The Whirlwind of Life
on Blog From Beyond (Rwanda), 04/Mar/2010 12:10, 34 days ago
Wow, a grand total of five posts last month. Hmm. I was actually toying with the idea of quitting the blog on the last post, or at least giving it a break for a while. Travel logs are so much more interesting than life in the UK. But if I didn't have the blog, I'd just end up ranting at my friends and family, and then I wouldn't have any friends and my family would probably move without leaving a forwarding address...so blogging is probably the safest way to go ;)I'm having a bit of an upbeat day today, whereas yesterday I was ready to hide under the duvet and stay there. Funny how life's ups and down often come is quick succession.I was absolutely fed-up to the back teeth with my new job. I work for a local college providing Sign Language/English support for a Deaf student in the woodwork department. The staff in the department are lovely, and my client is a nice lad too (when he turns up). But the college itself absolutely stinks on a work ethic level.I did one day's work for them back in June, under the supervision of my (then) manager, to assess that I could do the job and introduce me to everybody. The college then took over two weeks to process my paperwork and invite me back. I work there Wednesday to Friday each week.First off, they didn't give me a contract. Well, they did, but it is a generic one that doesn't list my name, my salary, my hours or require my signature.Secondly they gave my manager, and her department, notice. She's still there (on a different campus) I believe, but stopped answering e-mails. So I don't know when she's leaving and I don't know who to report to, ask questions of or go to for general support - I'm flying solo.Last week my collages all got paid and I haven't been. So I wrote all my pay and contract concerns down and e-mailed it to the head of Payroll in HR. I did it this way so that I've got it all laid out to refer back to and so that I have proof that I sent it and on which date. I was very polite, but that was a week ago tomorrow and not so much as a 'we're working on it' reply.Has the HR department been made redundant as well? Did it arrive in an empty office with tumble-weed rolling through? Or, perhaps HR does need a managerial shake-down on account of it being crap. So far I haven't met anyone working at the college with a good word to say about that department.In another incident, I turned up for work last week - with no timetable of events, naturally - to find my client had an exam to sit. The college hadn't booked an interpreter for him so, after speaking with the invigilator and asking my client if he was happy with this - I interpreted. I wasn't overly happy about doing it - better to have a qualified interpreter - but we got through it and I went home thinking no more about it.This week I turn up and my colleague informs me I've stirred up a whirlwind. Apparently there were rumours going around that my client had brought a woman in off the street to interpret for him! Despite clearly showing my Staff ID badge to the invigilator. This confirmed my suspicion that the college haven't the faintest idea where their arse and elbow are, as apparently they didn't realise my client had a Communication Support Worker (CSW) - they thought she'd left.Well, she's about to at this rate.Next, everyone was up in arms that I hadn't followed the rules for examinations. Apparently there's a book of guidelines which, out of anger for what had happened, was sent to one of my client's tutors. Which one? I have no idea.Why, I feel the need to ask, was this not e-mailed to me? His CSW. The person who actually needs to read the guidelines. All my contact details are with HR (just answered my own question), yet no one sees fit to contact me. Helllooooo - can anyone say 'induction training'?The part that's got me boggled is that, as it was explained to me on Wednesday when my client had another exam, an interpreter (qualified or not) is not allowed to interpret the questions for a Deaf student. They are only permitted to fingerspell technical words as they appear on the page.So, for example, in a mathematics test you're asked to calculate the balance at the end of a month's financial report. My client can do this if he understands what he's being asked to do. In British Sign Language (BSL), he understands what 'money in' and 'money out' means, what he didn't understand was 'income' and 'expenditure'. Whereas an interpreter would translate the question into BSL using the compound signs 'money-in' and 'money-out', when he asks me if that's what they mean I'm only allowed to reply: 'I'm not allowed to tell you'.According to the guidelines, if he asks me to interpret these words in BSL, all I can do is fingerspell I-N-C-O-M-E and E-X-P-E-N-D-I-T-U-R-E.This sounds like