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Civil & Public Service Stories

13

Comments

  • #62
    Kimbot
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 19,071 Mod ✭✭✭✭Kimbot


    Saint_Mel wrote: »
    Yeah, I know (or should I say was told) overtime was cut or its on an
    approved need to do basis so its not just a matter of staying back and
    racking up the hours.

    My mate does seriously take the píssthough with sick days, Fridays are fairly
    non existant when he's been out for a few pints on a Thursday. Dunno how
    he gets/got away with it.


    Overtime has never really been big in the service in anyway and only very few people get the chance to do it.

    The problem is he might be pulling a fast one or taking its as annual leave. Max uncertified leave you are allowed in a 12 month period is 7 days. When you hit 6 days off HR flag your file and send you a letter saying that you are on 6 days within the previous 12 months.
    I know people that when they took 8 days uncertified leave in the 12 month period, they were sacked/knocked down the payscale (When they were knocked down the payscale they were not eligable to go for promotion for a number of years aswell.)


  • #63
    gazzer
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,051 ✭✭✭gazzer


    jonny24ie wrote: »
    Overtime has never really been big in the service in anyway and only very few people get the chance to do it.

    The problem is he might be pulling a fast one or taking its as annual leave. Max uncertified leave you are allowed in a 12 month period is 7 days. When you hit 6 days off HR flag your file and send you a letter saying that you are on 6 days within the previous 12 months.
    I know people that when they took 8 days uncertified leave in the 12 month period, they were sacked/knocked down the payscale (When they were knocked down the payscale they were not eligable to go for promotion for a number of years aswell.)

    A couple of people in my last department were sacked for excessive sick leave.


  • #64
    Kimbot
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 19,071 Mod ✭✭✭✭Kimbot


    gazzer wrote: »
    A couple of people in my last department were sacked for excessive sick leave.

    Yeah its becoming the norm now to get sacked for excessive sick leave. Has been like this from my experience in the last 4 years in 3-4 different depts.


  • #65
    not yet
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,008 ✭✭✭not yet


    All the fcuking stupid morons out there that stick it to the public sector... here are a couple of things to chew on........

    Most public sector workers have had to train etc for up to 5 years on crap money.

    There are then 5-7 points on a scale over 5-7 years before they reach the top point.

    Most ps workers have leaving cert standard,a big % have 3rd level etc.

    Are you telling me that the two unarmed cops who caught those to armed gangsters in coolock should take a pay cut.

    Most people in the ps are well educated,well motivated and care about what they do. Maybe it's the good for nothing, lazy fcuks claiming rent allowance of 1000 euro a month while scratching their fat arse watching jeremy fcuking kyle with 3 children by different fathers sponging off the state that you fools should look at.


  • #66
    The_Conductor
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 32,286 Mod ✭✭✭✭The_Conductor


    Saint_Mel wrote: »
    Yeah, I know (or should I say was told) overtime was cut or its on an approved need to do basis so its not just a matter of staying back and racking up the hours.

    My mate does seriously take the píssthough with sick days, Fridays are fairly non existant when he's been out for a few pints on a Thursday. Dunno how he gets/got away with it.

    If you are absent on either a Friday or a Monday its considered to be 3 days sick leave (the Saturday and the Sunday are also counted). So if you have more than 2 Fridays or Mondays uncertified off in a year- you can be fired, demoted or loose any rights to be considered for promotion etc.

    I don't know how he gets away with it either, to be perfectly honest. If I were he, I'd be very very careful, particularly in the current climate. Idiot.


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  • #67
    Gumbo
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 42,586 Mod ✭✭✭✭Gumbo


    Saint_Mel wrote: »
    Yeah, I know (or should I say was told) overtime was cut or its on an approved need to do basis so its not just a matter of staying back and racking up the hours.

