Update on the past few days
Hey folks,
First of all, Ben is on the road to recovery, which is good news. He has passed the worst stage and, all being well, will be right as rain soon. It turns out he was suffering from a chest infection, but the Doctors did a grand old job and he's apparently more lively now. That's good an re-assuring news! I was worried for a while about him, being so young and what not! But he's an English Northerner, and we tend to be hardy creatures!
Which, incidentally, brings me to my next point. Now this is generalisation, and I know there are exceptions to every rule, but since moving to Ireland I've been amazed by the amount of sick days people tend to have. For the past two weeks, I don't think we've had a full quota at work for any of the days. It seems that some people around here are quick to take days off at the first sight of illness.
Now, I rarely take sick days - even when I am sick. My nature is, and always has been, to soldier on and get on with it. Life is too short to be worried about being sick. So it's slightly annoying when people around here seem to drop like flies all the time. I'm not saying they're weak, or I'm better than them - I guess it's just a difference in attitude and approach.
The reason I mention this is because last night I got called into work because two people didn't turn up. Now I've no real problem going in at short notice if they're desperate, but I really shouldn't have to be doing this. See, the people who failed to turn up won't even be disciplined or spoken to - something else that baffles me. Back in England if you don't turn up to work without a valid reason and without ringing in sick, you get an instant warning - and if you do it again, you're sacked. But in Ireland employers seem to be much more relaxed and lenient. At first I thought this was fantastic - I can relax and not be overly concerned by the sack. However, I haven't relaxed. I can't be lazy at work, even if I try. So now it's getting to the stage where I see people taking days off at will, doing no work, working slowly and to a poor standard etc, and I'm ripping my hair out wondering why the hell they still have jobs!
Argh!
Moving on. Saw Svenja on Tuesday! Yay! We (and James) went to the cinema to see I Am Legend, which I thought was a decent enough film. It could have been better, but it was certainly much better than the last two I've seen at the cinema (Beowulf and The Brave One). Svenja didn't like it too much, but I quite enjoyed it. It was good to see her again after a few weeks!
Had an incident with the bank the other day. I checked my account and I was down €60 and I have no idea where it went. Anyway, I went into the bank to see what was going on, and it turns out it is simply Dunnes taking wages back since I was over-paid for the Christmas period. Annoying, but a relief - I expected someone had gotten a hold of my bank details!! It would have been nice of Dunnes to tell me, but there you go. All sorted in the end.
That's about it for now.
Later folks.
First of all, Ben is on the road to recovery, which is good news. He has passed the worst stage and, all being well, will be right as rain soon. It turns out he was suffering from a chest infection, but the Doctors did a grand old job and he's apparently more lively now. That's good an re-assuring news! I was worried for a while about him, being so young and what not! But he's an English Northerner, and we tend to be hardy creatures!
Which, incidentally, brings me to my next point. Now this is generalisation, and I know there are exceptions to every rule, but since moving to Ireland I've been amazed by the amount of sick days people tend to have. For the past two weeks, I don't think we've had a full quota at work for any of the days. It seems that some people around here are quick to take days off at the first sight of illness.
Now, I rarely take sick days - even when I am sick. My nature is, and always has been, to soldier on and get on with it. Life is too short to be worried about being sick. So it's slightly annoying when people around here seem to drop like flies all the time. I'm not saying they're weak, or I'm better than them - I guess it's just a difference in attitude and approach.
The reason I mention this is because last night I got called into work because two people didn't turn up. Now I've no real problem going in at short notice if they're desperate, but I really shouldn't have to be doing this. See, the people who failed to turn up won't even be disciplined or spoken to - something else that baffles me. Back in England if you don't turn up to work without a valid reason and without ringing in sick, you get an instant warning - and if you do it again, you're sacked. But in Ireland employers seem to be much more relaxed and lenient. At first I thought this was fantastic - I can relax and not be overly concerned by the sack. However, I haven't relaxed. I can't be lazy at work, even if I try. So now it's getting to the stage where I see people taking days off at will, doing no work, working slowly and to a poor standard etc, and I'm ripping my hair out wondering why the hell they still have jobs!
Argh!
Moving on. Saw Svenja on Tuesday! Yay! We (and James) went to the cinema to see I Am Legend, which I thought was a decent enough film. It could have been better, but it was certainly much better than the last two I've seen at the cinema (Beowulf and The Brave One). Svenja didn't like it too much, but I quite enjoyed it. It was good to see her again after a few weeks!
Had an incident with the bank the other day. I checked my account and I was down €60 and I have no idea where it went. Anyway, I went into the bank to see what was going on, and it turns out it is simply Dunnes taking wages back since I was over-paid for the Christmas period. Annoying, but a relief - I expected someone had gotten a hold of my bank details!! It would have been nice of Dunnes to tell me, but there you go. All sorted in the end.
That's about it for now.
Later folks.