Venting

Well, this is actually a couple of weeks after the event (20/04/2010) but I have found I have run out of time to be able to upload all the time. Usually my nights are spent not doing much and ensuring that I get as much rest as possible for the next day.

Anyway, I already unleashed about this at the time to a few people, but I thought I would share them here since they are such an important part of this job, and any other job in general. More like, they do not drive a job but they are such a big part that they need mentioning.

1. Taking sick leave.
At what point has a doctor's certificate come to be a worthless piece of paper? Apparently sick leave is for those who ar slackers and shirk the minute work gets too tough.
Case in point. I had a certificate for the couple of days I was sick but someone complained because I was seen to be walking around (hardly) and apparently didn't look sick. So I got told by the Project Manager that people don't question it but ensure that if you don't want people talking, make sure I really do look sick when I take leave.

2. Pens.
Pens (and those little pocket notebooks) are an engineer's best friend. It's what we use to keep a track of everything when we're on site so that those crappy little notes are faithfully copied into an engineer's larger notebook/site diary/whatever when they get back to the office.
In a remote location, stuff like stationary seems to fall on the side of "not important" when ordering as opposed to other items like "pipe fittings" or "door knobs" or most importantly, "steel reinforcing". So funnily enough, when a pen goes missing, you tend to really crack it. This can be the same for any office, I know, and it isn't always pens, but it seems to be the most common thing.
Case in point 2. One of the local labourers came in and gave me his timesheets. He asked if he could borrow a pen to fill out his timesheet for that day (although it shouldn't have been filled out until the end of the day - it was around 3pm by this stage). He filled it out and said he'd wait outside for his ride.
But I realised he took my pen with him. When he finally came back, after I'd already spent ages hunting down another to no real avail, I asked if he'd taken it and he said no. Except that it was sticking out of his shirt pocket as he said it. So I questioned him on it and he relented without saying anything. I asked for it back again since they are a rare commodity and instead of just handing it back, he took the lid off and gave me the pen.
What f**king use is a pen without a lid to an engineer??? Of course you can use them in the office. But the lid of a pen helps hold the pen in place in your shirt so that it doesn't leak ink and is easily acessible. What really shat me off was the amount of times I had given him a lift or helped him out in some way. I was so ropeable about that I basically decided he would never get a lift or anything remotely like help off me again.
What bothered me so much was that he is supposed to have a tertiary education and he goes on about it a lot too. So he should have been far better than that, but of course, no. Then again, this bloke has often taken advantage of us and no one has said a thing.

It's just frustrating, both items.