How did you do this year?

[6128k]

Worked throughout 2020 with some double client work that resulted in 264 days booked.

Started to work out again and lost a stone in weight. With no commute required, I'm now able to work out regularly.

Hopeful that I can continue the health trend this year and beyond.

[ladymuck]

Your manager? Contract? Does not compute.

Don't be mean.

[northernladuk]

Your manager? Contract? Does not compute.

[Destiny2]

As long as you made the decision knowing you would be several months with no work I see nothing wrong with it. If you made that decision thinking you would find something else right away then it was foolish.

Totally the right reason to leave.

Jumping ship with nothing to go to is always scary but you have to look after yourself and, if the client can't bring themselves to extend common decency, then leaving is the best thing to do. I'd also leave a review on somewhere like Glassdoor if it was really bad.

So, this is what happend.

Clientco has two sites. Me and two others were hired to do 2nd line at their new site. The three of us started on the same day. My manager is based in the Midlands. At the other older site, there are two staff and they have a team lead for that site ... let's call him X. X would nip down once a month and have a team meeting with us to see if we were all ok.

I then found out that the other two were severely inexperienced. A had worked in a PCWorld call centre and then worked as a field engineer. B was a got-off-the-boat who came here on a student visa ( dodgy student who came here to become a citizen ) who had worked in a PCW store, for a little known outsourcing IT company and for a council. None had worked for a big name in the City or in Finance. And, for A , it was his first 2nd line gig. My manager is based in the Midlands and he officially made me a point-of-contact for this team. The other two didn't like this and tried to challenge me every now and then when I asked them to do work or assist me with work and even said that I was not their Team lead. So, I turn to my manager and he officially made me a Team lead. The two were not impressed but sucked up and carried on working.

This was the structure of the work - For 4 hours, sit at a tech bar and help users > Go for 1 hour lunch > Come back and sit in a back office and do REQUEST like tasks if there were any e.g. create imaging documentation, swap desktops, re-image couple of laptops etc. So, essentially it was half a day's work.

A started to get on my nerves as he would disappear randomly on his phone and would skive. I once asked him to install a desk phone for the CEO by a certain day ( as requested by the CEO ) and he was three days late. The phone was on the desk and all he had to do was the comms room patching! A desktop wipe project came up and I ended up doing 75% of the wipes. A sneakily would play around with the 'wiped' stickers and move stock about. I had a word with my manager , who came down with X and both had a word with A. A felt humiliated and handed in his resignation. After that, he started being sulky and wouldn't talk or respond to me during his notice period. On his last day, he had to be kicked out as he refused to do have a handover meeting with me.

I used to do the early shift. B later told me after A left that A would leave three hours early and on days when I was off, he would apparently go to the gym twice during work hours and disappear. I genuinely tried to bond with B and we would go for lunch together and I would give him flexible shifts.

I told my manager to include me in the hiring process but he didn't. My manager hired people by having a 10 minute phone chat and then offering a contract rather than a face-to-face chat and didn't ask agency for references either.

He hired C as A's replacement and this guy was much much worse than A. When I was laying out ground rules in a 1-1 meeting on his first day, the guy was dozing off as he was exhausted! I changed my shift to do the late shift as I did not want C to become A and disappear 3 hours early.So, I gave him the early shift. I had to keep chasing C for 2 weeks if he had access to everything that was required. I asked him to do some morning checks and he wouldn't do them... I asked him to email me when he did the checks and he didn't. He wouldn't respond to any of my emails either. I soon found out that I had to keep cleaning up after him. e.g. If I asked him to swap someone's keyboard, he would damage the VGA cable. I got a call one morning when the network went down at site and then I found out that C had arrived 2 hours late that day and hadn't told me. I then found that he regularly arrives 2 hours late. So, I went back to my manager and he and X came down and had a word with C. C continued to eff up and then lockdown started. I pleaded with my manger to get rid of C but he wouldn't as he and X wanted a settled team and clientco could not keep on hiring and kicking out people. Eventually, he did get kicked out few months later.

Now, remember B - the guy I was bonding with. I asked him in a friendly way to make his ticket resolution notes readable as there was no punctuation, spelling mistakes and wrong words used. e.g.
laptop throughs an err
He got miffed and complained to my manager and the agent. My manager wanted me to have a word with him as he thought we were having friction due to remote working. I did and listened to B's lunatic rampaging. Few days later, I decided to leave as I felt exhausted having to deal with unprofessional colleagues.

I wanted to leave in March last year and switch to a new clientco but covid came and I was wfh and getting paid for doing nowt and I decided to carry on till Sept.

I wish my manager would have involved me in the chats he had when he came down with X and he should have hired people in the proper way! He also should have changed my job title in Outlook/Exchange and increased my rate even if it was by a fiver. And, he should have clarified X's role. I sort of did but did not report to X. But, A B and C thought of him as their team lead. Btw, this was a 65k 2nd line contract role.

[PerfectStorm]

Brilliantly

Nonstop work across clients with no gaps, work into 2021.
A mortgage holiday for a bit
No travel expenses
Good rates
Not having to sit with difficult clients

2020 has turned out to be quite the boom year for MyCo which just goes to show that you never can tell.

[NotAllThere]

7 figure loss

Mine is a around a £3500 loss. But that's because I paid myself a bit more than we got as income from reserved profits. It's good, because I don't have to calculate what my bonus for last year might be (I don't get one), so it makes liquidation easier.

I'm now a sad, wage-slave permie. After fifteen years. Should see me to retirement on a very good wage though.

Either way, my health has been excellent in 2020 and I can't put a price on that.

Wish mine was. Just tested - another fsking waterworks infection. No nitrites, so could be pseudomonas again. Lovely.

[ladymuck]

not quite 6 day weeks. There was a lot of double bubble. And a few weekends for go-lives. But mostly just charging 2 companies for the same work

[Lance]

Essentially a whole year of 6 day weeks

I guess if there was ever a year to do it this is it

not quite 6 day weeks. There was a lot of double bubble. And a few weekends for go-lives. But mostly just charging 2 companies for the same work

[hungry_hog]

312 days worked in 2020.

Never been so busy.
Gonna get drunk now.

Essentially a whole year of 6 day weeks

I guess if there was ever a year to do it, 2020 was it

[Lance]

312 days worked in 2020.

Never been so busy.
Gonna get drunk now.