Nice one Nick sounds positive.

WorKid wrote:

Word of warning - it can be a nightmare getting a mortgage if you are self employed, so if you are thinking of moving then just think about timing. You'd probably need at least two years of good earnings to show and even then you might find they lend conservatively.

I spoke to halifax about this recently. They are in their words contractor friendly. i asked about 18mths worth of books, and was told in my instance as id been a customer for so long they wouldn't be necessary. all theoretical though, but i get what you mean wordkid

Mortgages are doable, I did it without a partner to support it as well.
I had 3 years records which helped but the main thing they wanted was proof of day rate, so a contract or letter that covers at least a month of employment at that rate.
At that point the weren't bothered about my annual earnings and just based it on my day rate, regardless of if I could secure 200+ days a year at that rate.
My mortgage offer was far in excess of what I would have realistically been able to pay back, I was sensible enough to realise that of course and only took about 60% of what was offered.

What I did find is the mortgage broker at Connell's didn't have a clue about contractor mortgages. I got my initial offer through a specialist, the Connell's broker then rang the provider and got me a better offer, very weird.

Fact is more and more people are working for themselves these days, as a result the banks are becoming more accommodating.

The only real downside is there are less products available. Then again last week I secured a two year fixed mortgage at 1.89% as my last two year term was coming to an end. That is as good a rate as any.

Fuck sake, you'll like this. I had to send a team leader to another cinema nearby last night because the manager there phoned in a flap because she didn't have one, wouldn't say why though. Found out today it was because they had sacked a team leader, for sampling Baskin robbins ice cream from the big customer tubs, double dipping the same spoon into 4 different flavours, while she had a cold sore!!

I'm never getting ice cream in a cinema again.

It gives me the fear that most fast food places employ bampots on low wage that really don't give a shit. Nandos in Hamilton was all ovrr the local papers recently because the mindless teenagers they employ didn't know about salmonella or cross contamination.

HawBawJaws wrote:

It gives me the fear that most fast food places employ bampots on low wage that really don't give a shit. Nandos in Hamilton was all ovrr the local papers recently because the mindless teenagers they employ didn't know about salmonella or cross contamination.

I used to work in burger King nearly 20 years ago. Hygiene was massive then. Food prep guys had to wash their hands every 15 minutes. Till staff had to wash their hands prior to touching anything in the kitchen. There were blue utensils for raw meat, red for cooked beef and black for cooked chicken. All the fresh ingredients were prepared in the morning and clearly labelled with expiry times and dates, and any food put in the chute (the warm holding tray area where they get your burger from) could only be in there 10 minutes max.

Cleaning down of work surfaces during the day was done regularly with a non toxic sanitising solution and the process at the end of the day was really thorough. There were separate coloured cleaning materials for the kitchen, front counter and restaurant area, and toilets to prevent cross contamination. And everyone was trained regularly so they new what they were doing.

I would have thought most big name places would be the same, but that might have changed now, places are probably understaffed to save money and don't have enough time or interest to do training.

Nice.

Dark Soldier wrote:

Got a pay rise today lads. 17p an hour, back of the fucking net.

I got a 10% annual rise on promotion, which I calculated today was roughly minus £1.59 an hour

GooberTheHat wrote:

HawBawJaws wrote:

It gives me the fear that most fast food places employ bampots on low wage that really don't give a shit. Nandos in Hamilton was all ovrr the local papers recently because the mindless teenagers they employ didn't know about salmonella or cross contamination.

I used to work in burger King nearly 20 years ago. Hygiene was massive then. Food prep guys had to wash their hands every 15 minutes. Till staff had to wash their hands prior to touching anything in the kitchen. There were blue utensils for raw meat, red for cooked beef and black for cooked chicken. All the fresh ingredients were prepared in the morning and clearly labelled with expiry times and dates, and any food put in the chute (the warm holding tray area where they get your burger from) could only be in there 10 minutes max.

Cleaning down of work surfaces during the day was done regularly with a non toxic sanitising solution and the process at the end of the day was really thorough. There were separate coloured cleaning materials for the kitchen, front counter and restaurant area, and toilets to prevent cross contamination. And everyone was trained regularly so they new what they were doing.

I would have thought most big name places would be the same, but that might have changed now, places are probably understaffed to save money and don't have enough time or interest to do training.

Most decent restaurants (not just fast food) will have similar standards. To be honest, the excuse of cost cutting is rubbish. Generally if you get a good hygiene plan in place everyone appreciates it more once they get used to it. You also quickly find out the staff who are worth keeping around by how clean they work.

There's also the issue of if a food poisoning event occurs. Even if you are found to be the reason, how good your hygiene program is can be a massive mitigator in how damaging the result is.

You think you have it bad?  The coffee machine in the Costa kiosk is broken again, and the canteen doesn't open for another half an hour.  I'm having to have instant.

Not my workplace, but related …

Some bright spark organised this year’s Scottish Entertainment & Hospitality Awards ceremony on a Sunday night. Last night. So every sandwich maker, barista, barman and chef across Glasgow is nursing a horrendous hangover at work today. There are queues stretching out the door at all the decent lunch spots.

legaldinho wrote:

grounds

Not sure if intentional or not... will let it percolate a little.

COFFEE MACHINE IS WORKING AGAIN

Should’ve made a cup of tea, like any true Brit.

FranticPea wrote:

You should always have a bottle of Vimto handy for an alternate hot beverage.

FranticPea wrote:

You should always have a bottle of Vimto handy for an alternate hot beverage.

Vimto is a hot drink? Wha???

I thought it was cold and carbonated?