miles, and as a result of contacts I’d made at one destination, when the agency drivers were dropped, I got the job I have now, which, considering my age, is really stress-free, pretty well paid, and I’m working with a terrific bunch of people, who have been incredibly caring over my circumstances through the last three months. I’m now effectively an employee of Cazoo, who bought up the company I joined, and it looks like they’re continuing to look after the workforce as well, if not better, so all things considered, I’m pretty lucky.
I don’t drive that much now, I look after our main car storage site, doing pre-despatch checks, making sure all the cars are correctly located, and with 1000+ cars, that takes a bit of time!
So Matty, check out driving jobs, you never know where you might end up! Actually, looking at vehicle logistics, what I was doing for BCA might be something that might suit, it’s nothing like being a courier, you get specific vehicles to drive, say a pickup from our place in Westbury, then dropping anywhere in the country, then arrange your own transportation to the next pickup, with usually a ‘carry-over’, a car or van or whatever that you take home and deliver next day. You never know what you might get, I had a Maserati Ghibli on my drive one day, we have everything from commercial lease vehicles to top of the range Range Rovers, Teslas, we’ve had a couple of fairly new Mazda MX-5’s in recently, there’s huge variety, so worth looking at.
Are you suggesting web development isn’t a thing or doesn’t deserve to be development?
No, I'm merely suggesting that it's not an unusual profession.
I jokingly said ‘I may be a little late in tomorrow’ to the manager, he said in all seriousness ‘no I need you all in at 8am tomorrow
I had one of those. We'd pulled 12-hour physically hard graft shifts seven days a week for a couple of months in order to finish a project, long story short I got home for the first time in weeks at about 4am. On the drive home our supervisor said "don't worry about tomorrow lads, I'll clear it with the boss."
At 8:32 I got a phone call from the boss demanding to know where I was. I replied "I'm in bed, Andy said that..."
He promptly exploded, "I don't care what Andy said, Andy's not your boss, I told you to be in work and blah blah so if you don't come in I'm terminating your temporary contract." (I wasn't on a temporary contract.)
I said, "good," put the phone down and went back to sleep. That was the last time we spoke.
Been in IT for over 30 years and never encountered someone from a previous job… But then again I’ve only worked for 4 or 5 different companies in all that time.
I moved from Bristol to Silicon Glen and the first people I ran into in the coffee room were two engineers who had according to the rumour tree at old place been sacked for shagging in the coffee room 😀
First people I ran into in the coffee room were two engineers who had according to the rumour tree at old place been sacked for shagging in the coffee room 😀
Did you ask them? I bloody would have.
IT Säk is a very small world and, over here, it's even smaller. People we interview for roles know people I have worked with, or I have friends who have worked with them, which is both good and bad I guess. You can get good background info about them, personal recommendations and the like, but you also get people chancing it by being mates with other people in the recruiting chain.
At my last place I interviewed a bloke that had been a consultant for a while. He liked the flexibility of being able to move and hated the cold winters, so that life meant he could spend six months on holiday in warm places. I was not convinced he would be a good fit and thought he was arrogant as hell. Another interviewer also gave him a down-vote. Sadly, the boss knew him (they were friends) and he got an offer. Luckily though, the boss told this guy that people had found him arrogant and he should work on that. Which is great, a really good way to set up a working relationship. Idiot. I left soon after that.
I worked at a small local place for my first proper job, the boss was happy-ish to give me a day to go to college but wouldn't fund the course or the exams. It was expensive on my wages at the time but the qualifications have since proved worth it.
Once I was out of my time, I asked him about a pay rise and if I could have the spare works van (that sat outside work overnight and weekends) as my own. I had to pay for parking near work and it was quite expensive.
Lets just say NO doesn't really cover it.
Within a few months I'd been offered a job, with the salary going from £9k to £13k with a company car (this was a long time ago), and after I handed him my resignation letter, which he didn't open while I stood there, he never spoke to me again.
I've learnt more from poor bosses than I have from the good ones.
Good luck at the new place Jakester
Did you ask them? I bloody would have.
No, it somehow didn’t seem proper extending the rumour tree 400 miles!
I'd have been more curious to ask them whether they thought it was worth it...
