Civil & Public Service Stories

RATM · 22-01-2009 07:18PM #1

There must be tons of them, like you know the stories about how some in the civil and public service get away with 45 minute tea breaks, run sideline businesses from their desks etc.

Here's mine, it came from the horses mouth.

A Dublin Bus driver went on the razz after work. Stupidly he decided to drive home and got caught for drink driving after hammering his car into a wall. Anyway you would think that if you are a driver by profession and get convicted for drunk driving then its curtains for your career. Not in the case of Dublin Bus. The union backed him up and insisted he be re-deployed. The management thought they'd teach him a lesson by deploying him on permanent night-shifts.

His new position involved arriving at 9pm and finishing in the early hours. His new job was to go around the garage where all buses were parked for the night, empty the coin boxes and put the takings into the safe. So he had around 80 buses to get through, on a typical night he would be finished by 1am. At that point as all the work was done he was allowed to go home. For this he got paid for a regular 39 hour week but he rarely worked more than 20-25 hours.

On top of that he got a night shift allowance. He always thought it very funny that he could go home at 1am, open a bottle of whiskey and be getting paid to sit there and drink it. To add insult to injury there is a union rule that says if a worker finishes work when public transport isnt operational then the firm must pay for a taxi home. He took advantage of this too- every night a taxi dropped him home at a cost to Dublin Bus of €20.

After his one year license suspension was up management wanted him back driving buses. He had such a handy number that he requested to continue on emptying coin boxes. He said they found him to be honest with cash so he remains in the position to this day.

Unreal. Go drink driving, still hold on to your job and score an even easier one. Company pays for your taxi home because you lost your license and then you sit there and get pissed whilst getting paid for it.

Anyone ever hear of the 'Rubber Room' in An Post?

Pen1987 · 22-01-2009 07:23PM

Rubber Room? Tell us...

You could piss in the keyboard in most Civil Service jobs and not get fired.

Rob_l · 22-01-2009 07:28PM

Pen1987 wrote: »

Rubber Room? Tell us...

You could piss in the keyboard in most Civil Service jobs and not get fired.

why would you "piss in the keyboard"?

you would also have to be pretty small to fit in the keyboard

delta_bravo · 22-01-2009 07:29PM

Of course nothing like this ever happens in the private sector. Nothing happens like a board member is able to take a loan off the company for €120 million, a company which is audited by another private company. That is completely unheard of, carry on with the public service attacks but remember its not some clerical officers fault that things arent going too smoothly for you

Pen1987 · 22-01-2009 07:33PM

Rob_l wrote: »

why would you "piss in the keyboard"?

I don't know but I do know you would have to do something similar to risk getting sacked from the public service. That is a quote directly from a person working in the public service for a long, long time.

I had an alcoholic teacher in secondary school who I complained about to the Principal. I met with her and my parents we were told they'd been trying to get rid of him for years but couldn't...

RATM · 22-01-2009 07:34PM

Pen1987 wrote: »

Rubber Room? Tell us...

You could piss in the keyboard in most Civil Service jobs and not get fired.

Apparently it is a nickname for the room in which lots of management in An Post are based. They are surplus to requirements after a restructuring of the company but they cant be made redundant coz the union wont have it. They just sit in the rubber room all day doing crosswords and flicking rubber bands across the room and get paid for it. Some of them are on well over €60k p.a. and are literally paid to do nothing. Ive only heard this anecdotally so was hoping someone else might elaborate.

Rob_l · 22-01-2009 07:36PM

Pen1987 wrote: »

I don't know but I do know you would have to do something similar to risk getting sacked from the public service. That is a quote directly from a person working in the public service for a long, long time.

I had an alcoholic teacher in secondary school who I complained about to the Principal. I met with her and my parents we were told they'd been trying to get rid of him for years but couldn't...

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

I have worked in many private sector jobs and some of the things I did and was never sacked for; well they even feckin shock me and why did your parents let you go to a bad school, bad parents, i reckon! Were they civil servants too?

