Bad Contract Experience - Any Advice?

[BolshieBastard]

thanks all

really appreciate the comments

my rate is daily and its 25% what I usually get as the stealing b@stard agency told me these are the rates due to the credit crunch - take it or leave it - and my contract says I need to work till the I end of my contract (I cant give notice) !!!! which make me feel trapped.

My contract sates I need to work a professional working day !!!!!!!

When I got the job I found their was no credit crunch.

Crap contract > crap rate > under resourced. Juts darn unlucky.

I think I will be going early. Piss' me off I have to sit in an interview justifying my PM experience and quals and other 'clever, run of the mill' questions from the interviewing for dummies book- only to find I am told to throw that out and fire-fight trying to keep my permy employee boss in a job so I can be told thanks very much and goodbye......which I know someone here is gonna say 'thats contracting think of the £££'s' but I do set out to a good job I can be proud of - not prop up some useless permy ass kisser who has not got a clue

Can you tell I have had few beers since my last post

A professional working day doesnt mean you have to work all hours.

IMO, a PD is 8 hours give or take an hour or two every so often when a task is to be completed. IMO, it doesnt mean working 12 hours or more a day, every day to get a failing project through.

Of course peer pressure never mind pressure from management can sometimes make this difficult to stick to your guns.

[minestrone]

You get 8 hours max out of me then I am off site. Now if I f up and get into a situation where other people suffer I will put in the time but I am not ever going to do 14 hour days as standard to cover up anyones mistakes when I am getting a day rate.

references do not count for anything, honestly, forget that stuff, 8 years contracting and never been asked by a client for one. The only people that warn you about references are your current agents when they need to get a hold on you.

If I were you and I am not saying you should do this but I would be saying this is not going to go on and it is work to rule. Else it is pro rata day rate on overtime calculated on an 8 hour day or whatever is in your contract.

Do not let people take the piss.

[Zippy]

Feck me. Not only do I find myself agreeing with MF AND Minestrone but they put it my thoughts more eloquently than I did.
Nurse, the screens!!

(good luck OP and keep your chin up)

[TimberWolf]

Feck me...

Your place or mine?

[Zippy]

Your place or mine?

Yours. Just let me get rid of these nasal hairs first.

[minestrone]

I miss these contractor advice threads that used to come through General, everything has been compartmentalised now and these type of questions from new posters who need a bit of advice are hearded into welcome/FAQ where the time served folk on the site will never go into.

[MarillionFan]

I miss these contractor advice threads that used to come through General, everything has been compartmentalised now and these type of questions from new posters who need a bit of advice are hearded into welcome/FAQ where the time served folk on the site will never go into.

I do partly agree with that. There are two issues really.

Firstly. A proper question in this forum is normally flamed if it does come in, so is sort of a bad idea.

But, in counter argument. Newbie posts into Professional tend to be treated with 'search the forum' answers and some pretty iffy advice from some of our more vocal posters falling over themselves to 'help'!

All I would suggest though is. If a newbie chooses to post in General then I would leave it there to be answered as opposed to moving it to the 'correct' professional forum.

IMHO the General forum is frequented by the most senior contractors who could give the best advice. In practice though General forum denizens are actually so senior as to be mostly ambivalent hence the flaming!

[Zippy]

A possible problem with a newbie posting this stuff in General is that a party could kick off at any moment and leave them without (in)sensible answers. I think we can usually judge the sincerity of the poster but we are bound to get it wrong sometimes.

[Bagpuss]

Sounds like a duff contract, but the concept of walking out after 8 hours and potentially leaving others in the stink I don't agree is good advice. It obviously depends on the contract, no two client are ever the same, some expect more than others. Acting in a uniform (permie mentality) way however is not clever and if they wanted that mindset they wouldn't have hired a contractor.

[minestrone]

There never seems to be any fresh faces in here, apart from gricer/sas/atw/cyberman/whoever/boy there has not been one new poster in here ready to discuss like there used to be.

Now I do not believe that is down to the usual Churchill/MF/SAS/MS/SB/ATW wars that go on, they have always happened.

So, with that, I state my resigation, my flounce, goodbye.