PA and Secretary Community - Deskdemon.com

Well, What a day!  I get up at 6:30am each work day to go to work, and what do i find?  No Southeastern Trains into London - AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Now what the dickens am I meant to do?  I have work to do and cannot get in!

Jess

Jess,

I saw that this morning on TV and was thinking back to the days when I first lived in Eng and went to work by train.

I was hoping to be snowed in this morning but we ain't got any sign of snow yet!

Nothing you can do I guess.  Can you take a day's leave?  I am sure your boss will understand.

I emailed the bosses at about 7:25am and one of them responded on her blackberry saying no problem!  

I guess I will have to play it by ear about annual leave or something - HR will no doubt tell me.  How about sick leave - the train service is sick (and cannot get in to work)!

Will keep my fingers crossed for your chances of a "snow day".

Jess

The way things are going I could take a sickie tomorrow!  

Gee, no!  Don't panic - just seen on the news.  the snow is coming your way, either tomorrow or wednesday!

have also just heard from a colleague at work.  She got in to find an email sent out by the biggest boss saying don't come in to work!  How stupid can you get.  She is, of course, going home!

I would rather be totally snowed in.  That way no risk of accidents or getting stuck.

In January last year we had a bad snowfall here and I was stupid enough to spend over half an hour one morning shovelling snow from the driveway.  I have no idea how I managed it or got the car out but when I got to work, half the staff had phoned in or didn't show.  I was recovering from a bad flu and fever and was angry that I bothered to get in at all.

I wonder why we get in such a panic about getting to work?

It is all about paying the bills I suppose, except for those of us who take pride in our professional attitude to work.  More fool us, i reckon!

Totally!  I mean why risk having an accident just to show your boss you made it?

You don't get any extra thanks for doing so let me tell you.

We have been informed some visitors could not make it to Belfast today due to bad weather conditions while some staff here due to travel to mainland UK have had their flights cancelled.

I haven't seen any pics yet but is it really that bad out there today?

the answer is a resounding yes!  I am in Kent, but apparently even in London my step-children are off school and playing in the snow.  They live near New Cross which has lots of main roads, so it must be really bad!

Oh goodness, bright n sunny here.  Jess make sure it doesn't come this way!!

Gee

I thought you said you wanted it earlier!  anyhow, I believe it will be hitting you either tomorrow or wednesday - not my doing though!  I blame it on the French as that is where this afternoon's snow has come from.

My dad is hoping that it will stop as he is supposed to be flying from Heathrow to Chicago (which is apparently at -12 degrees at the moment) - out of the fridge and into the freezer?

If we get it, it has to be bad not to drive and venture out, otherwise I don't want it at all.

I hate having to drive in bad weather conditions.  I'm only a 10-15 min drive from work but it could take up to an hour if this snow hits.

24 degrees F in Chicago right now. :) Not too bad actually at the moment... :) We are supposed to get 1 inch of snow tonight.

Marie
Peer Moderator

Could you do me a favour then?  Keep your eyes peeled for a rather ditzy retired professor (chemistry!)(my dad) who should be landing in Chicago tomorrow until he flies back on the 11th?  

Thanks

Absolutely! You just tell him to call me if he has any problems... :)

Marie
Peer Moderator

Snow I don't mind so much, but we've been getting a lot of freezing rain this season -- falls as rain and freezes on contact with cold surfaces.  It can turn a street into a sheet of ice in less than a minute, and you can't always tell it's happening until it's too late.  Very frightening. My boss knows that if it's an ice storm, I'm not budging.  Fortunately, I have the ability to log into the network from home if it comes to that.

41 and rainy here.  We were supposed to get snow tomorrow but now it's just cold and rain. {Darn It!}

Well I couldn't decide whether to walk or drive to work this morning - in the end I drove and once I got onto the main road it was fine, apart from it taking me 20 mins instead of 5!!!.  Took the dog to work with me and took him in the field at the back of the office at lunchtime - he had great fun.  Then I decided as it was so lovely and snowy and a lovely evening that I would leave the car at work and the dog and I would walk home - via the post office.  We had a lovely snowy 50 mins walk home.  We are walking to work in the morning

Just rain here overnight, no snow.  Hope you are thawing Jess!

hmmm!  Well, I left the house at 7.20am and managed to get to work at about 9.45am - usually only takes me an hour to get in.  Am wondering whether it was worth it and if and how I am going to get home again this evening!

