Seemingly trivial things that annoy you

Pross

shirley_basso said:

Pross said:

Not really my job to be telling people in someone else's business to do that is it? I just vote with my feet.

Buying a takeaway coffee is not what I would describe as voting with your feet - it gives them the best of both worlds - high margin sale and not taking up a table.

I didn't buy any food though as I had intended.

Tashman

shirley_basso said:

Pross said:

Not really my job to be telling people in someone else's business to do that is it? I just vote with my feet.

Buying a takeaway coffee is not what I would describe as voting with your feet - it gives them the best of both worlds - high margin sale and not taking up a table.

don't believe the margins are better. Those cups and lids are expensive.

shirley_basso

I'd be surprised if they didn't make more profit on the coffee than on the baked goods. Cups are 5p.

From Sage (scroll about 1/4 of the way down).

https://www.sage.com/en-gb/blog/how-much-profit-coffee-shops-annually/

Hot drinks 95%, baked goods 60% - id have assumed 80% and 50%.

shirley_basso

Pross said:

shirley_basso said:

Pross said:

Not really my job to be telling people in someone else's business to do that is it? I just vote with my feet.

Buying a takeaway coffee is not what I would describe as voting with your feet - it gives them the best of both worlds - high margin sale and not taking up a table.

I didn't buy any food though as I had intended.

As I said - better for them for you to buy the higher margin goods, then not take up table space so more room for the next customer.

pangolin

shirley_basso said:

Pross said:

shirley_basso said:

Pross said:

Not really my job to be telling people in someone else's business to do that is it? I just vote with my feet.

Buying a takeaway coffee is not what I would describe as voting with your feet - it gives them the best of both worlds - high margin sale and not taking up a table.

I didn't buy any food though as I had intended.

As I said - better for them for you to buy the higher margin goods, then not take up table space so more room for the next customer.

Unless they never end up binning any baked goods they are better off with him buying both and leaving.

shirley_basso

Yes of course. My point was that Pross proudly "voting with his feet" by buying a takeaway coffee is a pretty excellent result for the retailer.

To most people, voting with their feet would be interpreted as leaving / not spending at that establishment.

focuszing723

A portable table and chair would be handy, you could just rock up in eatery bliss then.

focuszing723

Hang on, I will look for the table...

pinno

Jezyboy said:

rick_chasey said:

Stevo_666 said:

rick_chasey said:

I really wish the UK would just go down the continental route and just do full waiter service for all food and drink establishments.

God that waiting at the bar/till etc is a pain, especially for meetings.

I'd take the increased cost everywhere.

Waiter service in pubs?

Yeah. So you don't need to get up. Not ever been drinking abroad?

I've always found the service pretty slow, so ended up drinking less than I may have at a UK pub.

Nope. On the whole reasonably quick even in Paris at 1am on a Saturday night/Sunday morning.
Pubs are mainly shyte.

veronese68

Meeting the wife in Kingston, thought we'd grab coffee and a cake. Surveyed the pastries at length before making a decision, ordered them and coffees to be told the coffee machine was broken. Went elsewhere.

pinno

veronese68 said:

Meeting the wife in Kingston, thought we'd grab coffee and a cake. Surveyed the pastries at length before making a decision, ordered them and coffees to be told the coffee machine was broken. Went elsewhere.

There was a nice coffee shop on Richmond high st.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Getting up at 0550 to join the Tesco delivery slot queue, to get a delivery just before Xmas.

At 0610, it said ~30mins until we can book, at 0620 it suddenly shot up to ~54mins.

... What a ridiculous setup!

rick_chasey

Colleague’s EA didn’t listen to me booking our trains to Paris; booked it far too early.

First train of the day to get to st pancreas cancelled, second, which I am on, heavily delayed, and my back up line is also heavily delayed.

Currently sweating bullets I’ll make it to the Eurostar in time.

Just book the later Eurostar ffs, I need more than an hour buffer for delays etc.

Don’t need the stress.

Tashman

rick_chasey said:

Colleague’s EA didn’t listen to me booking our trains to Paris; booked it far too early.

First train of the day to get to st pancreas cancelled, second, which I am on, heavily delayed, and my back up line is also heavily delayed.

Currently sweating bullets I’ll make it to the Eurostar in time.

Just book the later Eurostar ffs, I need more than an hour buffer for delays etc.

Don’t need the stress.

