Tayls Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 (edited) Sorry to hear this Stewie. Now is the time to see if you can take on any courses to improve employability into other areas. If employers ask why you left you can simply say that the culture changed and you felt it necessary to leave now. There are whole variety of reasons why you may have wanted to leave. The opticians cannot say that you were sacked as it is denying you an opportunity for employment. I would suggest speaking with your recent employers to make sure they will just confirm dates of employment and nothing more/less. Good luck, keep us updated. Edited July 23, 2015 by Tayls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StewieGriffin Posted July 24, 2015 Author Share Posted July 24, 2015 Hopefully found an opening with a rival competitor this morning - had looked at it as a backup last week, but didnt apply at the time. Ended up kicking myself when I saw the role was no longer advertised - called up, gave a bit of bluff about how id applied but my laptop timed out etc, and turns out the job is still open but isnt online for whatever reason. Fired off the old CV and cover letter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hycus-flange Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 You know them 8 people who are going to ring in sick etc. They won't!!!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PongRiddims Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 You know them 8 people who are going to ring in sick etc. They won't!!!!!! Yep, in agreement with this. It won't help anyway, if they wanted to show solidarity it should've been before now. Good luck with future endeavours anyway, you're better off out of there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post StewieGriffin Posted August 7, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 7, 2015 Small update... Posted my 7 page appeal/rant on Wednesday night, so that should hit people's desks today. 90% of the staff at work sent a letter of protest to Head Office, and a slightly smaller group put in a mass grievance against the store manager over long standing issues, and it seems my treatment was the final straw. Anyway, screw that - got myself a new job this morning. Vastly better hours and a 2k pay-rise working in the same industry but away from the retail side. Temporary leading to permanent, but that's a standard these days I guess 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted August 7, 2015 Moderator Share Posted August 7, 2015 Small update... Posted my 7 page appeal/rant on Wednesday night, so that should hit people's desks today. 90% of the staff at work sent a letter of protest to Head Office, and a slightly smaller group put in a mass grievance against the store manager over long standing issues, and it seems my treatment was the final straw. Anyway, screw that - got myself a new job this morning. Vastly better hours and a 2k pay-rise working in the same industry but away from the retail side. Temporary leading to permanent, but that's a standard these days I guess Well that's good to hear. Hopefully all's well that ends well for you in all of this. No doubt very scary at the time but you've come out the other side when you were doubting yourself initially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozzavfc Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Small update... Posted my 7 page appeal/rant on Wednesday night, so that should hit people's desks today. 90% of the staff at work sent a letter of protest to Head Office, and a slightly smaller group put in a mass grievance against the store manager over long standing issues, and it seems my treatment was the final straw. Anyway, screw that - got myself a new job this morning. Vastly better hours and a 2k pay-rise working in the same industry but away from the retail side. Temporary leading to permanent, but that's a standard these days I guess Power to the people! And congrats on the new job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westholmevillan Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Would you like to be my friend? You'll find it on the specsavers Facebook page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krisagg75 Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 great news,just be careful with your social networks. great to hear your 2k better off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StewieGriffin Posted August 7, 2015 Author Share Posted August 7, 2015 Definitely learnt the social media lesson - won't be back on there. westholme it wasn't them I worked for, it was the other very well known high street opticians 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PompeyVillan Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Stevie, join Unison. Seriously. If you had gone into that first meeting with an area rep from Unison rather than a well meaning friend, your employer would have crapped themselves. Even the best HR departments are wary of formidable union support, that HR department clearly didn't know what they were doing. You may well have still been sacked, but they would have had to follow the procedure by the book. And in this circumstance, the union would may have paid any legal fees necessary to take action if they felt you had a case. Also your employer would have known all this. Some employers will try to bully you, and sometimes you need a bit of help. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Join ASLEF. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Wow, nice one Stewie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lapal_fan Posted August 10, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted August 10, 2015 TELL US WHAT YOU SAID FOR CHRIST SAKE MAAAAAAAAN!! 