Unhappy Thread

[Malc]

An awkward situation, Lawrence, but here's hoping it all turns out for the best. I was made redundant from the BBC in 1995, so started freelance engineering. Never looked back.

[Newportnobby]

Hope your sales guys can bring in a few contracts, Lawrence.

[daveg]

All the best, Lawrence.

Been there several times so know the pain and have a set of T shirts.

Hope you find something worthwhile soon.

Dave G

[silly moo]

My daughter was made redundant while she was visiting us for a weeks holiday. Got back to work out her notice only to be knocked off her bicycle by a Royal Mail van. She has a bent bike and two cracked elbows.

Luckily all her friends have rallied round are are looking after her by cooking for her and providing lots of chocolate. The accident hasn't put her off cycling one bit. She loves riding her bike.

She was expecting the redundancy but it's never nice when it actually happens. She is lucky that she will be able to do freelance work but with that you are always wondering where the next job will come from.

I admire her tremendously for coping so well.

[daveg]

Wish your daughter a speedy recovery and finds herself a really busy freelancer - whatever she may do.

Dave G

[GeeBee]

Had my two favourite locos die this week one just stopped and has not moved since the other the DCC decoder shorted down to the chassis result on very unwell decoder and when I tried to run the other one in DC mode it stuttered forward about an inch the lights went out you can feel the motor spinning but nothing happens

[DELETED]

Rich

Try emailing your MP or calling their local office with the details of the problem and ask for his/her help.

All the best - hope you get things sorted and find a worthwhile job very soon.

Dave G

...My local MP is of course SNP and I will have nothing to do with that party whatsoever, they're partly why I ended up out of work in the first place.  Sorry, not allowed to talk politics 

Looks like I am going to be a victim of the same issues Rich (RST) is experiencing as we do a lot of work for the oil & gas industry, we have just had one person paid off and us techs have been put on short time for 3 months with redundancies to be reviewed at the end of that period.  Losing a third of my salary even for 3 months is going to be tough, and there just is not much out there at the moment.
Rock and a hard place really, can't afford to move, can't afford to stay.  Can only hope things pick up in the next few months.

Over 100,000 oil UK reportedley guys out of work and the government are amazingly quiet about it which says allot.  We won't be producing our oil / ags in the future.  This isn't the worst of it yet and the knock-on effects are huge.  My best wishes to you!  It took me a long time to find work -actually I was looking for work for a long time out the industry and found a great job in the end though I desperately miss it.

[quotey daughter was made redundant while she was visiting us for a weeks holiday. Got back to work out her notice only to be knocked off her bicycle by a Royal Mail van. She has a bent bike and two cracked elbows.

Luckily all her friends have rallied round are are looking after her by cooking for her and providing lots of chocolate. The accident hasn't put her off cycling one bit. She loves riding her bike.

She was expecting the redundancy but it's never nice when it actually happens. She is lucky that she will be able to do freelance work but with that you are always wondering where the next job will come from.

I admire her tremendously for coping so well.][/quote]

...Thats pretty bad news, hope she's OK.  Best wishes.

Rich

[N-Gauge-US]

Very sorry guys.

Rich, that sounds like a bureaucratic nightmare :/

Lawrence, I join the others in wishing you all the luck in finding something (hopefully something you enjoy). I hadn't considered what falling oil prices were doing to the British oil and gas industries. :/ Hopefully, being involved in the tech side of things, you'll find something else soon.

Silly Moo, I'm so sorry to hear that your daughter's trip ended so badly. It must be very frustrating for you, so far away, but it is great that she is so resilient and has such supportive friends around. I hope she has a speedy recovery!

[MikeDunn]

...My local MP is of course SNP and I will have nothing to do with that party whatsoever

Whoever is in is immaterial : they are obliged to assist all constituency members, not just those that voted for them.  See http://www.ukpolitical.info/YouandyourMP.htm for info (some copied below).

Once elected, the job of an MP is to represent the people of his or her constituency (constituents) in Parliament, whether or not they voted for him or her. You only have one MP so even if you voted for one of the other candidates and you disagree with the views of your MPs party, your MP is still there to help you with all matters for which Parliament or central government is responsible. 
[...]
Problems often arise with work carried out by central government departments and your MP will be able to help you with such areas as tax problems involving the HM Revenue and Customs

No-one forces you to use them : but you are rejecting what may well be the best source of assistance based on a prejudice ...  You would rather this dispute drags on & on (you've already wasted 18 months by your own admission on this) & you never get it addressed ?

By not using them, you are allowing them to be lax on their job responsibilities.  Why not make them work for a change 

[Lawrence]

Hope your sales guys can bring in a few contracts, Lawrence.

Well they keep telling us there are quite a few decent projects in the pipeline (no pun intended) problem is the industry is in such a mess, potential customers are reticent to commit and even then are forcing margins so tight it is hardly worth it.
I even bought a lottery ticket yesterday, would have been better saving the £2

[railsquid]

Aaargh... so having acquired a Dapol 52, the smoke evidently escaped from the electrickery bits (which is not the subject of this unhappiness blast) so I've finally got round to sending it back before the warranty expires, which is costing a good tenner from this corner of the world. Anyway it just filtered through to me that the repair people are DCC Supplies... guess where I passed within a mile or two in December? Could have saved myself the postage...

[MinZaPint]

Well I'm seriously unhappy, for some years now I've been picking up a pal of mine from terminal 4 at Heathrow, I've just found out that they've closed the Wetherspoons (Windsor Castle) where I used to wait with some fodder and a pint!    It'll certainly cost him a few pints when I get him home!

[Bealman]

Yep, enough to make me cry, for sure.  :'(

[N-Gauge-US]

Having finally, after months of delay, gotten my permanent track layed and everything running smoothly, I decided to ballast. Ballasting was a learning experience and it doesn't look great but it all runs fine. The unhappiness is because I apparently got too much scenic cement into the switch machine and so now it is as dead as a door nail. Actually, it worked one direction until I disassembled it. Now it works neither way.   Another one ordered (at the equivalent of 9£) should be here next week. I suppose the hand of God will be signalman for the next week.

[Oldman]

Looking like Easter is going pear-shaped, when taking my elderly mother shopping she had a funny turn in the supermarket.
Just waiting to hear from the hospital to know if they are keeping her in or I can collect her later.