Description
Our Journey to Edmonton, Alberta
« February 2012 »
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | |
My Links
free invisible web counter
|
Temping Job
So I rolled onto a temping job and it just wrapped up. I was there from the back end of August till this last Friday.
It was a job for a document company, it was a big scanning contract to transfer a load of paperwork to PDF. There were people that had to prep the boxes of paper so they were scan ready for the scanners.
I started in prep as did my fellow scanner buddy then we got moved about three weeks later to start the scanning work. We were good at what we did so we got left there.
I have never in all my working life been teamed up with someone who has such a very similar working style as me, we were both a pair of workaholics, we had no breaks and probally even only took a 20 min lunch because we wanted to get back into the scanning again.
We had a great laugh and I made another gresat friend out of it. It was a very big contract and needed 10 people for days and another 10 for nights to get it done as soon as possible. The trouble so to speak started when my temping company couldn't find all the people needed so understandably the company approached another temping place and brought in more people.
Can you see where this is going, yet?
So people got talking and one person found out that the other temping company were paying $16 an hour and we were only getting paid $14 so yes the shit hit the fan big style.
Everyone sent off e-mails saying how unhappy we were about finding this out. The response wasn't good either our boss had to come in and tell everyone tough crap we aren't giving you a pay rise but me and my work mate put our foots down as we did more work than any of them put together. Our targets were always over the amounts they wanted and the response was an extra ...............................twenty-five cents!!!!!!!!! Yes OMG!
The temping company was also going to give us a pizza party for our last day, well that will pay the bills won't it? May I add that me nor my work buddy didn't have one bit out of principle, it was like a smack in the face.
So this contract came to an end on Friday and a new big wig came. We were told that another project was going to be lined up and would we be interested in coming back. To that I'm not sure about yet. Lets just say some of the other temps were very lazy, they missed so much with their work that it made it hard for us to keep on top of our own targets. At times it was stressfull, they would miss taking off post its on paper and staples, we would complain but nothing would get done and if we missed it while we scanned we would be the ones accountable!
Big wig said while he was in the room to our then boss of the project it was amazing how they got the job done with the idiot temps which was a little insulting. We even had to complain to our temping boss about the idiots they employed for this contract and how they should be embarrassed as a company to have employed them. Yes, that didn't go down very well, lol! but it was true and it had to be said.
Me and my work mate overseed alot of crap that went on, when they got another scanner in that wasn't watching what he was doing and doing it all wrong we pointed it out, same with the Quality Control person and a few others, they all got fired as what we said was true. We appeared to be being the whistleblowers in a lot of areas in the end we thought forget it, if they can't be bothered to oversee their own contract and make sure people understood what they are doing then forget it!
So now I don't have another contract lined up, not sure if the temping company is pissed with me or is waiting to see if this company wants me again. To be honest I'm just going to enjoy the week off for now, get the condo cleaned up again and relax.
Is there ever going to be a time I just keep my head down and shut up....................... but my guess is no! |
Posted: 03:53, Monday 8 November 2010 |
Comments (0) | Link |
|
So sorry.........
I have been so really busy and have so much to update you guys on. This is just a quick entry to let you all know that I will be updating this blog and believe me I have sooooo much to update you all on!
I have the whole sorry saga of the the spa to tell you all about, I have my new temping experience to inform you all on.
My god there is just so much to tell and I may have to update myself on where I left you guys.
I got some bit of juicy gossip when I bumped into my old work mate in Safeway. If you remember way back when one of my first employments where I was being bullied by an idiot supervisor. He said I had a figure like a boy and some other insulting crap that came out of his good for nothing mouth. Well he finally got fired!!! He He He. It was a long time coming but at least it happened.
My new temping assignment has come to an end and i'll be updating everything on Monday so peeps, watch this space.
I'm back!!!!! |
Posted: 11:46, Friday 5 November 2010 |
Comments (3) | Link |
|
Not the Best Two Weeks
These past two weeks have been hard, I knew it was going to be when I decided enough was enough at the Spa job. It's a tough decision to make, but if you are really unhappy in a job I don't think you should stay there.
The ideal situation would have been to have a job before I left that company but things just got way too bad there. Last night I was even starting to wonder if they had me going through the books properly, the reason I'm saying this is when you start a new employment you have to sign two personal tax credit forms when you start work. With the spa job I didn't do that. The reason that I realised this is because yesterday I went into the big City of Edmonton for an interview. I'm going back into Temporary Office work (at last), part of the paperwork was to sign this tax form and I remembered having to do it when I first started my other job as well. Alarm bells are ringing here, is/was there something funny going on!