EA? You can book travel through computer games now?

rick_chasey

It’s the polite way of referring to a PA.

Jezyboy

Surely not, a friend applying for an EA position told me it was terribly different from being a PA

TheBigBean

rick_chasey said:

It’s the polite way of referring to a PA.

I don't get the point of them. You can't ask them to do trivial menial stuff to free up your time, and for more complicated things it is often easier and more successful to do yourself.

I know this doesn't apply to some of the really good ones.

TheBigBean

People who talk in their local time zone which no one else shares e.g. "I can do a call at 10 am EST tomorrow" when everyone else is in Europe. The only excuse is if it is person paying the bills, but frequently it isn't.

shirley_basso

TheBigBean said:

rick_chasey said:

It’s the polite way of referring to a PA.

I don't get the point of them. You can't ask them to do trivial menial stuff to free up your time, and for more complicated things it is often easier and more successful to do yourself.

I know this doesn't apply to some of the really good ones.

When your job involves lots of meetings, having a PA arrange them for you (and cancel and rearrange) it's a gamechanger - having gone from a job without one, to one with. It's also really important for senior people to have a good PA, so you can get time in their diaries.

Then when booking travel, hotels, sorting taxis, general admin, filing expenses etc. It adds up - especially if you're in a job where your time is billed out by the hour.

Sure I do a lot of this admin myself from time to time, but even a mediocre one should be helpful. As I learn to use our EA more effectively I can also see the benefit of a good virtual PA, as well.

TheBigBean

shirley_basso said:

TheBigBean said:

rick_chasey said:

It’s the polite way of referring to a PA.

I don't get the point of them. You can't ask them to do trivial menial stuff to free up your time, and for more complicated things it is often easier and more successful to do yourself.

I know this doesn't apply to some of the really good ones.

When your job involves lots of meetings, having a PA arrange them for you (and cancel and rearrange) it's a gamechanger - having gone from a job without one, to one with. It's also really important for senior people to have a good PA, so you can get time in their diaries.

Then when booking travel, hotels, sorting taxis, general admin, filing expenses etc. It adds up - especially if you're in a job where your time is billed out by the hour.

Sure I do a lot of this admin myself from time to time, but even a mediocre one should be helpful. As I learn to use our EA more effectively I can also see the benefit of a good virtual PA, as well.

I just don't know anyone who doesn't prefer to manage their own diaries. I know which meetings I can skip, which may drag on and which might be shorter. Also, Rick's experience shows how he may save time booking things 9 times out of 10, then he loses loads of time.

I'm all for a PA who makes rounds of tea, collects dry cleaning, buys birthday cards, organises a load of office stuff, buys lunch etc. Things that actually save time. But that's all considered demeaning.

rjsterry

TheBigBean said:

shirley_basso said:

TheBigBean said:

rick_chasey said:

It’s the polite way of referring to a PA.

I don't get the point of them. You can't ask them to do trivial menial stuff to free up your time, and for more complicated things it is often easier and more successful to do yourself.

I know this doesn't apply to some of the really good ones.

When your job involves lots of meetings, having a PA arrange them for you (and cancel and rearrange) it's a gamechanger - having gone from a job without one, to one with. It's also really important for senior people to have a good PA, so you can get time in their diaries.

Then when booking travel, hotels, sorting taxis, general admin, filing expenses etc. It adds up - especially if you're in a job where your time is billed out by the hour.

Sure I do a lot of this admin myself from time to time, but even a mediocre one should be helpful. As I learn to use our EA more effectively I can also see the benefit of a good virtual PA, as well.

I just don't know anyone who doesn't prefer to manage their own diaries. I know which meetings I can skip, which may drag on and which might be shorter. Also, Rick's experience shows how he may save time booking things 9 times out of 10, then he loses loads of time.

I'm all for a PA who makes rounds of tea, collects dry cleaning, buys birthday cards, organises a load of office stuff, buys lunch etc. Things that actually save time. But that's all considered demeaning.

These shouldn't be taking up working hours in the first place. Unless you are going to the well to draw water how much time can you possibly save by having someone else make the teas?

Also there's nothing demeaning about making tea.

TheBigBean

rjsterry said:

TheBigBean said:

shirley_basso said:

TheBigBean said:

rick_chasey said:

It’s the polite way of referring to a PA.

I don't get the point of them. You can't ask them to do trivial menial stuff to free up your time, and for more complicated things it is often easier and more successful to do yourself.

