Jairen's Agony Column

Cheers Joe, I understand the personal freinds thing.
Made that mistake once before and work became alot harder with a few people thinking they didn't have to listen to me.
And I do ask his advice, but I still get the impression he is put out about me being in charge and younger.
But as I say, he was offered the job and said no.
So it's tough ****.
I think I will follow your advice, try yo make him feel needed, make it clear who is boss but be a nice boss if I can.
And as for being 'one of the guys' I don't want to be.
I want to move through the ranks pretty quickly if I can, no time to stop and chat with the guys. Know what I mean?

 

Dear Auntie Phil

I got off my head on ouzo on saturday night and have a big gap in my memory between sitting around the fire and waking up next to one of my fellow re-enactors 4 hours later. What is the etiquette in this situation ?

Yours

swearing of drink, until the next time.

 

Hmm, an interesting situation. Depends if you're sore or not

 

I'm sore all over!

 

Well, in that case, just be glad it was fun I know I was when I woke up on Sunday

 

you dog ! good on ya.

I'll have to assume it was fun, because I cant remember a thing !

 

That's a real waste there V. On a serious note, remember the morning after pill, just in case!

 

All taken care of. but my pride is insisting on a 2nd round !

 

Your pride or your libido?

 

nah, now I cant be bothered.

 

dear phill.

i have a friend who was sacked two months and a bit ago from a job where he had spent over a third of his life at (11 and a half years to be exact). admittedly my friend behaved like an idiot and probably deserved to be sacked but he has a family to provide for and is generally speaking an upstanding, hard working and responsible citizen, and now finds himself unemployable, due to him being honest with potential employers about how he left that job. my friend recently had an appeal to try to get his job back, but his union official told him that because of his actions which led to his sacking, there was basically no chance of him getting his job back. however, he was advised to ask if he could resign instead of being dismissed, and therefore try to make his work record look a smidgeon better than it does with a sacking on it. the response to this request was good, although he won't know anything definate on this matter for another couple of weeks, he was advised by his union rep to say on any job applications that he resigned.

my friend applied for a job before said appeal, and on the application form said that he was "dismissed pending an appeal". two days later he received a phone call inviting him for an interview, and the personnell person sounded very upbeat and positive on the phone, apparently ( ) . this interview is on monday at 12 o'clock. now, what he would like advice on is what should he say during the interview with regards to what he put on his application form and his new circumstances; i.e. he was dismissed, but now he resigned? he is struggling to come up with a sufficient "blag" or cover story to cover the circumstances of his leaving his last job.

any advice you or anyone else has on this, would, i am sure, be appreciated.

 

I would advise your "friend" to explain something along the following lines:

The dismissal pending appeal was due to a disagreement between your friend and another worker. However, after reflection with his family, regarding how the work had been sufficiently tainted by the said disagreement, your friend decided to resign rather than take up the job again if the case was successful. It was decided that your friend would be happier away from the environment that had caused the disagreement, and had contacted the company and informed them that he would rather resign than pursue the dismissal appeal."

This works well, because it shows someone looking for a new start, looking to make things better for his family, and also the fact that the company accepted your friends resignation so easily could be construed as not being sure of winning the appeal in their favour (perhaps).

 

that sounds great! thanks phill , i will be sure to err, pass that on

 

Good luck to your... err.. 'friend' *Fingers crossed*

 

I wish your "friend" the best as well.

 

I managed to resign before being dissmissed and it worked out. Fingers X'd.

 

LOL!! didn't think i was that transparent!

 

Dear Phill,

Why does it hurt when I pee?

 

because youve been dipping your wick where you shouldnt

 

No. I KNOW that's not the problem. Maybe it's because I'm standing over the campfire.

 

Campfires aren't toys you know.

 

And neither are chainsaws as I've found out from the police report.

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

They aren't?

Man, I may have made a HUGE mistake with my little cousins birthday gift then!

 

Jimbo, your in a different country then us dear, it mightbe perfectly ok to give kids power tools over there. I mean hell, you can drink when your 18.