Sirbendy

In all fairness, I cheat with ours. Google "Uniform Server"...a self contained WAMP setup that will run from anything (including USB stick)..it's been running MRBS for 3 years now. Doddle to backup as well..just stop it and copy the whole directory. I did the MRBS upgrade yesterday to the latest version..took about 10 minutes.

! Health and Safety says "bog off..".

"Here are the keys to Miss X's car..it won't start. Can you get it going? You're handy with Vauxhalls, aren't you?".. I *OWN* a Vx..yes...and even if I didn't I can say that a slack auxilliary belt and no rev counter on a 1.7TD = battery flat. I ended up charging the battery for her, refitting it and tensioning the belt. One from a member of SMT: "can you explain to me what all these buttons in my SAAB do? " Another: "Someone nicked the stainless wingmirror cover off my Rover 75..find me another on the net." Yet another: "My car needs a service- find me a good local garage and get it booked in.." And the oft-heard bane of our lives... "My home internet is playing up..the wifi isn't working. Nip over to my house and sort it out..."

you're both right..heh..

oh aye, we do if it's awful...like exploded crisp packets, polystyrene as you say, holepunch emptying or stapler abuse...

Why does she call it? Does she not have a clock, or does she have eyesight issues? What you could do is get one of the (not expensive) talking clocks that announces every hour or so the time, and will do do at the push of a button... It'd be a more elegant solution... RNIB Online Shop - Radio controlled talking clock RNIB Online Shop - Talking calendar alarm clock RNIB Online Shop - Browse Talking clocks Actually...hmm..my nan was looking for a calendar clock..one of these might not be bad..she's got to the stage where she's losing track of time..

We had exactly this situation 2 years ago. I locked the staff member account, I locked their internet to whitelist, I logged them off. When they came up they tried to justify it, I reduced them to tears and hit them with the AUP, listed the whys and why nots, and said if they'd like to push it further, I'll call the LEA in and they can justify it to them.. Oh boy, did that make the point...

Oh, I agree! Even the cleaners would...you can tell the boundaries of certain ones..the floors will be buffed to a shine, and then there will be a dulled line and the rest looks awful. 95% of our cleaners are good..very good...but the remaining 5%, I'd shoot. We've gone from a good one to a bad one, and I really hope we can get shot of of them unless they actually start doing the job. Nothing here stresses me these days...it's more suspension of disbelief.

There's been an improvement today...she's actually dusted properly, and vacuumed a bit more thoroughly. She got told that we'd complained, and she kicked up a fuss at a dept member - who said "do your job, or we'll keep doing it.". It seems she doesn't get some stuff off the floor because "she has to take the brush end off and bend down with the end to get at it". P***-poor IMHO. Welcome to cleaning. Do you not do it at home? Have you never had an awkward bit of muck on the carpet? She's fully able, and has no issues that would prevent it.. So, better...but not up to the standard we want yet. We didn't build these suites ourselves to a high standard just to have the cleaner make a mess of it...it's the damn showpiece of the school...next time the head shows someone round and says "why..?", we'll not hold back. Our last cleaner was a star...it's a shame to see it like this.

Oh we have, believe me...we've had the head of BCS in here today. The CCTV isn't set up for HER as such - it's been in 3 years, running 24/7 for the suites/teacher/equipment protection - it was part of our initial design... Since it runs 24/7, it gets her. Doing very little. We've set up more little tests today..and the one in our office is due to things being a little moved about/knocked over/disturbed yesterday morning..which is a tad alarming. As to being experts in their field..no, but I know that cleaning involves wiping desks, picking up litter, and actually making use of the vacuum..otherwise the missus would have killed me by now..

hah...so it's not just the "kids of today" then...impressive!

I have to say - you can stick up for the cleaners if you wish "Bossman", but if they do a crap job (and she does), why should we tolerate it? She's paid to do it - end of. Sorry, but that's life. I'm paid a crap wage too..does that mean I should just silence alarms and leave faults, and leave keyboards and PCs half torn apart? I think not. As has been said - if you're paid to do a job, you do the damn job to the best of your ability. We had an ace cleaner, who's now retired..and we're lumped with this utter excuse..it's frankly embarrasing, and bloody annoying. I think it might be time to set up the IP cam and see if she does anything in here. As I say - she was sacked from her last area (music) for being shite...and we were warned to keep an eye on her. Well, I can see why..

What do yours do? We've just had ours replaced with a new..well, lets be generous and say "woman".. Apparently she wasn't much good in her last area, but in here...useless. We've left deliberate crisp packets on the floor - ignored. PCs? Dusty. Floor? Not vacuumed.. Out of curiousity, I pulled up the CCTV footage to see what she does...5am, there she is..vacuum is pushed around any open area of floor. No chairs moved, no pods examined. 5 minutes later, she wanders around with a duster, dabbing at obvious marks..no "wipe the desk" cleaning at all. Bins emptied, but the room is done and she's on to suite 2...vacuum comes in, look, take it back out. walk around the edge desks with a duster held down doing the front 6 inches of the desk, pick up a big bit of litter, wander off. She's in for a good 90-120 minutes..what the hell does she do in that time? It's not cleaning, that's for sure.

eee...when I were a lad, down t'pit we'd have banged your heads together and said "play nice, kiddies"...

