Watcha Doin' - 2017.1 edition Showing 2,451-2,500 of 5,020

[Lisa]

Congratulations, Peggy! That's wonderful! :)

[Margo]

Peggy wrote: "Welcome Saar!


OMG! I got the job!! The teaching position at another university. I had the interview yesterday and didn't think it went all that well, but apparently it was good enough :)

Congrats Peggy *\o/*
I'm alr..."

[Sandra, Moderator]

Yay, Peggy! Congratulations!

[Kristie, Moderator]

Congrats, Peggy!! Yay! Don't stress too much! Lol

[Peggy]

Thanks all!

[KimeyDiann]

Peggy wrote: "Welcome Saar!


OMG! I got the job!! The teaching position at another university. I had the interview yesterday and didn't think it went all that well, but apparently it was good enough :)

I'm alr..."


Fantastic news, Peggy, I'm so happy for you! Congratulations!

[Janice, Moderator]

Congratulations, Peggy! I'm so excited for you.

[Laura (Lclwags)]

I'm so sorry to hear about your uncle Margo. I'll keep you guys in my prayers.

Congrats on the new job Peggy!!

[Sarah]

That's fab Peggy. Congratulations. You'll be fine I'm sure.

[Mariab]

Sorry to hear about you relative Margo
And congratulations, Peggy!

[Annerlee]

I'm sitting in mainland Scotland (St Andrews) listening to the wind howling outside. Am due to catch the boat home to Shetland tonight which is a 12 hour journey across the North Sea... Hasn't been cancelled so far so I think I'm in for a bumpy ride! Luckily I don't get seasick...

Congratulations Peggy. That's great news!

I have an interview on Monday but have a low success rate I'm afraid.

[Peggy]

Thanks everyone!

Haha Annerlee, when I read the first part of your post I thought I was in the 'Sunday check in' thread. It sounds like something from a book!

Good luck with the interview! What is it for?

[Annerlee]

Yeah, my check in is dramatic but not in a good way.

I work for local gvt in Shetland and this would be a promoted position. It's a role as support officer for local councillors, but would also involve projects to improve data protection / retention / retrieval procedures within the council. I'd also provide admin support at elections.

I have a degree in IT and am working well below capacity in my current role, so Im finding it frustrating and hard to stay focused : / Reading books is what keeps me sane I think.

Career options are limited in Shetland... And there will be quite a few applicants I expect.

[Peggy]

Good luck! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you :)

[Sarah]

A 12 hour boat journey across a choppy sea does not sound like much fun. I used to have an issue with boats. Crazy I know considering I live on one. But I had a fear of them on the sea. I spent a couple hours on one boat between mainland Thailand and one of the islands on a number of occasions when the sea was choppy during monsoon season. Combined with the knowledge that they don't exactly have the same health and safety standards as we do here, it freaked me out. But I'm all good now. But 12 hours! It is definitely windier here in the last few days so I'm not surprised the sea is choppy up there. Fingers crossed it dies down a bit for you. I totally know where you're coming from about working below capacity in a job. It is so frustrating. This happened to me once when I was working at a University. At the time I was only working part time and studying part time. When at work I'd be so annoyed with not having much to do especially when I had loads to do at home on the course I was studying. I ended up speaking to my line manager and they started allocating more work from different sections to me. Things became much more interesting them. I can imagine there aren't many jobs available where you are and I guess that makes competition fierce. And with a 12hr boat trip I can see why you wouldn't want to commute to the mainland.

[Sarah]

So when will you start your new job Peggy?

[Annerlee]

Haha Sarah. Commuting to the mainland isnt really an option. The 12 hour trip is the shorter one. The boat sails via Orkney every other night and takes 14 hours. Flights are very expensive.

Working via the internet might be an option, but we're so far behind in the uk on that front. The US seem to have tapped into remote working so much better.

Thanks for your story. That makes me feel better. And thanks Peggy.

I'll give it my best on Monday and see what happens ;-)

[Sarah]

Yes working via the internet would be perfect especially given your background. I agree that the UK is behind on this. The internet is getting faster but there are also still so many areas which do not have fast broadband or 4G coverage. More businesses are allowing staff to work from home and remote access in but still isn't done so widely as it is in other countries. Would you be able to take on any freelance work? This is one of the areas which I think is growing but I'm not sure how easy it is to establish yourself. Good luck for Monday anyway.

[Annerlee]

Freelance is a possibility Ive thought about. 'Just' need a concept and a portfgolioo... I mean portfolio lol..

Still, Shetland IS beautiful and my colleagues are great!

[Peggy]

I start August 21 :) My job at my current uni ends August 31, so perfect timing.

[Sarah]

Cool. That works out well then.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Good luck with your interview, Annerlee!

I am hopping on a plane soon and heading to see my family and friends up north. I can't wait to see everyone! I'll be flying back in a couple days with my grandson. He is coming for a summer visit.

[Peggy]

Have a great weekend Kristie!

My summer vacation started today, yay! 3 weeks of no work. We go on holiday on Monday.

[Sarah]

Have a great holiday Peggy and a weekeend Kristie. We'll be relentlessly doing more diy this weekend. Hopefully we can finish off the doors on the bathroom, sanding the walls and start painting in there. Oh and put a few shelves up. Hopefully. That might be being a bit optimistic too. We were supposed to be having a bbq this evening with some other boaters but the wind has got up and no sun. Typical.

[Peggy]

That always seems to happen when you plan a bbq! But it's more bearable when doing diy :)

We also have a bbq tomorrow. The heatwave we had is coming to an end today, and until yesterday they said that tomorrow would be cloudy with some rain and strong wind, but now it looks better so I think our bbq can go on.

[KimeyDiann]

Peggy wrote: "I start August 21 :) My job at my current uni ends August 31, so perfect timing."

So are you going to be working at both jobs for those 10 days? That would stress me out!

Tropical Storm Cindy just blew through my area today. There were reports of a couple of tornadoes, but I haven't heard of any damage so that is good.

I had to go to one of the jobsites with some colleagues yesterday so I was only at my office for about 10 minutes. Of course it ended up taking all day at the site so I didn't get back to my car until after everyone had left for the day. I was planning on going to spend the weekend with my husband and leaving today around lunch, but when I checked the weather forecast I saw that would put me driving right in the middle of the worst of the storms so I knew that wouldn't work. I text my boss last night to see if it would be okay for me to just take the whole day off so I could leave before the storms got here. He text me back a little later and said I could if one of the others that works in the front half of the office was going to be here, but that would doubtful as they all but two left with a stomach virus yesterday and one was scheduled to be off to take her daughter for oral surgery. I talked to the other last night and she was going to be at work so no problem. I got up this morning at my normal time so I could finish getting packed and ready. The one that was supposed to work text around that time to tell me she now has the virus too! So, long story short... I had to work all day today, sprayed a lot of Lysol around the office, and I'm staying home this weekend.

[Sarah]

That's a shame Kimey. I hope you don't come down to with the bug.

[Peggy]

Oh bummer Kimey!

Yes, two jobs, but it's okay. The new one is 3 days a week, and the old one is 5 days, but my boss is okay with me working only 2 days in those weeks.

It's like taking up vacation days (but I think you don't have those in the us?). And I probably have to work a bit for my old job in the future anyway (finishing up papers that are currently submitted to journals) so it's a bit of a trade.

[KimeyDiann]

Oh, that doesn't sound too bad then, Peggy.

Vacation days are based on your employer. Some companies give paid vacations, others don't. Those that do, don't always give the same amount of days or the freedom of picking when you can take the days. For example, a factory I know of gives 2 weeks of paid vacation a year for all of its employees. They get a week in July for Independence Day and a week at Christmas.

The company I work for only gives paid vacations to the office staff and field management and the # of days is dependent on the length of time you've been employed. After 1 year you get 1 week vacation, 5 years = 2 weeks, 10 years and you top out at 3 weeks. Plus paid days off on the bigger holidays.

[Peggy]

Oh wait, that sounds familiar. Have we discussed this before?

It's up to employers here too, but minimum by law is 4 weeks. Uni is very generous with 8 weeks. I don't think national holidays are included. You can also ask to get paid for the vacation hours you don't use (but within limits, companies usually encourage you to use all days).

[KimeyDiann]

is that a min 4 weeks of paid or unpaid vacay?
I think Americans are too much of workaholics so gov mandated vacations will likely never happen here.

Also, does that apply to all employers? I'm thinking about the super small businesses that only have a couple on employees. Are they required to give each employee 4 weeks off. I know certain laws in the US only apply to businesses with more than a set # of employees.