    My mate does seriously take the píssthough with sick days, Fridays are fairly non existant when he's been out for a few pints on a Thursday. Dunno how he gets/got away with it.[/QUOTE]

    your mate is a liar full stop. all fridays and mondays staff are monitored and if you are out a friday or monday you need a doctors note.

    he doesnt do it oftan, he is a liar imo


  • #68
    Julesie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 401 ✭✭Julesie


    I work in the private sector for a management consultancy firm.

    One of my first projects for the company involved working on a project for a public sector client.

    This client had hired us to examine the feasibility of implementing a large computer system and begin the initial design. A team of about 20 worked for over 3 months on this until one day the client told us that they had neglected to actually ask for the budget to implement the system and had now been turned down as there was a general election coming.

    This ended the project, everything we had done was packaged up and I'm sure has not been even looked at since. This piece of pointless work cost close to €1,000,000 and that's not including the wages cost from the client side.

    While working on the project we were based in an office in North Dublin. To this day I could not tell you what a single person in that office of about 100 people was responsible for. The women at the set of desks next to me perfectly fit the stereotypical public sector slacker image. They rolled in late, took extended breaks, when at their desk seemed to be constantly on the phone to friends, family, relatives chatting about personal matters, left early (3.30/4pm on a normal weekday on a Friday it was a ghost town from lunch time). In some ways its not even their fault, I can act all high and mighty but really if someone was offering me a steady wage for me doing nothing would I really rock the boat. Personally I think the boredom would drive me beserk but who knows what I would actually do in the situation.

    For the likes of Chew Chew and others who I have no doubt do work long and hard at their jobs, does it not annoy you to see deadwood drift around you, not pulling their weight while also getting the same compensation? Perhaps incompetence isn't tolerated in your department so you don't have to put up with it but I have no doubt that there are departments like I have witnessed personally where it is endemic.

    And that's really the difference between public and private. I think the percentage of hard workers/slackers recruited into both sectors is probably about equal. Its just that once your found out in the private sector you are out the door. There generally is no union or bureacracy to hide behind. I think that is a good thing. Personally I work damn hard at my job and I want those who do not make the effort or hit the required grade to be cut, if only because I don't want to have to support them and have to make up for their shortcomings.

    So the bottom line is that, by no means is everybody in the public sector a waster but it does act as a good hiding place for one.


  • #69
    RATM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,591 ✭✭✭RATM


    Holy crap, when I started this thread I meant for it to be for witty humourous stories about the public service. I never meant it to turn into a "Im in the civil service and I work hard" thread. Lighten up AH, don't take yourselves so seriously:rolleyes:


  • #70
    deadwood
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,938 ✭✭✭deadwood


    Julesie wrote: »
    For the likes of Chew Chew and others who I have no doubt do work long and hard at their jobs, does it not annoy you to see deadwood drift around you, not pulling their weight while also getting the same compensation?
    HEY!


  • #71
    turbodiesel
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 643 ✭✭✭turbodiesel


    I have worked in the private sector from 1987 - 2008(Mostly transport related companies). I started in the Public service last March. It's not that people are lazy...It's just that everything has to be looked at from several angles as we're "open" to the public unlike the private sector. It's just a big awkward machine unwieldy machine to manouvier but i wouldn't say people in here are lazy....


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  • #72
    Wood
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 365 ✭✭Wood


    I'm in the civil service, i come in at least fifteen minutes late for work every day, and have done for the last 5 years.

    Now i do work my ass off when i bother to come in.

    But how many people on here would be in the same job after five years if you got the same wages as i do? 430 quid a week? People get more on the dole.

    When i started my wages were 300 a week. Barely over minimum wage at the time. Job security yeah great. but try to existy on that money and you'll find it hard.

    My old boss used to come in, clock in, leave his coat on his chair and head off into buswells hotel for a couple of glasses of wine while reading his paper, every day. He'd come back after lunch then go on his tea break, and get someone else to clock him out. He's on 60k per year?