Pen1987 · 22-01-2009 07:37PM

delta_bravo wrote: »

Of course nothing like this ever happens in the private sector. Nothing happens like a board member is able to take a loan off the company for €120 million, a company which is audited by another private company. That is completely unheard of, carry on with the public service attacks but remember its not some clerical officers fault that things arent going too smoothly for you

I'm not saying PS workers don't work hard. I'm saying they can get away with working less easier than most private sector workers because it's harder to sack them. If you really wanted you could do just about enough to reach your PS job description and get away with it without too much hassle, you wouldn't get promoted, but you wouldn't be sackable. Try that in the private sector and someone would find some way to get rid of you. PS sector workers work hard, very hard in a lot of cases - and have to deal with a lot of red tape and a lot of bull, but the ones who don't want to move on in their career can get away just clocking up hours if they have that mindset.

Morlar · 22-01-2009 07:38PM

Once worked as an It contractor on a project for a commercial company.

This project had been a public sector-run one which they mostly outsourced to this commercial company who hired contractors in.

There was a continuing public sector involvement in the project.

It was routine for the public sector people involved in this project to be online 3 days a week. The rest of the time they were 'working offline from home'. They never attended meetings or conf calls.

The main player on the public sector side was pretty much a keyholder to the application and took 1 year career breaks. ie when I joined the project he was half way through a 1 year career break and when I left he was away again.

The public sector side documented NOTHING in order that no one could ever replace them. There was no concern about this from the management on their side.

Getting into the office at 12pm was not unheard of for the public sector people. Leaving the office at 2:30 pm (same person same day routinely) was not unheard of (for the pub sec peeps).

The slightest thing they were ever asked to do took literally 3 weeks. They regularly updated all the pc's in their building to shiney new ones including unused training rooms with new pc's which were totally beyond what they needed (including monitors and laptops).

Sending them an email was like sending a time capsule into a black hole.

The amount of ass covering was literally the worst I have ever seen in my entire career. Before working there I had no notion that the public sector in Ireland was so out of control.

They had a tendency to commission consultancy reports for any little thing, rather than ever make a desicion to which they could be accountable. One funny one I read cost €25k from a consultancy firm and It was to do with unix performance tuning and I can honestly (hand on heart) say I have read more comprehensive beginners linux faq's on the web.

€25k down the toilet - this was the norm and there were other examples there was literally no accountability on their side whatsoever. They spent a fortune on new logo and website design twice in 2 years they completely changed their logo and colours etc.

The concept of value for money or accountability was just not there. Things may have changed as that was several years ago but if I have my way I would never work in a project dealing directly with them again.

Pen1987 · 22-01-2009 07:42PM

Rob_l wrote: »

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

I have worked in many private sector jobs and some of the thinsg I did and was never sacked for well they even feckin shock me

and why did your parents let you go to a bad school bad parents i reckon were they civil servanst too?

Dead on, bad parents yeah. Is that what you're talking about? I can't tell with the lack of punctuation - seriously...

Rob_l · 22-01-2009 08:02PM

Pen1987 wrote: »

Dead on, bad parents yeah. Is that what you're talking about? I can't tell with the lack of punctuation - seriously...

:rolleyes:
Uh huh!

I am still wondering how someone got in a keyboard to piss.

gazzer · 22-01-2009 09:05PM

Pen1987 wrote: »

Rubber Room? Tell us...

You could piss in the keyboard in most Civil Service jobs and not get fired.

I must mention this to the 6 people that I worked with in various government departments who have been fired from the civil service over the last 4 years

Mark200 · 22-01-2009 09:35PM

gazzer wrote: »

I must mention this to the 6 people that I worked with in various government departments who have been fired from the civil service over the last 4 years

If you know 6 people who have pissed on their keyboards in work then you're hanging out with the wrong crowd

DublinWriter · 22-01-2009 09:37PM

RATM wrote: »

Anyone ever hear of the 'Rubber Room' in An Post?

I've had an ex-Customs man tell me about the 'Blue Room' in Customs, but that's another story...

K-9 · 22-01-2009 09:37PM

Mark200 wrote: »

If you know 6 people who have pissed on their keyboards in work then you're hanging out with the wrong crowd

Damn beat me to it!

If it was the Private Sector you'd have to buy a new keyboard, or wash it. Cutbacks!

Calhoun · 22-01-2009 09:37PM

know of a certain public authority who purchased a huge amount of computers for training ect. The plan was to store them and install them over the space of a year.

