Reply to: Are the client/agent taking the micky?

[NotAllThere]

And I think that can finish there.

[Illustrious]

You've missed the GAS part out of my quote.

Clearly not, your back aren't you?

[northernladuk]

You mean now I've put you right on the assumption you made that I'm obliged to work on site?

You've missed the GAS part out of my quote.

[Illustrious]

If he's not going to sign it, he's not going to sign it. Sure, going in gives him one less reason to not sign it but I'm thinking he'll be a funny bugger anyway. So then I've cancelled Christmas plans with the family and I'm out a trip to Manchester too.

[TheFaQQer]

So in summary, you're not going into your client in Manchester because the weather might be tulipe?

Apparently, it might rain in Manchester. Who'd have thunk it?

[MrMarkyMark]

You mean now I've put you right on the assumption you made that I'm obliged to work on site?

Surely the details don't really matter, you tried too hard, the client took the pee then finished you early. For whatever reason, they want you there on site for your last day, you have an outstanding time sheet to be signed.
I'll let you work the rest out

[Illustrious]

Yes there does. We thought you were a professional contractor and that you think we GAS at this point

You mean now I've put you right on the assumption you made that I'm obliged to work on site?

[northernladuk]

There seems to be confusion here.

Yes there does. We thought you were a professional contractor and that you think we GAS at this point

[Illustrious]

There seems to be confusion here. I think possibly when I said the "normal office" is the one I'm expected to go to. I meant that was the office I'd only ever been to; Manchester wasn't a new location I was being asked to visit. My contract makes no specific mention of where or how the services I provide are to be provided. Not one clause or paragraph in the contract states that I have to be "on-site" at the client co to provide services, nor does it even have the clients office address on any of the pages. It merely states that they expect 8 hours of effort from me each day, for which I log time on their system with corresponding evidence of commits to the repository or other documentation. It was the agent who said I was contracted to work "on-site" and this was only after he called me with a prompt from the Director of Operations because I refused to work for free last night.

Second, I was always taking Friday off before I got canned. They know this. The project is being handed off to the client, today, for the purposes of testing. As of tomorrow, there is no work to be done; phase 1 of the project is complete. The request from the DoO is punitive. Not to mention this is a guy who, from the get go, has been aggrieved that the Technical Director and PM were happy for me to work from home. The technical director, (nice guy), has been on holiday since Monday and isn't available to put this tool right.

As for the weather, rain doesn't really bother me. But when they've given the weather a name, Storm Barbara, and are issuing warnings to expect severe flooding, structural damage and severe delays in the North West then I start to take a bit more notice. The M62 is a vile motorway in only mildly bad weather; I personally am not prepared to take a risk that I'll be stranded, injured or killed - and every weekend I see at least 3 major accidents on that road without a bloody named storm blowing.

He might refuse to sign my time sheet for not coming in, but since there is no obligation on my part to work in the office I don't see how they could refuse on that basis. They can't argue that they're unhappy with the work since I have countless emails saying "good work" and "great idea" and "thanks". Not to mention correspondence asking me to work, for free, to help them out.

[SlipTheJab]

Got to be fair NLUK has a point here. Surely if you take a gig in location A you've got to expect that client is at some point going to expect you to turn up at location A? Yes you may WFH at some point but I dont see it as a right unless its in the contract.

To be honest, I'd be very surprised if any client ever let me work last two days WFH. Didnt we have a guy on here recently where they refused to pay him? I think I'd rather be in plain sight so theres no argument then.

And this thing about traffic and bad weather. Jeez. If you don't want to go in, then dont, but then they're not going to pay you.

Admit it NLUK - someone who moans more than me?

True dat, cue a post by the OP next week wringing his hands complaining that the client won't sign off his last timesheet as he was WFH the last day. OP get in the office and make sure your timesheet is signed before you leave and then move on.

[pr1]

Manchester Airport is miles from the office and if you've ever seen the traffic in Manchester I'd hope you'd appreciate the dilemma. I stayed in Chorlton one week to cut back on the costs and it took me over an hour to commute into the office. The hotels relatively close to work are far more expensive.

18 minute train to piccadilly

and chorlton is about 25 minutes on the tram to piccadilly

Do you expect to take a contract in a different city and maintain sub 10 minute commutes?

[northernladuk]

Who wants to sit in traffic for over an hour on a morning? No one. If they have me good notice to come in and stay over I'd have been able to get a cheaper hotel. I'm not spending a chunk of my rate to stop over at short notice especially now they've canned me.

Don't forget to have your next contract checked by QDOS before you start. Make sure the RoS is unfettered and they remove any clauses about D&C, Bedwetting etc etc.

[psychocandy]

You valley boys wear coats nowadays? Tsk tsk. world's gone mad.

Whos coat is that jacket?

[psychocandy]

Yes you have. It's the one you land inbetween working for these pesky clients and I'm sure you'll find it again sometime soon.

Ah yes, the good old JSA. Unfortunately, even though it pays around £73 a week that equates to a day rate of about £15.

Still worth it to go to work sadly.

[northernladuk]

Admit it NLUK - someone who moans more than me?

Damn straight. This guy is making you look good!!