The grumpy thread

[GrumpiusMaximus]

I've been asked to tech a show at my (soon-to-be-old) job.  Snag for them is that I would have left by then.  Annoyingly, it's three days of show and a Sunday rehearsal the week before on top of a new full-time job.

I don't really want to do it but I can probably negotiate a good freelance rate.  I'm thinking £35 per hour.  So grumpy because I've now been asked and don't really want to - but entertained because I have them over a barrel...

[High Jetter]

Not sure what level of tech is involved (sound? light?) but do you know the going freelance rate - is £35 is enough?

[Cavcraft]

1 hour ago, barefoot said:

I wouldn't bother with the flea treatment until next spring/summer.

Or the dogs.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

33 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Not sure what level of tech is involved (sound? light?) but do you know the going freelance rate - is £35 is enough?

Sound.  I've been looking at a couple of Unions (MU and BECTU).  Neither of them fit exactly with what I'm doing but the MU musician hourly rate is £41.50.  I do some side work in my current job for £30 - which is roughly the old MU rate for peripatetic music teachers (it's a bit more now).  £35 is around what I was thinking, plus travel.  Which gets me to quite a nice, round number.

The last freelance gig I did I was DSM at a theatre (dance show) and got paid £500 for four shows and a rehearsal.  That was slightly under but I didn't mind because I knew them and was a student at the dance school.  I'm leaving my current employer partly because of their low pay rate, so I think I'll quote them £35 an hour.  And that's being nice.  Depending on how they approach me, I might decide to charge the full MU rate.  I don't really care if I do it or not...

[Aston Martin]

Manchester is underwater and traffics fucked.

[Saabnut]

19 minutes ago, Aston Martin said:

Manchester has  been improved but the traffics still fucked.

FTFY

[Aston Martin]

18 minutes ago, Saabnut said:

FTFY

I'm in Bredbury and leaving in about 15.

Even if I go through Oldham, I'm fucked.

[barefoot]

BALLS - I've just realised that the MOT ran out on the Scirocco 6 days ago. Not the end of the world, but I've not done that for as long as I can remember.

[somewhatfoolish]

4 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

I've been asked to tech a show at my (soon-to-be-old) job.  Snag for them is that I would have left by then.  Annoyingly, it's three days of show and a Sunday rehearsal the week before on top of a new full-time job.

I don't really want to do it but I can probably negotiate a good freelance rate.  I'm thinking £35 per hour.  So grumpy because I've now been asked and don't really want to - but entertained because I have them over a barrel...

They're pricks, you're doing them a favour, it's not your problem any more and you'd rather be somewhere else; £50/hr at least.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Entirely depends on how they ask me, I think...

[HH-R]

Not had that fucking Jazz a month yet and the bastard exhaust has snapped. £270 FFS. Every month there's some unexpected shit to pay for, isn't there? Makes you wonder what the fucking point is sometimes.

 

[nomiST]

52 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Entirely depends on how they ask me, I think...

Please don't undervalue yourself. 

 

I don't often post but my hourly rate has gone from £45 to £75 and I can count on the finger of no hands how many customers have said "sorry, too much" .

 

You're doing them a favour... not the other way around.

[Lord Sterling]

On 9/26/2019 at 8:04 PM, Tamworthbay said:

I love it when work tries to take the piss, a new policy doc magically appears that makes me responsible for H&S for an entire different section with a lot of high risk stuff and shit loads of paperwork. When annoys me is that they try and bullshit when they got caught out saying it’s been like that for ages and that I agreed it. So just waiting for them to supply me the signed copy or the email where I agreed it. Looking forward to what bullshit they will come up with now, Twats.

This. This has happened to me before. When I was hack in my old job, I got an email stating that I hadn't had completed a job that was never listed the previous day.  I argued the toss with the office manager for a few hours. Then they had a meeting with the owner and my manager. There was talk of asking me to leave that day and terminate my contract but my manager managed to save my job.

Glad I'm outta there.  Office work seems to just get more and more toxic. Even way back when when my Gran started an office job it was pretty shit then.

[SiC]

Got to go into work tomorrow as we're up against a hard deadline and stuff needs to be done. Fixed salary so I won't be getting any more dosh.

Glad it's payday today. Reminds me why I do this shit. 

[New POD]

3 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

They're pricks, you're doing them a favour, it's not your problem any more and you'd rather be somewhere else; £50/hr at least.

What would it cost them if he said no? 

There's a reason why occasionally hourly rates go through the roof in engineering.

Penalty clauses for not hitting a deadline. 

 

[Kiltox]

13 hours ago, Kiltox said:

Sitting a certification renewal exam this morning that I’m not even slightly prepared for and if I fail will cost me a good few grand. Joy. 

Passed this no bother and to restore the balance karma has rewarded me with a leaking toilet in my nearly new home. Loving life. 

[loserone]

3 minutes ago, Kiltox said:

Passed this no bother and to restore the balance karma has rewarded me with a leaking toilet in my nearly new home. Loving life. 

Previewing this post before opening the thread, came here hoping not to see stools.

 

 

Good work.  What cert?

[Kiltox]

Splunk Certified Admin - they’ve hopped on the Cisco-esque recertification gravy train. 

