The Work Thread 2 - Get back to work!

[Moggy]

My internet crashed the other day and so I was obviously unable to connect to the work email, messengers or phone system.

I was due to have a Zoom meeting with a consultant and so text a colleague asking if they could let him know.

He just rang me to rant about "common courtesy" and "I would have let you know if I couldn't make it". I explained I was completely offline and that a message was sent. "Not good enough, why didn't you get my phone number and call me?".

strawberry floating hell. He seems to think he's my boss, he isn't, whereas he's just a jumped up little gooseberry fool.

I wanted to reply with these points

1. Get strawberry floated
2. I am not using my personal mobile for work calls
3. Get strawberry floated
4. strawberry float off and then strawberry float off some more

I only went with point 2 in the end.

[poshrule_uk]

So I have asked work to condense my hours into 4 day's from 5 and it looks like my first two choices of Monday or a Friday off are a no which has made me sad as it would have given me a lot more freedom for weekends away and stuff.

So my choices will boil down to Tuesday - Thursday for a day off.

Any suggestions for what would be best.

Wednesday as middle of the week? What would be the pros and cons for each day?

[Dual]

Tuesday so when you have a bank holiday Monday you get 4 days off.

[Drumstick]

Are you able to WFH in general outside of lockdown? Because you could always take Thursdays off and WFH on Friday.

[poshrule_uk]

Tuesday so when you have a bank holiday Monday you get 4 days off.

That's a good shout and would make BH Weekends longer which would be a bonus

I feel like Thursday is to late in the week, it's almost Friday, but pointless

[poshrule_uk]

Are you able to WFH in general outside of lockdown? Because you could always take Thursdays off and WFH on Friday.

We don't do WFH at the moment so that wouldn't fly, we might in 18 months though which is a positive but we are monitored so I couldn't get away with much in that regards

[Moggy]

Tuesday so when you have a bank holiday Monday you get 4 days off.

This.

[coldspice]

Got my first ever Skype (or whatever video service) job interview a week on Monday

[Errkal]

Got my first ever Skype (or whatever video service) job interview a week on Monday

I had one for my current job, was brilliant, so much nicer than a proper interview.

I was able to screenshare love examples of what I've made and whatnot and was all so much more relaxed.

[Cuttooth]

I was able to screenshare love examples

That’d get me a disciplinary at my work.

[That]

My internet crashed the other day and so I was obviously unable to connect to the work email, messengers or phone system.

I was due to have a Zoom meeting with a consultant and so text a colleague asking if they could let him know.

He just rang me to rant about "common courtesy" and "I would have let you know if I couldn't make it". I explained I was completely offline and that a message was sent. "Not good enough, why didn't you get my phone number and call me?".

This is insane to me. If someone forgets a virtual call you just give them an email to say "we missed a chat today, shall we reschedule?". It's no big deal, gooseberry fool happens. How do these people function if they blow up over minor inconveniences like that?

[Green Gecko]

My internet crashed the other day and so I was obviously unable to connect to the work email, messengers or phone system.

I was due to have a Zoom meeting with a consultant and so text a colleague asking if they could let him know.

He just rang me to rant about "common courtesy" and "I would have let you know if I couldn't make it". I explained I was completely offline and that a message was sent. "Not good enough, why didn't you get my phone number and call me?".

strawberry floating hell. He seems to think he's my boss, he isn't, whereas he's just a jumped up little gooseberry fool.

I wanted to reply with these points

1. Get strawberry floated
2. I am not using my personal mobile for work calls
3. Get strawberry floated
4. strawberry float off and then strawberry float off some more

I only went with point 2 in the end.

See my earlier posts about sending out free samples after 3 emails and 3 phone calls in the space of a week about where they were, including the question of whether I used the right strawberry floating address when it's only one person I'm dealing with for this, of course I did, it took time to make them, and getting replies like this which are passive aggressive:

I have just received the samples, thanks again for sending them. Would it be possible to give you a call please? There’s just a couple of things I’d like to go over with you.

I definitely 100% prefer the sublimation, it looks like my artwork has been stretched on the other one and there’s some of the artwork missing? I sent it at 200mm wide and it’s 215mm wide on the material, I know you stretched it and glued it to the card but I have removed it and it’s still 210mm wide, do you know how that happened?

Why do you need to call me? Just write it down in the strawberry floating email you just wrote. Stop wasting my time.

There was one line accidentally missing in this artwork. One line about 0.2mm wide and 30mm long. Tore apart my sample which took 2 hours to put together for free and complaining about a discrepancy of 5% in width on stretchy strawberry floating fabric. Five percent.

I hate giving loads of time to people and then in return getting along the lines of:

I need more time from you to discuss this non-existent problem with you

This is obviously a mistake, but how did that happen? I must have an explanation even though I have spent no money on this process and given you nothing and literally nothing is at stake as my business doesn't exist yet, besides the fact this is totally normal and common sense.

Please let me know when I can call you.

