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brianmate

Just Don't Get Ill This Week

Hi Everyone



When I employed staff and workers I would offer them a wage that I thought we could afford but that was somewhere near the going rate for the job. It would either be accepted or we would negotiate If I thought that it was affordable or they had skills that I needed. I realise that as I approach middle age I know nothing or at least that is what I am told. I have had my day and things have moved on. This week the junior doctors are on strike with a demand for a 35% rise to cover the lost earnings over the last ten years in relation to the rising cost of living. The government apparently will not negotiate with the doctors until they make a more realistic demand. Meanwhile, thousands of hospital appointments and operations have been canceled as the already increasing waiting lists grow ever longer. What utter rubbish. The government knows that it cannot possibly give the doctors a 35% rise and the doctors know that they are not going to get a 35% rise so instead of playing politics and wasting huge amounts of money, why not sit down around a table and talk, especially as that is what they will have to do in the end. I might now be irrelevant but perhaps I might just have more common sense than some of them.

The other frighting thing is that countries like Australia are offering more attractive employment with more stability, salaries, working conditions and of course a better climate. With the current situation and problems going forward, who can blame anyone tempted to go? It seems to me that the government is digging a hole for itself and probably for many of us as well.


It was at this point in the year when the Senior and Junior Partners went on their six week unplanned car trip around Europe. It was in the days well before the internet and mobile phones and probably their only aid was the Automobile Association European guide book, oh and a gas ring, kettle and a box of tea as don't forget, the Senior Partner was tight with money. We would get one postcard about four weeks into their trip which had probably been posted at least a week before. While they were away it was my job to pay any bills that arrived. Now the telephone invoice consisted of a landline charge with a separate total for the cost of the calls made during the three month period. The cost of the calls for three months was 36p in old money, now less than 30p in new decimal money. The good news for us was that we were probably responsible for less than 5p of that total as she hardly ever phoned us and never managed to find a telephone bow while they were swanning around Europe.



Back in time, when you decided to have a new Kitchen, you would be asked to pay a 10% deposit with the balance paid on satisfactory completion of the work. Due to a very small minority of people using this as an opportunity to delay payment, kitchen installers now demand at least 90% of the money before they will even deliver the units to site. As a building consultant, I was forced to demand payment in full before I would release my report, again due to a very small minority of people who knew that I would not chase payment through the courts for a relatively small amount. This week I read that 15% of people who book a meal for maybe two or even six or eight people do not turn up. Given the great problems that hospitality is having with huge increases in energy and food costs, it is a sad reflection of the attitude of some people especially given that they would be the first to complain if they were asked to pay upfront for their meals which apparently some restaurants are planning to do. Yet another example of the few punishing the majority.


Just a Thought :


A doctor told my friend that he was very ill. He asked if he could have a second opinion.

The doctor said yes and told him he was also very ugly.


My friend stayed at an Elvis hotel last year. The restaurant is for people who Love Meet Tender.


Even though the doctors are now back at work, it is still not a good idea to get ill.


Brian

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