  • #73
    Warper
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,377 ✭✭✭Warper


    If everyone thinks the public service is so great - why didnt they apply for a job in it?
    Now that the bad times have come surely it cannot be the private sector's fault - it must be the public sector?
    I think this recession is great - i am still creaming in 60k a year plus OT, sick days, extra holidays - ya it feels good and the private sector can go and suck my c***. They are all just jealous now let me get back to surfing the net.
    After all this is what the private sector wants to hear isnt it:D


  • #74
    John Mason
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 10,661 ✭✭✭✭John Mason


    i work my ass off in my job.

    okay with a bit of boards time in between, as does the private sector.

    i work over-time every month without being paid for it.

    The voluntary redundancy in my place have just been listed. my department is going from 10 people to 3, i can bearly cope with my work load as it is. and i have had to a 2.5% pay cut this year but the yearly pay raise has been frozen.

    we will find out about the compulsory redundancies next week, so i might not even have a job

    Oh yeah, no christmas bonus, having to pay for your own christmas parties, not even one christmas drink. having to buy our own tea, coffee and cleaning products for the kitchen. i could go on but whats the point


    you cant tar everyone with the same brush

    i am so tired and listening to how the public service never do any work and are lazy.


  • #75
    Saibh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,431 ✭✭✭✭Saibh


    Wood wrote: »

    My old boss used to come in, clock in, leave his coat on his chair and head off into buswells hotel for a couple of glasses of wine while reading his paper, every day. He'd come back after lunch then go on his tea break, and get someone else to clock him out. He's on 60k per year?
    Warper wrote: »
    If everyone thinks the public service is so great - why didnt they apply for a job in it?
    Now that the bad times have come surely it cannot be the private sector's fault - it must be the public sector?
    I think this recession is great - i am still creaming in 60k a year plus OT, sick days, extra holidays - ya it feels good and the private sector can go and suck my c***. They are all just jealous now let me get back to surfing the net.
    After all this is what the private sector wants to hear isnt it:D


    Looks like your boss also has time to post on Boards


  • #76
    limericklady87
    Closed Accounts Posts: 102 ✭✭limericklady87


    i know this sounds like bashing but again imo there is a serious amount of inneffiency going on in these govt depts. I worked for 8 months last year in a ceratin part of the cs in dublin where it was absolutely shocking what went on.
    Firstly it was an old office so there was no clock in machine...we had a book. I can tell you this was seriously taken advantage of...myself included and i dont feel sorry for doing so because if the higher management copped on or WERE EVEN IN THEMSELVES it may not happen.

    Also one women who was a HEO used to just grab her handbag and leave without telling anyone to get her hair blowdried twice a week every week. She would be in for 10ish leave at around 12 to get the hair done and be back for half 2 maybe. out the door again come half4 at the latest.

    another woman took parental leave to go and get a boob job done in poland or some other eu country.

    yes some people there were lovely and really did their job and worked hard but the people there any length of time seemed to ahve a very cushy number.

    Id love to join now when i ahve my degree but seems like the good times may come to an end there.


  • #77
    stevoman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,041 ✭✭✭stevoman


    If the Public service is so great and so easy why hasnt everyone in the country looked to join.

    All this is public service bashing and no more. Its not the Public servants fault that a lot of people in the private sector thought that they gravy train was going to last forever.

    I bet all the complainers havnt had a peep to complain about when times were good.


  • #78
    The_Conductor
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 32,286 Mod ✭✭✭✭The_Conductor


    stevoman wrote: »
    If the Public service is so great and so easy why hasnt everyone in the country looked to join.

    Pretty much because all appointments are based on merit- you have to sit aptitude tests which over 90% of applicants fail, before you ever get to interview- of which 3/4 of interviewees fail to make the appointment panel- i.e. less than 2.5% of overall applicants are considered of a sufficiently high calibre for appointment- and of the 2.5% who do make it- they are put on a waiting list for up to 2 years- at which stage if they have not been placed, they are back at the beginning of the process all over again.