Hope everyone else is doing better.

The concensus at work is that the only people who made it into work (about 15 out of over 100) all came in to London from Essex!

Jess (very cold and feeling very narked!)

Well if your company has any sense they should alllow you to leave the office any time between 3-4pm to ensure you get home.

Failing that I would just tell them you are doing so.

This is the same company that sent this email to everyone's work email address:

"In view of the severe weather conditions, it will be quite understandable if people can not get in to work today."

That is word for word!

Eh, excuse me for being blonde, but how on earth can you read that if you haven't even made it to work? Duh.

Mind you, Gee, I knew about that email yesterday - remember I did put "have also just heard from a colleague at work. She got in to find an email sent out by the biggest boss saying don't come in to work! How stupid can you get. She is, of course, going home!"  I just didn't know the extent of the staffing deficiency yesterday when I originally posted!

Bosses are not employed for their brains - that is why they employ us (we act as their brains so they do not need to think logically)!

Even so.  If I was one of those 15 who made it in I would have been livid!

I am just jealous I didn't have a Monday morning lie in....

Gee

I didn't get a monday morning lie in - I was up at 6.30am and found out about the trains at 7am!  There was no point in going back to bed as I would have disturbed OH who was fast asleep!.

One day, maybe!

Oh no, bummer!

Jess, I don't know how such things work in the UK, but is there a possiblity that you and your brave colleagues would be entitled to an extra day off as compensation?  A former workplace of mine did that.  Four people out of an office of 40 made it in during a snowstorm because they were within walking distance.  They were permitted to an extra day off to use sometime else since everyone else had the day at home.  

Didface on this occasion there may be a case, but I have never had an employer allow this - Jess maybe you could comment.

They think if they can make it in so can you.  I had to forfeit a day's leave in the past due to bad weather conditions.  I think companies should make allowances for those that live a distance away or who travel by public transport.

Anyone could have an accident and what's the point risking your health/life just to get to work?

I had a phone call from my boss at 8am yesterday telling me not to come into work.  It's official - I have the best boss in the world ever.  

I've been suffering with this cold / bug / virus thing too over the last two weeks and she has been so sweet about sending me home early and telling me not to come in - she did, in fact, say that I had been too good about coming in whilst unwell and that it probably contributed to this damn' thing hanging around too long.  She said to count yesterday as another sick day.

I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that - okay, we know Britain grinds to a halt if there's half an inch of snow but c'mon - LONDON with no tube or buses?  One of the major capital cities in the Western Hemisphere and it CLOSES because of snow?  Gimme a break!

There's supposed to be more snow on the way for Thursday / Friday...

Gem I can't understand it either mainly because it was forecast.  I mean it's not like we didn't know it was coming.

Thinking about it, Gee, the University's classes had been cancelled, but the administrative offices were still "open".  I guess that allowed for the lattitude.  Seriously, if the students can't walk from the dorms to the classrooms, what makes them think other people can get in?

I heartily agree -- no job is worth putting my safety or my personal property (my car) at risk.  

Here's a different angle to the story.

A colleague who lives about 20 mins drive didn't make it in to work today.  By the time we'd reached core time of 10 am, we were starting to worry as she hadn't phoned in to speak to her line manager.  She doesn't keep particularly well and hasn't felt well in recent weeks though has not been off work.

So eventually her line manager and another colleague went to drive to her flat to check she was ok - this was after ringing a friend who also hadn't heard from her today.  They got there - no answer, and were about to leave when she drew up in her car.  They stopped, and she was ok, but had been up ill all night and had gone to the doctor.

Here's the ironic bit.  We've just had a new phone system installed with fancy voicemail (fancy to us!) and so she phoned and left a message with - not her line manager, cos he had been off as his son was ill - another manager, who even more ironically, phoned in to take a day off unexpectedly as HIS son was ill today!

