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Post by twoheadedragon on Dec 16, 2009 7:24:05 GMT
@ Fille: Thanks girl, have a great Christmas season as well! Good thing you shopped now, imagine if you tried shopping in a week... ;D @ Kitty: Glad you liked it (it's a true story, of course). You're absolutely right, Jesus most certainly wasn't the only person who went around doing good and telling others to do likewise! Whether the motivation for humanitarian work is Love, Religion, a sense of Civic duty doesn't matter that much: what matters is that people's lives are improving, thanks to your actions.
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Post by Alrik on Dec 16, 2009 11:58:53 GMT
News : The admin of the forum I'm moderating in stripped every new moderator of their functions - and I'm alone again.
I do hope, though, that this will be only temporarily.
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Post by Elliot Kane on Dec 16, 2009 12:36:15 GMT
Hope so too, Alrik, for your sake. Being sole Mod of a busy forum is not a thing I'd wish on anyone! I'd have trouble coming up with a worse nightmare than that!
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Post by twoheadedragon on Dec 16, 2009 12:57:21 GMT
@ Alrik: Man, how does that happen? I hope he appoints some new mods soon: until then, good luck!
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Post by peterh on Dec 16, 2009 14:35:25 GMT
An update on the job situation! I went to the second interview on Monday and got some clarification on work related issues and wages. The actual work sounds pretty interesting. It's mostly webdesign and webmastering combined with sales support and packaging goods. The problem is that they're only willing to pay minimum wage with a possibility of negotiations within six months to a year. I'm unemployed as you know and lives on union money. To be eligible for the highest union rate, as I am, you have to have "seniority". That means you've had be a paying member for a number of months/years and have held a a regular job for at least 12 months. Said job has to be paid well enough to reach a firm cutoff rate of which you're entitled to 80% in union money. The job I applied for does not meet the cutoff rate and when you factor in the cost of transportation I stand to lose money by taking the job!! I was pretty shocked when they mentioned minimum wage so I went to the union and asked for their opinion. The guy I talked to was appaled and strongly adviced me to either negotiate a much better pay or say no. As it turns out the starting/median wage for someone with my qualifications is around £900 (about $1470) MORE for a similar job! I called the job once more to negotiate a pay rise and would be willing to settle on £300 more as a start with further negotiations in six months. I know we're in a financial crisis but I'm not going to settle for minimum wage and lose money! This is where things turns ugly! First of all Pia (as the boss' wife is called) gets rather upset and tells me that my calculations are wrong and I'm not going to lose money. They're not willing to pay more than minimum wage for at least six months! Before I mentioned the worst part I need to clarify a few things. To be eligible to cuntinue recieving money from the union you have to apply for at two jobs a week. If one of those turn into a job offer you are free to decline it for whatever reason. Obviously, the union cannot control that it's members do follow the rules (I do, though) so once every third month they ask you apply two specific jobs they will later check up on. If you decline one of those two jobs without a good reason you're in danger of being quarantined and lose the right to union money for three weeks! Now, Pia is getting rather riled up during the talk and she goes as far as to make a thinly veilded thread to report me to the union and have me put in quarantine if I decline the job offer! Naturally, she doesn't say so outright but it's not hard to read between the lines when being told something like 'naturally I'm free to risk declining the offer but, for all she knows, it might end with me being quarantined'! That is way way out of line and I DON'T like being threatened with not being able to pay the bills!! It's not like she has a case either; This is a job I found on my own accord so I'm free to decline!! And even if the union had asked me to apply for the job, they themselves told me to decline because of the lousy pay! There's more to tell but I'm too pissed to write about it now
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Post by Galadriel on Dec 16, 2009 15:25:06 GMT
We have about the same [Censored]going on in Belgium. If I were you, get everything on paper, as well what the bosses wife told you AND what the union told you. Then go to the institution that decides whether you get unemployment money or not (in Belgium they are called the RVA- Rijksdienst voor Arbeidsvoorziening) which means as much as State Service for Job Securities (correct me if i'm wrong here Hildor) I wish you luck with this Pete, looking for a job can be a pain in the ass, eventhough you want to work. That is the worst part, companies use the crisis in both ways, to fire people that are too expensive etc and to get new people hired with more qualifications then needed for the job but still pay less.
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Post by The Sonar Chicken on Dec 16, 2009 17:35:19 GMT
Peter and Gal: that really sucks. The same thing(hiring people for much less) has been happening in Singapore for YEARS. People get to work for 4 to 6 jobs per month for 1 month's salary, with future paycuts and no permanent contract and possibility of NO earnings seen if company gets into tough waters. With future recessions on their way, why do you all think I turned to the net instead? Like the ___ I'm going to get hired for a few hundred dollars, when I can earn at least 1k to 2k per month? Many people just don't understand this: the contract/law that says you get can paid ____ per month won't become reality IF they're not going to implement it. Sure, you can sue or even wrangle your way out but it can take months if not years, for any action to be pursued. Unions only work IF the sector is very important to the country or IF they have someone/some company powerful backing them. And then I've heard that they also only bother to fully implement their "laws/rulings" IF you're big enough of a fry. Don't really know though 'cos there're no real unions here: they all have been taken over by the govt. Good luck, Peter, you're going to need it.
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Post by Elliot Kane on Dec 16, 2009 20:07:17 GMT
So basically they're looking to screw you over because they think they can do it in the current financial climate, Peter. You can bet they'd let you go in six months so they can make the same offer to some other poor schlub, too. Your chances of getting anything but abuse from people like that is non-existent, I'm afraid.
