S
Soapy
Hello folks, i'm not a plumber I'm a Corgi service engineer. But hat's off to you plumber lads - we couldn't have civilisation without you. Fact. No running water or toilets and we'd still be living in huts. I watch too many documentaries about the romans on sky I think!
Did you know they made lead pipe? Also true. And next time some unskilled penpusher office monkey sneers at you remind him that he'd be the first called up in a war and over the trenches. Us tradesmen are more valuable.
Anyway - back to what I meant to speak about.
Unfortunately when I left school in the 90's I accepted a job with BG(spit) and it was all downhill from there.
I'm looking for a way out but working for a similar firm with similar structure and management would be just as bad(well maybe nearly as bad-Robert Mugabe could run a company better).
I'd rather work for myself or work for a local small outfit but I really need to think about it and obviously now is a bad time to start out with the credit crunch etc. In saying that though, I live in a big city with other towns and cities 30 minutes drive away. I reckon if I'm prepared to travel then there must be work around. Folk will do without holidays abroad, new cars and that but people need hot water to wash and heating in winter in this country and cook.
The majority of my experience has been repair work on most types and makes of gas appliances. I was involved in a lot of boiler installations as an appprentice but we stopped all that years ago and I'm not up to speed on installation work as I'm out of practice.
I've got Acs again, LPG acs, unvented.
I did a proper apprenticeship, not the new fast track training thing they do now to replace experienced good guys they've driven out the door.
BG has a lot of good guys but also a lot of muppets, most of whom tend to get promoted. In fact, a guy who was in my class in college whose nickname at his depot was 'the chocolate teapot' is now, would you believe it, a BG manager! It just confirms everything you knew was true!!!
Most bad press you hear about BG is office related/caused, management caused or lack of training sending new guys out who should not be on their own. Trying to force guys to be salesmen when it's not their personality type can lead to problems and performance measurement of work can lead guys to cut corners, go too fast, make silly mistakes. Silly mistakes that could land you in jail and ruin your life. But the managers are ok. They won't go to jail.
If they had a mass cull of managers, kept the gasmen, gave the new lads more training and support and sorted out office muppets passing the buck to us face-the-customer-people then the company might have half a chance.
But they won't so I'm wanting out. I say that every year but I've just about gathered the balls to jack it in.
I'd be doing gas repair work but this could be complicated working on your own(can't take pcb's to the merchant back if that wasn't the fault for example), intermittent faults, dealing with complaints yourself and billing.
Installations would be better for bringing in the money and more guaranteed work booked in advance but as I said i'm not that up to speed on installations currently.
A lad that left us 2 years ago has a holiday home in Spain now he's doing that well on installation work.
I know I need to sort out public liability insurance, a van, an accountant and and buy some expensive kit. Is the billing and accounts side all that difficult or is it a matter of keeping receipts and keeping on top of paperwork?
Can you get any government or bank assistance for starting a small business?
i heard you can also go on a course that teaches you book-keeping, maybe a free governmant thing?
Main problems I see are initial outlay, advertising and bringing customers in and getting them to pay.
Any help would be appreciated and I won't be offended if you rip into BG! I've stuck by them through some hard times but they just walk all over us all the time. Best workplace 2007? If your an office worker or a workshy manager - maybe. A service engineer? Not in a million years! You'll probably find none of us bothered to vote and most of the cushy office staff did vote and said they liked it.
£27000, pension(which is a worry,they messed with it), no private use of van(disciplined immediately if caught), unsocial hours, hounded for amount of jobs done and amount fixed first time, terrible management, always criticism, never praise. Always disciplinary action, never a quiet word in the ear. Depending on your personality type you could lose it working with us. Some have done and others are off sick because of performance, hounding and bullying style of management.
Nothing amazing about that. Not a good job at all.
NEVER advise anyone to come to us for a job unless you don't like them. I've seen guys, friendly nice guys go downhill fast with us. It's terrible the way they treat people.
Anyway merry christmas when it comes and all the best.
Did you know they made lead pipe? Also true. And next time some unskilled penpusher office monkey sneers at you remind him that he'd be the first called up in a war and over the trenches. Us tradesmen are more valuable.Anyway - back to what I meant to speak about.
Unfortunately when I left school in the 90's I accepted a job with BG(spit)
and it was all downhill from there.I'm looking for a way out but working for a similar firm with similar structure and management would be just as bad(well maybe nearly as bad-Robert Mugabe could run a company better).
I'd rather work for myself or work for a local small outfit but I really need to think about it and obviously now is a bad time to start out with the credit crunch etc. In saying that though, I live in a big city with other towns and cities 30 minutes drive away. I reckon if I'm prepared to travel then there must be work around. Folk will do without holidays abroad, new cars and that but people need hot water to wash and heating in winter in this country and cook.
The majority of my experience has been repair work on most types and makes of gas appliances. I was involved in a lot of boiler installations as an appprentice but we stopped all that years ago and I'm not up to speed on installation work as I'm out of practice.
I've got Acs again, LPG acs, unvented.
I did a proper apprenticeship, not the new fast track training thing they do now to replace experienced good guys they've driven out the door.
BG has a lot of good guys but also a lot of muppets, most of whom tend to get promoted. In fact, a guy who was in my class in college whose nickname at his depot was 'the chocolate teapot' is now, would you believe it, a BG manager! It just confirms everything you knew was true!!!
Most bad press you hear about BG is office related/caused, management caused or lack of training sending new guys out who should not be on their own. Trying to force guys to be salesmen when it's not their personality type can lead to problems and performance measurement of work can lead guys to cut corners, go too fast, make silly mistakes. Silly mistakes that could land you in jail and ruin your life. But the managers are ok. They won't go to jail.
If they had a mass cull of managers, kept the gasmen, gave the new lads more training and support and sorted out office muppets passing the buck to us face-the-customer-people then the company might have half a chance.
But they won't so I'm wanting out. I say that every year but I've just about gathered the balls to jack it in.
I'd be doing gas repair work but this could be complicated working on your own(can't take pcb's to the merchant back if that wasn't the fault for example), intermittent faults, dealing with complaints yourself and billing.
Installations would be better for bringing in the money and more guaranteed work booked in advance but as I said i'm not that up to speed on installations currently.
A lad that left us 2 years ago has a holiday home in Spain now he's doing that well on installation work.
I know I need to sort out public liability insurance, a van, an accountant and and buy some expensive kit. Is the billing and accounts side all that difficult or is it a matter of keeping receipts and keeping on top of paperwork?
Can you get any government or bank assistance for starting a small business?
i heard you can also go on a course that teaches you book-keeping, maybe a free governmant thing?
Main problems I see are initial outlay, advertising and bringing customers in and getting them to pay.
Any help would be appreciated and I won't be offended if you rip into BG! I've stuck by them through some hard times but they just walk all over us all the time. Best workplace 2007?
If your an office worker or a workshy manager - maybe. A service engineer? Not in a million years! You'll probably find none of us bothered to vote and most of the cushy office staff did vote and said they liked it.£27000, pension(which is a worry,they messed with it), no private use of van(disciplined immediately if caught), unsocial hours, hounded for amount of jobs done and amount fixed first time, terrible management, always criticism, never praise. Always disciplinary action, never a quiet word in the ear. Depending on your personality type you could lose it working with us. Some have done and others are off sick because of performance, hounding and bullying style of management.
Nothing amazing about that. Not a good job at all.
NEVER advise anyone to come to us for a job unless you don't like them. I've seen guys, friendly nice guys go downhill fast with us. It's terrible the way they treat people.
Anyway merry christmas when it comes and all the best.
