so there's a pretty strong possibility I'll be getting sacked today…

Oh that’s a big one! If you use the supplier regularly should they not have given you some sort of stock warning?

Is this a ‘niche’ item with only one supplier?

It’s a shame to end it like this, I’ve been there for 17 years, and it’s the last year or so where it’s gone downhill rapidly. Shame really…

I’m in exactly the same position at the moment, been with the company 16 years in various positions, things gone downhill over the last 4 months. Not sure I want to give up on it though and would rather ride out the storm and see what happens.

If you’ve worked for them for 17 years and this is how they treat you, you need to leave.

My advice would be:

Keep a record of EVERYTHING.

Fix a date in the future you MUST leave by – mark it on every calendar you have.

If you’re not in a union, join one NOW. They might not be able to provide much help (in our experience the local reps are useless) but the organisation may be able to help with any legal stuff.

Update CV, get a linked in profile, make notes of how you helped the company, problems you sorted etc.

Sign up to recruiting agencies – talk to people on HOW to get another job.

Consider what you NEED to live – primarily that is your health, so if that means taking a much lower paid job, do it. We’d all like you to be around for longer, even if that means being a bit poorer!

I’d say adopt a personal “work to rule” while you get sorted with a new job – i.e arrive on time, leave on time – no earlier or later. Take all the breaks you are entitled to. Work at a steady, reasonable pace. For any issue that is “above your pay grade” push it up the line management. <— this will drive them nuts and providing you DOCUMENT EVERYTHING, it should be enough that you can get either an unfair dismissal result or a favourable negotiated severance.

But mainly, set that date.

If this item was so important to them, they could have couriered the item from abroad or even sent you over to pick it up. Instead, they are giving you a kicking after 17 years service.

IMHO you’re working for a bunch of ba5 t@9d5. They don’t matter but you do.

The reason, I allowed an essential stock item to run low, ordered more and there are currently none in the country till later next week. So as it stops us producing anything in house it’s a big issue. This is an item until now that has always been available on a next day service…

If its always been in stock next day- now its a week+ its hardly gross misconduct, surely its a big dressing down.

From the sound of your general situation why arem’t you looking for a new challenge anyway?

Were you reasonably expected to have known it was no longer available next day? Had the supplier warned you? Have you spoken to the supplier to find out why it is no longer available next day? Can you source it elsewhere?

we’ll need an update as to how things are going throughout the day/week as well please 🙂 don’t leave us hanging.

I allowed an essential stock item to run low, ordered more and there are currently none in the country till later next week

Is there a documented threshold at which you are expected to re-order?
how far past this threshold was it?
has it ever run this low before?

The fact that there are none in the country now is not your problem, it’s the supplier.

The fact that you let it run low is the crux of the matter, but if there are no documented thresholds and/or you placed the order within a reasonable time under which you would normally expect to be able to restock, then I think it’s a boo-boo rather than a sackable.

This thread is why I intend to become a self-employed consultant one day.

When money or work is involved humans are, on the whole, massively self interested jerks who feign empathy and interest in others. I don’t intend to live the rest of my life following the wishes of the pack. Especially when those wishes/psychobabble/corporatebabble are coming from a profession as depraved and bereft of values as “Human Resources”.

The thing that keeps me going is getting enough experience and money together to own my own buiseness and a house in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming or Canada, as far from **** people as possible.

I’m fed up of waking up at 4am and worrying about work, not being able to get back to sleep but most of all i’m fed up of being bullied by my boss who every time something goes wrong the finger of blame gets pointed in my direction. I’m fed up of feeling nervous every day before I go to work and on the way to work. I’m fed up of not being able to commute by bike as I never know when I’m going to leave in the evening

Been there unrealistic stupid and pathetic boss, other member of staff telling tales, brown nosing, finally had enough after a few written warnings for made up problems, so walked out,telling boss to shove the job, next day went to gp for sick note, got home and there was a letter signed by a neighbour as recorded delivery telling me i had been sacked for gros misconduct.

So happy, so i sent one back dated the day before , saying i resigned, went to job centre told person what had had happened she said because i had been sacked no money, but as i had showed her a copy of my resignation letter got dole straight away.

Also problem getting new job when they ask you why did you leave last job, gross misconduct doesnt endear you, so just resign before they sack you.

bEST WISHES FOR THE NEW FUTURE YOU NOW HAVE IN FRONT OF YOU.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/coping-with-long-working-hours

You posted this a year ago. Having lived in Cornwall I understand it can be a bit of a different country at times (and feel that normal rules of work don’t apply).

Go see your doctor and get signed off. This will give you some time to recover and give you the space to decide what to do next.

Good luck.

Don’t forget to tell him that you were right when you txted him calling him a ‘C word’ those years ago. Fancy a ride later if the rain lets up? Could even sneak a beer in as well…

So you get dole money if you resign but not of you’re sacked? That can’t be right.

nope, other way round. If you resign you are trated as having voluntarily left employment so can’t claim for X weeks (think it’s 6)

You can claim contribution based jobseekers allowance however (reduced amount and has a 6 month timespan on it).

https://www.gov.uk/jobseekers-allowance/what-youll-get

As well as the constuctive dissmisal route also have a look at the bullying route as there is no limit on the amount of money that can be awarded on it.
Best if you can get a union involved, as they will know the best way to go.
As everyone else says if your not happy and it affects your life and health, find a new job.
Good luck with whatever you decide.

The reason, I allowed an essential stock item to run low, ordered more and there are currently none in the country till later next week. So as it stops us producing anything in house it’s a big issue. This is an item until now that has always been available on a next day service…

Is it you who decides the stock levels, or Finance/Operations/Procurement? If the former then I’d look through the other ‘fifth-wheel’ type items and see what the availability looks like for them. If the latter…, round-shoulder the blame.