I know this doesn't apply to some of the really good ones.

When your job involves lots of meetings, having a PA arrange them for you (and cancel and rearrange) it's a gamechanger - having gone from a job without one, to one with. It's also really important for senior people to have a good PA, so you can get time in their diaries.

Then when booking travel, hotels, sorting taxis, general admin, filing expenses etc. It adds up - especially if you're in a job where your time is billed out by the hour.

Sure I do a lot of this admin myself from time to time, but even a mediocre one should be helpful. As I learn to use our EA more effectively I can also see the benefit of a good virtual PA, as well.

I just don't know anyone who doesn't prefer to manage their own diaries. I know which meetings I can skip, which may drag on and which might be shorter. Also, Rick's experience shows how he may save time booking things 9 times out of 10, then he loses loads of time.

I'm all for a PA who makes rounds of tea, collects dry cleaning, buys birthday cards, organises a load of office stuff, buys lunch etc. Things that actually save time. But that's all considered demeaning.

These shouldn't be taking up working hours in the first place. Unless you are going to the well to draw water how much time can you possibly save by having someone else make the teas?

Also there's nothing demeaning about making tea.

I don't agree,and I think you out of touch. Nearly everyone gets some non-work stuff done during working hours.

briantrumpet

TheBigBean said:

rjsterry said:

TheBigBean said:

shirley_basso said:

TheBigBean said:

rick_chasey said:

It’s the polite way of referring to a PA.

I don't get the point of them. You can't ask them to do trivial menial stuff to free up your time, and for more complicated things it is often easier and more successful to do yourself.

I know this doesn't apply to some of the really good ones.

When your job involves lots of meetings, having a PA arrange them for you (and cancel and rearrange) it's a gamechanger - having gone from a job without one, to one with. It's also really important for senior people to have a good PA, so you can get time in their diaries.

Then when booking travel, hotels, sorting taxis, general admin, filing expenses etc. It adds up - especially if you're in a job where your time is billed out by the hour.

Sure I do a lot of this admin myself from time to time, but even a mediocre one should be helpful. As I learn to use our EA more effectively I can also see the benefit of a good virtual PA, as well.

I just don't know anyone who doesn't prefer to manage their own diaries. I know which meetings I can skip, which may drag on and which might be shorter. Also, Rick's experience shows how he may save time booking things 9 times out of 10, then he loses loads of time.

I'm all for a PA who makes rounds of tea, collects dry cleaning, buys birthday cards, organises a load of office stuff, buys lunch etc. Things that actually save time. But that's all considered demeaning.

These shouldn't be taking up working hours in the first place. Unless you are going to the well to draw water how much time can you possibly save by having someone else make the teas?

Also there's nothing demeaning about making tea.

I don't agree,and I think you out of touch. Nearly everyone gets some non-work stuff done during working hours.

Cake Stop posts, for instance.

TheBigBean

briantrumpet said:

TheBigBean said:

rjsterry said:

TheBigBean said:

shirley_basso said:

TheBigBean said:

rick_chasey said:

It’s the polite way of referring to a PA.

I don't get the point of them. You can't ask them to do trivial menial stuff to free up your time, and for more complicated things it is often easier and more successful to do yourself.

I know this doesn't apply to some of the really good ones.

When your job involves lots of meetings, having a PA arrange them for you (and cancel and rearrange) it's a gamechanger - having gone from a job without one, to one with. It's also really important for senior people to have a good PA, so you can get time in their diaries.

Then when booking travel, hotels, sorting taxis, general admin, filing expenses etc. It adds up - especially if you're in a job where your time is billed out by the hour.

Sure I do a lot of this admin myself from time to time, but even a mediocre one should be helpful. As I learn to use our EA more effectively I can also see the benefit of a good virtual PA, as well.

I just don't know anyone who doesn't prefer to manage their own diaries. I know which meetings I can skip, which may drag on and which might be shorter. Also, Rick's experience shows how he may save time booking things 9 times out of 10, then he loses loads of time.

I'm all for a PA who makes rounds of tea, collects dry cleaning, buys birthday cards, organises a load of office stuff, buys lunch etc. Things that actually save time. But that's all considered demeaning.

These shouldn't be taking up working hours in the first place. Unless you are going to the well to draw water how much time can you possibly save by having someone else make the teas?

