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For those of you that don’t know - I work in recruitment … and have done for almost 8 years.

I heard a news story the other day via an on-line newsletter that we get directly to our email at work. It was about a gangmaster  - forcing foreign workers to live in poor conditions under threat of no more work and no money.

How did he achieve this? He made them pay rent out of their earnings… read this as took rent money from their wages before he paid them anything at all. They had to pay rent (massively over charged rent at that) at houses where [in one house] he had 4 adults 2 children and a baby living in one room, 13ft by 11ft. He scared them into working for less than minimum wage by holding their passports and ID from them, paralysing them from acting against him.

Now - I hear a lot [read as: a lot, a lot, a lot and some more] of people moaning about foreign workers in my line of work. They ‘ come and steal our jobs’ - ‘they’re taking our housing’ and abusing our benefits system… blah blah blah.

The fact is - in the general day to day - I hand out factory production work to over 80 people a day. The English lads/ladies turn up 2-3 days out of 5. They’re late. They’re sloppily dressed, poor attitude, and very often they’re just not there.

Then they have the audacity to whine that there isn’t enough work and that too may jobs are being given to people that aren’t ‘local’. I’ve even had one guy accuse me of being racist because when he turned up 15 minutes late for the third time that week, there was no place for him on the line.

It’s not rocket science kids.

There is no explosive chemistry or orbital physics here. Of course there are the ones that are here for an easy ride. Of course there are bound to be people here that are trying to find the easy life.

But, man alive - we have a doctor - a surgeon no less, working on a production line in one of our factories - just because he sees a better life here for his family.

It’s plain and simple to me that when there are any people willing to work this hard - work in fields, picking flowers in the freezing cold or standing in production lines packing chicken meat or tea bags into boxes to support their families and their children and above all that willing to work in poor conditions and be paid practically nothing to live in one room with 6 other people - just because they’re grateful to be here in this country - it is only just that we are finding Gangmasters like the above and getting rid of them.

It makes me so angry.

And if you have the cheek to whinge that you don’t have enough work but you’re not willing to do the same - then really….

Dog tired.

I am shattered. So not much tonight.

Ella is waking in the night at the moment - she’s had a chest infection and cold over Christmas and she’s taken a long time to get over the night time cough and snotty nose… we’ve been helping her with Medised and so on and now 4 teeth are cutting…. her last 4 thank goodness… this bit nearly over for her.

She always gets snotty and coldy with teeth - in the same way that Rowan always got ear infections and we’ve been medicating her every night at bedtime because that always seems to be the time they suffer doesn’t it?

Then suddenly she’s waking in the night.

Two nights running she’s woken at almost midnight and last night she was awake till 1am.

I was off to Leeds this morning for a meeting and had to be up at 6am. Not that early I grant you but slightly early when you’re still up at 1am!

BN was excellent and attended to her knowing I had to get up early - the only trouble is that when you’re awake and you know they’re awake… it is hard to settle back down again. It was that horrible thing where I fell asleep at midnight, got woken up 20 minutes later, fell back to sleep when BN was dealing with her and then got woken up again 20 minutes later… happened for a third time and then couldn’t get back to sleep for half an hour…. bit annoying.

So. Have dozed for half an hour on BN’s lap (through Jamie’s leeks) … if you watch it - you’ll know what I mean… and then thought - quick blog and then off to bed.

Instead watch Never Mind the Buzzcocks with Simon Amstell - which - quite frankly - is hilarious - and NOW I’m doing a quick blog and then off to bed.

A quick blog does go on a bit doesn’t it?

Sore eyes… v tired….. still typing……

zzz

My space!

My space!, originally uploaded by Little Nut Tree.

I thought it was about time I shared my little office space with you. For nearly 7 years I have worked downstairs in the main office with all of the gang and last year the mini refurb was completed upstairs and we created the separate perm recruitment office and this little space for me in my own room…

It’s only taken me 8 months…. but I have finally moved to my office! I am the manager after all - quite an apt title for me… because I do just about manage.

Very bare walls… I could probably do with something inspirational there… what do you think? :o)

*This photo has notes, please click the photo for the link to Flickr to have a look…

Rowan update..

She does seemed to have turned a corner now we think. She’s generally brighter… complaining of pain in her boob and an inchy (Rowan for itchy) nipple though which is a bit disturbing. Had a good look and think that’s in her head!

Bit more like herself today and although she went a bit green when she’d had a bit to eat she told me in bed this morning that she thought she was ‘all the way better’….

