Smudger Snippets
Created | Updated Nov 1, 2007
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days, that all these memories come flooding back to me.
Loyalty, The Cost
Having found a suitable program and installing it, I can now carry on writing my Snippets on the new laptop that I bought recently. The original idea was to install Word for that purpose, but then I found out that it would take up a lot of space on the hard drive, which was not as large as the one on my former computer to begin with, and I needed as much space as possible to store the films I have been downloading for the past few months. I was lucky to find the program, really, as I posted my request on that ex service site that I visit every night, and one of the gurus posted up a link for me, so that I could download and install it. That reminded me of all the help and assistance that I have had in the past, from various sites, including this one, since I came online a few years ago. In fact, this site was one of the very first sites I found, and that was simply by accident, as I was researching the history of the very first ship I ever sailed on during my time in the Royal Navy.
Another good point about this laptop is that I can now view films on our big TV straight from the hard drive, via a cable that came with the laptop, whereas before, I had to extract the films and then burn them to a disc before I could even think of viewing them. The funny thing is, I had just installed another program that transferred the films into DVD format, as our Div x player could not handle every film because they came in different codes. It's hard work for a silver surfer like myself keeping up with all this technology, yet with help from my stepson, and reading all the technical parts of these computer talk web sites, I think I am just about managing it. Anyway, I am digressing from the subject here, which, readers who know me, will know that this is quite normal for me. I know we have covered this subject of computers before, but because they keep updating in specification with more complicated programs and drivers, we are constantly trying to keep up with them, well I am at least.
Anyway, back in the early eighties, I found myself back where my welding career first started, on the same site that I had been made redundant from some four years earlier. I was working as an instructor in the training school, which was in fact the job I had been doing prior to being made redundant! I was having real problems with walking, and had been having for a couple of years, but due to the fact that I was working offshore at the time, it was simply impossible to take the time off work to have it seen to, because I working as a subcontractor, so I only got paid for my hours worked; and there was no health plan of any kind. The concrete and metal floor in the training school made the problem even worse. The doctor had told me that I was indeed on the waiting list to have the operation to correct my foot, but that it would be at least ten months to a year before I would be seen.
Now the present contract that I had with this company, was a temporary (six months) contract as a welding instructor in the training school, with the possibility of an extension, if required. There was a strong chance that once I had finished that contract, I would be working back offshore again after that, so I asked the doctor if there was any way he could speed up my hospital appointment, and he said that he would try! The reason being, that I would never get another opportunity to have the operation if I was indeed working offshore. However, with walking around on those hard floors in the training school, the pain and swelling got so bad that I found it difficult just to put my work boots on in the mornings, so one day I made my way down to the surgery on the site to ask for some pain killers. It was while I was there, that they told me that I could have the treatment done using the company's health plan! This meant that I could have it treated straight away; all I had to do, was get my doctor to sign a form so that I could use the firm's health plan.
I was totally amazed to find that, when I went to the doctor to have this form signed, all of a sudden I could have the operation done on the NHS the following week! So I went ahead and made the arrangements, although I got the feeling that my boss was not too pleased about it, as it meant that I qualified for the firm's sick pay scheme, but then again it was the firm that has written the contract, and I was only too pleased to have it done; besides, it made up for them having made me redundant in the first place, so I had no qualms about it all. So I went ahead and had it done, even though I found out later that it meant having my right foot in plaster for three months! It was during my sick leave, about a week after the operation, when the company called me up and asked if I could return to work. They needed help with a serious admin problem they were having with the final audit of the contract on the paperwork side. They also brought up the subject that after this contract was completed, they would be forced to lay people off, and that folk like me, with temporary contracts would be the first to go.
It was a rather subtle way of forcing my hand; well that was what I thought at the time. It was nothing short of blackmail really, but they knew from the past that I was a loyal worker, and I got the feeling that they were counting on that. Anyway, when I asked if I would be allowed to arrive late and leave early, and park my car right outside the site office (it was not normal to allow private cars on to the site at all), they agreed to all my requests, so for the remaining time of my plaster being on, I drove to the office and helped them out with the audit, which was not easy by any means.
Even driving back and forth to work was a task in itself, as I had to control the accelerator by grabbing my jeans above the knee and operate the speed by lowering or increasing the hold I had on them.
At first, I had to gather all the temporary students that the company had employed for this, and explain every stage of a weld from the first stage right through to the end. It turned out that this was all that was required really, as up until then none of them had been informed about any part of this, so they did not understand the reasons for it in the first place.
The idea of the audit was, that a client's inspector could pull a file on any weld to find out its complete history, in case of any structural failure when the rig was being used offshore. The original problems that they had been having were soon gone after the students were shown exactly how and why these documents and reports should be filed and in which order. After the audit was completed and my plaster removed, I returned to the training school to take up my old position, well that was what I thought. As during the weekend just before I was due to go back, I received a letter from the company saying that my services would no longer be required, as my contact was near its end!
I found it rather amusing in a way, as they chose to send a letter to inform me, rather than call me at home, like they did when they offered me the position in the first place. Ah! well, at least I got my right foot sorted and could now walk normally without any pain. However, the whole thing left a bitter taste for me, as I felt that my loyalty had been totally misplaced, so you can imagine my attitude when I found myself being employed back there some four years later. Luckily however, I was employed as a subcontractor, and they had a totally different attitude towards them, as indeed we had for them!
