Ok, so my boss just sent me an e-mail, basically threatening to fire me if I don't pick up some slack soon, saying that I don't do much and that he's gonna "go to the governor with it" (big boss, in other words) with it if I don't.

He's right and all, but a little warning would have been nice. Ah well. I'm gonna check if he can fire me for being lazy - legally, that is.

EDIT: I should probably clarify: he can always fire me, but since I'm on a fixed contract he'd either have to have an 'urgent reason' or pay out the remainder of my term. I'm gonna check if being not very enthusiastic is an 'urgent reason'.

Lol I guess it depends how 'not very much' you do. If you're not doing your job I'm pretty sure they'd consider that urgent

That's a good question. I'm sure there are grounds for firing someone should their performance drop to a level where they are no longer reasonably productive. I shouldn't think that general "lazyness" comes within range of that, so you could be fine until your contract runs out. In the UK we have a warning system, whereby you get 1 or 2 official written warnings before they fire you. Something like that.

So you hate your job too?

who doesn't? Technically in the US you're supposed to get verbal and written warnings.. I don't think there's a law about it, but most places will typically verbally warn you, then warn you again with a document you have to sign, then have another 'final' written warning before firing you. However, that's all optional... it covers the employer against lawsuits and whatnot, which is I think why they do it.

I'm not lazy. Sometimes I wish I could be, but I have a compulsion to do my job and do it well, regardless of what it is or how much I hate it. The unfortunate truth though, is that people that work hard are forced to work harder, while people that are lazy get to do less. It's ridiculous.

I'd like to be given 1 day to do anything I want in my company... I'd fire a bunch of lazy people.

Pretty much from the day I started But, a year later and I haven't found a new/better one yet. Frakking financial crisis - guys who have years of work experience (like, say, Satis) aren't too bad off because they can bring their years experience to the table (which, as we all known, is largely abstract but a huge factor for companies to even consider your application) in order to find a new job, but I'm seriously shafted because after my year in Prague the recession pretty much took a flier.

I get topped in every job selection by people with "experience". It can get pretty frustrating, knowing that you're a brilliant mind and not getting even a mildly fitting job. 80% of the reason I don't do shit here is because I'm doing work that is beneath me. So yeah.

i've had days that I spent doing things like filling envelopes and xeroxing a 200-page booklet. My colleagues are all dumb, uneducated racist scum who feel threatened by me because I'm a college post-grad and also hate me because, even tho I'm supposed to be "smarter" I don't do as much as they do.

Feel the love!

a good thing about my field is that I can prove competence... like I'm basically interested in programming, so I can build programs or websites outside of work and just use those as prove of my abilities. Not sure what you're looking at, but you may want to consider something similar if possible.

Since doing game translations is one of your options, you may want to find some group building a free game and offer translation services to them for free. If they take you up on it and actually release a game, you could use that to pad your resume.

Such are the times dude. I would really like to suggest some kind of solution, but I honestly don't think any exist. It's just a fucking struggle right now regardless. You could do alot of stuff to bolt into your CV, but at the end of the day it's going to be exhausting, hard to find and in the end still pretty worthless compared to the massive backlog of TOP graduates and experienced folk.

Exactly what sector are you in Ox?

oh, btw, I have trouble finding a job as well. So don't think I'm especially cool. Though I could almost certainly get a tech-support type job making 2/3 of what I make now with little difficulty.

Ok, maybe you're not a lock or anything. But I seriously mean it when I say that I wouldn't be able to even find a job slightly below my current position. Above has proven hard all year long, and for "worse" jobs I'm often overqualified. I wouldn't mind doing some manual labor but they won't hire me, because they feel it's a rotten investment (seeing as I won't stay a laborer for any longer than I can, obviously) and that I'd perhaps undermine the others with my supposed college-o-mindgames.

Derf, I'm in government. Civil service. I check police accounts, do translations of small documents and a plethora of monkey office work. I only like the translations, the rest is shite.

well, they say to write your resume for the job you're applying for. If you're applying for a construction job, just leave the college off. There's nothing wrong with that... and if they don't ask, you don't have to mention it. I wouldn't recommend lying about it, of course, but I think leaving things out isn't always a bad idea.

Imagining Ox pouring concrete is amusing.

Hehehe. Actually, I'll be doing just that tomorrow morning. Unpaid and as a favor to a friend, sure, but I'll pouring concrete all the same.

Good call on the leaving things out btw. I think it can technically speaking be used against you if you do it, but I imagine most employers don't care too much as long as you do your job ok and don't get too nosy.

Don't be afraid to bullshit. I've done plenty of bullshitting on my CV on things they cannot checkup on, e.g. work stints here and there and responsibilities at university and such. I have like Charisma 15 so I can just about pull it off.

Man, how well do you know me? I've got CHA 4 or something. But maybe I should be a little more 'creative', yeah.

I don't know if I told you guys - I've been bullshitting about a lot of stuff so I can't always remember - but I actually found a new job and am starting it on the 3rd of November!!

One of the reasons I wasn't too vocal about it was because, even after the written test, then the interview and the call that I had come out on top of all the candidates, they were arguing the necessity of the position at the top of the organization, apparently. That took about 2 weeks, but earlier this week I finally got the news that the job was going to go through as planned.

So...what am I going to do? For those of you who don't know/care, Belgium is presiding the EU for the next 6 months and as such the government has been hiring a lot of specialists and supporting staff. Basically every government branch will have its international cell responsible for preparing and coordinating events that have to do with their domain of expertise. In my case, the Home Office, that is police matters, immigration, disaster management and elections (and a slew of less important shit).

Since I was already working in a dead-end job with shitty pay (recession killed most non-teaching jobs for arts students) in some outpost of the Home Office, I could avoid breaking my contract and just 'jump ships' to the main seat of power in Brussels. I will be a Translator/Revisor English for the international cell of the department, but mostly I will be responsible for ensuring that a correct and uniform stream of information (in English) will be coming from the department.

The contract is only temporary for now, but may get extended (but seeing as they were already discussing about the necessity of the position I doubt it will). My nett pay will skyrocket with more than 30% compared to my current job, too. And I'm pretty darn sure this will be a lot more interesting. Also, given the context, this is a good step up for any eventual applications with the EU institutions and their crazy-ass wages. (about double or triple a normal Belgian wage).


SO...I'm also moving. I'm signing the contract later today and could start moving even today, but probably will spread over next week. The place is pretty neat, but seeing as I have no furniture to speak of I'm gonna have to invest pretty heavily into that. And it seems that any furniture that isn't meh is EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE. I'll probably end up IKEA-ing that shit anyway. Stupid thing is, Belgium has no specialized stores for like gamer or geek furniture. It's all in the US.

But I am gonna make some personal touches, oh yes. I saw Valve is offering the 4 L4D movie posters for 15 bucks. That'd be cool wall decoration. I've got a bunch of original cardboard game boxes for a few classics (Fallout 3, Half-Life 1, Baldur's Gate 2, Daggerfall, etc) lying around which are mostly taking up space, so I migth get creative with those. We'll see.

Oh and I'll get a headset for L4D and MP stuff when I'm on my own. I promise.

Dude, that is fucking awesome news!!! Congrats on everything. Sounds like a kickass job to be honest compared to your last one. Seems like a win-win situation.

I would IKEA it to be honest. Most of their stuff is functional and affordable. Sure it's not the prettiest stuff around but with a little tasteful flair you can get anything done.

Now im back from Italy i need to look for another job too. I'll take anything at this point so I should be working soon.