Date : Wed, 27 Jul 2011 02:11:25
From : jgh@... (J.G.Harston)
Subject: [BeebSoc] Re: Dixons (Was: Risc PC (Was 'Minitel in France'))
Rick Murray wrote:
> J.G.Harston wrote:
>> I've just been fired,
...
>> In my employment termination interview, the reasons I was given were:
> Back in the day, I'd have demanded this in writing, and then walked the
> lot to the CAB to see about unfair termination practice...
I have just now posted off a letter requesting written confirmation of
the reasons for my termination. I am considering following it up with
a Freedom of Information request for all information they have on me ;)
>> * I had been observed eating my lunch in the dining room,
> This is *not* a reason. If you were not expected to eat in the dining
> room, there wouldn't be a dining room.
If we'd been expected to eat in a group I would have expected to have
been told that.
> communicate with people, and besides, you're hardly an emo teen.
Other than a chap in his 50s I was the oldest person in the training
group, all the others were your stereotypical early-20s young men
making jokes about pulling birds and getting plastered and 12-hour
gaming sessions, and thinking that because you can get to such a level
in Crash! (or whatever, it went over my head) that means you can do
IT customer support.
>> * I had not asked for a KNOWHOW wristband
> Holy shit. I'm sorry, excuse my language, but have we walked into an
> episode of Dilbert here? This is real life, right?
It's the Dixon's KNOWHOW cult. They're not allowed to do genital
multiation, so there has to be some other way of initiating you into
the group ;)
I didn't actually see very many people actually wearing wristbands, other
than the trainer and some other people. It felt too much like those
"hey, I'm a kind person who supports the latest middle-class guilt-trip
guff" sort of thing.
> hold up a cue-card and read to a customer that "rebooting it" is the
> cure for 'x', or the other sorts of rubbish prevalent in the PC world?
Each Friday we spent listening in to actual calls. Last Friday one of
the calls was: "I want my NumLock to be turn on at startup" Oh, that's
not possible, just press the NumLock key. "Yes, it is, I've always done
this before on other computers" Sorry sir, it's not possible, just press
the NumLock key. "Yes it is possible!" No it's not sire, just press the
NumLock key. etc...
Afterwards I went against instructions and interveened to tell my
trainer that yes, you *can* configure a PC to start up with the NumLock
turned on, and guided him through the virtual BIOS system on the
online product database and pointed to "NumLock on startup: On/Off".
>> Popped into the Job Centre on the way home.
> Heh, good luck there too. My memories of Job Centres (hello Aldershot!)
> is that people who couldn't find a job anywhere else ended up in the
> jobcentre as "advisors". Hell, I had one twit that didn't know the
> difference between a care assistant and a nurse!
Because I foolishly spent the last 20 years putting every last penny
into a pension, I don't qualify for any benefits, because I have "assets".
Yes, a pension. If I take money out of it now, it falls apart. "Oh no,
it's assets, use that to live on, and once it's all gone, then we'll
pay you something".
--
J.G.Harston - jgh@...