Toilet Breaks

[Doughboy]

I just saw a news story on Today Tonight about workers at a mine in WA. Apparently they need to ask permission to go for a leak. Fair dinkum this is just rubbish.

Next they will need to apply for their allocation of toilet paper.

A sad day.

[ozwinner]

Ya can prolly thank Little Johnny for it too.

Roll on the election.

Al

[Gingermick]

I just saw a news story on Today Tonight

I find that puzzling

However permission to go for a leak, unless security / safety purposes require it is a great way to lose good workers.

[lpg_falcon]

I am not agreeing with asking to go for a leak.

But it would be courtesy to say, "just going out for a minute or two".
Safety, and so when the phone rings someone wants to talk to you, the person who answers your phone can say, back in 5 minutes, ring back then.
Also a safety thing.
Building catches fire etc, people know where you are.
Same as "going out for lunch", so people know where you are.
Mainly for safety.

So, maybe this story on the TV is out of context.

lpg_falcon.

[I_wanna_Shed]

A mate of mine in the mining game (which is the industry this guy was in) has this same thing in his contract. Its for the simple reason that part of his job is supervising "men down a hole" (although I'm sure the official term is much more technical ). Since this is safety work, he can't just walk away for even 20 seconds. He needs to ask his boss if he can go somewhere; not for permission, but simply so his boss can arrange someone to fill in for him.

[silentC]

You've got to stop watching Today Tonight, Pete, it's bad for your health

[Wongo]

It is from Today Tonight so the accuracy of the story could be as high as 20%.

Next up, how to make your own laundry detergent for as little as $50 a bottle.

[NCArcher]

I just saw a news story on Today Tonight

I don't think i have ever seen a news story on Today Tonight.
They completely sensationalise everthing or just write out the cheque and make it up.
Can you tell that i think the show is rubbish?

[silentC]

So, you're a regular viewer then?

[BobL]

In 1974 I managed to get a job for 2 weeks as a contracting truckies swampy at the Swan Brewery. The job involved helping the truckie with pickup at the brewery and deliveries to pubs. The truckie was an old hand and knew all the tricks of the trade. Using closely synchronized watches we always arrived on the brewery pickup queue at 5 seconds before the deadline (9 am) and with any luck there were enough trucks ahead of us that then required we wait for 30 - 45 minutes in the queue and snooze. When we got to the loading bay, union rules applied. This meant 3 people (truckie, me and forklift driver) had to be present at all times during loading - so the truckie would immediately go to the toilet and halt proceedings, then he would tell me to go to the toilet. The first time this happened I said I didn't need to go so the truckie took me aside and explained that the whole idea was to be on site at 10 am for the free green beer. Juiced up on green beer we'd hit the road and deliver to some pub or other. The truckie knew the bar manager at most places and we just about always got a free drink or two. In the afternoon - same thing all over again. Every night I drove home sauced to the eyeballs - my dear old ma was horrified and so am I now that I think of it. Anyway, I was told to go to the toilet many times during those 2 weeks, mind you I generally needed to.

[pedro the swift]

Dont know about the requesting permission to pee. Guess you could always do it standing on the job.
As far as the loo paper allocation goes. we get issued with three pieces each time. One up, one down and one to polish.

[Schtoo]

Probably a safety thing more than anything else methinks.

When I was on site, I always said when I was going off to the can, it was just the done thing. I never asked why, but I guess it was a safety thing too so that if something happened they weren't trying to find me in a dangerous area when I was safe and sound on the pot.


Just think, 5 guys die in a hole trying to find me down there, when I am relieving myself topside. That would be a great situation now wouldn't it?

[Wood Borer]

There are certainly good safety and polite reasons in some jobs for notifying others when you wish to visit the toilet however there some small minded control freaks out there employing and managing staff who bring in such rules purely for psycholgical control purposes.

For these people it is important for them that their employees comply with the most ridiculous rules, all of them seemingly innocent but put them all together and it is part of a control game.

I worked for a short time in an area of Telecom where the OIC was such a person. His productivity figures were pathetic and the staff that put up with his crap stayed on, others like me couldn't get out of the place fast enough.

Strange isn't it that the ones like me who felt that we could think for ourselves ended further up the ladder than our former OIC. Those who complied with his ridiculous rules became stale and stayed put, being treated like kids and acting like kids.

Employers and employees need each other and should respect each other. When it becomes unbalanced either way it does nobody any good in the long term.

[silentC]

I worked for a short time in [insert name of company/department here] where the OIC was such a person.

Didn't we all.

My favourite was the guy who reprimanded me for turning up to a shift work job inside the computer centre of a certain bank at 7:00am on Saturday morning not having had a shave.

OK, so I had been out all night and come straight to work

[Wood Borer]

So here we have at least two people who are reasonably intelligent, respected in their professions who quickly quit jobs that are run by the conservative stupid control freaks. We are both in demand for jobs in companies that are run by people who are reasonable and who don't treat their staff like fools.

It is is the moronic employers who lobby governments for tighter controls on employees. They think the reason productivity is suffering is due to slack staff. They think all employees are out to steal goods or time or to sell the company secrets. They think all employees will do anything for a dollar like a lap dog begging for a biscuit. In other words they judge their employees by their own standards.

Only a moronic government would listen to rogue employers and an even dumber government would act.


Only a moronic potential goverment would listen to slack employees and an even dumber one would make it their policies.

I encourage anyone who is treated like an idiot at work to act like an idiot at work whilst looking for another job. Send the company broke before they go broke due to bad management and attitude. Companies like this are not required by anyone.

On the other hand if there is company who treats their staff reasonably well and some staff don't pull their weight, give them the flick. No bulls&t pussy footing around, show them the door.

It is a two way street - all fools in the equation should be removed.