Billy Young's Blog, page 12
January 25, 2014
25th January 2014
Monday was a very topsy-turvy day. As I expected I was sacked for not agreeing to the overtime. By the end of the day I had it back again. I would like to have said that it cost me nothing but I had to go to a lawyer which isn't cheap. Still it did get my job back though I had to agree to do overtime three times this week. It was either that or unemployment and a long costly fight for unfair dismissal. I chose work.
At first I tried the Citizens Advice Bureau to get help. Sadly they seemed to know less about my rights than I did. They did phone ACAS for advice and gave me the number, which I already had. In the end I felt I was at a loss. They didn't offer any practical advice on what my options were. Magz was equally stumped on a way forward.
It was for that reason I decided that our only move left was to seek proper legal advice. That was the best thing I could have done. He was able to lay out my options and give advice to the best course to take. By the time I got home after speaking with him he was calling me at home to say he had got my job back. Yes I hade to agree to do the overtime for the remainder of the week but I did prove that they could just sack me for not wanting to do it.
Still I did feel as if I had lost at the time. As the week has progressed though I don't think I have. Yes I had to compromise yet I am still working. I proved to the rest of the workforce that overtime can't be forced upon us. Yes if it is in your contract they can demand you do. Sadly I have never signed any contracts with my employer. This my lawyer told me was a breach of the employment statutes in this country. That played in my favour. Though it could be argued that having done so in the past that I have agreed to it. Nothing is ever straight forward is it, especially when it comes to legal issues.
Still the main thing is I still have a job.
At first I tried the Citizens Advice Bureau to get help. Sadly they seemed to know less about my rights than I did. They did phone ACAS for advice and gave me the number, which I already had. In the end I felt I was at a loss. They didn't offer any practical advice on what my options were. Magz was equally stumped on a way forward.
It was for that reason I decided that our only move left was to seek proper legal advice. That was the best thing I could have done. He was able to lay out my options and give advice to the best course to take. By the time I got home after speaking with him he was calling me at home to say he had got my job back. Yes I hade to agree to do the overtime for the remainder of the week but I did prove that they could just sack me for not wanting to do it.
Still I did feel as if I had lost at the time. As the week has progressed though I don't think I have. Yes I had to compromise yet I am still working. I proved to the rest of the workforce that overtime can't be forced upon us. Yes if it is in your contract they can demand you do. Sadly I have never signed any contracts with my employer. This my lawyer told me was a breach of the employment statutes in this country. That played in my favour. Though it could be argued that having done so in the past that I have agreed to it. Nothing is ever straight forward is it, especially when it comes to legal issues.
Still the main thing is I still have a job.
January 18, 2014
18th January 2014
It has been a long week. The work has been enforcing mandatory overtime all week. Every day has been eleven hours of grinding work. Because of this I have not been getting home till around nine at night which has left me very tired as you may imagine. On Thursday we were told that Monday is to be the same but that it would be the last. Then yesterday that changed to the rest of the week as well.
I wasn't happy and decided that I wouldn't be doing it. Graham the supervisor told me to put it in writing. I did and handed it in to the office. Yes I acted hastily but I felt over the past few months I had done more than enough overtime and this new demand was too far. After that I was called into a meeting with Graham who said that if I didn't take back the letter that the management would take that as my resignation. I stuck to my guns whilst pointing out that I wasn't resigning merely refusing to do the overtime though I was willing to negotiate. At which I was told that their was no discussion open.
After the meeting I returned to my post still unwilling to step down from my position. Later I was again approached by the supervisor who tried to talk me out of my position. Again I stuck to the track I has set myself on.
As I was leaving after completing another eleven hour shift I was again asked into the side office. This time Graham informed me that if I wasn't willing to do the overtime next week I would be fired. I again refused. So I will go to work on Monday but expect to be sent home.