Also there's nothing demeaning about making tea.

I don't agree,and I think you out of touch. Nearly everyone gets some non-work stuff done during working hours.

Cake Stop posts, for instance.

Yes, I was going to say that, but I'm not sure they would be covered even by an old school PA.

rjsterry

TheBigBean said:

rjsterry said:

TheBigBean said:

shirley_basso said:

TheBigBean said:

rick_chasey said:

It’s the polite way of referring to a PA.

I don't get the point of them. You can't ask them to do trivial menial stuff to free up your time, and for more complicated things it is often easier and more successful to do yourself.

I know this doesn't apply to some of the really good ones.

When your job involves lots of meetings, having a PA arrange them for you (and cancel and rearrange) it's a gamechanger - having gone from a job without one, to one with. It's also really important for senior people to have a good PA, so you can get time in their diaries.

Then when booking travel, hotels, sorting taxis, general admin, filing expenses etc. It adds up - especially if you're in a job where your time is billed out by the hour.

Sure I do a lot of this admin myself from time to time, but even a mediocre one should be helpful. As I learn to use our EA more effectively I can also see the benefit of a good virtual PA, as well.

I just don't know anyone who doesn't prefer to manage their own diaries. I know which meetings I can skip, which may drag on and which might be shorter. Also, Rick's experience shows how he may save time booking things 9 times out of 10, then he loses loads of time.

I'm all for a PA who makes rounds of tea, collects dry cleaning, buys birthday cards, organises a load of office stuff, buys lunch etc. Things that actually save time. But that's all considered demeaning.

These shouldn't be taking up working hours in the first place. Unless you are going to the well to draw water how much time can you possibly save by having someone else make the teas?

Also there's nothing demeaning about making tea.

I don't agree,and I think you out of touch. Nearly everyone gets some non-work stuff done during working hours.

Not how our office works. If you need to run some errands outside of lunchtime that's fine but the hours need to be made up. We charge by the hour so it would be pretty unethical for us to use that time for non-work errands.

rjsterry

briantrumpet said:

TheBigBean said:

rjsterry said:

TheBigBean said:

shirley_basso said:

TheBigBean said:

rick_chasey said:

It’s the polite way of referring to a PA.

I don't get the point of them. You can't ask them to do trivial menial stuff to free up your time, and for more complicated things it is often easier and more successful to do yourself.

I know this doesn't apply to some of the really good ones.

When your job involves lots of meetings, having a PA arrange them for you (and cancel and rearrange) it's a gamechanger - having gone from a job without one, to one with. It's also really important for senior people to have a good PA, so you can get time in their diaries.

Then when booking travel, hotels, sorting taxis, general admin, filing expenses etc. It adds up - especially if you're in a job where your time is billed out by the hour.

Sure I do a lot of this admin myself from time to time, but even a mediocre one should be helpful. As I learn to use our EA more effectively I can also see the benefit of a good virtual PA, as well.

I just don't know anyone who doesn't prefer to manage their own diaries. I know which meetings I can skip, which may drag on and which might be shorter. Also, Rick's experience shows how he may save time booking things 9 times out of 10, then he loses loads of time.

I'm all for a PA who makes rounds of tea, collects dry cleaning, buys birthday cards, organises a load of office stuff, buys lunch etc. Things that actually save time. But that's all considered demeaning.

These shouldn't be taking up working hours in the first place. Unless you are going to the well to draw water how much time can you possibly save by having someone else make the teas?

Also there's nothing demeaning about making tea.

I don't agree,and I think you out of touch. Nearly everyone gets some non-work stuff done during working hours.

Cake Stop posts, for instance.

See my point about making up time. Also the work is deadline driven. A couple of minutes here and there is not going to make any difference and we don't all have stopwatches but we do have to be fairly accurate about our time keeping.

pangolin

rjsterry said:

briantrumpet said:

TheBigBean said:

rjsterry said:

TheBigBean said:

shirley_basso said:

TheBigBean said:

rick_chasey said:

It’s the polite way of referring to a PA.

I don't get the point of them. You can't ask them to do trivial menial stuff to free up your time, and for more complicated things it is often easier and more successful to do yourself.

I know this doesn't apply to some of the really good ones.

When your job involves lots of meetings, having a PA arrange them for you (and cancel and rearrange) it's a gamechanger - having gone from a job without one, to one with. It's also really important for senior people to have a good PA, so you can get time in their diaries.