About a year and a half later there is still a huge amount of computers in storage and we were pushing them to install as we wanted to get rid of them from storage.

The end up turning around and saying they no longer had a need for them and we could return them without a refund. As the company no longer owned them management gave everyone a free system ( the specs were still pretty decent at the time) . It wasnt a small amount either it was about 250K's worth of equipment that went to waste .

We got some good use out of them though

turned mine into a home server .

DublinWriter · 22-01-2009 09:39PM

RATM wrote: »

Apparently it is a nickname for the room in which lots of management in An Post are based. They are surplus to requirements after a restructuring of the company but they cant be made redundant coz the union wont have it. They just sit in the rubber room all day doing crosswords and flicking rubber bands across the room and get paid for it.

They are known within An Post as 'teepees', as all they do at work in drink tea and go to the toilet.

Godge · 22-01-2009 09:46PM

There are stories about nearly every profession. From bankers on liquid lunches to the antics of stockbrokers, from estate agents to solicitors who solicit. Mostly urban myths, I presume, because apart form the An Post story above, the public sector ones listed are urban myths.

Funny how you don't hear much about medical consultants drink on the job or firemen holding hoses at the wrong end. But they are public sector workers doing a good job. oops, was that an obscenity I just wrote.

ElBarco · 22-01-2009 09:52PM

I was renewing my motor tax. They sent me out a form with a link and code to do it online.

So I did it with no hassle.

'twas gas

ChewChew · 22-01-2009 09:56PM

RATM wrote: »

There must be tons of them, like you know the stories about how some in the civil and public service get away with 45 minute tea breaks, run sideline businesses from their desks etc.

dude you're takin the píss?? boll*x off will ya with that crap. I work in the public sector and I dont get away with nothing!

infact i'm the one that has to deal with everyone else's crap.

NO it's not my fault A&E is overcrowded.
NO it's not my fault the waiting lists are so long.
NO it's not my fault Mary Harney is apparently incompetent of running the health service.
NO it's not my fault your appointment letter went missing in the post.
NO it's not my fault there was a misdiagnosis.

but I have to deal with this every single day. but every day I am there working in a hospital because I like you people. and I want to help!!!

/Rant

Kimbot · 22-01-2009 10:02PM

Seriously, how many threads of Public Servant/Civil Servant bashing needs to be on Boards?

Should we rename the site to:

www.boards.ie : Now your Civi Bashing?

I would like to hear all the stories of what people seen first hand (Not what someone said to you), which depts etc before I would believe any of this media driven tripe!!

Nermal · 22-01-2009 10:04PM

delta_bravo wrote: »

Of course nothing like this ever happens in the private sector. Nothing happens like a board member is able to take a loan off the company for €120 million, a company which is audited by another private company.

They're not paid out of taxes, bar the Anglo example, but I don't think anyone is presenting them as a model of efficiency.

Trinity · 22-01-2009 10:09PM

ChewChew wrote: »

dude you're takin the píss?? boll*x off will ya with that crap. I work in the public sector and I dont get away with nothing!

infact i'm the one that has to deal with everyone else's crap.

NO it's not my fault A&E is overcrowded.
NO it's not my fault the waiting lists are so long.
NO it's not my fault Mary Harney is apparently incompetent of running the health service.
NO it's not my fault your appointment letter went missing in the post.
NO it's not my fault there was a misdiagnosis.

but I have to deal with this every single day. but every day I am there working in a hospital because I like you people. and I want to help!!!

/Rant

+ 1.

I'm a civil servant that is actually civil

I try my best to help people and spend hours on the phone with them, following up, gathering info for them, calling them back, but being in Education i get the boll*x knocked out of me daily (verbally of course)

They take it out on the wrong people Chew, we dont make the rules unfortunately and we dont even have to agree with them but if it wasnt for co's fcuk all would get done.

You get a tea break in the morning and one in the afternoon. You can have a lunch up to 2 hours but you have to work the time back up by either coming in early or staying late. Well thats the ones that are on flexi time which is probably why it looks like a permanent break but we are on clocks and personnel are quick to contact you if your hours are down.