On the bright side, your union has actually told you to decline, so you're well in the clear, there. You should forget the bastards and look elsewhere.
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Post by Ubereil on Dec 16, 2009 20:32:24 GMT
Yeah, those guys doesn't strike me as the kind of guys anyone would like to work for...
Personally I'm looking for a company where I can do my master thesis. We'll see if I'll find something or if I default to doing it at the university. Which might be fun in itself, but if I do it on a company it'll be a major CV lifter. Considering the current need for computer engineerers that would almost guarantee me to be able to find a job once I'm done.
Übereil
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Post by kitty on Dec 16, 2009 21:57:53 GMT
Everyone seems to screw everyone over lately, gotta love the financial crisis... Update: Out of some unfortunate events happening pretty much last night (talking about screw overs ...), BF & I will only have enough money to survive for the next 3 months. We won't have enough money to pay the flight back to Australia though, so we will have to take a loan from BF's grandpa or his dad - I'm slightly terrified now, that we won't get a de facto visa in time, if that should happen (not getting it in time), I'll have to beg to some friends to let me do some couch-hopping for some months... I'll be effectivly homeless I have the uncommon talent to always come in such situiations in A) deepest winter (it started snowing today for the first time) and B) short before Christmas. Oh well... at least rent, electricty & internet is paid already...
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Post by Elliot Kane on Dec 16, 2009 22:32:50 GMT
Ouch! Hope things work out OK for you & your BF, Kit...
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BJC
Apprentice
We Own The Night
Posts: 301
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Post by BJC on Dec 17, 2009 2:30:21 GMT
Today in forum news:
BJC is once again playing a game of "Is he here or is he not here?" Right now....I'm here. Two days from now? Who knows!
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Post by twoheadedragon on Dec 17, 2009 7:09:37 GMT
@ Peter: Man... That sucks! I really hope things turn out better for you, and good luck dealing with these crooks! @ Ube: Good luck with that! @ Kitty: Best of luck to you, may you and BF come out on top! you're starting to remind be of Tommy and Gina in the Bon Jovi song "Livin' on a Prayer" Hang in there, and don't give up! @ BJC: Why, you old trickster! Appearing, disappearing... Appearing, disappearing... Kinda like a bunny rabbit in a magician's hat! ;D
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Post by LaFille on Dec 18, 2009 1:27:21 GMT
@ Fille: Thanks girl, have a great Christmas season as well! Good thing you shopped now, imagine if you tried shopping in a week... ;D You can bet that it was the plan. ;D And thanks! *** Alrik, hope you get new co-mods appointed soon. If the previous ones weren't working well and that it's temporary, it could be a good... ? Pete, yeah, looks like it's better to just decline and move on... It seems that you're backed up by the Union to do so, so if there's indeed no risk of such consequences it's really not worth brewing over. Ube, cool stuff. Good luck in finding an interesting opportunity. Kitty, good luck in getting funds, too. ...And BJC, welcome back, while it lasts!
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Post by Galadriel on Dec 20, 2009 14:58:51 GMT
It snowed again in Belgium and not a bit, but a lot!! And I hate snow! My ex bf totalled his car last nite against a tree about 100m away from his house.
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Post by peterh on Dec 20, 2009 16:53:50 GMT
Damn, I hope the ex is okay Kylia...
I declined the job offer since they were not prepared to give me a substantial pay rise. They still maintain that minimum wage is perfectly fine for said job and I finally figured out why.
The company is primarily looking for someone to maintain and later on program and implement a new website. As such they demanded a webdesigner graduate and since I'm a Multimediadesigner I fit the bill. However, a skilled webdesigner is entitled to a certain wage which they we're not prepared to offer. To circumvent that they made a rather sneaky addition to the job description in form of "webdesigner/office clerk needed". This allows them to demand a graduate designer but only offer a starting rate equivalent to an unskilld office clerk which is, basically, minimum wage.
I tried to demand a £300 pay rise as a start which is far from the £900 I should be entitled. They refused to go higher than £60 now and another £60 in six months. That's right about the median wage for an unskilled office clerk! Naturally I wouldn't agree to this but before I got the chance to hang up they went on to imply that I was disillusional about the wages and warned me that I probably wouldn't find another job. How utterly nice of them!!
This puts me in a difficult position since the job course is 6 weeks of education and a 4 week vacancy at a company. The idea is to work for free one month, while being supported by union money, and then hopefully be hired. This is an excellent opportunity, but since I've focused too much of my energy toward this job, I'm rather behind on researching and contacting companies. If I don't find a place I'l have to continue attending the course and take the same classes - and that would be a bit of a letdown..
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Post by LaFille on Dec 21, 2009 17:08:03 GMT
Hopefully you'll can indeed find something before time is up, Peter. And Gal... Eek. Hope he's ok... 100m from his house doesn't make a long way to walk home though, on the other side. ;D
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Post by Lews on Dec 21, 2009 20:15:03 GMT
I want to sleeeeep =(
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Post by janggut on Dec 22, 2009 4:29:22 GMT
if all else fail, Lews, use a brick. ;D note: comes with minor side effects.
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Post by Glance A'Lot on Dec 22, 2009 7:58:09 GMT
if all else fail, Lews, use a brick. ;D note: comes with minor side effects. Yeah - like a bed full of rubbles from broken bricks...
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