What's made you not grumpy but not smile either today?
- Thread starter dave
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What's made you not grumpy but not smile either today?
The thing you have to realise about carework..
While Care is expensive being a Carer is terribly paid and the conditions are pretty awful as well.
They tend to be on 0 hours contracts, they tend be on minimum wage or less.
Therefore they can't avoid to take a day to chase up a noise..either literally in that they may not be able to afford the repair anyway or work wise, they take a day then they lose that pay.
A friend of my wife does, no paid holidays, no maternity pay travelling all over no sick pay (beyond legal obligation/statutory)...I have no idea why a sane person would do it to be honest. Another friend of mine did it, turned a shift down..and was told they'd have all their hours taken off them for the month if they didn't turn up.
Which is how I ended up working with them..as the said "**** this I can get paid far more for doing far less".
While Care is expensive being a Carer is terribly paid and the conditions are pretty awful as well.
They tend to be on 0 hours contracts, they tend be on minimum wage or less.
Therefore they can't avoid to take a day to chase up a noise..either literally in that they may not be able to afford the repair anyway or work wise, they take a day then they lose that pay.
A friend of my wife does, no paid holidays, no maternity pay travelling all over no sick pay (beyond legal obligation/statutory)...I have no idea why a sane person would do it to be honest. Another friend of mine did it, turned a shift down..and was told they'd have all their hours taken off them for the month if they didn't turn up.
Which is how I ended up working with them..as the said "**** this I can get paid far more for doing far less".
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The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Vote conservative. Caring conservatives will ensure adequate funding and fair pay and condions for all. All achieved by tax cuts,
Indeed, the good news is that the absolute lack of a functional care system will ensure my wife's job is safe as houses given the emergency services and A and E will just be picking up the slack created...
Of course after years of generous funding they were getting bored due to immense overstaffing, there's only so much time you can spend polishing the vehicle...they needed to get out and about anyway.
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The Irony of this, is when our computer overlords take over all the admin work with AI, These are the kinds of jobs that AI won't be able to replace.
You are very correct through, carers have very poor wages, cannot afford good cars, that tend to have problems anyway. They will ignore the problems as in many cases getting them fixed costs more than the replacement price of the vehicle. The gamble becomes if I just keep running it till it breaks down, then it's not costing me anything. If it does break down and the repair costs more than the few hundred quid they could get an MOT's replacement for, then why bother paying someone to fix it.
The issue only comes if they have to replace the car more often than they would if they bought a slightly better car for a couple of grand.
With new or nearly new car payments being in the region of a couple of hundred pounds a month. many of them having a poor credit record which pushes credit prices up assuming they can even get credit, a "new(er)" car could pay for several cheap crap cars in the course of a year. So if you manage to keep a car going for a year, you're quids in.
You are assuming that the carers are thinking about this. My experience is that some are incapable of rational thought.
# Parking across the drive, instead of on the other side of the road, where there is space for several cars.
# This morning, a used teabag, next to the waste food bin, not in it. A carer who has been many times before.
# One carer taking a mug from the back of the cupboard, instead of one of the 4 at the front. (What is going on there inside their head?)
# Putting the butter in the bread bin, instead of the fridge.
# Gloves and disposable apron in a different bin on subsequent visits. Is it recyclable or not? Why no consistency? Even if wrong, be consistent.
# Using the bread knife to butter the bread. That's actually quite a skill.
# Emptying the wash water into the chemical toilet. Actually stunned when told it has no drain, despite being off the floor in a frame. Not thought about 'where does it go?'
There's lots more, but I'm losing the will to live.
# Parking across the drive, instead of on the other side of the road, where there is space for several cars.
# This morning, a used teabag, next to the waste food bin, not in it. A carer who has been many times before.
# One carer taking a mug from the back of the cupboard, instead of one of the 4 at the front. (What is going on there inside their head?)
# Putting the butter in the bread bin, instead of the fridge.
# Gloves and disposable apron in a different bin on subsequent visits. Is it recyclable or not? Why no consistency? Even if wrong, be consistent.
# Using the bread knife to butter the bread. That's actually quite a skill.
# Emptying the wash water into the chemical toilet. Actually stunned when told it has no drain, despite being off the floor in a frame. Not thought about 'where does it go?'
There's lots more, but I'm losing the will to live.
Well if the logical thought train goes..."I could get paid similar to stack shelves and not have to deal with half the crap I get"
What does that say about the quality of staff the job will attract?
Yes it's a vocation/calling as much as a job but as the saying goes pay peanuts...get monkeys.
What does that say about the quality of staff the job will attract?
Yes it's a vocation/calling as much as a job but as the saying goes pay peanuts...get monkeys.
We all know not all people are equal, but every now and then you do think "how can you be so thick!" - 'think' because you are not allowed to say that these days.
You may not be dealing with highly intelligent people with the same life experience as you, If they were then they likely would not be working as a carer.
Most of them will understand the ability to pay their bills and have enough money to eat at the end of the month.
parking across the drive is almost certainly because they are only paid from the minute they are rostered to arrive till the time they leave and any walking even across the road they will not be paid for and will probably do to minimize the time they spend on their feet.
Putting a tea bag next to a food waste bin may simply because they don't have a food waste bin and habitually that's what they do.
Taking a mug from the back of the cupboard rather than the front seems a strange thing to get annoyed about???
