Spinning off on the commission comment.... I'm not trying to put a damper on
anything here.  I'm happy for Lori, really!!!  But I got a job in 1992
through an agency; it wasn't a "temp agency" nor did they do
contract-to-hire positions.  The contract stated if I left the employer,
voluntarily or otherwise, before 12 months from my date of hire I had to pay
the commission to the agency.  It was something like $1000.

My boss was a tyrant.  He was former Army guy who thought it was acceptable
to shout at people in the hallways for real or imagined transgressions.  My
co-workers were jerks (big time into gossip and starting rumours where none
were founded).  I managed to stick it out just past the 12 month mark but
believe me, I was job hunting big time during the couple of months prior.  I
just couldn't deal with the atmosphere.

I landed a job at my (now) previous employer right after the 12 month
pay-the-commission deadline and said "Bye!!!"  I was there for 11 years.
Sadly, after a big corporate takeover and many, many management and staff
changes and department restructures later, I no longer work there.  But by
the that time I didn't enjoy going to work anymore.  To think at one time it
was a really great place to work. (sigh)

Purrs for Lori to continue to love this job!

Jill

Going to go to work Monday and get down and kiss my bosses feet....

I get 27 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays and in another year or so
I get 29 days annual leave

If I go sick it doesn't affect my annual leave- there are all sorts of
rules about if you take too many days off or take more than 7 days
without a doctor's note then things can get nasty but the occasional
day off because of a cold doesn't count

There are also allowances like compassionate leave, which is not one
anyone wants to claim but you get up to 6 days (managers discretion
that one through, a colleague of a friend of mine wasn't allowed 1 day
to go to her grandmothers funeral on the grounds the manager felt a
grandparent wasn't "a  close enough relation") on pay

And also at manager's discretion "Carer's leave" up to 3 days a year
paid (after that they have to let you have the time off but unless you
take it annual leave they don't have to pay for it) When Dave was
coming out of hospital I took the day off for the home visit, the day
off to get the adaptations sorted out and the day he came home all
without affecting my leave allowance...

Maybe I shouldn't moan about how dull my job is...I'd chuck all of the
above in for something that required me to think more than once a day
and for more than 5 minutes! My job has occasional moments of
sustained effort and thought but they are few and far between and I am
after 7 months thinking about getting something else. I have tried to
explain to my manager that I don't have enough to do but I want to do
something more than just audio typing. Initially my manager had a good
idea that I could do some stuff for the management team and there was
some talk of me doing some project management (and being trained to do
it) but in the end, I got loaded with more audio typing..I now have a
new line manager and she seems okay and I would kinda like to talk to
her about the matter but she'll probably just land me with more audio
typing so I am just telling her that the new consultant I took on, is
taking a lot of time (He isn't that much) and quite often spending a
large part of my day
exchanging emails with an equally bored colleague and checking web
sites- at this rate I'll be reading the Wikipedia from beginning to
end!!!

I mean last week Monday was a bank holiday and I was busy on
Friday....Tuesday to Thursday? If you totalled all I did it was a days
work- in my last job whilst the bulk of my job was supposed to be the
dreaded audio typing (I'm not that good at it and have been waiting
for someone to find out what a fraud I am but after having conned my
first med sec job in 2003 worked in it since and passed my
professional diploma with 99%- I keep having these nightmares where I
realise I am actually a med sec!) but a willing smile and the ability
to volunteer for anything that looked interesting (or even was just a
day out of the office some of those turned out to be interesting as
well) kept things varied

Go believe me CatNipped your job sounds a lot better than what I am
stuck with and I don't know where to go next (I checked on a career I
always thought I'd like to do and found they don't take people after
30 generally unless they have a relevant background and I don't)

Oh well something always turns up

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs