NHS staff are unable to drink tea or coffee in Public areas.

Yes read right, NHS staff in 3 Leicester Hospitals have been told they can not drink tea/coffee or hot chocolate in public areas.

 

3 Hospitals in Leicester Royal Infirmary, Glenfeild General Hospital and Leicester General Hospital, This has come about as their has been alleged complaints that having a hot drink in front of patients gives the impressions staff and slacking off.

 

Staff were informed of this ban via e-mail.

 

A spokesperson said the sight of staff enjoying a cup of tea or coffee "Clearly this activity has given the wrong impression to the public that clinic staff are not as hard working as they might be".

 

Well I look at this as member of the public is what the hell is going on, stopping staff going for a cup of tea or coffee in their break time to a café, they could be meeting up with a relative or a friend for a chat.

 

This is management gone mad if you ask me, what will happen next that you wont be allowed to go to the toilet.

 

I wonder if any staff have looked into the fact that this is an invasion of privacy or a breach of their human rights.

 

This correctness gone mad.

One Voice, My Voice, One View, My View.

Stay Strong and Believe

 

 

IKEA the not so family freindly company to work for

IKEA the Swedish furniture store that prides itself on being the quote "Family Friendly Store to Work for" in my experience what a load of bullshit, Family Friendly my arse, they say they put family first yet, pressure their co-workers into working the hours that suit IKEA.

 

Yes that's right to suit IKEA, I should know I worked for them for nearly 10 years and all they are interested in is working their co-workers to the bone, some don't even get a pay rise, you see, they do it performance related, so if your not up to scratch you DON'T GET ONE.

 

I should know, I never had one for the last 3 years I was with IKEA, they don't give you a cost of living pay rise, they give you a performance related one, so in my case because of one thing and another I never got one, yet my household bills were going, up and up and up, so much so I had to take a loan out to pay them, putting myself in even more debt.

 

They also use scare tactics as well, like for in my instance I had been off on the sick with tendonitis in my Achilles for 7 weeks, had planned my weekends, as I knew which one's I had off, how wrong was I, I came back after this time off on the sick to find out that my weekends had been changed, no consultation.

 

When I queried it I was told "We saw an opportunity to change the weekends so we took it", we I asked why I had not been consulted I was told "We don't have to, if you don't like it you know what you can do", In other words I was told "Like it or lump it, I you don't like it find another job".

 

If they had just taken the time to at least phone me to say "we are changing your weekend, sorry for the inconvenience, but we need to do it" I probably would have been OK with the whole situation.

 

IKEA the company who makes you work a late shift and finish at 9.30pm and have you back in work for 6.30pm, yet you are supposed to have 11 hours between shifts, you complain and your told the same again "If you don't like it, you know what you can do".

 

IKEA in breach of the European time directive.

 

From my understanding and from reading my contract, they are supposed to hold a 30 day consultation period with you before doing any changes, they used the excuse they were just changing the rota, yet it was a total change of shift pattern.

 

I no of cases where this has happened to mothers, who all they want is to spend some time with their children, yet they have their shifts changed willy, inly, IKEA the company that is supposed to hold family values very high, they say we are all one big happy family, yet they think they can walk all over you.

 

This a company who say they have an anti-bullying policy and take bullying seriously, yet it is only if a manager does it, but not if it is a fellow co-worker.

 

IKEA standing for I KEEP EMPLOYEE AGERY, yes those Swedes.

 

Come on co-workers strand up for your right to be heard.

 

One Voice, My Voice, One View, My View.

 

Stay Strong and Believe.

 

 



Work Place bulling and it's effects in the UK

Work place bullying is becoming a big issue within the UK and it is an issue that in my opinion needs to be sorted out and soon.

 

8 out of 10 workers in the UK have suffered work place bullying 1 in 4 are going through it now, it is an issue that can cause my problem for the economy and employers alike.

 

83% of UK employers do have an ant-bullying policy and 90% of them are in the public sector, yet this issue seems to be getting worse, I thought the firm I used to work for IKEA said they had an anti-bullying policy yet they don't really want to tackle the issue, they would rather sweep it under the carpet, than deal with it head on.

 

The cost of to the UK economy per year is £2 billion pounds and a total 19 million sick days, so as you can see it is a very big issue in the UK today.

 

The effects on the person can be very profound and last a very long time if not a life time, it can cause depression and anxiety.

 

You will be asked if your firm has be asked to see an Occupational Health Advisor, I was asked to when I was going through what I went through and to be honest all the are interested is making sure the firm is OK not yourself, when I saw one, I was told I was boarder line depressed and Boarder Line Anxiety, I stupidly enough agreed to have an investigation done in to me allegedly losing a set of store keys, this meant the company had me where they wanted me and thus agreeing to the investigation, I had to go through with the Disciplinary.

The OHA Report stated this "Mark is fit enough to do the investigation, as long as it is at a neutral venue, with breaks and accompanied by a colleague" at not time did this state I was fit enough for the disciplinary, On a sick note, from my doctor it stated not fit enough for meeting on Thursday, I also stated this to The HR manager, their reply I find this some what confusing as the OHA said your were fit enough to go through the procedure, ultimately leading to me losing my job.

Well that's a lie what he said was "fit enough for the investigation"

some of the effects that work place bullying can have on the employee going through it are, Anxiety, Stress, depression, work phobia, physical sickness ect.

It got to the point with me that I did not want to go to work when a co-worker I was working with by the name of Alan was working, he was the one bullying me, not physically or even name calling but psychologically bullying, not speaking to me, ignoring me, dropping me in it, changing things I had done to make me look bad this sort of stuff, the reason I was afraid to say anything was because he is an ex-police officer and well respected within the store.

