MOVING GOALPOSTS

[TC]

Every Local Authority in the country is having to come up with something called a \"Local Area Agreement\", or \"LAA\" to submit to the Government. Councils have had to consult with a whole host of organisations, including the local business community, volutary sector groups and the residents of the Borough. The intention being that the Council comes up with a 3 year \"plan\" on what the needs & priorities are for the Borough and how it\'s going to go about addressing them.

There are no limits on the number of \"priorities\" an Authority can say it\'s going to attempt to address - nor are there any pre-determined priorities, set by the Govt.

The timescale given by the Govt is ridiculous given the amount of \"consultation\" that MUST be done.

Anyway......all of the above was just to set the scene...........

For the past 2 months, I\'ve been working on the design of logos etc for the 4 priorities set by South Tyneside. I\'ve submitted for approval, several variations for each \"priority\" over that time.......not heard anything back about them..........\"good\" I thought.......WRONG !

Was informed thismorning that.... \"there are now 6 \"priorities\".........and by the way, we\'ve changed the titles for the other 4\"

Consequently........I\'ve now got to start from scratch AND come up with a further 2 sets of designs.

I knew time was getting tight on the deadline for having our LAA document submitted, so I asked when was the document going off to the printers...........\"THIS FRIDAY\", I was told.

Looks like I\'ve got another couple of sleepless nights coming up........

Probably won\'t be on here much until the weekend, so behave and play nicely when I\'m away.......lol



[Edited on 25/1/2006 by TC]

[mark]

Aaaahhhh.....welcome to the world of design and advertising!

just sacked one of my clients, as I\'d had enough of \"can we just.....?\" at the 11th hour.

you\'ll be buying a Mac next!


[Edited on 25/1/2006 by mark]

[willywetegg]

Tony, I really think you need a week away from work mate.

Not for your baenefit, For THERE\'S.

Jim.

[TC]

Lol Mark........this \"moving of goalposts\" is nothing new....infact I\'m pretty much used to that. What\'s realled pi*sed me off THIS time is that I was told thisfaternoon that that the priority titles had been changed 2 WEEKS ago and the extra 2 priorities were added then........of course - NOBODY told me until thismorning

BTW.........I can\'t very well \"sack\" my client..........lol (wish I could at times, mind......hahaha)


Jim, You might be right, m8......lol.......I\'m VERY tempted to fail to meet the deadline for this one, in an effort illustrate a point I\'ve been making to the \"powers that be\" for several years.



[Edited on 25/1/2006 by TC]

[willywetegg]

Sorry it took so long to reply mate, just done the forum lol.

I remember those days well mate. They do NOT happen any more as I don\'t need it.

I am still trying to educate my wife as to the ways of being \"Put onto by superiors\".

In my mind it is a form of bullying and will be stopped when you want it to be mate.

We all know it is great when you can sit back and exhale and smile and say \"You didn\'t think I could do it did you\".

But almost every day of your working life ?....... I don\'t think so mate..... that is called taking the pi££

Jim.

[TC]

Just a sign of the times, Jim.

Many people (and I\'m not just talking about those in Local Govt) are finding the pressures of workload being increased a mounting problem.

Another thing that really pi*sess me off (by - I\'m angry a lot these days, aren\'t I...lol), is how the public view those who work in Local Govt. Being involved with all the \"consultation\" events around the LAA, it was brought home that we are still seen by many as being work-shy, lazy, tea-swilling pen-pushers who have a \"job for life\".

I agree that there are a number who can quite easily be put into that category (I\'ve worked with some for many years an THAT pi*sess me off aswell.....lol), many people in Local Govt put in a ridiculously high number of hours to meet these stupid deadlines insisted upon by the Government.

Rant over.........oops - so is me coffee break (COFFEE????? - It\' s normally John Smiths at this hour)........back to work

[Edited on 25/1/2006 by TC]

[willywetegg]

I think it is really time for you to put your services out to tender mate.

There are a lot of people out there that REALLY NEED someone with your talents.

The pi$$ taking would just be a bonus for them. As it is for us mate lol.

Jim.

[TC]

Lol Jim,
Didn\'t you know?...........\"people in Local Government couldn\'t hack it in the outside world\"..........hahahaha

[Mike.Haley]

Know how you feel about the preasures of work TC. I have just been told that they are moving my office down into the warehouse so that I can \" keep an eye on the warehouse staff \". I honestley thought that was what we employed warehouse managers and supervisors for. I said if I have to do thier job as well, can we look at me getting part of thier salary? I think the second word of the reply was, OFF

[willywetegg]

Lol Tony, some people at the top of local government probably couldn\'t hack it in the outside world. Some of the people that keep them there however would probably manage quite well mate.

Jim.

[Mike.Haley]

Tony, Just bear in mind that being at the top end in government is a bit like mountain climbing. The higher you get, the thinner the air and the more it effects your ability to think straight.

[sless]

thats south tyneside council for you

[pottsy]

Unfortunately it isnt isolated to South Tyneside Council

[TC]

Very true, Ali.......and I don\'t imagine S.Tyneside is the worst, either.

All LAs are faced with these ridiculous Govt policies and timetables, I guess it\'s the different ways in which each LA sets about complying with the policies and adhering to the timetables which determines HOW they treat their staff.




[Edited on 26/1/2006 by TC]

[Mike.Haley]

All LA,s treat thier staff like mushrooms. Keep them in the dark and feed them with S**t every so often.