I can’t wait…

Yep, can’t wait to leave that company I work for.

Don’t get me wrong – there are some very good things about it, but they also seriously take the piss. It’s “take, take, take” all the fucking way!!!

The last installment was today…..

Every year, the company has had a staff conference – usually a really welcome event by all, as it is sort of a reward for all the hard work all year. The day is business stuff, strategy presentations, group exercises, long service awards etc, and then the evening has always been a posh meal in a swanky hotel, with free bar until 3am.

Last year, the company was bought by a bigger recruitment company, and of course we were promised nothing would change….for a start, there have been a number of redundancies in support roles, because group support people can now perform those functions. :|

Then, we had this really annoying e-mail from the group MD about the conference a couple of months ago:

Talking about September, I just wanted to make sure you had the date of the conference in your diary. It is Saturday September 10th, and will be an all XXX conference. The conference runs from midday on the Saturday until Sunday morning and will be held in Birmingham. Parts of the conference will be XXX specific, but other parts will enable you to understand what is happening across the other brands and across XXX as a whole. In the evening there will be an awards gala dinner which is always grand, glitzy and lots of fun. Around 700 people will be invited to the conference (all staff in the Staffing businesses whether they are in sales, ops or support) and we do expecteveryone to attend ( I promise you won’t regret it!). If by any chance you already have a critical, fixed, prior commitment (holiday/wedding etc), then please seek dispensation from your manager, otherwise I will look forward to seeing you there.

That pissed me off – big time!!! I am contracted to work Mon-Fri, I work stupid fucking hours, usually leaving the house at 6.30am to start work at 8am, and not getting home until at least 8pm most nights, and I am not alone in this. In order to do well in this company, you have to work stupid hours, and it’s still never enough.

So now we get TOLD that we HAVE TO attend a conference at the WEEKEND (i.e. we can kiss our whole weekend goodbye), but we’re not going to get overtime pay or time off in lieu for it, it’s just expected that we attend!!!

Then, today, we find this on the intranet:

8. Drinks

Note: A 20% discount has been negotiated for drinks you purchase in the dining room. There is a 24 hour bar in the reception area, however, drinks will be full price from that bar.

Whether you intend to get sloshed, or you are a T-totaller, drinks at the Hilton aren’t exactly going to be cheap, are they????

Fucking bastards!!!

I wish everyone would tell them to fuck off & that they’re not going!

They can’t MAKE people go – it’s illegal to work more than 11 days in a row, apparently, without a certain length of break in between. And surely they’re not allowed to MAKE us work & not pay us or give us time off in lieu for it???

AND we HAVE to share a room with a colleague or pay £90 (ninety-fucking-quid, I kid you not!!!) to have single occupancy.

I am torn between telling them where to stick it (I have nothing to lose, I’m resigning as soon as I get my contract from my new employer!), or going along anyway so I can get to see some of my mates/colleagues from other offices before I leave (though I’d continue to make it very clear that I’m not happy about the situation, and then resign on Monday anyway).

What should I do??? Decisions, decisions….