TomR

I'll keep an eye out when i'm around MK, but it doesn't sound like it's gonne be getting driven about.

We don't have a union at work. It's a realatively small company (50 or so people) and this is just what the directors have given us, supposedly in line with what they've been advised. The reason we're signing them is to accept a change of terms and conidition of employment (to reduce our working week to 4 days temporarily, although for an unknown length of time), which is kind of rolled into the ballot, as opposed to signing a new contract if the outcome of a secret ballot with a simple 'yes/no' is that we all agree to the change (which is how i think it should be done). Anyway - the general situation so you can admire the incompetence of our managers (sorry, it's going to be a bit of an essay): We did this ballot a couple of weeks ago when all we knew was that we were all in the pool considered for redundancy (which is 8 people in our department, all of us) and the decision wasn't a unanimous acceptance of the 4 days a week proposal. All except one of us (some brown nosing paddy who pretty much knew he was safe) agreed to the 4 days, so they proceeded with redundancy procedure. The bottom 2 people were notified and had another meeting to discuss with the directors the points they were given and it was still decided that they were the two to go. That was some time middle of last week, anyway on Friday at 4:55, just before we left we were all handed another letter telling us they 'have an obligation and a preference to seek ways to avoid redundancies and are holding a re-vote'. Now bear in mind that 6 of the 8 now know that they aren't going to be the ones getting the boot, can you see why it's suddenly going to be a different outcome? Course not! Nobody was happy about the time wasting re-vote (most were pretty livid!), not even the 2 people who are supposed to be leaving, we had to hand them in at 10am yesterday and got the result today and surprise surprise the outcome was exactly the same as last time. From the general feel of peoples comments everyone stuck with their original options and most voted for the 4 day week, probably more out of decency than actually wanting to take a 20% cut over getting rid of 2 people though, and most were secretly hoping that the outcome would be the same as last time. Now the bit that is annoying is that the directors had held a ballot and it was decided 2 people would lose their jobs, the redundancy selection procedure was done and 2 people were selected - job done you would have thought but amongst generally f**king around and wasting time, most people feel it was a big brother style nomination and eviction, and effectively shifting the blame for getting rid of the people from the directors on to the department as they're too chicken to just get down to business and axe people. Rumours have also been flying about that if work doesn't pick up they'll just have to close the office down - now if that is true and they're only getting rid of 25% of people, and still trying to avoid that, then they're definitel heading for the scrapheap! It's a shame they're so useless as they're nice people and it's good fun working there, but they're going to blow a lot away by trying to be nice, IMO business is business and we're in a recession - whatever saves you the most money, just get on with it.

The new NFG album.

Right, as with a lot of places where I work are getting shot of a few people, or 'reducing costs'. I won't bore you with the details of the farcical procedure but I need some info on secret ballots, basically we're getting asked to sign and date them, which isn't very secretive (except from the other employees). The only info i've found related to trade unions and strikes, so has anyone got any info on the definition/rules of 'secret ballots', obviously relating to redundancy, and not a general legal definition. Cheers, Tom

FellSilent - Drowned In My Enemy.

Fenix TX - Phoebe Cates

Yeah don't get me wrong it's good to show that there's an interest in it, even more so if you've got a decent local train station etc so people can get there, but at the end of the day it's the rate payers' money so they're gonna want to see support from them, even if you do it as a seperate community petition or something.

The local council will probably ignore a petition full of signatures from people all over the UK, the only people they care about are the council tax payers, ie local residents s get one signed by the locals.

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If prison wasn't for rehabilitation but punishment, and people served their full sentence i'd be happy. Surely 'good behavious' should be decided after they've served their sentence, and if they're good, they don't go back.

Knock him down a few quid then get your arse on CRC for some new bits, jobs a good'un. Go for it I say. You can get some damn good shimano kit these days for not a lot of cash (like the SLX cranks, which look pukka), new bar and stem setup etc, second hand hope wheelset.

The Gaslight Anthem.

I've got some sweet Odessa Defences, which if you have a Rip Curl store near you are probably in the sale. http://www.odessafootwear.com/mens_footwea...ar-defence.htm#

Thats what i ride, top frame. Stick some Pikes on it and job's a goodun.

That's actually a pretty good idea, might make use of that as theres a few near where i work and if i go out after work i'll be driving home anyway. Good to see a company taking a financial kick in the balls to promote it, and lets face it, most people buy coke anyway so there's no need for them to give it away.

I know, and i'm not complaining as such as i listen to most of those bands too, but i've made threads asking for specific reccomendations and have to trawl through millions of myspace pages to realise none of them are what i asked for! Although if he's happy to listen to them all and be happy to call them emo (which if he's under 16 he probably will) then it's probably not a problem.

Not that many of them are remotely like what he asked for..I mean Arch Enemy, AILD and Lamb of god - when he mentions Paramore and some whiney kerrang rock band - be serious. Anyway, nearer to the point neither band you mentioned are emo so the answer to your question is no.

The BBC didn't criticse him, the MP did....

Manualled off a 1ft high ledge and my back wheel popped out from under me spitting me straight on my back and head. My mate sidehopping off a 3-4ft high ledge and getting his front wheel stuck on it, back end went down still throwing him off the back, split his helmet right in half, i think it was only helt together by the velcro on the visor. I'd never ride without a lid, since riding dirt and seeing all them trees whizzing past me kinda made me stop and think about it a bit more.

Ok this only happens on my home PC so its obvisouly my settings, but when i click on the snow or motocross tabs on the chainreactioncycles.com site it returns me straight back to the bike homepage. chainreactioncycles.com/SetProperty.aspx?SuperCategoryID=350&NavigationID=2&ReturnUrl=Default.aspx is what i get when i hover over the links, the ReturnUrl=default probably being the key bit there, but i don't understand why. Doesnt happen on my works or my mates computers. My privacy settings are set to low and changing the security settings makes sod all difference so if anyone can shed any light i'd much appreciate it. Im using IE 7, typing chainreactionsnow in the url doesnt work either, and the problen doesnt occur with firefox either. Cheers, Tom

Aerial Atom Audi RS6 Noble M12 GTO Rally spec mk2 escort Pimped up bus/van, LCD tv's, mini bar, sofas, beds etc.

Who?

Sylosis - Conclision of an Age Polar Bear Club - Sometimes things just Dissapear Burn Down Rome - Faith in Lairs, Faith in Theives

I just found two seriously killer bands! http://www.myspace.com/iamabominationmusic If you ever imagined four year strong and fall out boy getting raped by the human abstract, this is it. Youtube Video -> ">" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350">

City and Colour Saosin