She is still very pale and obviously not right just yet but making an effort.

The next thing on my list is to try and help her get over the poo in the loo phobia she has.

She panicks about going to the loo and insists that it’s going to hurt her bottom. We’ve tried loads of ways, but have settled on leaving her in pull ups to make her own way through to the next stage.

This however, has stopped working. She is saving it to the point of stomach ache and then producing mammoth (obscenely huge and uncomfortable looking) return… so to speak.

Thanks very much to the people who emailed me with suggestions on homeopathic remedy, we have also found out info regarding pulsatilla for recurring ear infection. It seems to match her symptoms and I think we’re going to look at giving that a try..

If anyone knows of ways to help kids get over the worry of pooing… that would be fab!

Work update…. had the back to work meetings… caught up with everyone regarding their plans for 2008 and have moved into my solitary office! Had a talking to from my boss yesterday who insisted I am still too soft.. I have been ejected from the main office into the manager’s den upstairs and I am allowed to come and to monitor and that’s it!

See how I get on with that then!!

Another conference….another day

Well… this year they have decided that the annual conference should be held at the end of the year rather than in March.

A massive improvement I have to say… normally we have it at the end of the first quarter and sit and discuss plans for the year ahead when 3 months of it have already gone by… it has always seemed an odd concept to me to be honest.

So - this year to represent the merger of more of the sister companies into one big group, 3 of the group were invited to one conference and apparently we were the only branch of the group that were intelligently having the end of year conference practically halfway through the following one.

So… what did this mean to me?

Well… basically it meant I had to buy another sodding dress

Yes I could have worn the one I wore in March…. if I had wanted to look like a sack of potatoes. It’s now 2 dress sizes to big for me. So I ended up going out and spending £200 on a new outfit.

Yes… the shopping was reasonably good fun as we had the Mad Lindsey… Lindsey the Mad… that should be her sales name… she was great.. but no I don’t really have £200 to spend so I have had the genius idea of putting it on eBay.

Unless… is there anyone out there who would like a size 14 floor length black dress?

I have picture burst mode on my camera and me and Tet decided to take a few piccies of each other so that we had something to show our other halves… actually for me it was for LNT but she doesn’t know about this. So we were taking bursts of 6 pictures and at the end of Tet’s she pulled her underwear from the crack of beyond and the last photo was her laughing… we decided it should be a theme…

CAUGHT!!!!!!

So…. the conference itself was very good…. very motivational as always and a little apologetic after a few redundancies this year. The do was good in comparison to March. The food was way better…. smoked salmon for starter and a kind of Christmas dinner… I say kind of because it was about 4 slices of turkey and then 2 brussel sprouts, one carrot, one potato and one sausage wrapped in bacon.

I don’t know about you guys but Christmas dinner where I come from is about 800 calories further south than that and a whole lot better… but it wasn’t tasteless… so I was all happy!

Pudding however… not really my thing anyway but unfortunately it was Christmas Pudding… which I cannot abide. YUK. BOO!

So I didn’t get any pudding…. pants.

On the plus side however there was free wine and beer (as much as you could drink, No pregnant Catherine Gee but Lenny Henry instead!

And I have to say Lenny Henry was effing hilarious!!

The funniest part of the evening had to be the warm up (3 glasses of wine already drank I have to add… Tet and I singing along to Band of Gold and the camera fell on us… it was hilarious…. unfortunately not something you can get away with when you do it in front of a company you have worked for for 8 years and there was quite a lot of laughing…. at us.

Isn’t it just hideous to hear yourself drunkenly cackling? Ugh… I will get lots of emails about this…. ah well….

—————-

So then fast forward to today… Rowan is ill with yet another ear infection. Currently fast asleep. Not keeping any food down at the moment. Have been up with her most of the evening. Have given her Midised this afternoon for its anti-cough properties and anti-nausea benefits. It seems to have done the trick and she is currently enjoying a long rest which she definitely deserves.

She is a pretty sickly child and she’s got so good at being sick now (she’s so used to it) that she is sick into a couple of lined carrier bags, aims perfectly and then is ready to be cleaned up and just sits back down like she’s been drawing a picture.

Bless her.

She and Ella both have bronchitis also… so luckily it’s the week before Christmas and you never know - with any luck - they may both be well for the up and coming festivities…..

Or did I speak too soon……….?

OK.. so I was wrong.