    The reason everyone isn't looking to join- is simply because the vast majority of people wouldn't pass the recruitment procedures. Full stop.

    Things have changed an awful lot since the advent of the Public Appointments Service- an awful lot for the better.


  • #79
    ART6
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,629 ✭✭✭ART6


    Running a small engineering company, I am of the confirmed opinion that the public sector in this country is entirely out of control. But I don't blame the people who work in it. If someone applies for a job in the PS and then finds it's a non-job with nothing to do, what should he do? Resign in principle? We all have to earn a living and that's not always easy to come by. The people I blame are the incompetent politicians who have for years made a habit of creating entirely unnecessary departments and quangos (400 of them at the last count I believe) to boost their own empires and to avoid making any worthwhile decisions. I blame the top management who couldn't manage a piss up in a brewery, and who spend vast sums on consultants, seeking advice on how to run their departments when they are paid more than enough to be expected to do so without that advice. I blame the ministers whose contact with the real world is illusory and who cave in to the unions at the slightest hint of conflict. Let's face it, going by what we have seen in the media of late, the average civil servant has got a long way to go to catch up with the greed, incompetence, lavish expenses and pensions, and salaries of our elected representatives:(


  • #80
    ixoy
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 18,100 Mod ✭✭✭✭ixoy


    smccarrick wrote: »
    The reason everyone isn't looking to join- is simply because the vast majority of people wouldn't pass the recruitment procedures. Full stop.
    Would you not admit that many of the public servants who people are complaining about are those who got in before the current procedure? There's no way in hell some of the slackers I see around me should have been able to get past those merit-based tests so I can only assume they got in before them. We need time for them to be crapped out of the system and the newer, fresher bodies to maybe start rejuvenating it a bit more.


  • #81
    The_Conductor
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 32,286 Mod ✭✭✭✭The_Conductor


    I agree with a lot of what you are saying.
    There are a shocking number of quangoes which were created by incompetent politicians who often are perceived to be pandering to parochial politics and not have the good of the country at heart. There are also a lot of needless appointments of outside consultants when there is very high quality internal expertise in the civil service that Ministers simply don't want to listen to.

    I once asked and was told that there was no register of people's qualifications and experiences in the civil service- that people are randomly allocated to divisions and sections without any cognisance of their often great expertise, is frankly ridiculous. That is in my opinion the greatest fault in the civil service.


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  • #82
    The_Conductor
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 32,286 Mod ✭✭✭✭The_Conductor


    ixoy wrote: »
    Would you not admit that many of the public servants who people are complaining about are those who got in before the current procedure? There's no way in hell some of the slackers I see around me should have been able to get past those merit-based tests so I can only assume they got in before them. We need time for them to be crapped out of the system and the newer, fresher bodies to maybe start rejuvenating it a bit more.

    Certainly- a lot of them most probably are people who got in before the current procedure. Also keep in mind that the government used to view the civil service as a dumping ground for manipulating unemployment figures. Thats what the view was in the 1980s. A lot of the people recruited at that time who are patently unsuitable, are what people think of when they start bitching about the civil service.

    If we are to wait for all of these people to retire- it could be another 20 years- meanwhile all those well qualified highly motivated people who are recruited in the interim are probably getting disillusioned beyond all comprehension- they can work their arses off but be treated in an identical manner to someone who only goes through the motions.

    If you have a look at the demographics of the civil service it speaks volumes- its slightly over 68% female with an average age of 53. Its also the smallest civil service per head of population in the entire OECD (though the public have problems recognising the difference between the public sector and the civil service (the civil service is less than 10% of the public sector, and accounts for less than 7% of the public sector paybill........))