So moving on, the interview lasted about 2 hours, she sat and had a chat with me then I was tested on Word, Excel, and did three typing tests. One numeric, one numeric with text and the final one was text. Well i'll be honest my typing speed isn't the best but I got a 96% accuracy rating. The one down side of the interview was that she has to phone the Spa to confirm my employment, Ahhhhhhh! I could have let the ground open up and drop me down the 12 floors of that building there and then.
I got so upset, I told her the whole story, afterall I had nothing to hide and still to this day I can say that I didn't do anything wrong. It was horrible, I didn't want to slag off my old employer even if she was horrible to me that just isn't my style. I explained to the girl that the boss made me very uncomfortable during my time working there and it was made even worse when I handed in my notice. One of the nice questions she asked which said a thousand words was. "Does she have a high staff turnover?" to which I replied "yes" The girl then proceeded to tell me of an employer that made her life miserable when she wanted to quit a job. She made me feel so much better.
I don't know why I got so upset, I just hate not knowing what people think about me and when you are trying to make a good impression it really matters. If I get onto this temping agency I can kiss the whole of retail goodbye and at last be back in my admin role again working normal hours and getting a half decent pay!
They want to get in touch with all my past employers in Canada, which is fine. I phoned my old boss this morning and he is more than happy to give a reference. I also called my assistant manager to the other store I worked at yesterday and she was happy to do the same. She even gave me her home number to use, as she was due to go on holiday today for the next two weeks, so that was really nice of her.
Lets hope that at last, after nearly two years of "interesting" jobs in Alberta I am finally going to be in something I truely enjoy.
I'm still owed some money from the Spa job, i'm not sure if she is going to try and keep it but i'm so very willing to fight her for it, afterall I have earned it!. There's about two weeks pay, she paid us monthly which is odd here. The norm is generally every two weeks so I'm waiting till the end of the month then probally give another three days for the post and if I don't see it i'll be sending her a letter.
This is one of the problems living in another country, you are vunerable and open for people to mess you about. I've started reading up on employment law now, I think it's a wise and smart thing for everyone to know what their rights are. |
Posted: 04:34, Friday 20 August 2010 |
Comments (1) | Link |
|
Our Weekend trip to Fort McMurray
Yes we did it, we decided to go to Fort McMurray. Both Neil and I wanted and needed to see what all the fuss is about! One things for sure it's a long boring drive of over 400 kms.
I was quite amazed when we finally got there I thought it was going to be this grey horrible looking place but it was actually very pretty! Yes Fort McMurray and pretty in the same sentence.
We went to their Heritage Park and I'll be honest with you now we have done a fair few of this Heritage parks and have now decided to call it quits with them. Once you have seen one you have basically seen them all!
So after we had spent all of about 15 mins in there we were moving on!
I thought is would be a great idea to drive to the Atherbasca Sand Dunes, we set off past the Oil Sands which are situated 35 kms outside the town of Fort McMurray and kept driving North. After 70 kms we were faced with a gate and a warning sign! We needed to be well equipped to drive any further. The road was made out of sand and knowing us if we proceeded down it we were going to get stuck! It will have all just ended in tears. We should have both learnt our lessons by now, this is Canada and some of these roads are bad.
We had to turn the car back around and head back to Fort McMurray. It's a very isolated town the nearest place is Edmonton you only drive past a handful of communities on the way. It is the truth that house prices are ridiculously high the same house you could buy for $350,00 in Edmonton is around $700,00 in Fort McMurray!
Of course we went to the Oil Fields, we paid $35 each and to be honest it did seem like a waste of money. I was expecting to see the Oil Sands but they didn't show it us which was very disappointing and had I have known this I probally would have not done the trip! We were allowed to take photos but we are not allowed to e-mail the pictures or upload them on blogs or social etworking sites so that annoyed me even more. You have to ask for permission but it's a long process and to be honest the snaps I've got are not even worth it.
The above picture used to be an old oil sands patch and they have reclaimed the land back to how it was, I was quite impressed
One thing we did find funny was the fact that they offered the Playboy channel for free in the hotel room, I must admit I have never been in a hotel with free porn before.
All in all the place wasn't too bad, there were lots of families there and I didn't feel bothered walking around the streets. It was just like any other town, i'm sure it does have its problems but so does everywhere else, like Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver! The people in general were very friendly, and liked the fact that we came up to see what it was all about. Would I go back there, no I probally wouldn't been there, done that now. I'm glad we did it though, it did dispell some of the rumors for me.
|
Posted: 07:53, Wednesday 11 August 2010 |
Comments (0) | Link |
|
|