TODAY was the most stressful day at work ever.

argh.. done it again

Oh no! It’s loads more days have gone past and I haven’t done any blogging really…

Friday… work was so hectic last week. We had Sarah and family to stay on Friday night and I hadn’t seen her since I was 5 months pregnant with Ella. She’s my best mate but we’re both so hectic with kids and life and no money that it’s always so hard to arrange anything.

We had a great time on Friday night - chatted, drank and chatted more. She looked great and I miss her loads.

Saturday we all had a day out, went out for lunch and did some shopping. The boys took the kids back to ours (Sarah and Steve have two girls too) and Sarah and I went dress shopping. I have posted the picture of hers obviously - I would love to post the pictures of some that I tried on but BN reads this blog so I can’t!

We had an excellent time shopping in the end - our first experience wasn’t so great. I really should have listened to Kirsty and Bam when they told me that Pronuptia was the City of the Dead. They have to be the most unwelcoming miserable women I have ever had the misfortune to meet. I was so excited about trying on dresses with Sarah. I was hoping for a giggle and some silliness - some froo froo silly frocks and hopefully a few that looked like ‘the one’…

Pronuptial women made me feel like I wasn’t good enough for their shop and that really I shouldn’t be looking at *their* dresses. She stood 2ft away from Sarah and I while we got a chance to look at.. ooh about 4 dresses. We kept giving each other sideways glances and as we selected our 3rd dress, Crankety McEvil whisked them away, hung them in a changing room, ushered me in there, ordered me to undress to my underwear and swept the curtain shut as she walked away in one fluid movement. A very practiced routine.

I felt like my face didn’t fit. I am not thin. I am not a beautiful goddess of weddingy gorgeousness. I am me. And *me* clearly wasn’t good enough.

Sarah is such a good friend. Are you OK she whispered from behind the curtain. I pulled the curtain back and asked the ice queen .. ‘exactly what is the process here? You haven’t explained anything to me’.

Strip to your underwear and I’ll be in to fit you into each dress. She said in a harsh German accent. Ok well maybe not German accent but you get the picture.

Strip to your underwear. STRIP!! I suddenly had the mental image of a 1950s matron ordering a rectal examination from a terrified patient!!

STRIP!!!! Strip just didn’t conjure up the exciting giggly day I had imagined.

I pulled the curtain back and stood in the changing room. Are you OK? whispered Sarah. I just didn’t want to be in there. I felt so disappointed. I didn’t know of any other wedding shops in Lincoln. I didn’t want to be in here and it seemed like my fantasticly girly afternoon with Sarah wasn’t going to happen.

Come on - let’s go, she said. It’s horrible in here and we deserve to have a good time. She said it loudly and the woman turned round at the other end of the shop.

We’re leaving I said. We don’t want to be in here and we’re going to go and try somewhere else.

She looked… well to be honest… annoyingly… she looked relieved. I was clearly right. My face just hadn’t fit. She hadn’t wanted to help me. I just wasn’t Pronuptia client material obviously.

Well. BUM to them

We walked out, Sarah suggested phoning 118, we found two more shops listed and one was right round the corner. We went in and instantly the whole atmosphere was so different. The girl was lovely. Really made it special. We chose Sarah’s chocolate brown dress first and then we got led over to the other side and were left alone in the bridal area for a good 15 minutes. We giggled, and cooed and ahhhd over dresses and had such a great time.

Thank you to Image for a really lovely time..

So… Sunday we lazed… went shopping… walked about… bought a couple of inconsequential things… lazed some more. BN thinks that Ella said kiss before giving him a kiss on the face. Rowan’s birthday is coming up and we keep pointing things out to her. I think the other day she said she wanted something a bit bizarre.. like oh I don’t know… a gravy boat or something. It wasn’t a gravy boat but I just can’t remember.

She’s getting bunk beds (more our choice really as the room is really small and next month, Ella is going in it. The cot bed needs to be turned back into a cot for Ella and Rowan is moving into the lower bunk.

She is thrilled with that idea though which is a relief. Would be kind of a bummer if she was dead set against bunks. It would be kind of torturous, mean presents for people to make them unhappy for their special day

She is very taken with what she’ll do when she’s older at the moment. We’ve had plenty of variations. I think the latest have been working in a bank (to do mortgages) (later revised to being a bank manager at BN’s suggestion), bin man (but only if she could have lots and lots of pink bins and an apron!! She’s very specific) and a professional footballer.

She’s very diverse

Probably the most stressful day EVER

I had the worst day today.