Putting butter in the bread bin may just be what they do at home and all they have known.
using a bread knife to butter while weird, cuts down on washing up and time taken to find different knife.
If you think about these things logically there may be very obvious reasons, many of which will be down to the complete lack of time they have to do the physical job they have to do.
If there time is being spent looking after the person and not searching for a particular knife or putting everything back in a specific place, then that time is being better spent. But if they are doing all this stupid stuff and also not doing the important part of caring, then maybe you have a cause to get annoyed about it.
I suspect you see it only from the point of view of what you would do or what you expect, but unless each carer is going to go on the PB household training course then they will always do things in a way that seems strange to you, but is likely makes sense to them.
PT500
Member
Replaced the driver door handle. 2 hours of mixed emotions, Optimism followed by misery followed by anger followed by more misery, then misery and a bit more misery. Then a little more optimism, misery and then elation as it all ended with a new handle.
I'm relatively new to 500 ownership,
Hopefully just a hinge kit when I have handle issues
I'm sure it's only a matter of time
PT500
Member
I was intending to replace only the hinge, but the handle is quite delicate and came out in 4 pieces............................I'm relatively new to 500 ownership,
Hopefully just a hinge kit when I have handle issues
I'm sure it's only a matter of time
Tax cuts to those that don’t need them you mean…‘trickle down’ economics has got to have been the biggest con ever, yet folk fall for it every time
That's why it's best to fix it before it breaks, more like preventative maintenance.
The passengers on ours snapped as the hinge had seized from lack of use. The driver's door wont have that problem, just more likely wear. I coated both hinges in silicon grease to try help protect it a bit in future, will see how that works out.
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Add throwing pots, pans plates knives and forks away instead of wash9ng them ditto bedding and you will be getting the picture. I was lucky after years of stress to get a 60 year old Polish lady who cared about the job and who was a decent hard working woman, but she really was a rarity.
Continuing the carer saga, here is a short video to make you both smile, and cry.
I have a cheap webcam (great as a webcam) set up to look out the window. Each week when the bins are out, I set it running to record. Frequently, the bin men will walk past my waste food bin, even after emptying my neighbours (hers not out today). Then when I request they revisit, they will deny it was out, making it my fault, so no return visit. The video brings them back, used it twice now. Picture quality is poor, as it is not designed for this distance, or through the double glazing, but it works. Vids are deleted once bins are empty.
You will watch, as the carer arrives, and tries to park on the drive, already full of Panda and Doblo. She hits the waste food bin, rescued by my neighbour. Then there's a delay, until she gets out, and realises her car is stuck out into the road. It takes a few moments of confusion, before realising that the line of parked vehicles across the road has space for three Fiestas. The surprise is something to behold.
This highlights a problem many suffer from. When looking for a specific thing, such as one house, the brain closes down on the picture, and fails to see 'the bigger picture'. Planning earlier, and scanning more makes this easier. Entering the road, one should be scanning for all issues, as well as potential parking places, then when the address is located, the parking decision will already have been made.
I have a cheap webcam (great as a webcam) set up to look out the window. Each week when the bins are out, I set it running to record. Frequently, the bin men will walk past my waste food bin, even after emptying my neighbours (hers not out today). Then when I request they revisit, they will deny it was out, making it my fault, so no return visit. The video brings them back, used it twice now. Picture quality is poor, as it is not designed for this distance, or through the double glazing, but it works. Vids are deleted once bins are empty.
You will watch, as the carer arrives, and tries to park on the drive, already full of Panda and Doblo. She hits the waste food bin, rescued by my neighbour. Then there's a delay, until she gets out, and realises her car is stuck out into the road. It takes a few moments of confusion, before realising that the line of parked vehicles across the road has space for three Fiestas. The surprise is something to behold.
This highlights a problem many suffer from. When looking for a specific thing, such as one house, the brain closes down on the picture, and fails to see 'the bigger picture'. Planning earlier, and scanning more makes this easier. Entering the road, one should be scanning for all issues, as well as potential parking places, then when the address is located, the parking decision will already have been made.
This Fiesta..
Now you're probably thinking "i've seen 8 of those today and I've not even left the house"..and yes they are about as interesting as the lamppost it's parked beside.
However this one turned up in the summer..and it's defining characteristic is that it's always there. Always, day and night 7 days a week.
Was just one of those oddities you ignore until the other day, walked past, back seat is folded down the engine is in the boot.
Wow Ford...4 years good job.
Now you're probably thinking "i've seen 8 of those today and I've not even left the house"..and yes they are about as interesting as the lamppost it's parked beside.
However this one turned up in the summer..and it's defining characteristic is that it's always there. Always, day and night 7 days a week.
Was just one of those oddities you ignore until the other day, walked past, back seat is folded down the engine is in the boot.
Wow Ford...4 years good job.
The last paragraph is not specific to this carer, or carers generally, hence the word 'many', and the absence of 'carer'. Afflicts delivery drivers a lot too, as occurred earlier today outside, just off camera. Van stopped across neighbour's drive, opposite long space. Driver collected parcels, and walked across the road, through the better parking space, to get to his customer. It always puzzles me that such drivers often leave the engine running. As well as an offence, it leaves the van vulnerable to theft, containing everyones dreams. Insurance will not cover theft if left running and open, and I doubt the driver can afford to replace all the lost parcels.