We're with NPower, and I have no complaints thus far... Gas wise, I switched from BG to EBico a few months back, and boy am I pleased I did.. Everyone will go up..it's the way it'll be for a while now. We're back into the boom and bust cycle once again IMO. Energy conservation is the key just as much as switching suppliers..watch what's on, watch and nuke standby, evaluate purchases for power usage before buying etc etc. As I said in another thread, bearing in mind NPowers rep as expensive, we're using a fiver a week. Not bad, and I'm happy with that.

Oh, now that's a concise summary that has got to go into the all time classic "IT Skills Assessment" handbook..

I was commenting as much to the missus (22, bless) last night....heh..

EeEK - while I do in some ways agree, I disagree on your "no worse off"...house prices are that insane now that as I say - I'll rent until the proce bombs, then consider my options...right now, even with Jem and I working and on the same wage (which isn't staggering for either of us), we'd have no hope in raising a mortgage. As to the rest - I do agree. We iceland every fortnight (great value for freezer), Holidays - no (unless it's a family wales week using the Sun offer..heh..), mobiles yes, but PAYG..£10/month if that, no fancy TV (just a £13 freeview box, that barely works), no nights out...take the bus, walk if we can (i'm limited in that regard), shop local, look for bargains (like the veg in a box scheme, and buying from our butcher..FAR cheaper than even Tesco)..electric is watched religiously..no standby in my house, everything off or timer based, all lights are the £3 for multipack 9w CFLs..and most of our furniture/electrical kit is second hand or seriously cheap argos wonder. About the only thing that's annoying me is fuel costs..which is why I'm switching to the bus. The weekly shop last week for the first time using the local bits came to £25..for more and better than we could get in Tesco (usually about £40). Electric is a tenner a fortnight or so, gas is a fiver a fortnight. I really do try and see how far it can be pushed..it's a challenge. We have a phone..but 95% of the cost of that is the line rental..sigh..that annoys me. Still..I look at my brother who buys brand name everything, expensive everything...even looked at his accounts (mum's an accountant)..he's always in debt..and I smile. I've never been in debt..I don't intend to be either (except for a possible mortgage in the distant future maybe). I can't say as I feel i'm living a lower standard of life either..we were debating this last night. It's true what you say - look at our grandparents...mine still say "make do and mend", and are incredibly reluctant to spend money unless there really is no other option..people could learn a lot from the older generation (no offence to anyone).

AV? What's in the file?

working class too..

Rock on, that man. I recall it well. Can we go back to those day? I liked them.

software installation in curriculum support - poky, 2 bit joke programs that they bought without consulting us, that don't run well, that they never end up using, that aren't part of our image, that require daemon tools etc to run and make re-imaging an arse. Projector mounting and unmounting. The rest I quite like..wifi is fun. Printers are a doddle..we never have print server issues (all Jetdirects)..hardware is fun. Oh wait...I HATE the audit. Yes, I almost forgot that. I write guides for all the other bits and hand them out as needs be...buggered if I'm going to press "Source select" for a teacher...they learn or they get ignored. Had enough of that piddling around. Like DVD playback using heavily scratched DVDs and hearing "Oh, well it WAS working.." We're weaning the overpaid fools off the bum wiping reliance. We won't have time for it soon with setting up the new site and infrastructure.

We're not going BSF as such...we're moving to a new custom built academy in 2009, with new kit throughout...much like Walsall and Sandwell academies. We'll be along those lines and design, I expect. However, yes..same thing happening. Kit bought after we seperated from the LEA is effectively "ours", and some things like the waxjet, the LJ 4250's, the dual and quad core Poweredges and (hopefully)the VOIP kit will be coming with us (unofficially) as backup kit. Pre seperation kit, as I understand it, will remain here and be returned to LEA ownership, and presumably redistributed. Some of the "us" kit that's not worth taking (p4/p3) will be available for staff..or that's what we're thinking so far. I've drawn up the disclaimers etc. As you say, a glut of second hand kit..

no buses? I've found one a 5 minute walk from the house that drops off here...

Whilst I do agree with you to a point, how do you know her husband is in a well paid job? We're in IT, and we're not... I had a piano once...it was about £60 from a second hand store..However, I don't drink, don't have flip-flops, don't read newspapers, do recycle, do have solar panelling, don't own, do rent and so on.. House prices and prices in general are daft, and overdue for a collapse IMHO. Bring it on. Even with Jem's wage (same as mine), we've got no chance of getting on the housing ladder. I'll settle for renting for now - if it all goes wobbly, we can bail out to the parents and rebuild again. Can't see it coming to it though..we're very very careful with finances. Neither of us have any debt (nor will I if I can avoid it), if we buy new, it's unusual...second user, old tech does the job. Credit is a naughty word..I was always taught "if you can't afford it, go without". I refuse to have a credit card in the house. Loans the same. We still have the same comfort level as everyone else, but I'll bet it's at a fraction of the cost. I was looking at our old flat, which has come up for sale...a 3 room, 1 bed flat..nice area, yes...but..£95k. Sod that. I see a 2 bed bungalow down the road for £150kish, had 2 price cuts so far. Still a lot of dosh..but I'm happy to play the waiting game and rent until prices bottom out. We'll see what we can do then. Assuming we can afford to light/heat a place at that point, or run a vehicle, of course. As to our Gov't...Useless. Totally useless. Meddling, spineless, totally in need of removal.