[dollywobbler]

On 9/25/2019 at 6:31 PM, vulgalour said:

Has the engine shop called me to say the Princess head job is done today like they promised on Monday?  Have they?  Of course they haven't.  This either means getting an early call tomorrow saying it's done and apologies for the delay (unlikely), or I'll turn up and they'll try and get more time out of me to complete the job.  I think two months is plenty of time to insert a pipe into a hole, I begin to think I would've been better off trying to do it myself at this point.

Oh, and the BX is letting water in on the passenger side somewhere that isn't the windscreen, it seems to be coming through the passenger door somehow, I just can't figure out how.  The recent downpour highlighted the issue, not a serious one, but still annoying.  I hate water ingress, it's always a palaver to locate.

Bit late here, but door seals are a favourite leak point on BXs, and not always the one next to where the puddle is...

[loserone]

Could be worse, I've paid ISC (2) $385 this year and they want another 85..

[Kiltox]

Ah yeah it’s the biggest thing putting me off bothering with CISSP - they’re robbing bastards. 
 

Splunk make their training courses pre-requisite for exams though - if I’d failed today I would’ve had to resit a few training courses at a grand each!  Shouldn’t need to going forward but because it was certifying using the new exam process for the first time you only had until Oct 1 to pass. 

[vulgalour]

32 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

Bit late here, but door seals are a favourite leak point on BXs, and not always the one next to where the puddle is...

Funny you should say that because we think we found the leak earlier today. It looks like the passenger door seal is letting water in right on the a pillar to sill seam and the water is then going under the carpet and sitting right in the middle of the footwell.  It's not a lot, it only happens when its absolutely chucking it down, and checking in the car while it's raining has shown it's not coming through the windscreen or anything daft like that.  I'll pull off the seal, inspect, and reseat, see if that improves matters.  The driver's door seal is often wet around the top when it's been chucking it down but doesn't seem to let any water actually into the car, though that might explain the window on that door fogging up as fast as it does sometimes.  Old car nonsense, nothing cracking a window open can't solve most of the time.

[Eddie Honda]

13 hours ago, HH-R said:

Not had that fucking Jazz a month yet and the bastard exhaust has snapped. £270 FFS. Every month there's some unexpected shit to pay for, isn't there? Makes you wonder what the fucking point is sometimes.

 

Snapped where? What Jazz (GD? GE?) and what exhaust? (front?/middle?/rear?/full?) Seems a lot, but some garages are lazy bastards when it comes to splitting front/middle.

[HH-R]

It's a GD I think? The early one. The garage quoted for back and centre section but I can't see a hole in the back bit anywhere. It's snapped just where the pipe comes out of the centre silencer. I'm gonna try somewhere else and see if they will just do the centre.

[155V6]

Just dropped Miss_155 off at home.She was going to be helping out at a charity cake sale this morning,but has just found out that her eldest son was randomly beaten up on the way home early this morning,& needs to go to A&E.It doesn't even look like anything was stolen.

 

 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

13 hours ago, New POD said:

What would it cost them if he said no? 

There's a reason why occasionally hourly rates go through the roof in engineering.

Penalty clauses for not hitting a deadline. 

 

I don't know but they'd probably get a slightly smaller quote from somebody that they don't know, doesn't know the equipment and isn't DBS checked  (this is a public event including dozens of child performers).  Either way, it's a fuckton of hassle if they do say no to me - but I don't really care.  In the last six months they've taken advantage of my kindness and haven't even bothered to acknowledge me handing my notice in - short of advertising for my job.  I've been there nearly three years, and the Grand Overlord knows exactly who I am - I just think he's a rude prick.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

1 hour ago, 155V6 said:

Just dropped Miss_155 off at home.She was going to be helping out at a charity cake sale this morning,but has just found out that her eldest son was randomly beaten up on the way home early this morning,& needs to go to A&E.It doesn't even look like anything was stolen.

 

 

Oh dear.  I do hope everything turns out ok and they catch the bastard that did it.

[chaseracer]

21 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

...I might decide to charge the full MU rate.  I don't really care if I do it or not...

This.  

Don't undervalue yourself.

[xtriple]

Just used my brand new Chinese extending hose to wash the car. Guess who's soddin' soaked now after it split and fell apart?

[Bobthebeard]

As a taxi 'owner' driver working for Whiteside Taxis I recently joined the team that does the long distance airport and corporate account work rather than just the local jobs. My car is a 19 reg Dacia Logan MCV diesel. Apparently these come with 3 years or 60,000 miles free AA breakdown cover but mine had no windscreen sticker/contact number or indeed any evidence that it did. Clearly doing airport jobs means that customers need to get there on time and any breakdowns etc need fairly immediate assistance.The manager at Whiteside rang Arnold Clarke who supplied the car and was told that I just needed to call in to get the car registered as it did indeed have full breakdown cover. 

I called in to the dealer, explained the situation and was greeted by blank looks from the receptionist. "Errr, hang on, I will get Paul"

Paul shows up after five minutes, speaks to the receptionist and they both rummage in a drawer looking for the windscreen sticker, find one and head over. The receptionist stops Paul, tells him the phone number is for Renault and not Dacia so back he goes....

Paul goes to a nearby Dacia in the showroom to look at the window sticker, crosses out the number and writes a new one in felt tip pen on my sticker.

"Stick that in your window mate, just ring if you break down" 

Hardly inspires confidence does it? Cheers Arnold. As I have my own personal breakdown cover I am not overly concerned, but really?