I don't want to lose my job but I have over the past year done a lot of overtime without being paid for it. As you may know I was supposed to take my time back but could never get it back. This week and next they are supposedly paying us for it but I just feel I have given too much over the festive season already. This doesn't seem to matter to the management though. I even offered to start later and so work later to cover the retort. As I said though my attempt at negotiate was flatly rejected. Their way or no way.
All of this has left me feeling very flat. Yet there is little to be done until Monday. I hoe that management will change their minds but I don't think they will. Hard times ahead then.
I wasn't happy and decided that I wouldn't be doing it. Graham the supervisor told me to put it in writing. I did and handed it in to the office. Yes I acted hastily but I felt over the past few months I had done more than enough overtime and this new demand was too far. After that I was called into a meeting with Graham who said that if I didn't take back the letter that the management would take that as my resignation. I stuck to my guns whilst pointing out that I wasn't resigning merely refusing to do the overtime though I was willing to negotiate. At which I was told that their was no discussion open.
After the meeting I returned to my post still unwilling to step down from my position. Later I was again approached by the supervisor who tried to talk me out of my position. Again I stuck to the track I has set myself on.
As I was leaving after completing another eleven hour shift I was again asked into the side office. This time Graham informed me that if I wasn't willing to do the overtime next week I would be fired. I again refused. So I will go to work on Monday but expect to be sent home.
I don't want to lose my job but I have over the past year done a lot of overtime without being paid for it. As you may know I was supposed to take my time back but could never get it back. This week and next they are supposedly paying us for it but I just feel I have given too much over the festive season already. This doesn't seem to matter to the management though. I even offered to start later and so work later to cover the retort. As I said though my attempt at negotiate was flatly rejected. Their way or no way.
All of this has left me feeling very flat. Yet there is little to be done until Monday. I hoe that management will change their minds but I don't think they will. Hard times ahead then.
January 11, 2014
11 January 2014
Today has been one of those sore thumb days. Well DIY does tend to be filled with them. What led to this sad event is that my sons computer chair broke. Magz decided she wished it repaired even though Calum decided to buy a new one. repairing a seat sounds easy enough right. Sadly not when the bolts holding the chair together have snapped. Trying to get the broken ends out of the holes has proven painful. The first one, as always, came out with relative ease. Unfortunately the other one has refused to as simply. In the end I gave up for tonight and will try again tomorrow. That will give mine and my daughter's fingers time to stop throbbing. I think it would have been easier to get rid of the seat as Calum said. Though now I have started trying to repair it, well you know. Why is it when we start doing something like this we can't stop? Well at least until all chance of success is gone. Is it just a male thing? Something to do with our wish to impress even though there is no need? An ancient instinct still hot wired into our brains or something to do with culture? It does make me wonder sometimes.
I still have the decorations to put away in the attic. Yes it is always something that we drag out in our house. Though Magz took the tree down last week it is still sitting in the hallway waiting to be consigned to storage till next needed. Which we are all glad to say isn't for some time. The festive season can be taxing after all, though the gifts are good, hehehe.
I still have the decorations to put away in the attic. Yes it is always something that we drag out in our house. Though Magz took the tree down last week it is still sitting in the hallway waiting to be consigned to storage till next needed. Which we are all glad to say isn't for some time. The festive season can be taxing after all, though the gifts are good, hehehe.
January 4, 2014
4th January 2014
I hope you all have had a great New Year. Though mine was quiet it still was good. Calum went to a party with his friends as I suppose many did. He did get home till the next day and then slept for another day. It must have been a good party, hehehe. Tammy, unlike her brother, stayed at home and had nothing stronger than cola. She isn't one for wild partying.
Over the past week there have been plenty of stormy weather. Needless to say that it has left me a lot of work to do when it gets to calmer times. With more bad weather still to come it isn't the time to fix the fence. All that can been really done just now is some tidying. Of course that seems like a thankless task as no sooner have I picked up the wind strewn debris than the wind picks up again. So the cycle goes, only over the past week or two it has been frustrating with one storm after another. Another bad weather front is set to hit us in the next twelve hours. Yesterday we had some coastal flooding.