Work was shite. A big big BIG problem at work with a client meant that I was just on the phone all day dealing with shit and being a go between for about 6 different people including my boss, her boss and his boss, the company manager, their FD, their accountant and production manager….

It was not pleasant and not a day I care to relive in a hurry.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings!!

The funny thing that happened today though - and those of you that have been reading for a while may remember her - Dippy (who was poached to work for another company.. kind of) was at the visit I had to go to this morning (the company that she went to work for) and when we were leaving she walked out of a side room near reception.

I smiled and she ignored me! She. Ignored. ME! How funny!

I am so bemused that I can’t quite work out if I’m offended?! She had this weird smug/nervous/embarrassed/odd/pursed lip look on her face … so odd that I really can’t place it. I really cannot work out whether she was too nervous to say hello because she knows *I* know she’s full of shite… or whether she *really* does think she was justified and ignored me out of principal…..?

Either way.. it was funny.

Unfortunately… my stressful day followed … so it didn’t cheer me up for long…

News other than that?

ummm. I’m pretty much stuck for news other than that to be honest. My brain is mashed and I’m drinking wine to drown my sorrows and try and get up the courage to go to work tomorrow.

Oh … and Scotty is due back FRIDAY!!! How quick did that come around?!?!

That’ll be fun too then

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Brace yourselves..

OK.. don’t really know why I said that but I haven’t written anything personal for a while and it’s kind of because I’m having a bit of a rough time at the moment.

There’s been so much on my plate that I haven’t really known where to start with it all.. money worries, relationship strains (nothing serious… just about as stressful as it gets when you have 2 small kids, you’re working 55 hours a week while they both have colds {as do you} and your dad decides that’s the week to have a go at you for forgetting to send a birthday card to your Nana that you did in fact send).

So basically it’s been your average shite week.

Work is hard. Dippy left. Scotty is now on holiday. We’re the busiest we’ve been for 2 months and I’m just knackered and spread very thin.

Not to mention there’s been a few problems at work which have had me a little worried about politics and the like. Office politics obviously ….. not just actual politics because that would be stupid.

So… I have been needing a little support and things have been tough.

That is why you’ve heard nothing personal. It’s all been a bit much to write about basically and I just can’t be arsed to look like I’m fishing for sympathy. So I haven’t.

On the upside… Ella did stand up and Rowan said to me today that she wasn’t a weirdo (I called her that when she spread chicken curry up her arm) she was a girl

And.. she picked up on the word babe. She stripped in bed this afternoon during her nap and wet the bed. When BN went to get her she said ‘Don’t worry, it’s an accident, babe’

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Honestly…? No.

You know.. I honestly can’t think of anything to say tonight.

It’s been a busy day. Not particularly hard but not particularly easy. I feel quite flat at the moment about work. Not so much dread but just a flat, uneasy feeling about it.

I have to go to my major contract tomorrow morning and let them know that Dippy has left. That won’t go down well I know as she was well liked. There’s a weird feeling at work as two of the girls (my favourite two TBH) have moved upstairs to the new offices. Curly and Snippy. I can’t change her name now .. but she really isn’t snippy.

It’s not the same downstairs without them. They are good fun. Grounding and sensible but effortlessly funny to boot and it’s not been the same without them today.

Just felt like they weren’t there.

So. Work. Yeah. Bit.. a bit.. a bit just nothing really.

I think I’m approaching the brink of my interest in the industry. Understandable maybe when you’ve been doing it for a few years? I think that staff leaving always leaves me feeling a little low as ultimately there’s a feeling of rejection even if you know it is stuff out of your control, she basically left because of me. That’s not a nice feeling whichever way you slice it.

I have a lad working for me now, Gymbo. He’s OK but a bit full of himself. His role has changed since he’s been seconded to me and I see that he’s not totally OK with that today. He also text Mumsy and said he wanted to talk to her about his role at the branch. So now I have to talk to him tomorrow and TBH.. I just can’t be arsed.

I know I have to .. but I’m kind of sick of holding everyones’ hand through their daily life.

It’s a bit YAWN. And it seems to be to me.. that people are never happy anyway so what’s the fucking point in trying?

Oh God. I’ve just read that through. How much self pity here?

I’m off to bed before I bore myself too.

And if that’s not enough.. I put on 3lbs over the weekend enjoying myself and have to go through all of that particular 3lbs again. 2 weeks to take off. 3 days to put on.

Life would be much fairer if that was the other way round. 

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