Anything good to say about the Public Sector?

relax carry on

Just been reading through several threads which touch on the public sector and it got me thinking, does anyone actually have anything good to say about the Public and Civil Service?

So how about it, has anyone any genuine experience of good service from either the Public or Civil Service. To be clear, this thread is about actual good service and not an area to vent about waste, salaries etc. Also not a troll as I'm a civil servant and would like to hear someone say something good about us.

drdeadlift

popcorn time

chin_grin

drdeadlift wrote: »

popcorn time

Even better.

amacca

drdeadlift wrote: »

popcorn time

d'ya want a coke wid dat bud?

sheesh

Well at least they make the trains run on time...........

Benny_Cake

I'm also a civil servant - they pay me to do the job, so on a personal level that's something good! I've found that most of the people I've worked with here have a real sense of professionalism which gives the lie to many of the stereotypes - certainly as much as the private sector companies I've worked in.

drdeadlift

sheesh wrote: »

Well at least they make the trains run on time...........

How much was the ticket?

chin_grin

drdeadlift wrote: »

How much was the ticket?

Oh no you dih-nt!

drdeadlift

Benny_Cake wrote: »

I'm also a civil servant - they pay me to do the job, so on a personal level that's something good! I've found that most of the people I've worked with here have a real sense of professionalism which gives the lie to many of the stereotypes - certainly as much as the private sector companies I've worked in.

What exactly do you do?

Frank Black

Deal with people in the PS all the time through work - most of them hard-working dedicated individuals with just a few lazy workshy knobs.
The difference is, the workshy knobs would get fired from the private sector, but in the public sector they don't, and they end up giving everyone else a bad rep.

chin_grin

drdeadlift wrote: »

What exactly do you do?

And what's it to you?

neil_hosey

i broke my ankle a few months ago and i only had to wait in A and E for 12 hours!! it was amaze-balls!!

Freddie59

black francis wrote: »

The difference is, the workshy knobs would get fired from the private sector,

Not necessarily........

BraziliaNZ

I used to work there for years. I'm in a thriving internet based company now, and I'm doing a bit of work here and there, but I still sit on the internet all day, on boards, facebook, news sites etc, reading and chatting to my mates. I do sporadic bits of work. Had a meeting yesterday and my boss is really pleased with my progress and already talking about promotions. I'm getting paid more here than I was in the Irish civil service. At my last job in London I was doing even less.

Moral of the story. Ok civil servants have a rep for being lazy, not doing much, but since moving the the private sector, I'm doing less, and getting paid more, and my internet isn't locked down like it previously was, and nothing is monitored. Just sharing my experiences.

chin_grin

neil_hosey wrote: »

i broke my ankle a few months ago and i only had to wait in A and E for 12 hours!! it was amaze-balls!!

Should have been more careful then, shouldn't ya? :pac:

DrumSteve

If you take the L out of it, it would be called the Pubic Sector.

*Childish giggle*

kowloon

They do seem to get an excessive amount of hate. The public sector covers a lot of people with widely varying jobs. People seem to forget this when they go on rants about all those public sector workers with massive salaries and generous pensions. That and the fact that outrage sells the papers.

Julie London

The nurses in Regional Limerick delivered my lovely daughter safely. So thats a plus. But some of the nurses were rude. One in particular told me I had small nipples and my child was starving cos of them!, as I was trying to breastfeed. Really effected me.
Had to pay 250 to get my uncle seen privately as he was put on a 2 year long waiting list for severe ringing in his ears. Havent got much to say about consultants seeing as they charge 250 for a private consultation for most things I really have no respect for them.
Have no gripe with the guards as I have no exp with them.

chin_grin

Julie London wrote: »

The nurses in Regional Limerick delivered my lovely daughter safely. So thats a plus. But some of the nurses were rude. One in particular told me I had small nipples and my child was starving cos of them!, as I was trying to breastfeed. Really effected me.
Had to pay 250 to get my uncle seen privately as he was put on a 2 year long waiting list for severe ringing in his ears. Havent got much to say about consultants seeing as they charge 250 for a private consultation for most things I really have no respect for them.
Have no gripe with the guards as I have no exp with them.

So..............this nurse...............was she hot? Did she.............check them.............for you? <gets wah pedal>

bleg

Revenue are speedy.

Coronary problems in the emergency room are looked after very well.

ejmaztec

Julie London wrote: »

The nurses in Regional Limerick delivered my lovely daughter safely. .

How do they compare with DHL?