I know many will say that is the effect caused by man made global warming. I just don't agree that it is man made. One volcano blowing it's top can and has cause planetary cooling. Of course I refer to Krakatoa but that isn't the only one. Also there is the Earth's axis that is moving closer to the sun. All this leads to a global shift in weather patterns and has been ongoing since the end of the last ice age. That is something that those that blame humankind for the warmer cycle never talk about. After all it is better to blame us on the warming. Don't get me wrong cutting pollution is a good thing as they do have a bad effect on all of us in terms of our health.
We maybe living longer but we are also seeing a higher number of cancer cases. As air pollution has rise so we can see the rise of this modern disease. Yes I know we have better diagnosis techniques today than in the past but is that the only reason?
Over the past week there have been plenty of stormy weather. Needless to say that it has left me a lot of work to do when it gets to calmer times. With more bad weather still to come it isn't the time to fix the fence. All that can been really done just now is some tidying. Of course that seems like a thankless task as no sooner have I picked up the wind strewn debris than the wind picks up again. So the cycle goes, only over the past week or two it has been frustrating with one storm after another. Another bad weather front is set to hit us in the next twelve hours. Yesterday we had some coastal flooding.
I know many will say that is the effect caused by man made global warming. I just don't agree that it is man made. One volcano blowing it's top can and has cause planetary cooling. Of course I refer to Krakatoa but that isn't the only one. Also there is the Earth's axis that is moving closer to the sun. All this leads to a global shift in weather patterns and has been ongoing since the end of the last ice age. That is something that those that blame humankind for the warmer cycle never talk about. After all it is better to blame us on the warming. Don't get me wrong cutting pollution is a good thing as they do have a bad effect on all of us in terms of our health.
We maybe living longer but we are also seeing a higher number of cancer cases. As air pollution has rise so we can see the rise of this modern disease. Yes I know we have better diagnosis techniques today than in the past but is that the only reason?
December 28, 2013
28th December 2013
I hope you all had as good a Christmas as my family and I had. Though nothing exciting happened. And we didn't have a great party we still had a good, though quiet, time. Tammy had some movies she wanted to watch with me. While Calum sat with us for some of the time before abandoning us for the joy of computer gaming up in his room. He did come back down to watch Mrs Brown's Boys which had us all rolling in laughter. Of course that was after eating more than was good for us but that isn't unusual for this time of year for many of us is it.
The new shift pattern at work is been okay so far. Though the work was closed for the two days over Christmas and Boxing day so I will see how it goes as time passes. Next week we have two more days off for News Years. That isn't a lot but that is the way that modern industry works. Then again it is still better than what it was in the past. Domestic staff in big houses would be lucky to get one day of a week off and at this time of year they wouldn't even get that. There simply was too much to be done to keep the "Family" happily looked after. It must have been good for the "Family" but not so good for the servants down below stairs.
Yes the modern world might have its faults but it is still better than the past. Yes I know some would think differently. I just think they are looking at things through tinted glass. Every evil we see today were there in the past. We didn't invent the badness of the world, it has always been there. If anything we are now tackling in far more effectively than ever before in many respects. Sadly with modern life comes the modern media which sensationalises far more of the evil than they do the good. This has the effect of blinding us to the good around us. The answer for me is to take heart when someone holds a door open for me.
Yes, such a small piece of kindness is all it takes to make someone's day.
Hope you all have a great New Year and get everything you hope for.
The new shift pattern at work is been okay so far. Though the work was closed for the two days over Christmas and Boxing day so I will see how it goes as time passes. Next week we have two more days off for News Years. That isn't a lot but that is the way that modern industry works. Then again it is still better than what it was in the past. Domestic staff in big houses would be lucky to get one day of a week off and at this time of year they wouldn't even get that. There simply was too much to be done to keep the "Family" happily looked after. It must have been good for the "Family" but not so good for the servants down below stairs.