something passed by the examining board, though I wouldn't know as nobody's sent me the guidelines.I can understand the reasoning behind this in as much as their argument: if other students didn't know the meaning of the word, they wouldn't have me there to help them. However, the college employs me precisely to help my client. That doesn't mean giving him the answers (my maths sucks anyway, I can't answer most of them) but it does mean - as far as I'm concerned - translating the questions into his first language, a recognised language of the British Isles, so that he can pass or fail on the strength of his answers. Given the fact that my client is on a woodwork course, not an English course, and that the college has consistently failed to provide him with a CSW in the past, he's got a lot of catching up to do. It all seems like a bit of a shonky system to me.So, I ended up offloading to my friends in the old job. I'm now back at my previous office on a voluntary basis helping with strategic planning, which is brilliant because it's interesting work and also means I've got a strong reference. Given that the college don't seem to know they've even employed me, I really don't feel secure in trying to get a reference out of them - maybe if I'm successful getting my pay out of them I'll reconsider ;)It was all starting to get a bit on top of me. I like my colleagues and my client. I don't mind doing the job, but it isn't really where I want to be. That's my own fault as I slipped into a lazy patch - all those application forms that didn't get a response for development work. I got to a point where I couldn't bring myself to tick another Equal Ops box.But this little incident has put a boot up my arse and I got back on the job-train last night. Filled out two aps which I felt I had a strong shot at. Sent one at 9pm last night and got a phone call from the agency at 9am this morning :) Woop woop!They're putting me forward for an excellent opportunity in the West Country. It's pretty low pay but it's a killer CV boost and it's doing something I'd love to have a go at. I won't get too hyped about it, I never heard anything back about theNottingham opportunity, so I might not about this either. But I'm happy it's a possibility and they need someone urgently so, with no contractual ties, it'd be easy for me to run with it. I've got everything crossed.Meanwhile the weather has been glorious - bright, sunny blue skies. Although sadly Merrick's mum died at the weekend :( Lots of cuddles.I've also been making the most of my cinema pass. Went to seeThe Craziesearlier in the week. I'd been waiting for it to come out and it didn't disappoint. Gruesomely, goosebumpingly great :) The whole pitchfork thing and luring the wife out with the threshing machine then going back for the kid, not to mention the scene in the baby's room.....oooh, it was fun. I also didn't realise it had two of my favourites in the leads:Timothy Olyphant, who I've loved ever sinceGo, andRadha MitchellfromPitch Black. Thoroughly enjoyed it.Thinking I may go and seeSolomon Kanelater, think it's the last day for it, plus the newAlice in Wonderlandis out in 3D which I'm looking forward to. I also sawExtraordinary Measures, which was okay but nothing to write home about.I've also managed to break in my new riding gear. Went back toHolcotand this time got upgraded from a Poppy to a Tammy. Still quite an old horse but certainly had much more spring in her step, I had to apply the breaks a few times. Did 45 minutes of canter practice. We're going to build up my strength then tackle jumps. Booked in again next week for an hour. Really lovely place to learn, complete with café.So, that's exercise and work pegged. I know I said I wouldn't get too excited about this job application - but I am. It's research-based and I'm feeling proud of myself - I haven't done a lot of statistical analysis recently so I spent this afternoon brushing up onpivot tablesandt-tests. I feel confident that I've got it nailed now. Youtube has done more for me in half an hour than the six tomes of statistical analysis books I've got collecting dust on my shelf. Also, whatever people may say, Vista is - to me - much easier to work with on this than older versions (orOpenOffice, which I'm currently running). I resist the corporate machine whilst at the same time embracing it.That's about it lately. I'm hoping with all hope for an interview for this job whilst at the same time trying not to be too disappointed if it doesn't happen. I'm going to up my applications anyway though - I need to move on. I've been back over four months now. Need a game plan.*Just got back fromSolomon Kane. Quite entertaining. Much better play on period costume than most of the recently released stuff, plus good incorporation of the wyrd, unlike the tragedy ofBathory. All-round good fun.