This past fortnight has seen work go off the scale in the digital manufacturing department of FSIS. The run up to Christmas, school holidays and associated chaos have combined to render the section under-manned and the resultant workload has the overtime rota in meltdown. Because I'm such a company man, it took little more than a nano-second to say yes to every hour on offer! "Money grabbing bastardo", or something similar, forthcoming from my Departmental Manager (Ginger Twat!). It's nice to be nice. I'm only doing the extra hours because I feel a duty to my employers in this situation. Customer service is, after all, one of the three main business drivers! If you've made it this far and not been sick - well done! It's total bollocks! I go to work to earn enough money to live, the more I earn, the better my life. Extra hours is not because of some sad joy derived from manufacturing digital ink but, far more accurately, what that money can allow me to do when I'm beyond the factory boundary.
FSIS are a brilliant employer and I really do enjoy going to work at the Pyson's Road factory, however, it is not for the love of ink making. I have to work, fact, and this facility is within sight of my bungalow. The wages are very competitive, for the Isle of Thanet, and the guys I work with are a great bunch of characters. It's a no brainer but; when I go home work stays behind and doesn't return to my thoughts until the start of my next shift - bloody brilliant. Two more years until I retire and I've said to Bev that I'll have every penny offered up to that date. Can't say I've heard too many complaints, about the situation, from someone who's already retired?
One more shift to survive/complete before the Christmas holiday period kicks in. OK, I know we're in the factory Monday & Tuesday (half-day) but we ain't making ink! The weather has conspired to ensure that this period hasn't been one in which I feel I've missed an opportunity. It's been absolute shit and the water levels are so high as to make the majority of my favoured fisheries completely un-fishable. My new syndicate membership card arrived, in the post, last Sunday and I've still not been down for a look, as yet. The coming holiday break will certainly see me having a stroll around the complex, if not casting a bait?
Knowing that a blogger's yearly review is imminent, I'm already looking forward to 2020 and the start of a new chapter in my quest for that "split cane thirty challenge". Steve Boncey has agreed to give my pair of 1959 B James & Sons , split cane, "Dick Walker" Mk IV's a complete makeover so they will be ready and waiting cum 16th June. If he is able to do half the job that he did on my 1956 Hardy Perfection Roach rod, then I'm in for a real treat. "Don't look back - look forward" You have to be an FSIS employee to understand the relevance of such twaddle!
I guess you fit into the "work to live" category rather than the "live to work". On the Swale NNR where I spend my days, we're beginning to lose sight of some of the ditches and fleets as they now overflow into the fields alongside. So I guess your fishing will be much hampered in your area.
ReplyDeleteHi Derek,
DeleteYes, it's very likely due to my own family and the ingrained work ethic that prevailed, I much prefer to work for a living as opposed to thieving or social scrounging. Call me "old fashioned" but knowing that I've worked hard for the lifestyle that Bev & I now enjoy is something which gives me great satisfaction.
Fishing? Should have known better, yet still went out this morning - complete waste of time and effort due to the muddy soup which filled the chosen drain. Wishing you a great Christmas and New Year - all the best - Dyl