Yes the modern world might have its faults but it is still better than the past. Yes I know some would think differently. I just think they are looking at things through tinted glass. Every evil we see today were there in the past. We didn't invent the badness of the world, it has always been there. If anything we are now tackling in far more effectively than ever before in many respects. Sadly with modern life comes the modern media which sensationalises far more of the evil than they do the good. This has the effect of blinding us to the good around us. The answer for me is to take heart when someone holds a door open for me.
Yes, such a small piece of kindness is all it takes to make someone's day.
Hope you all have a great New Year and get everything you hope for.
December 21, 2013
21st December 2013
I have my system up and running again. Sadly there are still one or two issues. These though are down to the motherboard manufacturers choice of using a Via USB controller for some of the USB 3 ports. I solved it for now but the PS/2 doesn't work correctly. I thought at first this might be the adapter that I was using but now I'm not so sure after researching the problem online. The motherboard is a Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H which isn't a cheap board so I would have thought the company would have put more effort into testing it before releasing it. I used to like Gigabyte for their products though I slowly went off of them after problems with other systems I built in the past. It looks like they haven't done a great deal to improve their product since then. I think for them this might be a mistake in the ever decreasing PC market and that they should be sacking some of those behind the design of products. Maybe then they can get back to a winning design of yesteryear.
I know some of you are wondering why I am a day late again. More heavy overtime? No. I just think that after a hard week of work that writing my post on a Friday night is a little bit of a push when my mind is worn. So I thought I would move to writing these post to a Saturday when I am a little fresher.
As for overtime that came to a head this week. As you know I am not being paid for it so when the overtime began creeping to three hours this week I had enough. After refusing to cover the retort outside of regular working hours a compromise was reached. From next week my hours will be nine till five. I expect that this will last until things quiet down after the festive period. I will see I suppose. Anyway this new arrangement will mean that the unpaid overtime should be cut back down to more than an hour which isn't too bad. Still I would prefer to be paid but we all need to do our bit to keep our job in these tougher times.
One positive news is that I finally manage to get State of Decay working. That cost me some humble pie as it seems to have been a hardware problem that was causing the problem with the game. Mainly it was the memory that failed that seems to have been the issue. The humble pie came as my son Calum had suggested that it was hardware that was causing the trouble in the first place. As you can imagine he did rub it in some, hehehe. Well what more can I say? Hehehe.
I know some of you are wondering why I am a day late again. More heavy overtime? No. I just think that after a hard week of work that writing my post on a Friday night is a little bit of a push when my mind is worn. So I thought I would move to writing these post to a Saturday when I am a little fresher.
As for overtime that came to a head this week. As you know I am not being paid for it so when the overtime began creeping to three hours this week I had enough. After refusing to cover the retort outside of regular working hours a compromise was reached. From next week my hours will be nine till five. I expect that this will last until things quiet down after the festive period. I will see I suppose. Anyway this new arrangement will mean that the unpaid overtime should be cut back down to more than an hour which isn't too bad. Still I would prefer to be paid but we all need to do our bit to keep our job in these tougher times.
One positive news is that I finally manage to get State of Decay working. That cost me some humble pie as it seems to have been a hardware problem that was causing the problem with the game. Mainly it was the memory that failed that seems to have been the issue. The humble pie came as my son Calum had suggested that it was hardware that was causing the trouble in the first place. As you can imagine he did rub it in some, hehehe. Well what more can I say? Hehehe.
December 13, 2013
13th November 2013
My computer troubles have persisted this week. Luckily Calum got me a new motherboard which I shall put into my system tomorrow. I also decide it best to replace my memory. With all the warning signs point towards the motherboard or memory I thought it wise not to take any chances. Calum got it for me when he went to get the new board and it ended up costing me an extra ten pounds as he got some slightly faster ram. I suppose that is a good thing for gaming but I don't think I will really notice any difference. Computers are so fast in processing power we don't really notice any increases in speed when it comes to ram. The only real way to see the increase is with benchmarking software. So why do we love the extra power? Well I think it is just a human need to have more. It doesn't really matter what that might be. We just feel we need it. And that is enough of an excuse.
