Hertford Christmas dinners

[englishangel]

The word "Hollyburning" just stirred some dim memories - although I don't remember any specifics. English Angel - did we do anything in 2's??

I remember the term, but I don't think we did the action.

[Katharine]

We did it in 6s in my time. I don't remember the choir members leaving and going elsewhere. As far as I remember it, we all gathered by one of the fireplaces - can't remember whether it was always 5s side or whether it varied, definitely a real fire! I think we chose carols in number order one year starting at 1 then the next at 36 (or 37 after Mary Verge had started) Can't be sure whether there was food or drink but it was definitely a GOOD THING and enjoyable (so The Hag was probably not there!). Frances come and help!

[Fjgrogan]

Sorry Katharine, my memory tallies with yours, but no more details. Real fire, carol singing, and I also picture it on 5's side of the dayroom, so maybe the chimney was blocked on the other side? I do remember the choir singing round the choir, but equally vaguely - it was probably at a different time from holly burning in house. I never aspired to the choir, or being a reader, or anything useful really!

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Several trays of red jelly cut up into big cubes were served up at the Housemistress's table, which Christmas Pud dislikers could have with the custard on the House tables.

Aaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

OK, in my defence, it is bl%%dy hot and not many people here have slept for several nights

BUT

the posts about having the option of eating christmas pud BECAUSE DR DIDN'T LIKE IT is making me almost as nauseous as Friday lunches used to. SO unfair: such bullying: so, oh I don't know, but it just sums up my memory of the place and some of the staff

I think that what has precipitated this mood, apart from lack of sleep, is that I have been summoned to our Head of Research's office on Wednesday to discuss my Supervisor's performance. Should I be honest: 'Well Sam, I've worked with some total ba$tards in the past: A is not a bully, and I have seen no evidence that he is a liar or presents fraudulent data'.

Or should I be totally honest and follow the above with 'His time keeping sucks, and I am tired of people asking me whether he works part-time, or why he isn't in his office at 9.45 am. He is seemingly unable to prioritise, or to understand what constitutes essential equipment for the lab (like a freezer that maintains temperature). He is cr@p at paperwork, and I am tired of people coming to me whingeing about his inefficiency. I am tired of him whingeing when I ask him to countersign my workbook, even when I explain that it is full, and that before I can be issued with a new one, the current one needs to be complete. Oh, and if he whinges once more about how crappy a job it is to clean out a bioreactor at the end of a run (he did it once because I was on leave when the culture was harvested, and he didn't have the ba!!s to leave it in the sink until I returned to work), then I may be compelled to ran the impeller shaft right up his ............................. well, you get the picture'.

Then there is the issue of Sam having a glass walled office. What story do I tell when A and others ask what I had been hauled in for?

Exhausted, sweaty and smelly of Adelaide

[englishangel]

Oh Caroline, we have a boss like that, unfortunately he owns the company. Currently in Switzerland skiing with his fancy woman and trying to get out of paying child maintenace he owes his ex. He was supposed to go this weekend, but this somehow crept back to 3pm on Wednesday.

He is then back for two weeks and off again for another week. He hasn't put half-term up on the holiday rota yet, but he will.

My colleague put 17th April up as a holiday with a note "Faye's 21st" (her elder daughter) he has stuck one of HIS holiday stickers over it.

In his defence........

Nah, no defence.

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Oh Caroline, we have a boss like that, unfortunately he owns the company. My colleague put 17th April up as a holiday with a note "Faye's 21st" (her elder daughter) he has stuck one of HIS holiday stickers over it.

In his defence........

Nah, no defence.

Hi Mary

I am very lucky that it is only my Supervisor who is like this, and that the person he reports to is inspirational and hard working. However, A (Supervisor) has told both Sam and I that he does not appreciate Sam dealing directly with me, and that everything should be channelled through him.

I actually worked in the same lab as my Supervisor, although on completely different projects, some years ago: a research/academic position at the children's hospital. We had two truly awful Technicians working there, who I somehow ended up supervising. I would drive home each evening in tears because I just didn't know how deal with them effectively. They were lazy bullies, and yet their contracts would be renewed each year. A's contract, however, was not renewed one year and I heard that he had been offered a position with a biotech company that I had also worked for. My comment when I heard this was that he was too nice a person to work to cope with that pack of ba$tards, and that I didn't think that he would last long. They sacked him, although the official story was that he took early retirement. Then, because of the GFC, he found that he didn't have enough money to live comfortably on, and he re-entered the workforce about six months before I joined the company.

I am deliberating on whether he is truly a good/nice person. He would never be as brazen as your boss, but maybe that's because he's a coward.

On the plus side: I have a feeling that he will re-retire in the very near future. I'm not sure that anyone will notice his absence .

Good luck with dealing with your Boss. I feel that his type of behaviour encourages dishonesty, in that if I suspected that I would be unable to take leave on a particularly special date, I wouldn't apply, would keep very quiet about the impending occasion, and then throw a sicky on the day. Of course, this dumps on fellow colleagues, rather than the offending Boss

xxxx

[J.R.]

Life these days is one LONG holiday for us !