techtopia

If he/she has, it's been done anonymously!

Acronis True Image. Build the laptop, install Acronis, create bootable media, uninstall Acronis, boot from bootable media, image laptop to external HDD or network. You then boot the laptops to be built from the boot media, and re-image from external HDD or network. NOTE : The reason you uninstall Acronis above is so that it doesn't appear in your disk image. Otherwise, you will re-image all 25 machines with Acronis on! If intending to re-image from network, you need to be sure that when booting from the bootable media and loading Acronis, it sees your network. This is normally OK if the hardware on which you created your bootable media is the same as the hardware you intend to build, as during the media creation stage, it loads the drivers for the NIC from the host machine. If you try booting a machine with other hardware/NIC than your original machine, there is no guarantee it will see the network.

At this point I'm going to presume that whoever is doing the recruiting there hasn't any clue as to what salaries should be paid, and when they fail to actually recruit anyone into the job, they review it and offer something considerably better. Anyone who applies for that job is degrading the value of the profession, in my opinion. Mind you, I don't like the £10 an hour "experts" who advertise "no fix no fee" services either, so I guess I'm just intolerant of those who'll work for peanuts. Trouble is, someone always will.

About £1000 - £1100 I would imagine, as a guesstimate.

My parents live in Cyprus, near Paphos. I'd move out there tomorrow if my circumstances were different. When they are, I'm off! With that said, if you need any info about the local area, just PM me. I have visited several times so know it well, and of course I have a top rate source of information on the place! It's 26 degrees+ out there at the moment, at 9:45pm.

I am not here to discuss what this school does or does not do, I was offering advice to the OP to not simply refuse a reasonable request without checking his Contract of Employment. If it does indeed contain such a clause, he may find himself the subject of disciplinary action should he choose to refuse the carry out the task. AIUI, this request was for one day, not the entire school closure? 1 day a year, expected or otherwise is hardly regular even if it is repetitive. I disagree that it is unfair or unreasonable to ask an employee to carry out a similar duty to their own on that basis. With that in mind, an employee and employer can both decide if the request is reasonable or not, however your suggestion that you would be asked to clean toilets when employed as a Network Manager is quite clearly ludicrous, as it is to expect anyone not specifically employed as a cleaner. It is very dissimilar to your own job and in actual fact requires the use of COSSH materials which you could quite clearly refuse to handle. By the same token, I would not consider it proper to expect a cleaner to have to man a Reception Desk, as again, it is dissimilar to their day to day role as they possibly don't have appropriate experience in the telephone or computer systems. However, such a clause in a contract does not mean you have to carry out the task, it means you may be asked to do so, and if deemed reasonable by both parties, you would be expected to perform such a task. You also need to remember that you accepted that clause when taking up the offer of employment and you should have raised doubts as to what might be expected of you at the time. It isn't an unfair term, so it isn't illegal. Little doubt there are employers out there who capitalise on such a clause. If your employer decided that they weren't going to have cleaners, and that you would now be employed into that role in conjunction with your current one, then yes, any employer could amend your contract accordingly, but that is a different matter altogether.

I would imagine (hope) she in actual fact deeply regrets her actions, and they were carried out in a moment of madness (we all have them, it's a human trait). It'll probably come out that she has 3 cats, 2 dogs and a budgie!

Can you cite these tribunal outcomes please as I disagree with your "fraid not" sentiment. Indeed, contract 'law' would seem to indicate that so called implied terms in contracts means an employee can be asked to undertake any reasonable request of work by the employer [source]. In fact, despite a lengthy search on the matter, all I could find was that such terms in a contract were perfectly legal and acceptable. I found nothing which would corroborate your sentiment. Of course, define "reasonable". I attempted this with my previous example. Thus, IMHO, it would be reasonable to ask someone who ordinarily sits at a desk, with a computer, to sit at a desk, with a computer but to also answer the phone and greet people 'just for today'. It would not be reasonable to ask them to clear blocked drains due to the nature of that type of work, nor would it be reasonable for them to carry out Receptionist duties on a regular long-term basis if they are not directly employed as such. I can understand where regular occurrences of such requests would come into play (i.e. doing someone else's job on a regular basis, not once a year for a solitary day) it could be seen as both unreasonable and unacceptable and a change to the usual terms and conditions of employment, but this would appear to be a one off event. Regular occurrences would suggest either a new position is created or an amendment to existing job roles (and subsequent contracts) is undertaken. Schools (where the usual employees who do a job are away during school closures) are prime examples of where this is both practical and, in the current economic climate, common sense. Not bad planning in my opinion, quite the opposite; and quite reasonable and fair too. I was merely inviting the OP to check his/her contract prior to refusing to carry out a reasonable task, as they may well find themselves subject to disciplinary action if they "laughed and refused".

You might want to check your contract before you do. Many that I've seen or had, contain a clause stating that you are obligated to carry out other tasks which are reasonably requested of you. Sitting on a Reception desk answering phones is reasonable, clearing out blocked drains is not (for example).

I dislike cats as much as anyone, and 'scare' them from my garden if I spot them - usually a loud "psssst" or hand-clapping is enough. But an animal lover I am overall, and could never, ever be cruel to an animal in this way, no matter what deposits it left in my garden. If you have that bad a problem with cat mess in your garden, then a few simple remedies are available - one we have employed is short pieces of yellow hose in amongst the shrubs. Cats and foxes apparently think it is a snake and steer clear. I have one piece of ground that is covered in chippings, a haven for cat and fox poo - I use the hose trick, and have never had one bit of poo deposited there. Appreciate you are probably from the "why should I" lobby, and I agree to some extent, but you 'should' because you can and it would improve your use of your outdoor space. You aren't going to beat cat owners by moaning (or putting their pets in wheelie bins!) so low cost preventive measures can be employed.

No need for a public lynching, no, but public outrage, most definitely yes.

You are kidding, right? I mean, you aren't in any way defending her actions are you? Clue : There is NO defence for this act of cruelty! I sincerely hope she is caught, and prosecuted in such a way as to be made an example of up to an including a custodial sentence.

He was featured in a program series I've just been watching on Discovery, "How the Universe Works". Fascinating series of programs, each one concentrating on different aspects of the Universe. I thoroughly enjoyed it - thank goodness for Sky+ !

...and after that, a scheduler so I can set it to copy when I know the machines are not being used