Tuesday, June 19, 2007

I've been made redundant - I'm not dying!

Redundancy doesn't mean you're crap at your job.

Honest.

I have been made redundant. I could have looked into redeployment, but I decided to take the money and run with it for three months... hopefully I can get another job at the same company - hope HR don't read this posting!

I wasn't shocked by the redundancies made - all seven of them - because I saw that the mags were not doing well and I expected it.

What I didn't expect was how difficult OTHER PEOPLE in my department would find it to speak to me as normal - or even just ask me if I was ok. One guy was very sweet and sent me an email basically saying that the powers-that-be were insane to even contemplate letting me go (thanks M, cheques on its way to you!).

Freelancers that I have booked over the year went out of their way to ring/email me with their condolances - and I was very touched by that. Hell, they didn't need to do it - no need to suck up to me for shifts when I'm leaving - so I was particularly touched.

But some people I'd had deep and meaningful conversations with in the kitchen, even tentatively arranged to go out for lunch etc can't sink their heads further into the carpet when they see me coming. Either that or their heads are flopping like an ostrich that's been kicked in the neck... that's the bit I don't get.

"I'm still alive," I want to say to them. I almost feel like giving them a hug for feeling so uncomfortable for MY redundancy.

What an experience.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Katie From the Apprentice and Her Showdown on GMTV Because of Her Affair


I can barely sit still while I write this. Never in my life did I imagine that a contestant from BBC show The Apprentice would ever have an impact on me - let alone be the subject of a blog posting.


But I have to say, I don't think there are many people like ruthless Katie, whatever her surname. Ok, I know she's called Katie Hopkins, but my annoyance about her behaviour made me stall.




I watched GMTV on Wednesday morning as Fiona Phillips grilled her about her sacking and, being an avid GMTV viewer, I knew Fiona was going to give her a tongue-lashing about her supposed affair with a married man - she's just moral like that.


It's just as well I'm not a cup-of-tea-in-the-morning kind of girl, or I would have choked when Fiona basically told Katie that her employers hadn't banked one her being caught naked in a field with "someone else's husband".


My sides just about manage to stay intact with the laughter. But I know where Fiona is coming from. I try not to be judgemental in my everyday existence (ok, so I lie a little), but my thing is... if you know the guy is married, and that you are under the media microscope because of your bitchy persona, why the hell would you be in a field naked with a married man? So you might like the whole open spaces thing, but what did you think it would do to your career?


Was her employer right to sack her? I don't know. But I do know that that married guy's wife must sleep an extra hour at night, knowing that the bitch who stole her husband, or at least caused her more embarrassment than anyone deserves in matters of infidelity, has been exposed and shamed.


If I were her, I wouldn't even feel the need to take scissors to my husband's suits or stitch prawns in his lapels. That would be enough for me! Wiping that smug grin off the posh, rhino-faced cow's face. Justice indeed!


Don't You Feel Just a Little Bit Sorry for Paris Hilton?

Yes, I hear many of you say "hell know" to a question about feeling sorry for Paris Hilton and her latest jail fiasco.

Like many people I thought she was getting "celebrity treatment" when I read that her 45-day sentence had been cut to half of that for good behaviour - BEFORE she had even set foot in that jail. Hey, maybe it's some psychic power that the judge had, but how did he know she would be good? Had he had any reference form a previous jailer? Hmmm

Yes, I thought it was all a farse when I read that she would be in solitary confinement for 23 hours each day, and that she was being put onto a special wing. In my mind, she may not be eating at top celeb haunts, maybe her butler wouldn't be on hand, but I had images of sitting in her pinked out cell, putting on her make-up, laughing and joking to Lindsay Lohan or someone on her mobile, and basically not living like the rest of the prisoner.

Then I read she'd been released after just three days for some serious illness...
again the whole celebrity treatment thing came to mind, and I shrugged it off. It actually didn't surprise me. I was more surprised that she had actually made it into jail in the first place.

BUT, when I heard Paris had been sent back to jail, wailing "Mom, Mom..." http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/latest/tm_method=full%26objectid=19269214%26siteid=89520-name_page.html and that she was now really going to serve the full 45-day sentence, I was shocked. My heart actually sank, and I did feel really sorry for her!