No, I let you know when and if I will call you. You are not paying me. I am not your employee.

strawberry float sake.

[Moggy]

My internet crashed the other day and so I was obviously unable to connect to the work email, messengers or phone system.

I was due to have a Zoom meeting with a consultant and so text a colleague asking if they could let him know.

He just rang me to rant about "common courtesy" and "I would have let you know if I couldn't make it". I explained I was completely offline and that a message was sent. "Not good enough, why didn't you get my phone number and call me?".

This is insane to me. If someone forgets a virtual call you just give them an email to say "we missed a chat today, shall we reschedule?". It's no big deal, gooseberry fool happens. How do these people function if they blow up over minor inconveniences like that?

He's a banana split.

I think he sensed how close I was to exploding as when I spoke to him later in the day he was overly friendly.

[Moggy]

[
Why do you need to call me? Just write it down in the strawberry floating email you just wrote. Stop wasting my time.

The consultant I was talking about LOVES phone calls. Everything has to be a Zoom call or phone call. I detest the phone, which is probably why we clash so often.

The trouble is he'll ask me to do about 25 different things, then talk about a load of shite and then get pissy if I kiss anything he wanted done. Send me a damn email and then I can get everything you wanted done.

[Green Gecko]

I feel like I might be over-reacting, but you have to bear in mind I frequently deal with projects that span months at a time, booked back to back, all week, taking 3-4 weeks for anything physical to transpire, getting paid upfront because product development takes time. Faster stuff I get paid rush fees or customers know they can't flub around so much or it simply isn't going to get finished. Some stuff £2-3k in the making rather than £0 on flapping around doing free work. It's insane how often and how much this sort of thing is expected from small firms/independents so I'm taking a leaf out of the book of some trade-only suppliers who's FAQ basically handles it like:

"Can I get a free sample or a proof of the first shirt when I've ordered 50"?

No, we will charge an admin fee to send a photo as this slows us down.

"Can you fix my shitty artwork forever before I actually buy something?"

No, send us the finished artwork in the right format. We do not offer artworking services.

"Can I call you or place an order via long ass email conversation for 3 weeks, and then pay you? If I don't like it, can I get a full refund the day its despatched?"

No, upload your artwork to our web platform, pay for the order and it will be processed within 24hours.

Must save literally months of manhours each year.

Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely helpful guy on the email/phone etc. and I give most customers on average 4-10hrs of time just in communications when my average transaction is somewhere between £20 and £200, which is literally insane from a business perspective, and all my reviews talk about that. But the sheer number of instances where people (a) don't read e-mails, (b) ask the same questions already answered in detail often months after the same question has been answered multiple times in the past (c) continue to expect the same level of service despite buying nothing of note is worst thing about a public-facing business, it isn't a surprise to me that some of my enquiries elsewhere in the industry simply go ignored or get turned down with no reason why.

For example, after a month waiting for feedback on a production sample for wooden item that took me 2 solid weeks to produce for £120.

What treatment is on the wood? This is specified both on the A3+ oversized spec sheet in bold included both via e-mail as an attached PDF before I even made the thing, in an embedded image in emails, and physically printed and included in the package.

What is the wood here? As above, plus stipulated in multiple emails weeks before the item was completed. "GIANT HEADING: Base Material: Solid wood, oak or beech depending on stock available."

Can we move the QR code? QR code was specified in position as per above documents weeks before production and communicated in subsequent visuals and discussions. Artwork and CAD/CAM process has already been planned, programmed and executed for this but sure let's change it anyway at no charge.

I'm used to that sort of thing. But add, "please call me to discuss this" and I nope the strawberry float out.

Probably just stressing as I made a real effort to answer the phone and deal with hour long phone calls for a few weeks generating literally £40 or so in revenue which is terrible, plus this free sample nonsense. It's complete waste of time or generates wasted time in most cases. Least of all there's no record of anything. I take detailed notes on all my calls, but customers almost never do, leading them to disagree with your account of things, as if you're set up to do this and deliberately do stuff differently which is absurd.

Anyway, back to work, I'm avoiding doing a run of stickers after my printer ran out of ink simply starting up

[Qikz]

I was able to screenshare love examples

That’d get me a disciplinary at my work.

[Curls]

I've always used Skype for Buisiness for chit chat. My new boss likes to use it for discussing actual work stuff, so I'm now starting to loathe it xD

[Drumstick]

Got my bonus confirmation late last night.

[Green Gecko]

Got my bonus confirmation late last night.

Congratulations mate.

Skype for Business is OK, only it's supremely annoying it can't actually call anyone with "normal" Skype despite suggesting it can be allowing you to look them up, which is literally pointless as nothing happens if you click "call" . My partner is using MS Teams a lot lately which to be fair looks pretty good even if it's obviously based on Slack and Discord.

[<]:^D]

im using teams for our online teaching and it is pretty rubbish to be honest.
the web app also seems to be as quick if not quicker than the standalone desktop program which makes no sense
it is unintuitive in favour of looking good. not a fan!