Sorry for any typos, I'm on my phone and tried to fix them. It may have missed some still

[Janice, Moderator]

Here, it's government mandated that you pay 4% vacation pay at a minimum. It's up to the employer to decide to give two weeks off a year with pay, or pay it with each paycheque. That amount increases the longer you are employed. After 5 years, it's increased to 6%. An employer may pay more that the legislated amounts, but never less. Often unions will negotiate higher rates with an employer.

[Peggy]

It's paid. The 8 weeks too. No idea about small businesses, but I think it's the same.

We also get vacation money in May, which is 8% of what you have earned in the past 12 months, so almost one month's pay. The idea is you can use it to pay for your holiday, but of course you're free to do with it what you want. It's also law that employees receive this.

[Sarah]

We have paid holiday here too. Minimum 4 weeks by law, increasing the longer you are with the company. Small companies included. It's different for agency and workers and self employed obviously. I guess our laws are EU laws as very close to what Peggy has stated for Netherlands. Anything could happen with brexit. We don't have that one off vacation pay though - that's really cool.

[Margo]

Due to family illness I am bowing out of all group reads, challenges, etc for the foreseeable future. I will return when I time allows. I'll still keep an eye on what's going on but think I will stick to comfort reads for a while til things calm down a bit.

[Peggy]

Some companies offer the same in December, an end-of-year pay of 8-10%. That one's up to the company though.

[Sarah]

The web browser on my kindle is playing silly buggers. It's on go slow and keeps freezing. I contacted customer services who have told me what to try first before it gets passed on to tech services. It is frustrating me massively. I hope i can get it fixed.

[Peggy]

Big hug Margo! Did your uncle get bad news yesterday (or wasn't it yesterday)?

Sticking to comfort reads sounds like a good plan.

[Sarah]

That's fair enough Margo. Do pop in from time to time. Would be nice to hear from you.

[Lisa]

Margo wrote: "Due to family illness I am bowing out of all group reads, challenges, etc for the foreseeable future. I will return when I time allows. I'll still keep an eye on what's going on but think I will st..."

That's understandable, Margo. Big hugs to you. Stay strong.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Sorry to hear it, Margo. I hope you are all well soon. Do pop in on us.

I wish we had better vacation laws here. It seems that many employers offer paid vacation time, but don't really want you to take it. They act like you're not a serious employee if you go on vacation. Some will continue to call you even while you're supposed to be off. The last company I worked for stressed all the time that it was important to take your vacation time because burnout is an issue in the field, then they'd give you an attitude when you wanted to take your vacation. It's a bit crazy. I love the extra holiday pay too.

[Janice, Moderator]

Margo wrote: "Due to family illness I am bowing out of all group reads, challenges, etc for the foreseeable future. I will return when I time allows. I'll still keep an eye on what's going on but think I will st..."

Big hugs, Margo. Please do keep posting and let us know how you're doing. We're "family" here, and want to support you in any way we can.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Margo wrote: "Due to family illness I am bowing out of all group reads, challenges, etc for the foreseeable future. I will return when I time allows. I'll still keep an eye on what's going on but think I will st..."

We all need to do this from time to time, Margo. Don't worry, we will be here waiting for you. Do not hesitate in stopping by if you need to chat with someone. Big hug!

[Lilisa]

Take care Margo - and all the best during these tough family times.

[Lilisa]

Peggy wrote: "I start August 21 :) My job at my current uni ends August 31, so perfect timing."

Congrats Peggy!

[Sarah]

It's Glastonbury festival this weekend. Just watched Jeremy Corbyn give a speech there. It was awesome. The crowd loved him. Now I'd love to see Teresa May go up on stage and here the contrast in reception she would get to Corbyn. Now listening to Foo Fighters headlining. Only on the radio unfortunately. I've never been to Glastonbury before but listening to the coverage this time around has really made me want to go now.

[Peggy]

We're having a bbq and we're listening to the foo fighters in the background :)

We also watched part of the royal blood show this afternoon (not live).

[Peggy]

I saw that Corbyn was going to give a speech. Why was he there? And is he the only politician doing that?

[Sarah]

I heard the royal blood set too. Really good. I thought Corbyn was there to introduce a band. He's had some photos taken with some London based music acts. I assumed he'd only be up there a minute or two but he was on stage 15 minutes and his speech totally got the crowd going. They were chanting his name by the end of it. But i didn't see him introduce an act so i might have been mistaken. He also spent some time pulling pints in the beer tent. Lol. Michael Eavis invited him it seems. No chance any other politicians will be there. I they'd be booed off stage!

[Mariab]

Sorry to hear that, Margo. I hope all goes well... Take cere!