London...

I am now on day two of a Crystal Reports training session located on Regent Street (equal distance between Piccadilly and Oxford Street underground so leg aches assured) and it got me thinking about the prospect of having a job in London or The City.

Personally I can see why some are averted to the whole commuting thing, what with the crowding and scrum downs that ensue when doors open. Yet despite that I think it is something I could "hack" doing for the right job.

By the right job I mean somewhere in the region of £30k as the cost to commute alone is daylight robbery, in a location in underground zone 1 or Canary Wharf, and lastly the right job for what I can do...

Nothing in the works yet and no plans either... So... Whether I come back as a daily body or not only the future holds.


sent from iPhone

Location:Regent St, London

iPhone glory

Ahh... iPhone how you have come to be an extension of my very being.

I don't mean to look like a pompous arse with my smart phone and certainly wont go to the extremes of checking work email out of work hours (not yet anyway... not paid enough!). However you have made my work life balance harmonious!

No longer do I panic about what is happening at work today that I may have forgetten, there it is in my calendar, synched with the server. With pretty much an app for everything all aspects of my life seem to merge into one homogenous blob that slips fluidly from work, to play, to rest.

Business Class Does Not Grant You Immunity to Social Norms

I have just returned from Paris where a business class passenger attacked another passenger JUST for being in his way... and then... WALK OFF as if nothing had happened!

Sorry Monsiuer but we are all waiting to get on this delayed train and you battering another human being is not going to help matters!

It appears that idiocy is not just reserved for "the rest of us" in standard class and that the gene for such knuckle dragging behaviour is prominent in his attitude towards life... and lets not hope so in the boardroom!

Interview Attendances

When attending interview - what is the correct thing to do with current employers. Interviews are usually last minute arrangements that require a request for 1 day or an afternoon out the office at short notice.

Candidates in the past informed me that they were straight up with their employer that they were going for an interview and that this had caused the "cold shoulder" or worse. This raises an interesting question - do you prepare your employer for your eventual leaving them by admitting to looking for work elsewhere, thus attending interviews in agreement with them, or do you covertly attend interviews through taking last minute holiday in order to hand in your notice without anyone having seen it coming?

Monday Calendar Entries

I was ill on Friday, so rested well and I am now back at work.

Unfortunately it does mean that I forgot about our team lunch today and so now have the honour of getting pocket money from a colleague.

Is it normal to remotely access your calendar on Sunday to make sure you don't miss something like this on Monday?

Mobile phones at work...

Its amazing to realize how different my behaviour has become with mobile communication and phones in relation to the work place. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the technological capability of modern models as much as anything else but today it got me thinking about my "mobile" lifeline...

I first owned a mobile for all of 1 day when I was 15 years old. It was a second hand model my friend wanted to get rid of, pay as you go, bricklike in appearance. I purchased at £15 and enjoyed it until my mum through a spanner in  the works and said she didn't want me to fry my head with it. The next time I owned a mobile phone was at the age of  16... I had a summer job as a leafleter, due in part to my hair being dyed green and not many other jobs being open to such things. It was a Nokia 3310 and I loved it. Though whilst working I had no use for it other than to text friends on the way to and from our minibus journeys as there was a strict "no phones whilst delivering" policy. Fair enough I thought.

I had it right up until I was 18. At this point I decided to go for a contract, which was great as I got a new handset, modern and up to date, it took colour photographs and everything. I worked in the Post Office at the time and so it spent most of the time in my drawer, waiting to be used during coffee breaks and lunch.

That pattern continued throughout my working life pretty much up until July 2009, at which  point I got a new handset, the Nokia 5300, which leads me to the thought that crept in and caused this whistful entry...

This phone sits neatly everyday close by to my left hand, poised in case I need to make a calander entry that will cause an alarm go off outside of working hours to remind me of a task to take stock of during the day. No one bats an eyelid, and I know they do it too. It isn't just our team though... throughout our building everyone has their mobile phone proudly upon their desk, poised ready for use.

Are we moving towards a more understanding work environment that is in tune with mobile communication and it's usage? A call to your mobile during the day from your mother whilst at you are work would seem to be indicative of an emergency call and if so would likely be better answered than not, surely?

I guess we could find out soon enough as the era of mobile communication steamrolls on...