    The bulk of recruitment which occurred in the public sector over the past 10 years is almost exclusively in the HSE. Teachers, Gardai etc- had small percentage increases in their headcounts, the numbers of prison officers and civil servants has fallen- but the number of non-medical staff attached to the HSE has mushroomed. They are not the only offendors of course- I'd love to see a breakdown of the number of staff attached to the different quangoes and their raison d'etre.

    S.


  • #83
    ChewChew
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,367 ✭✭✭✭ChewChew


    ixoy wrote: »
    Would you not admit that many of the public servants who people are complaining about are those who got in before the current procedure? There's no way in hell some of the slackers I see around me should have been able to get past those merit-based tests so I can only assume they got in before them. We need time for them to be crapped out of the system and the newer, fresher bodies to maybe start rejuvenating it a bit more.
    I'm on temporary contracts for the last 3 years. they only made me permanent the week before christmas. but when I started I had to do the interviews and be placed on the panel. I was very lucky and did well enough to be placed 1st on the panel but then I had to go and get a medical done and do all the garda clearance crap, not that I mean. at least my employer knows I'm a good person outside the workplace! Now that I have my permanency for the same job I have been doing since the day I started I had to travel to limerick to have a 10 minute interview to be placed 1st again on the Dublin north panel, I had to go and do a medical again and get Garda clearance. allto stay in the exact same job I've been doing since I started. I know lotsof people like that who are sincerely dedicated to their job and enjoy it, love it, and want to do it right. even if that means taking only a half hour lunch break. so its just so disheartening when people come along (i'm not saying you at all-lol) and bash EVERYONE who works in the government and claims they are lazy.

    Actually. . . I think it's jealousy!


  • #84
    Pen1987
    Closed Accounts Posts: 870 ✭✭✭Pen1987


    stevoman wrote: »
    If the Public service is so great and so easy why hasnt everyone in the country looked to join.

    All this is public service bashing and no more. Its not the Public servants fault that a lot of people in the private sector thought that they gravy train was going to last forever.

    I bet all the complainers havnt had a peep to complain about when times were good.


    Thats a stupid argument. Not everyone wants a job in the public service - for various reasons. Not everyone wants an easy job in fact, many find cushy numbers frustrating and time-wasting, they want something productive or tangible to do for job satisfaction.

    Not that you can't get either of those in the PS - just that saying "why don't you join it then and stop moaning" is a foolish suggestion/point.


  • #85
    Chips Lovell
    Moderators, Politics Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,279 Mod ✭✭✭✭Chips Lovell


    limericklady87 wrote: »
    another woman took parental leave to go and get a boob job done in poland or some other eu country.

    Parental leave is unpaid. As long as you have a kid you're entitled to it and it doesn't matter what you do while you are away.


  • #86
    ChewChew
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,367 ✭✭✭✭ChewChew


    Pen1987 wrote: »
    Thats a stupid argument. Not everyone wants a job in the public service - for various reasons. Not everyone wants an easy job in fact, many find cushy numbers frustrating and time-wasting, they want something productive or tangible to do for job satisfaction.

    Not that you can't get either of those in the PS - just that saying "why don't you join it then and stop moaning" is a foolish suggestion/point.

    you for real? are you actually saying that every job in the public sector is cushy? frustrating & time wasting? what about doctors, nurses, physcologists, radiographers, interpreters, physiotherapists, anesthetists, administrators, clerical, security, porters, attendants, aids are all cushy numbers & time wasting????


  • #87
    sunnyjim
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,302 ✭✭✭sunnyjim


    ChewChew wrote: »
    you for real? are you actually saying that every job in the public sector is cushy? frustrating & time wasting? what about doctors, nurses, physcologists, radiographers, interpreters, physiotherapists, anesthetists, administrators, clerical, security, porters, attendants, aids are all cushy numbers & time wasting????

    No one in this thread said anything about doctors, nurses etc being lazy or timewasting. Nearly all the complaints have been about admin and clerical in the PS/CS.
    and bash EVERYONE who works in the government and claims they are lazy.