Gary_M dijo » So you get dole money if you resign but not of you’re sacked? That can’t be right.

nope, other way round. If you resign you are trated as having voluntarily left employment so can’t claim for X weeks (think it’s 6)

Yeh that’s what I thought, but this paragraph confused me.

So happy, so i sent one back dated the day before , saying i resigned, went to job centre told person what had had happened she said because i had been sacked no money, but as i had showed her a copy of my resignation letter got dole straight away.

How did you get on Op… 😕

Go home, call in sick tomorrow, go to your doctor and get signed off with stress for a few weeks. Gather your thoughts and find a new job.

You wont do this but you should.

So everyone else has left and I’m the one still here. Not been sacked but it’s got to be coming in the next few days.

is the boss’ desk drawer unlocked? are you needing to unload?

Why are you working such long hours?
Is it contractual? Why not just go home at 5:30 – tell them that you’re overworked, & need to have a life of your own.

i know that you’ll feel like you’re letting people down if you take time off sick but it’s only a job at the end of the day. your health and wellbeing are much more important.
call in sick, see the doc and explain how you’re feeling. take the time off to go ride and chill out. the work will get done by someone else. work have caused the problem, work can sort it out.

and bombers 🙂

Before deciding on going off sick for stress, try accepting that you will not be working here for much longer. 17 years is a big chunk of your life, difficult to face that change is imminent. Once you accept this a weight should drop of your shoulders. This job no longer matters to you, stop worrying about it, let it be the next persons problem and put all your available resources into finding another job. Rightly or wrongly this will be more difficult if you have a recent history of stress related absence.

Coast along in the meantime at your current place, keep pleasant and don’t worry about what they think. What’s the worst that could happen? They sack you in a day or two or in a month or twos time. Maybe you will be in a new job by then anyway. Even if you need to take something lesser in the interim for sake of your well-being, do it.

Good luck whatever happens.

Opt back in to the European working time directive
You have of course opted out in the first place and it’s all signed and documented ?

Health is important and life is too short. I just quit this week too. The doors that have opened are amazing and the support from my contacts in the freelance industry would make you greet. Should have done it years ago.

http://freakonomics.com/2011/09/30/new-freakonomics-radio-podcast-the-upside-of-quitting/

I would be surprised if they sacked you for that (assuming there have been no other issues). Can the supplier not get you a partial quantity delivered to get your production line going again? I’ve had similar situation to the one your in before and if you keep badgering your contact and then raise it up the chain at the supplier if no luck then you sometimes get what you need.

go sick i did it for a few weeks before my leaving.. paid
to ride.. joy.

Bypass the UK importer if you have to . You might need to order a bulk amount of whatever , but you should be able to get it ona 48hr service with UPS or TNT.
Even if you only need say 1/4 of the shipment , offload the remainder back to the original supplier.

Its not your fault the UK importer has no stock is it, so no grounds for being sacked whatsoever.

Doesn’t seem like gross misconduct to me (our purchasing team do worse every day and they’re all still in post…..). They would need to have gone through the full disclinary process before sacking you, if they haven’t they would be looking at unfair dismissal. From what you’ve said it’s the supplier who needs sacking for not warning you of a change in their ability to supply, in fact if you worked for me and were stocking large quantities of stock normally available next day just in case we’d be discussing the importance of stock turns and cash flow in the context of your poor performance.

You wont do this but you should.

I did. Currently signed off until after my trip to Scotland for Fort William.

Would be nice for some one there to have contacted me in the past week, but no one has – On the bright side I’ve been out on my bike lots, on the down side… Um… I’ll get back to you on the downside…

Maybe you should start up in the business of selling the essential stock item, it sounds like there’s a shortage and an opening in the market! 😆

(But seriously – don’t let the spankers get you down)

Good on you Princejohn – you shouldn’t have to feel like that about going to work every day! Hopefully a break and a bit of summer weather will do you some good.

Would be nice for some one there to have contacted me in the past week

In my experience they won’t. They don’t want to be seen to be exacerbating any stress that signed you off.

If you want to talk to them about it get in touch and say you are happy to be contacted or to come in for a meeting to discuss.

My employers actually got a local Occupational Health company involved and offered counselling to get a valued key member back to work. Although I realise this this might not appear to be the same situation you are in.

It’s funny how life works out some times. I packed my job in on monday as I couldn’t spend another second in my former boss’s company. Left them right in the crap and forced her to cancel her annual leave next week. Phoned up a place where I’ve had a zero hours contract on hold for the last 6 months and they’ve offered me a good length contract starting on monday doing a type of job that I love. Happy days.

Hope things work out for you too.

good to see that youre feeling better OP 🙂

Look for work in the NHS*; it may be many things but it’s good to its staff.

*Or maybe other public sector?

Finally contact…. A meeting on my return… to discuss poor performance & any other issues raised in my absence… their HR person will be there, I’m entitled to bring a trade union rep etc…

In other words – bye bye… 🙂

Poor performance? Have you had any poor performance warnings in the past, can you fall back to any past reviews that suggest you haven’t been performing poorly, etc?

If they want to discuss your poor performance then at most I’d have thought they’ll be able to give you a warning and an improvement plan. If they want to use one mistake as reason to get rid, that’d be a tough one but maybe you’ll consider leaving if that’s what they want – for appropriate compensation, of course.

I suggest you draft a resignation letter to keep in your pocket. Better to resign than to be sacked…

And good luck in whatever happens!