Magz and Tammy have put the Christmas tree up. It has become a little bit of a tradition in our house. Much the same as many of you will have in your home. It feels good to come home to see the lights. I would say it almost makes me feel the season seeping in. That is if I weren't such an old humbug, hehehe. Of course there was al lot of moaning from both of them and I got the blame for the tree having to go up. But I think that they enjoyed the mother daughter time they get from it. Even if they do groan about it. Well I'll get them back tomorrow when I have to pull the guts from my computer, hehehe.
Magz and Tammy have put the Christmas tree up. It has become a little bit of a tradition in our house. Much the same as many of you will have in your home. It feels good to come home to see the lights. I would say it almost makes me feel the season seeping in. That is if I weren't such an old humbug, hehehe. Of course there was al lot of moaning from both of them and I got the blame for the tree having to go up. But I think that they enjoyed the mother daughter time they get from it. Even if they do groan about it. Well I'll get them back tomorrow when I have to pull the guts from my computer, hehehe.
December 8, 2013
8th November 2013
As you might have noticed this weeks post is a couple of days late. Part of that is due to computer issues I have been having this weekend. I tracked it down to a failed memory stick. I don't think that is the only thing wrong though as my keyboard connection also failed vie the PS/2 adaptor I was using. Now I have the keyboard attached through the USB port. That might not sound like much but added to the memory failure and the graphics card that was smoking in the wrong way in the summer and it all looks like a new motherboard is needed. I will also need to replace the memory. Luckily my son said he was getting me a new motherboard for Xmas though I will have to pay for new memory.
These woes were the icing on the cake for bad weeks. My load of unpaid overtime has increased as Christmas approaches. Not to surprising you might say but getting up for work at around half five in the morning and not see home until after six at night is very wearying to the soul. It truly makes you wonder how people managed when they worked sixteen hours or more a day. Of course that still happens in some parts of the world. If only those that ruled would find a way to end such hardships for the poor. Of course that may affect their business interest. Which in turn might mean they can't have that third holiday next year and we can't have that now can we? Hehehe.
Anyways I will need to wait to replace the memory till after the festive season I think. And then there is the tumble drier that stopped working. I already replace the washer using credit. Both those also decided they had had their day last weekend. They do say these things come in threes. Well with me it would be fours if you include the ASIC. Maybe that is a sign that things are going to get better. I hope.
These woes were the icing on the cake for bad weeks. My load of unpaid overtime has increased as Christmas approaches. Not to surprising you might say but getting up for work at around half five in the morning and not see home until after six at night is very wearying to the soul. It truly makes you wonder how people managed when they worked sixteen hours or more a day. Of course that still happens in some parts of the world. If only those that ruled would find a way to end such hardships for the poor. Of course that may affect their business interest. Which in turn might mean they can't have that third holiday next year and we can't have that now can we? Hehehe.
Anyways I will need to wait to replace the memory till after the festive season I think. And then there is the tumble drier that stopped working. I already replace the washer using credit. Both those also decided they had had their day last weekend. They do say these things come in threes. Well with me it would be fours if you include the ASIC. Maybe that is a sign that things are going to get better. I hope.
November 29, 2013
29th November 2013
Finally State of Decay managed to get past the 10 minute limit. Yes I got to play for over 30 minutes last weekend. In that time I managed to get my character killed by a zombie horde. Soon after that it crashed out again. At least I got to get a little better feel for the game. This weekend I will start again to see if I can match last weeks enjoyment or even better it.
I haven't managed to get my ASIC miner working. Calum has said he will send it back for me when he makes enough from his. That will be after the coming festive season which is quickly approaching. I won't say I'm not disappointed over mine not functioning as I am but send it back is a bit on the costly side. That was why my son's offer lifted my spirits and made me proud of how good a son he is.
