I feel dirty

[PAH]

It's survival of the fittest.

I currently have a good record* of being the last contractor to be kicked out of the door when the inevitable cull comes along. I have no sleep problems.


* i.e. For the last 3 out of 4 contracts. Probably means I'm either very good or very cheap. Probably the latter, but it pays better than being on the bench.

[norrahe]

tulip happens, you have to look out for number 1

[Mich the Tester]

tulip happens, you have to look out for number 1

Yep, awful. I might be forced to celebrate at Lambermons tomorrow evening.

[norrahe]

Yep, awful. I might be forced to celebrate at Lambermons tomorrow evening.

Sounds terrible, of course you'll be drowning your sorrows with the help of the wine list.

[Mich the Tester]

Sounds terrible, of course you'll be drowning your sorrows with the help of the wine list.

Well not the list, but the stuff that comes out of the bottles listed on it, yes.

[lukemg]

I am still haunted by having to bounce a new chap out the door of a certain phone reseller when I was perm manager. Chap had given up another job to go there and had been there 2 months when my boss (nickname - MadDog) told me to bin him. Week after I did this, someone else on the team bailed leaving us short....
I should have said no, or bailed myself.
Was slightly gratified to bump into said chap somewhere else, who was by now contracting and doing good but I still regret what I did.
With a contractor, it would have been a lot easier, it's the nature of things.

[Churchill]

The Development Manager of a company I once worked for waltzed into a meeting and demanded that we give him the names of 2 contractors by the end of the day that he could terminate. "No if's, no buts, no arguing the toss!"

We gave him the names. He terminated their contracts. Days later when he noticed that we'd re-jigged our delivery schedule he asked "why?". We told him that we'd lost some resource so had to redo the project plan.

His response of "Why didn't you tell me it was going to cause a problem?" didn't go down too well...

[PAH]

a certain phone reseller

It wouldn't be a certain empire set up by John Caudwell would it?

Midway through my contracting life I was tempted to go permie and had applied for a role at the office just off the M6. After the second interview and them still faffing about wanting me to go back and meet other bods I threw in the towel and decided it wasn't for me.

Applied for a contract instead, did a brief telephone interview, and started the following monday.

[PAH]

"No if's, no buts, no arguing the toss!"

"Why didn't you tell me it was going to cause a problem?"

I love muppet managers. Most of the time they're too busy chasing their tail to pester you. Other times MF decks them.

[Paddy]

Twenty odd years ago I was a technical manager at an OEM. I received a 20% pay rise but I was told to keep costs down. I did a performance review for all of the teckie guys and I told the them that times are hard and there is no money in the pot for a pay review. We are all in it together blab bla bla.