Stiffler2

No, absolutely nothing nice to say about them.
The public service is there to serve the public & imo shouldn't be allowed to turn a profit.

Average Wage of Public worker = €36,000
Average Wage of Private worker = €28,000

Public sector unions holds the government to ransom all the time unless they get their own way.

Example on why they shouldn't be allowed to turn a profit - eg - Dublin Bus
The Bus system should generate just enough cash to pay for the upkeep of the buses, pay salaries to bus drivers etc etc... just like a real business instead of being run into the ground.

Bla bla bla etc etc rant rant

Woops, I mean...... No - nothing nice to say

chin_grin

ejmaztec wrote: »

How do they compare with DHL?

Forseps behind IMO.

mathepac

This is just one of my recent experiences helping neighbours with various claims.

Joan was granted Disability Allnce (188 pw), Living-alone Allnce (7.70 pw) and fuel Allnce (20.00 pw) and on that basis applied for the House-hold Benefits Package (TV licence, Phone & ESB Allowance)

The TV licence was granted, ESB granted and backdated to the date of her claim, but the Phone Allnce was only granted from the current month.

With PAYG phones the problem is that the top-up vouchers don't identify the phone number and could be anyones. We got on to Tescos and they printed out a history of her top-ups including the phone no. the top-ups were applied to and I sent that in with any accompanying letter to the deciding officer.

Within a week Joan had the arrears on her Phone Allnce paid by cheque (€100 in time for Christmas). Fair play to Tescos (I have my differences with them from time to time) and the deciding officer in the Sligo House-hold Benefits section.

I have since discovered that for Tesco PAYG customers, if you register for the free web-texts, you can print and extract all kinds of information about your phone / account. It's a very useful facility.

Millicent

bleg wrote: »

Revenue are speedy.

+1 I've always found them massively helpful and friendly too. Really don't lve up to the evil taxman stereotype.

Noopti

DrumSteve wrote: »

If you take the L out of it, it would be called the Pubic Sector.

*Childish giggle*

And if you add an "s" to private sector you get the "privates sector".... :pac:

So Pubic vs Privates - it's all the same, can't we just all get along???

StephenHendry

work in the p.s. , have dealt with some really good, professional people who do their job very well. then on the other hand some you'd describe as 'workshy' to put it mildly. im sure there's those in every organisations. whatever people say about the ps, we deliver some really essential services like housing, education, welfare, health etc.

DaveNoCheese

Millicent wrote: »

+1 I've always found them massively helpful and friendly too. Really don't lve up to the evil taxman stereotype.

I work with the big bad tax man and tis nice to hear that tbh.

The public sector as a whole gets awful publicity!

pow wow

Revenue are a bajillion times more efficient than their British counterparts and at least the recruitment freeze means some bolshy 17 year-old with attitude problems doesn't answer your call like they do in the UK.

Nowt complimentary to add about the rest of the PS

woodoo

One good thing about the public service is that is is lucky enough to have a super employee like me.

seamus

Revenue & CRO are good. They're efficient at their work and quick to embrace technologies which improve efficiency.

Other public sector workers can be...less so. I remember chatting to a woman in her 50's very late one evening at a party, she was a radiographer in a hospital. I told her what I do and in an effort to summarise/condense it down, I told her that I look at very manual and time-consuming processes and work out ways to automate them and make them quicker.
She instantly stiffened and told me, "Ooh I don't like that. You put people out of jobs". :rolleyes:

I think the main problem with the public sector is the unions moreso than the workers themselves. Unions harp on about theirs ideas of right and entitlements, but rarely address the responsibilities of the workers. I've worked on contract for a university and what struck me there was very much the attitude of, "I'm taking everything that I'm entitled to in my contract, and never doing the tiniest bit of work more than I have to".
This comes down to ridiculous things like a 30-minute "breakfast break" 20 minutes after you start, another 15-minute break at 11am, followed by a 90 minute lunch at 1pm, followed by another 15-minute break at 3.45pm, then you go home at 5.
There's never any question of anyone taking their breaks. I once said, "Nah I'm grand I'll stay here", rather than spend 15 minutes sitting in the canteen struggling to find things to talk about, and I was looked at like I had 12 heads.
It's a union thing, an us -v- them attitude that unions like to push in these workplaces to ensure that staff always think the management are trying to screw them.

In the private sector, I've only seen this same attitude in union workplaces. In non-union workplaces, the staff treatment is just as good (if not better), but nobody feels this sense that you must take every break you're entitled to. If you need a break, you take a break. If you have something to do, then you do it.