How mad is that?!

But what a nice caring attitude for this organisation where I am a long term temp, that they were concerned enough to drive out to her house to see if she was ok.

There is hope for the world yet...

Jackie, Peer Moderator

Yes I agree that messages can get lost especially if the recipient is off sick as well.

I think it's always best to try and speak with someone who can actually relay the message in person.  I am always wary that if I leave a voice message or send an email, the recipient won't actually get it.

Well, as for company-granted additional time of due to 'act of god or excessively bad weather and no transport', time will tell, however we have not heard anything as yet!

Say something or keep quiet - those seem to be my options.  Any thoughts, anyone?

Jess

Well I would ask.  Although in the past I have had to take a day's leave due to bad weather conditions.  

I mean go figure.

How can you be expected to get to work in such bad conditions, with no public transport, lose time and money by turning in late and then leave early to go home again?  It's ok for those who can work from home but not everyone is set up for that.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  Yes it has arrived and inches fell in the space of an hour this morning!

I am so not a happy bunny .  I just hope things aren't worse for getting home!

Gee, you wanted it and looked forward to it.
Now you have it and you don't.

This is the UK - we get snow in winter!

Jackie, Peer Moderator

No I wanted to be snowed in so I didn't have to come to work and not have to wonder how I was going to get home - big difference!

Employers don't accept excuses, specially when you live closeby.

Belfast normally doesn't get this fall of snow - where are the snow ploughs?  That's what I don't understand.  In any other country, the snow ploughs are out clearing roads.

We have had no more snow here - really disappointed.:(  My sister who lives in Nottingham walked to work this morning, took her an hour, but she was walking faster that the buses were able to move!

I could never use the excuse of being snowed in for not getting to work, I only live 30 mins walk away and would walk if necessary.

I only live half a mile from my offices and so it's fairly easy to get to work, if not by car then walking.  We've had about 6 inches over the last week, the worst of which was about 4 inches and icy.  Now it's just mainly icy although there was a dusting of snow overnight and it does seem to be melting away.

I had to have three days off last week though due to a sick child, and the schools closing!   I am geared up to work from home as a VA but for my current employer I just cannot get them to see the sense in connecting me remotely on days where I'm well but I need to be home for my children.

My boss is sympathetic but moreso from a "have to be" than a "want to be" point.  I won't get paid unless I take holidays though!

Please, everyone thinking of walking to work in the bad weather, be careful.  The numbers of people being admitted to hospitals due to slips on ice is really bad at the moment.  Hospitals in the North of England especially are overloaded with casualties, some requiring quite complex operations.

I just spent the whole of the weekend in York with my mother who smashed her wrist on the ice.  Had to rush up from London straight after work - I am soooo tired!.

Be careful out there!

Jess(ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!)

Indeed Jess.  The paths around where I live were complete glass this morning as was the car park in work.

Shame the councils cannot leave salt containers for us to use.  I know other resident areas that have access to salt/grit and I bet it came in handy last week.

I would love to see what happened if someone fell and broke a wrist/arm in my company - notice in car park says "park at your own risk" - nice huh?

Hope your mum is feeling better soon - terrible for the elderly.

Gee

Check with your Health and Safety Manager (if you have one).  A friend of mine does for a popular bread product firm and her boss injured himself (luckily while he was at home), which meant that she was responsible for sanding/gritting the car park which was used for cars and lorries to prevent any accident.  I believe they too have a sign up saying you park at your own risk but I always took that to mean if you get your car or its contents knicked then you have been warned.  Physical injury would be covered under a specific type of insurance cover which they cannot renege on!

Jess (wake me up when I can go home!)

I'm not sure if we have a Health & Safety Manager - I'm only a temp ya know! ha ha

If an accident happened in the car park I am sure they would be liable in some way.  I mentioned it to the security guy on the way in this morning and he said the council should grit the car park.  

My last company would have cleared the snow for employees but the office building was surrounded by the car park eg. on the same site.  Here the plebs have to use the car park across the road whereas the managers get to park on site closer to the entrance of the building.