Bad month

[Tidy Max]

Just thought i would have a little rant, this past month i have been abit down, im a 2nd year electrical apprentice, and got signed on with an 'electrical company' yet in the year i have worked for them, not done one electrical job?

So i complained on monday and told them how i felt, it seemed to have been taken on board but i have a feeling its going to come to nothing, i need electrical work to pass my qualification and even though i have the knowledge without the proof i can apply it, its no use. Theres no electrical apprenticeships around anyway so i have accepted the fact i just got taken on for cheap labour (4.14 an hour) and chances are i wont get qualified.

So then my (newlyish bought) van has its mot, failed on a lamp and a stabiliser bar and.... a diesel leak, but the mot tester could not show me where it was leaking from?! in excess of 10 hours over the week proved useless and i could only localise the leak not pin point where it is.

Then today, some good news! a highly recommended mechanic (colin allcars) very familiar with modern engines said he would have a look for free, got lost on the way there but found it at 5.25pm, he stayed and still had a look, told me what parts i need to remove as he knows i have no money to spend, and said if i can find the part thats leaking he will sort me out, game on!

Set off from his garage, hmm van isnt driving right? wont accelerate yet the engine sounds fine? pull off at my junction into the regular traffic, and low and behold the wheel is borderline on fire, high ****ing five.

So i get the van to the works unit, boss is a **** and wont let me use his car ramp OR his jack?!?! why?! who knows, ****!

Girlfriend gets lost coming to pick me up, but finds it in the end, FINALLY get home, to a red letter from the bank charging me 28pound, for going over drawn .38p, ****ing ******* ****shafting cunts, honestly, i mean honestly, pricks,

rant over.

(thanks to the chaps helping me with the brake issue it really is much appreciated)

[Asa-James]

ring the bank first thing tomorrow, if its not a common thing of you going overdrawn tell them it was a slight oversight and they should waive the charge, and if your still overdrawn and its a few days till payday tell them you need an emegency overdraft (i has plenty of overdrawn experiance :))

at work, explain to your boss the sort of work that you need to be doing for the qualifications, as your worth more to him as a qualified sparkey than as an "unskilled laborour" (had this arguament with my boss whan i was an apprentice mechanic)

and as for you and your girlfriend getting lost, buy a satnav or a decent mapbook, duh!

and always remember, it could be worse. i dont know how, but it could always be worse.

[AlexW]

**** happens :(

[mowgli]

I'm confused. you work at an electricians, yet you never get to do electrical work.... what are you doing?????

I'm in groundworks, but we employed a brickie & apprentice for the last 2 years (until recently)
the apprentice was a lazy sod. quite simply, he never showed initiative. the bricky had told him that if he did the lacky jobs quickly & to a good standard, he'd get the opportunity to actually learn to lay bricks properly. in the 2 years, he never did..not even once.
another bloke we know had an apprentice at the same time & on the same course. he got his stuff done really quickly & learnt to lay bricks.

what i'm getting at is that you need to earn the opportunity on these jobs, and if you keep asking the older blokes how to do stuff, & prove you are good at it, they will teach you, but only if you don't slow them down.

ps. old vans are always trouble. what you save in finance, you pay in repairs

[Tidy Max]

cheers chaps, and indeed **** does happen, it wasnt me and my girlfriend getting lost, it was her getting lost on the way to pick me up!

but indeed, i didnt expect anyone to read all the way through it, it just made me feel better typing it all up

note: after that i went for tea and she burnt my arm with the oven tray :( so now im drinking a hob goblin in peace

[Asa-James]

note: after that i went for tea and she burnt my arm with the oven tray :( so now im drinking a hob goblin in peace

alcohol, the cause of and solution to all of lifes problems:thumb:

[Tidy Max]

its a 2000, but yes cheers mowgli, i work more than my due, i have run some of the jobs we are on and am constantly going to jobs on my own and working night time and away, without tooting my own horn i am far from a slacker, the fact of the matter is they dont want any 'power' jobs, we do speaker installs, pa systems in big buildings etc, so even though i use trunking and alsorts of standard electrical sort of stuff they took me on, but the cable i run isnt used for power so therefore does not fit the remit of my professional development portofolio,

more so, before taking on an apprentice an employer must sign a contract of duty which states that in return for employment the apprentice will be given : <long list of boxs to tick here>

non of which i have been given, i am actually on a 1st year apprentices wage even though im not a 1st year, i understand the old the apprentice gets all the **** jobs and just brews up, and i more than understood that when i made my career choice, but thats not the issue, i mean im a fairly skilled electrical solderer now, but that doesnt fit the remit for the course, and the fact of the matter is, i want my qualification, otherwise i will be forever in the grasp of an employer, if i could work for myself id be out at 7 in for 7, because i know where every penny is going, instead im charged out at 250 a day and get paid sub 150 a week, not cool

and yes james thats right lol

[mowgli]

these nvq assessors have a lot to answer for... I'm 40 & have been in my job for a very long time.. I have to do an nvq now to keep my plant operator ticket....... I sat thru the biggest load of cobblers the other day whilst trying to explain that I could supply all the info to pass it within the next 5 mins, but he said that i'd have to wait for a month till the computer had me registered!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tidy Max]

its a load of old bollocks mate, highly annoying :( anyway, another day another dolla!

[Jack]

Just thought i would have a little rant, this past month i have been abit down, im a 2nd year electrical apprentice, and got signed on with an 'electrical company' yet in the year i have worked for them, not done one electrical job?

So i complained on monday and told them how i felt, it seemed to have been taken on board but i have a feeling its going to come to nothing, i need electrical work to pass my qualification and even though i have the knowledge without the proof i can apply it, its no use. Theres no electrical apprenticeships around anyway so i have accepted the fact i just got taken on for cheap labour (4.14 an hour) and chances are i wont get qualified.
You're aware the company is breaking the law by paying you under the minimum wage, yes?


Apprentices
If you are aged 19 or over and have completed the first year of your apprenticeship you are entitled to the NMW. Apprentices for NMW purposes are either workers who have contracts of apprenticeship or workers taking part in training schemes who are treated as if they have a contract of apprenticeship.
You should legally be paid £4.77 an hour, rising to £5.80 next year after your 22nd birthday.

I think you may want to have a quiet word with your boss and ask him when your back pay is due :p

[Tidy Max]

high five RJ :) :) :) :) :)

[Rich]

Im an apprentice and was underpaid, my back pay bought me a corsa sri lol