ChewChew · 22-01-2009 10:15PM

Trinity wrote: »

They take it out on the wrong people Chew, we dont make the rules unfortunately and we dont even have to agree with them but if it wasnt for co's fcuk all would get done.

in my dept I'm the one that follows up on the things the doctors 'forget' or mislaid. I'm the one that goes and pulls your chart from medical records (not my dept) and then brings it to a doctor to sign off on admittance approval.

so tell me this? where does the 45 minute tea break come in??

I love my job. Thats why I do it. but I dont get time to take a 5 minute tea break let alone a 45 minute one. I start work at 8am. I have a cup of tea and my breaky at my desk. i'm eating while working. I then take a half hour lunch. at my desk. and then I leave at 4.30!!!

:mad:

Trinity · 22-01-2009 10:18PM

ChewChew wrote: »

in my dept I'm the one that follows up on the things the doctors 'forget' or mislaid. I'm the one that goes and pulls your chart from medical records (not my dept) and then brings it to a doctor to sign off on admittance approval.

so tell me this? where does the 45 minute tea break come in??

I love my job. Thats why I do it. but I dont get time to take a 5 minute tea break let alone a 45 minute one. I start work at 8am. I have a cup of tea and my breaky at my desk. i'm eating while working. I then take a half hour lunch. at my desk. and then I leave at 4.30!!!

:mad:

Actually come to think of it, i dont take a tea break either, i eat at my desk as well! I run down for a quick smoke and then straight back into it. :mad:

This is why i never reply to these types of threads !

ChewChew · 22-01-2009 10:21PM

Trinity wrote: »

Actually come to think of it, i dont take a tea break either, i eat at my desk as well! I run down for a quick smoke and then straight back into it. :mad:

This is why i never reply to these types of threads !

We are clearly are the only 2 mugs in the public sector in that case!!! ppffftttt! :rolleyes:

The Master · 22-01-2009 10:24PM

ChewChew wrote: »

We are clearly are the only 3 mugs in the public sector in that case!!! ppffftttt! :rolleyes:

FYP you can include me in that , no cushy number for this public sector worker

ChewChew · 22-01-2009 10:26PM

The Master wrote: »

FYP you can include me in that , no cushy number for this public sector worker

Isn't it stomach turning though when someone like the muppet who started this thread goes and slates you when all you do is your best for them?? it really makes ya wonder 'why do I bother'

dny123456 · 22-01-2009 10:27PM

ChewChew wrote: »

Isn't it stomach turning though when someone like the muppet who started this thread goes and slates you when all you do is your best for them?? it really makes ya wonder 'why do I bother'

Would it be the money?

The Master · 22-01-2009 10:28PM

ChewChew wrote: »

Isn't it stomach turning though when someone like the muppet who started this thread goes and slates you when all you do is your best for them?? it really makes ya wonder 'why do I bother'

Exactly

Kimbot · 22-01-2009 10:32PM

Trinity wrote: »

Actually come to think of it, i dont take a tea break either, i eat at my desk as well! I run down for a quick smoke and then straight back into it. :mad:

Like most civil servants.

The media are looking for a scape goat for the down turn in the economy.

Realistically its the greedy developers that hired cheap labour and sold mental expensive houses that started the down turn. People couldn't afford the "Lego houses" that they were buying but still went and got in heavy debt to get "their" houses.

Think about the amount of labourers that went around boasting they were claiming the dole and working at the same time... is there multiple threads whinging about that on here??

Think about those scamming the disability, they can work but choose not to cos the tax payers cover it all!!

Think about all the idiots getting into stupid fights overs drugs and clogging up the healthcare system because they can't handle drink/drugs.

Pop into the motor forums on some sites and see how they are telling each other how to avoid paying VRT and Road Tax. Do they not deserve some of the blame?

Look at people importing/buying goods from Non-EU countrys that are avtively boasting about avoiding paying their taxes etc, should they not should some of the blame?

Or people that litter, draw graffiti on walls, destroy public property etc, should they not should some blame??

Drug addicts waste valuable garda resources, pranksters ringing the fire brigade/ambulance/gardai, nearly everyone at some point is going to have to hold their hands up and say "Yes, I contributed to this mess".

All of the above cost the tax payers a fortune every year, don't they?

Are any of those people getting some blame for this recession?? NO... so can anyone tell me why they aren't??

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