Out of the 8 in 10 employee suffering this, 1 in 6 will at some point suffer mental health issues and 1 in 3 may at sometime feel like taking their own life, I know I did.

A few months ago, I posted on facebook what had happened to me, it was year to the day that I had lost my job, for me this was my way of letting my feelings out, I now wish I had not done it as it became open season for a group of Cricketer's from a rival club in my area to well, cyber Bullying me on facebook, by say things like what I was saying was not true  and I hadn't been bullied, this set me back in my recovery even more, this group saw what they were doing as banter, yet I never saw it that way.

Some people ask me how do you deal with work place bullying, well I would go to your HR department or your line manager, baring that go to Citizen Advice and ask for their help, I wish I had and maybe I would still have been in a job, if I had been stronger and not a Coward I have no doubt I would still be working for IKEA.

So I would say be strong, don't be a coward.

Stand up and be brave.

One Voice, My Voice, One View, My View

Stay Strong and Believe.

     

 

 

A poem of a depressive

This is a poem I wrote over 3 years ago when I was at one of my lowest points.

 

 

A Lonely Broken Heart

 

 

As I sit here on the cliff top

on this cold April night

 the stars shining bright...

like dots in the sky

 

I hear a heart beat

a broken one it is 

Thinking what the

future will bring 

 

Thinking of love 

The love I once had

The love I pushed away

The love I want to have

 the love I may never have 

 

Is it time to leave this place behind

 I hear myself say

on this cliff top

this cold April night

But that would only 

 be leaving the people I love 

 

 My heart is broken

It brakes a bit more

each day we are apart

on this cliff top

this cold April night 

 

 My love grows stronger

as each day passes

on this cliff top

this cold April night

with the stars shinning bright

like dots in the sky 

 A Lonely broken heart 

 

            By Mark Rees 5th April 2011

Should shoppers boycott Tesco

Yes should shoppers boycott Tesco, who showed discrimination to a Blind woman at their Belsize Road store in London, where a Student at The London Central School of speech and drama who is Blind was aske to leave the store because she had her Guide Dog with her.

 

Maya Makri was shopping in this afore mentioned store when she was approaching  the checkout to pay, with her friend when the cashier shouted out "NO PETS ALLOWED"

 

 

Despite there being a high viz on the dog to show it is a guide dog Ms Makri was asked to leave the store even after other members of the public in the store backed her up, yet  she was still asked to leave the store.

 

A Tesco Spokesman said "This clearly should never have happened and we will contact Ms Makri directly to apologise. We do allow Guide dogs in stores  and have reminded our staff of that"

 

Well obviously on this occasion it did happen, and the dog was not allowed.

 

Guide Dogs for the blind are finding that People with guide dogs are finding these problems increasingly common in the UK today.

 

Is this discrimination by Tesco, well on this occasion by Tesco, in my opinion yes.

 

One voice, My Voice, One View, My View.

 

Stay strong and believe. 

A mans Journey looking for a job

It has been a hard going for me over the last 15 months since I lost me job at IKEA, this being no fault of my own, looking for a job.

 

It has all changed since I was last out of work in 2003, then you went to the job centre and looked on the board take the reference number down and go to the desk and they would give you the details, along with an application form and you did the rest.

 

Now you have to do everything on-line on Universal Job Match, if you don't you get sanctioned and lose some of your Job Seeker Allowance or part of it there of.

 

In the last 15 months I have applied for more than 100 jobs within my area, with so far only getting 10 telephone interviews and 3 one on one interviews and it is frustrating as I want to work and get a job, I was in my last job for over 9 years, the longest I have ever been in a job and thought I would be there for life, yet it was not to be.

 

Also I had an interview cancelled on Tuesday when I turned up for it.

 

I have made a conscious decision that from next week I am going to start to send out letters along with my CV to various firms asking for a job.

 

It is hard being unemployed and at first I was embarrassed to sign on at the job centre, but my father said this to me "Son there is no need to be embarrassed you have paid your taxes for the last 9 years plus", so don't be embarrassed.

 

I know that some people will look at me and say, he is unemployed, living off the state, well I have no doubt that something will come up and come my way, I will keep on trying and won't give up.

 

If there is any employers out there all I as is give me a go employ me and see what I can do.    

One Voice, My Voice, One View, My View.

Yes you read right one voice, my voice, one view, my view, I am feed up of being quiet about what I went to with my former firm IKEA, it seemed to me that there was a culture of bullying within the firm and I am not going to stay quiet about it.

 

Today a very good friend text me, saying I had upset them with some of the things I had said and it was all over one e-mail, it was not my aim to offend or upset them, I was just trying to get my point over about how I felt about the e-mail sent, bare in mind I was already suffering with work related stress and felt the e-mail was uncalled for, all the person had to do was ask why the task had not been done instead of sending the following e-mail:-

 

Mark

I am writing to inform you that you have not completed the damages as requested on 21/05/2013.

As a result of this, i must insist that you must take full responsibility of this and ensure that the damages are completed by the end of next week.

]
I will not place you in the rota any longer, you must allocate time yourself!

Also, please can you ensure that you follow the guidelines and dates as written in the emails sent by me previously.

Cheers

Ange

 

 I was told that this e-mail was a bit of tongue and cheek banter, well you decide.

The reason this above task was not done was because we were short on staff, yet I was not asked why it was not done just sent this, as you can and maybe understand why this upset me, only 6 weeks after this e-mail I was dismissed from my job.

 

I know there will be many people who will read this and say who's the bully now, well it's not me I am just exposing what I went through and the bullying culture that I personally had to put up with where I worked.

 

One Voice, My Voice, One View, My View.