I asked for one hour back at work this week again. Sadly my supervisor couldn't or wouldn't commit to giving me it. In the end though it made little difference as I came down with a little tummy bug. So rather than getting an hour back I took today off. Well I can't work with food if I have a stomach bug can I? Hopefully next time I ask for time back I will get it. Yeah I know I can't make a habit of being ill but how else am I to get back my time. I have after all put the company before myself showing a certain level of commitment. The least that I want in return is one of my hours back each fortnight as the following week I work the overtime. I don't think that is much to ask. Sadly my supervisor doesn't think as I do. Maybe he just doesn't care. Anyways I had today off and just hope that I get paid for it out of my hours owed. I did last time I was ill so fingers crossed.
I haven't managed to get my ASIC miner working. Calum has said he will send it back for me when he makes enough from his. That will be after the coming festive season which is quickly approaching. I won't say I'm not disappointed over mine not functioning as I am but send it back is a bit on the costly side. That was why my son's offer lifted my spirits and made me proud of how good a son he is.
I asked for one hour back at work this week again. Sadly my supervisor couldn't or wouldn't commit to giving me it. In the end though it made little difference as I came down with a little tummy bug. So rather than getting an hour back I took today off. Well I can't work with food if I have a stomach bug can I? Hopefully next time I ask for time back I will get it. Yeah I know I can't make a habit of being ill but how else am I to get back my time. I have after all put the company before myself showing a certain level of commitment. The least that I want in return is one of my hours back each fortnight as the following week I work the overtime. I don't think that is much to ask. Sadly my supervisor doesn't think as I do. Maybe he just doesn't care. Anyways I had today off and just hope that I get paid for it out of my hours owed. I did last time I was ill so fingers crossed.
November 22, 2013
22nd Noveber 2013
Still haven't managed to get the game working. Though I have registered at the Undead Labs website as suggested by Steam support. After asking there I got asked to send a dxdiag by email to one of the admins. I will do that this weekend and hopefully they will be able to help. Of course that will mean letting the game crash again to show it isn't my system at fault.
I also got my ASIC miner from Butterfly Labs this week. Calum was surprised that I got him one. I have yet to figure out how to get mine to work though for some reason my sons work on my computer. I read that the drivers are fussy so after Calum gets his set up tomorrow he said he would give me a hand to get mine up and running. Before that though I need another adapter for the power cable. The one that was in the box has an American plug. The adapters are pretty cheap luckily. We have one but Calum has that now. Yes I'm soft, I let him have it as I know his unit is working. Mine is visible in devices and printers window so I'm sure it is working as well. I just need to get the mining software to see it and use it. That has so far been the problem. A mate at work suggest reinstalling Windows. I think I will keep that as a last resort though. Who likes reinstalling the operating system on a computer? Not me that is for sure. And to think that is what I did once upon a time. Mind all I really did was link the computers to the server wires and let them do their thing. That was unless something went wrong then the problems began. I think that is why I dread that side of computing so much.
Well it looks like I have a very busy weekend ahead. To add to this I have the rugby on as well. So time will be squeezed but tonight I'm going to laze back and do nothing other than watch TV.
I also got my ASIC miner from Butterfly Labs this week. Calum was surprised that I got him one. I have yet to figure out how to get mine to work though for some reason my sons work on my computer. I read that the drivers are fussy so after Calum gets his set up tomorrow he said he would give me a hand to get mine up and running. Before that though I need another adapter for the power cable. The one that was in the box has an American plug. The adapters are pretty cheap luckily. We have one but Calum has that now. Yes I'm soft, I let him have it as I know his unit is working. Mine is visible in devices and printers window so I'm sure it is working as well. I just need to get the mining software to see it and use it. That has so far been the problem. A mate at work suggest reinstalling Windows. I think I will keep that as a last resort though. Who likes reinstalling the operating system on a computer? Not me that is for sure. And to think that is what I did once upon a time. Mind all I really did was link the computers to the server wires and let them do their thing. That was unless something went wrong then the problems began. I think that is why I dread that side of computing so much.
Well it looks like I have a very busy weekend ahead. To add to this I have the rugby on as well. So time will be squeezed but tonight I'm going to laze back and do nothing other than watch TV.