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Stevie, join Unison. Seriously. If you had gone into that first meeting with an area rep from Unison rather than a well meaning friend, your employer would have crapped themselves. Even the best HR departments are wary of formidable union support, that HR department clearly didn't know what they were doing. You may well have still been sacked, but they would have had to follow the procedure by the book. And in this circumstance, the union would may have paid any legal fees necessary to take action if they felt you had a case. Also your employer would have known all this. Some employers will try to bully you, and sometimes you need a bit of help. A cautionary tale amid the Union love in. I had a grievance made against me by a woman who I'd refused sick leave off work for her to have her non-PIP breast implants removed. There was no health concern and no suggestion her implants were a health risk. To cut a long story short there was a significant breach of confidentiality and the ladies health record and the nature of her procedure became public knowledge during the process. I was blamed for this as well as the grievance grew. When HR came in to investigate me they tracked down the source of the breach....... the Union rep - who had put full details of the health concerns into an email and sent it to HR, management, her witnesses and colleages etc. The moral of this story - Unions are great as long as your rep isn't a total tosser. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enda Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Join ASLEF. Join ISIS. More seriously, congrats Stewie. Delighted for you. An extra two grand per year is about 600 Balti pies. Treat the North Stand! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Well done on the new job. p.s did your 8 ex work colleagues ring in sick in the end? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PongRiddims Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 Stevie, join Unison. Seriously. If you had gone into that first meeting with an area rep from Unison rather than a well meaning friend, your employer would have crapped themselves. Even the best HR departments are wary of formidable union support, that HR department clearly didn't know what they were doing. You may well have still been sacked, but they would have had to follow the procedure by the book. And in this circumstance, the union would may have paid any legal fees necessary to take action if they felt you had a case. Also your employer would have known all this. Some employers will try to bully you, and sometimes you need a bit of help. A cautionary tale amid the Union love in. I had a grievance made against me by a woman who I'd refused sick leave off work for her to have her non-PIP breast implants removed. There was no health concern and no suggestion her implants were a health risk. To cut a long story short there was a significant breach of confidentiality and the ladies health record and the nature of her procedure became public knowledge during the process. I was blamed for this as well as the grievance grew. When HR came in to investigate me they tracked down the source of the breach....... the Union rep - who had put full details of the health concerns into an email and sent it to HR, management, her witnesses and colleages etc. The moral of this story - Unions are great as long as your rep isn't a total tosser. And a good proportion of union reps these days are absolutely useless freeloaders in my experience. I'm all for unions but better reps are needed for that precise reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PompeyVillan Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 Stevie, join Unison. Seriously. If you had gone into that first meeting with an area rep from Unison rather than a well meaning friend, your employer would have crapped themselves. Even the best HR departments are wary of formidable union support, that HR department clearly didn't know what they were doing. You may well have still been sacked, but they would have had to follow the procedure by the book. And in this circumstance, the union would may have paid any legal fees necessary to take action if they felt you had a case. Also your employer would have known all this. Some employers will try to bully you, and sometimes you need a bit of help.A cautionary tale amid the Union love in. I had a grievance made against me by a woman who I'd refused sick leave off work for her to have her non-PIP breast implants removed. There was no health concern and no suggestion her implants were a health risk. To cut a long story short there was a significant breach of confidentiality and the ladies health record and the nature of her procedure became public knowledge during the process. I was blamed for this as well as the grievance grew. When HR came in to investigate me they tracked down the source of the breach....... the Union rep - who had put full details of the health concerns into an email and sent it to HR, management, her witnesses and colleages etc. The moral of this story - Unions are great as long as your rep isn't a total tosser. And a good proportion of union reps these days are absolutely useless freeloaders in my experience. I'm all for unions but better reps are needed for that precise reason. I don't trust our internal elected reps at work, but the Oxfordshire area rep is excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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