Reply to: P*ssed off with contracting

[Helios]

You are John Armstrong and I claim my free U-Fit double glazed conservatory.

I wish I was in the matrix. Would you swap a brain transplant for one of me and there are more than many.

[oraclesmith]

I made up my mind. All roads lead to Rome, and no one took the M1 low road to Scotland only to realise that it was slower than the high road and turned back to take the alternative.

You are John Armstrong and I claim my free U-Fit double glazed conservatory.

[Helios]

Thanks for replies. I was a bit down, and at the bottle wich looked like a mountain top.

Things are a bit better today. Got confirmation of pay today, made up with my gf and on better terms with my landlord. The car is still a write off, but some parts are selling on ebay and I was exagerating a bit about my jaw. It had mulltiple fractures, but with the dentures the speech is improving.

I made up my mind. All roads lead to Rome, and no one took the M1 low road to Scotland only to realise that it was slower than the high road and turned back to take the alternative.

I think I have been looking at work the wrong way. Contracts are not there for me to survive, theres JSA and Ebay for that. They are there to make profit and thats why im not taking a step back to being a permie and sticking to contracting. Even if I am out of contract as much as I am in contract, does a permie job offer 180 days a year off?

May just do the wire fraud on weekends. What is ICQ for anyway

[Mordac]

Helios - I thought you were a master hacksaw or something?

[BoredBloke]

"I look upon each contract as a prison sentence, keep your head down, do your bird, then bank the cash"

That's why he stinks because he doesn't have a shower for 3 month through fear of 'dropping the soap'

[Paddy]

The only decent response here is from Luke -- well done mate.

Paddy you can't spell or use punctuation yourself, fine one you are to speak of literary abilities! But spot on about the girlfriend/married thing, well said.

It’s not my native language…

[Bagpuss]

Ok, the title probably says most of it. Half of the people in this forum are not even contractors, half know and deslike me for writing my mind and half dont know me.

Anyway. Just annoyed to the core with contracting at the moment. Other factors affect this though, I almost died in a car crash and my lower jaw has almost come off, hence im not good at phone calls to agencies.

This year has been really bad, with all kinds of delays, from agencies not paying me for over three months, to banks being d*ck heads and not accepting accounts just to pay bl**dy money in without overdraft. Five years experience in Field Service Engineer Roles, Hardware or whatever you want to call it. This year sux.

Thanks for advice on getting a permie role. It would be ok if I had not already registered a limited co and did not have that car crash that took most of my lower jaw off. If I do a permie role, I would have to go back to where I started as desktop support and that would not work well as my speech is f**cked.

To top it all off, my car is a write off, my girlfriend is leaving me, my landlord is kicking me out and I've got about £5 left in savings, enough for a bottle of wine. By the way the bit about inheritance, will probably go to a animal charity and I can't afford a lawyer so what does it matter.

Three choices left to me. 1 continue struggling as a contractor, without mcse, ccna or compaq or hp certs. 2 get a low paid permie role and talk to dumb users all day and

3 start carding and phising and sell credit card details online, or just buy them. Or, I could always rob fort nox and end up in camp x-ray. Damn, I'm just depressed. I guess I should change my email for this site to remain annon. Then again got £100 coming in from paypal this week, enough to pay for a weeks booze up. What does it matter.

The contracting lifestyle does lend itself to depression, what with living out of a suitcase, staying away from home, meeting dull and annoying people. Living in some characterless overcrowded concrete south east commuter town
It all takes it's toll.

Add to that problems in your personal life and it makes you think is it worth the money.

I look upon each contract as a prison sentence, keep your head down, do your bird, then bank the cash.

But given all your problems I can see how it would be difficult to cope, my advice is get yourself some anti-depressants, they will help you get through the rough patch. When your life improves just taper yourself off them.

[ChimpMaster]

The only decent response here is from Luke -- well done mate.

Paddy you can't spell or use punctuation yourself, fine one you are to speak of literary abilities! But spot on about the girlfriend/married thing, well said.

[milanbenes]

hmm p1ssed off or not managing your expectations ?

surely the key to happiness and satisfaction is manging your expectations realistically based upon your capabilities

if more people in life accepted their lot instead of saying I deserve to be earning this and driving that they'd be a lot happier

as Tony said, maybe contracting isn't for you.

What about opening a fish and chip shop ?

Milan.

[Paddy]

________________________________________
“Ok, the title probably says most of it. Half of the people in this forum are not even contractors, half know and deslike me for writing my mind and half dont know me.

Anyway. Just annoyed to the core with contracting at the moment. Other factors affect this though, I almost died in a car crash and my lower jaw has almost come off, hence im not good at phone calls to agencies.”

Try using the shift key and using punctuation, if you write correctly; more people will take notice of you

“This year has been really bad, with all kinds of delays, from agencies not paying me for over three months, to banks being d*ck heads and not accepting accounts just to pay bl**dy money in without overdraft. Five years experience in Field Service Engineer Roles, Hardware or whatever you want to call it. This year sux.”

It’s all part of contracting. I have ten agents and customer to Court to get the money out of them. (That reminds me, I must take another summons out at luinch-time.)

“Thanks for advice on getting a permie role. It would be ok if I had not already registered a limited co and did not have that car crash that took most of my lower jaw off. If I do a permie role, I would have to go back to where I started as desktop support and that would not work well as my speech is f**cked.”

I Suggest you go preemie.

“To top it all off, my car is a write off, my girlfriend is leaving me, my landlord is kicking me out and I've got about £5 left in savings, enough for a bottle of wine. By the way the bit about inheritance, will probably go to a animal charity and I can't afford a lawyer so what does it matter.”

All part of life, I would swap with your problems any day. As for GF leaving that is an advantage and your are lucky that you aren’t married.

[Flubster]

As in all ventures, risk management sorts the men out from the boys.

AKA, difference between contractors and permies...

[CaribbeanPirate]

3 start carding and phising and sell credit card details online, or just buy them.

Go for it. Nothing wrong with blagging for a living. Start easy though. Maybe a bit of shoplifting, dodgy phones or even smuggled tobacco. As in all ventures, risk management sorts the men out from the boys.

[AtW]

It's an imposter that should be banned.

[lukemg]

I agree, head for safe harbour, cosy permie job (not always helpdesk) cover the basic bills, do the minimum required and basically forget about work. Support is dead, it's a commodity and has been dropping in value for years, you need to plan a way out of it.
As far as the rest is concerned, you have had a tough run and are feeling a bit sorry for yourself, life is hard, get used to it. Keep doing the same things, in the same way, with the same people - you get the same result. Time to make some changes, as many as you can to get out of the rut. Been through a spell of depression despite well paid contract and seemingly no real problems to worry about, wish I had spoken to a shrink about it and chucked some happy pills down, probably would have helped to speed my recovery. In the end, scored a new job/woman and broke the spiral. Feeling like if you step out on the road and a bus takes you out it wouldn't be a big deal ? You are depressed, get help.

[BoredBloke]

Most of that doesn't sound like contracting problems at all. Much seems to stem from the car crash. It may not be PC, but contracting is a seat of your pants option and if you have any disability then contracting is not really for you as you will find it difficult to find work.

If I were you I would opt for the low paid permie route - it's going to pay more than the £5 you already have.