Thursday 21 October 2021

Firstly Great News!

we did not want to say anything until we were sure,


Diana has a new job, you may remember that Diana as a manager from a few months ago, had to start very early, the restaurant decided to open an hour earlier, opening at 04.00AM, that meant catching the 03.04 AM night bus, the bus stop a twenty minute walk from our flat, it was just too much for both of us, anyway Diana applied to start in a retail store, and passed the interview and is now working more sociable hours with a lot less responsibility, Diana no longer has the keys, so no opening or closing, no cashing up and reconciling the tills, no waiting for sometimes an hour and a half for the Indian IT office to answer the telephone so Diana could fix the IT problem, cash up and lock before going home, no 15 or more so staff to look after on her shift, a slight pay increase, nearer to home, and best of all only one bus ride away, not two, we are both so happy, Diana was at work, I had a few things I ordered to pick up, but it was not all plain sailing, one of the residents cars had broken down, and was up on a axle stand on the back of the garage truck, so the truck could not move, it was a tight squeeze,

first stop to Marks and Spencer's, I had ordered two boxes of Christmas crackers, then here, to Waitrose, the collect section of the car park, I was so impressed, especially as the store said that as a regular customer and the fact that I had not used the pick up service before they would refund one of the 5 panettones I had paid for, what a result, I had ordered 5 as any less would have been below the amount that could be picked up, well done Waitrose after the last time I was there!

arriving home it was upstairs with all of the goodies,

 crackers for Christmas and Boxing days,

did I mention panettones?

breakfast a couple of croissants and a coffee, I spent some more time posting yesterdays blog,

then time for a read and sherry,

whilst shopping I noticed this huge hand made sausage roll, it was delicious,

I should have mentioned that I had placed all of the goodies on the sofa for Diana to see when we returned home,

back to our meal, an Italian spaghetti dish and a selection of dim sum for Diana, I had bought a pastrami on brown sandwich, meal over it was time for a Lewis, followed by a Midsomer Murder before we were off to bed.


4 comments:

Jil Wrinkle said...

That restaurant always seemed unfair, never giving anybody a set schedule with fixed hours to work... and then they pull a stunt like that, opening up at 4 a.m. and expecting hourly people to just go along with it for low pay. I'd be satisfied to hear if Diana was far from the only one of that restaurant's staff who had the common sense to leave under those circumstances.

jpo5626 said...

Dear Stan & Diana-great news on Diana getting a better suited job that will fit you both far better than the past one. Always fun to try new opportunities so should be fun going to work and learn something new and useful. We are proud of you Diana for taking the risk to improve and challenge yourself with a new line of work. Good going!!! We hope you enjoy your new job.
We are having severe supply chain shortages on most holiday items given lack of labor in warehouses and lack of truck drivers to distribute goods in US. Many retail shops have empty shelves and advise all to shop early for Christmas gifts and holiday supplies. Nice to see you have a ready supply of goods and stocking up for the holidays now! Looks like things are shaping up well for your folks future holiday parties. It won’t be very long before we all say “”Happy New Year” once more. Where did the year go????
Regards,
John and Alley

PattayaStan said...

Dear Jil, as it happens another Manager left last week, I am guessing a few of the staff are also not very happy, one more 'bonus', of the move is that now Diana gets paid for a 20 minute break every shift, so if Diana is at work for 8 hours at the old place she would have been paid 7 hours and 40 minuets, at the new place she receives the full 8 hours, it may not seem much but lets say 5 days a week 5 X 20 minutes = 1 hour 40 minuets X 48 working weeks a year = 72 hours a year, which she will now be paid for, (check my math, I think it is OK!), but the problem was when Diana first started looking for jobs it was the old place or nothing, with no experience no one was hiring, which I guess is how they keep attracting new staff, best regards, Stan and Diana.

PattayaStan said...

Dear John and Alley, it was a big move, but it has gone well especially if you think of only one bus to work and a lot less stress, and better hours, not to mention the 'bonus' I mentioned in the reply to Jil, as for supply problems the fuel shortages of the last few weeks ae now over, but the over pricing is not! as I found out there are goods to be had that are in short supply, all we have had to do is buy a few months worth to meet the minimum order and all is well - so far! We both love Christmas, and this year we have decided to start early, very early, mid November the tree is going up! Merry Christmas! best regards, Stan and Diana.