Then when booking travel, hotels, sorting taxis, general admin, filing expenses etc. It adds up - especially if you're in a job where your time is billed out by the hour.

Sure I do a lot of this admin myself from time to time, but even a mediocre one should be helpful. As I learn to use our EA more effectively I can also see the benefit of a good virtual PA, as well.

I just don't know anyone who doesn't prefer to manage their own diaries. I know which meetings I can skip, which may drag on and which might be shorter. Also, Rick's experience shows how he may save time booking things 9 times out of 10, then he loses loads of time.

I'm all for a PA who makes rounds of tea, collects dry cleaning, buys birthday cards, organises a load of office stuff, buys lunch etc. Things that actually save time. But that's all considered demeaning.

These shouldn't be taking up working hours in the first place. Unless you are going to the well to draw water how much time can you possibly save by having someone else make the teas?

Also there's nothing demeaning about making tea.

I don't agree,and I think you out of touch. Nearly everyone gets some non-work stuff done during working hours.

Cake Stop posts, for instance.

See my point about making up time. Also the work is deadline driven. A couple of minutes here and there is not going to make any difference and we don't all have stopwatches but we do have to be fairly accurate about our time keeping.

Careful, before you know it those odd minutes add up to 26 thousand posts.

I dread to think how much strictly non work time you could find in our office, despite it also being mainly billable and deadline driven.

briantrumpet

pangolin said:

Careful, before you know it those odd minutes add up to 26 thousand posts.

I feel like a dreadful part-timer on a mere 16k

rjsterry

pangolin said:

rjsterry said:

briantrumpet said:

TheBigBean said:

rjsterry said:

TheBigBean said:

shirley_basso said:

TheBigBean said:

rick_chasey said:

It’s the polite way of referring to a PA.

I don't get the point of them. You can't ask them to do trivial menial stuff to free up your time, and for more complicated things it is often easier and more successful to do yourself.

I know this doesn't apply to some of the really good ones.

When your job involves lots of meetings, having a PA arrange them for you (and cancel and rearrange) it's a gamechanger - having gone from a job without one, to one with. It's also really important for senior people to have a good PA, so you can get time in their diaries.

Then when booking travel, hotels, sorting taxis, general admin, filing expenses etc. It adds up - especially if you're in a job where your time is billed out by the hour.

Sure I do a lot of this admin myself from time to time, but even a mediocre one should be helpful. As I learn to use our EA more effectively I can also see the benefit of a good virtual PA, as well.

I just don't know anyone who doesn't prefer to manage their own diaries. I know which meetings I can skip, which may drag on and which might be shorter. Also, Rick's experience shows how he may save time booking things 9 times out of 10, then he loses loads of time.

I'm all for a PA who makes rounds of tea, collects dry cleaning, buys birthday cards, organises a load of office stuff, buys lunch etc. Things that actually save time. But that's all considered demeaning.

These shouldn't be taking up working hours in the first place. Unless you are going to the well to draw water how much time can you possibly save by having someone else make the teas?

Also there's nothing demeaning about making tea.

I don't agree,and I think you out of touch. Nearly everyone gets some non-work stuff done during working hours.

Cake Stop posts, for instance.

See my point about making up time. Also the work is deadline driven. A couple of minutes here and there is not going to make any difference and we don't all have stopwatches but we do have to be fairly accurate about our time keeping.

Careful, before you know it those odd minutes add up to 26 thousand posts.

I dread to think how much strictly non work time you could find in our office, despite it also being mainly billable and deadline driven.

Over...14 years 😱. Like I said, we don't all have stopwatches but for anything that is more than a tea break and unrelated to work, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect people to make up the time and generally they do. I'm aware other businesses operate differently, but I still think asking staff to do your domestic chores is taking the piss.

webboo

Mrs W works for a small engineering company who make the steel frames for building such as shopping centres. She calls herself a secretary, she does the wages, accounts, take offs from drawings, holiday rotas, liaises with bank and accountant.
She will also book the owners holidays, order his plants for his garden, send out the invites for the rugby matches the company sponsor, invites to birthday parties and when his wife was alive buy birthday presents for her.
For this she gets well paid, company car, plants for the garden and when the boss couldn’t make a weekend she’d booked for him in the lakes we got to go. Plus occasional monetary bonuses
She just see’s it as part of the job.