    Actually. . . I think it's jealousy!

    No not really. We are just annoyed seeing how badly spent our hard-earned tax money is being spent.


  • #88
    waxon-waxoff
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 395 ✭✭waxon-waxoff


    Gardai that are based full time in an office get a €600 clothing allowance because they dont have to wear a uniform. Anyone out there that gets a shirt and tie allowance from their employer? Didnt think so.....


  • #89
    m5ex9oqjawdg2i
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11,217 ✭✭✭✭m5ex9oqjawdg2i


    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. 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.

    I'm calling bull**** on this one... sitting around doing nothing for 39 hours a week. You're just pissed off you're working in the private sector, working crappy hours making far less than same job in public sector. You're a begrudger.

    Muppets bashing sectors and jobs based on pure jealousy. Gardai are **** for getting uniform allowance, bla bla bla, they do it in AIB. The suit you get might have AIB on it, but you get an allowance for it. (You're not paid into your account) So what if a certain job has a perk. Quit your job if your that unhappy about it.

    Ye should have bitched about it years ago, and to the right people.


  • #90
    Trinity
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,662 ✭✭✭Trinity


    sunnyjim wrote: »
    Nearly all the complaints have been about admin and clerical in the PS/CS.

    No not really. We are just annoyed seeing how badly spent our hard-earned tax money is being spent.


    Yes there are dossers, yes there are lazy *****. I think there are in most professions.

    But you can be sure for every lazy **** not doing his job there is someone else carrying his weight cos at the end of the day the job has to be done.

    For every incompetent there is someone left fixing his mistakes and getting fcuk all thanks for it.

    I'm sure there are aul fellas just waiting to retire, been at the job 40 years and is still nothing more than a number, taking the flack over the years for the governments imcompetence, being in the firing line from the public, its not exactly easy now to pick the phone and speak to the ministers so what you get is someone like me on the other end of the phone.

    There are older women who were in the service in the day when it was the law to retire when you got married, and they had to take them back in when these laws changed afaik.

    There are flaws most certainly but i do think these will be addressed, certainly personnel in my department have clamped down and gotten a lot more strict.

    Our pay increases are paid on merit, they are not automatic. If someone over you says you are not doing your job right you dont get your raise simple as.

    The aptitude test for getting in is a piece of piss imho, i got in the top 10% in both co and eo exams out of a couple of thousand people. But i wasnt allowed go further cos i didnt sit my leaving cert so while you may get in if you wing the test, you probably wont go any further without the proper pieces of paper.


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  • #91
    The_Conductor
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 32,286 Mod ✭✭✭✭The_Conductor


    sunnyjim wrote: »
    No one in this thread said anything about doctors, nurses etc being lazy or timewasting. Nearly all the complaints have been about admin and clerical in the PS/CS. No not really. We are just annoyed seeing how badly spent our hard-earned tax money is being spent.

    Largely because of mostly unsubstantiated media reports which suggest all sorts of shenanigans in the Public Sector and Civil Service, which no-one ever officially refutes.

    If the staff in RTE were reminded that they too are public sector employees, and subject to the same pay cuts and recruitment freezes as elsewhere- they probably would change their tune rather rapidly.

    If you want to see a thread bashing the medical profession look here.

    Everyone is angry about how appalling our tax money is being spent- but expenditure is controlled by politicians, not the civil servants or the public sector...... Its the shower of **** that we voted in time and time again at the elections who have sold this country up the creek- primarily to their developer buddies. The public sector certainly has an awful lot wrong with it- but its being used as a scape goat by the government in the media- and the media are happily lapping up the story (as indeed they tend to lap up all the stories from government).

    Something to think about- the potential bad debts the government assumed when they nationalised Anglo- are sufficient to run the entire public sector for just under 4 years. These bad debts belong to developers in the main. Where are the lynch mob when we badly need to tar a proper target?


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