Poor cow...

Sunday, June 03, 2007

British Gas - Crap Service Continues... Do These People Ever Learn


I’ve been using a fridge freezer that switches itself off when it wants, rots my food and doesn’t freeze my ice cubes. Yes, life’s a bit dull and you may wonder why I don’t just buy a new one…




Hmmm…. The thought has crossed my mind. But then we’re one of those suckers who pay for British Gas Homecare – £44-odd pounds that we fork out to them every month to cover our boiler, five domestic appliances, pipes (which by the way does not cover our dripping tap… ok, I see the logic in that) I have no intention of getting rid of my fridge! – and as far as I am concerned, we’ve bought a new fridge freezer this year, through our payments to them!

Anyway, it’s been about two months, and we’ve been waiting for a part to come into stock. First lie. Basically the parts department have been waiting for a company called Connect to deliver the part, and that’s what they mean by out of stock. O…k….

Well, last Thursday I heard about the sixth or so of the weekly to fortnightly message from someone from the Parts Department. She – Stacey – didn’t even sound sympathetic when she left a pathetic message saying that the part was still out of stock “sorry”! But her tune soon changed when I demanded to speak to a manager that day or I was going to a) cancel my Homecare Agreement b) going to ring the new desk at the Sun. oh and I forgot about the complaints letter I threatened to write, which I told her would have her name on it.

My kettle hadn’t even boiled for my herbal tea when a manager called – surprise, surprise – and all of a sudden my part was ready and had instantly moved from out of stock status to in-stock status. All the manager – Jo – needed from me was availability. Needless to say, when I raised the coincidence of the Sun’s news desk and my fridge freezer part miraculously coming into stock to her, she didn’t have a response to give me… wish I’d thought of this eight weeks ago.


hey, and it looks like I'm not the only one whose had too much hassle to get the service I have been paying for...












And what hope does anyonehave when the new boss asks us to stick with them because they're a British company... hmmm I guess that makes it alright then.




What planet are these people from? Dealing with the level of incompetence is like having an extra part-time job or something... who needs that kind of stress when you're not even getting basic manners from the advisors?


Mind your cheesy feet please!


Public transport is such a cheap shot when we want something to moan about, because quite frankly, from the sweaty trains to the inaccurate train times, there is something to gripe about every day of the weak.




I’m going deeper than that and talking about how nasty people can be on the trains in particular. Nose pickers and feet lifters, you know who you are!

On Friday, I was on the train and after swishing on the last bit of lipgloss, my eyes were drawn to unpedicured feet. Not great first thing in the morning, so lucky for me that I do breakfast when I get to the office.

Upedicured, cheesy, crusty feet on a seat that I could well be sitting sometime in the future. It started off with one foot at the edge of the seat… I grimaced and looked away, but when the foot actually got higher until it was on the actual seat, I had to whip my phone out – almost chipped my nail varnish so I wouldn’t miss the snap.

Then low and behold, the nasty put both feet on the seat… so that’s when I took the second snap! How vile…

The Modern Man Part 2: The “In My Own Time” Syndrome

Since the first posting about the modern man, I’ve had more than a few comments – mainly off-blog because people feel that even an anonymous posting will expose them somehow… mainly the guys, so that says it all!

Anyway, there’s this response that I call a syndrome of the domestically comatosed man, which a few male friends have thrown towards me as if to imply that that doesn’t make them less of a modern man than they think they are: “I’ll do it in my own time.”

Basically, this is as close to not doing the outstanding domestic chore as the lazy man, but this guy thinks he’s smart. And it’s one that “fake” modern men use to buy more time. While the lazy slob type of man won’t even commit to the idea of doing, say, the dishes, the modern man impostor prefers to give false hope to his partner, buying himself more time. And the “in my own time” period generally comes when modern man impostor:

gets the cold shoulder from his partner
gets a blast from his partner
wants to impress partner’s female friends or family when they come round to visit.

From what I have been told by confiding male friends, on the surface, most modern men are actually impostors and will never change. They basically tell women what they think they want to hear – before they are fully committed with their partner. Once they have snared the poor unsuspecting woman, he will slowly show the true depth of his modern capabilities.