you decide,

[Itching 2 go]

Right well here goes,
I had my apraisal at work with my boss today, the long and short of it you dont need to know but the question I have for you guys is simple.

Internet usage came up! it has been noticed how much I browse the forum. This is not from what I can tell too much of a problem, it does not interfear with my work to much and I dont actually take breaks for lunch or fag breaks like some employes of the company that shall remain nameless(you know who you are ;)). As so many of you now are sending me PM's asking for prices on this and that and can I bring this or that to selkent/soho or mail stuff to you, should I A)stay on the forum 9-5 and tell the boss that if I don't he will loose money? B)stay off the forum 9-5 sod the lot of ya, please the boss but he looses money? or C) change jobs?

[lynw]

Cant remember her name but she works with you. Talked to her on VD once about summat that Id ordered from you guys - think you were on leave that week.

Certainly, your boss should know how much you guys do for us and other forums just by even browsing the wanted sections...

Perhaps you should all keep track of exactly how much stuff gets ordered by people on here and other forums you frequent. Then it would justify your presence on here :D

[fizzwheel]

I think that for a little while you should stay off the forum 9 - 5 otherwise it might become a big problem, your boss as obviously noticed and I would take it as a kind of informal friendly request to cut down on your daily forum fix.

Is there anyway your boss would consent to setting up an online ordering system so that if we want to order it online or via an email address that we could use if we wanted to order parts etc etc... You've got a website already so you are not far away from being able to do this.

HTH

[falc]

Try and strike a compromise, explain that people order bits off the forum and present him with evidence of this. Maybe set up some hours for checking the forums like once in morning, lunchtime and once in afternoon?

Failing that use a proxy and tunnel the traffic through that :D atleast it wouldnt show you going to the forums all the time

Try and wangle some thing that allows you to look at the forums, gotta be worth a shot

[Richie]

:shock: sorry , i thought you were at work.


wot was the queation?
I had my apraisal at work with my boss today, the long and short of it you dont need to know but the question


and the rest is ..

sorry...

d) wait till I get home then check email or PM's

or maybe I'm missing some thing here.... please don't hit me... just explain as I work and threre no time for internet...

[K]

How much do you like your job and how willing to compromise are you to remain in that job?

To me perfectly honest with you I've found the maxim of "work to live, don't live to work" to be a good guide.

If you enjoy your job then you should be willing to compromise on some issues, unless those issues are the very things that make your job enjoyable. :roll: But at the end of the day it's down to how you feel about it rather than how your boss will react to it - It's your job, your time, your life - he just pays you for it.

How willing is your boss to compromise? How well do they understand what constitutes your time spend on this forum (e.g.; enquiries, orders etc vs general chat/posting)?

If time spend here is important to you as a part of your working day then you need to portray it from the angle of value to the business, rather than value to you - something you are unlikely to be able to do if you got a job in an unrelated field. You are lucky in that it does have such a benefit, so a compromise on 'time spent' should be achievable in a reasonable world.

Here's hoping you live and work in a reasonable world! :wink:

[Itching 2 go]

How much do you like your job and how willing to compromise are you to remain in that job?

To me perfectly honest with you I've found the maxim of "work to live, don't live to work" to be a good guide.

If you enjoy your job then you should be willing to compromise on some issues, unless those issues are the very things that make your job enjoyable. :roll: But at the end of the day it's down to how you feel about it rather than how your boss will react to it - It's your job, your time, your life - he just pays you for it.

How willing is your boss to compromise? How well do they understand what constitutes your time spend on this forum (e.g.; enquiries, orders etc vs general chat/posting)?

If time spend here is important to you as a part of your working day then you need to portray it from the angle of value to the business, rather than value to you - something you are unlikely to be able to do if you got a job in an unrelated field. You are lucky in that it does have such a benefit, so a compromise on 'time spent' should be achievable in a reasonable world.

Here's hoping you live and work in a reasonable world! :wink:I like your post. :D

[keithd]

where's option d. - dont know/care?! :P

i like K's post, live to work, dont work to live.

he's had a quiet word in your shell like, maybe have a quiet word back in his. you get some business from the site. ok its not going to be enough for him to retire to the bahamas but little acorns and all that.....

[thor]

Hey didn't I order all that stuff from you via pm?!? That's like £500 of business right there. If I didn't know you via Kate and the forum, I probably would have spent it all in Infinity and HG instead. And I know I'm not the only one...

The long and short of it is this. If you are performing adequately, and getting everything done, then they can't comment on how much time you spend on forums. If they think that you have too much time on your hands then you should both work out why. It's far worse to have you sitting there twiddling your thumbs - that's a sure way to make you quit. Mind you, if they want you to do more, suggest that they pay you more too.

The employment market is just that, so don't forget that they have to compete for your time too. Perhaps you should have a look at the alternatives (quietly of course)...

[BillyC]

Joe,

Only you know how much business you give to Steve, through your contacts on this site. Let him know how much - give him examples.

I for one would be happy to write to Steve, and express my gratitude for the service you've given me! It is far easier for me to consult you on here with a few PM's, to get the pieces I need - rather than dragging myself to the a local dealer and getting them to do it, and then go back when the parts are in stock. Discount or no discount!

I trust you, and through that I trust the services that Steve has to offer. If it weren't for my contact with you, given your position and situation, then I'd be looking elsewhere for parts, consumeables, advise, workshops, and dare I say it - even a new bike when the time comes.

Please feel free to show Steve this message.I know I've given you at least a few hundred pounds worth of business, that otherwise, to be honest, would have gone to a local dealer. I'm only sorry I didn't know about you when I needed a new radiator! That would've doubled the turnover of my current account!

[BillyC]

Joe,

in the future.... is there anyway you can add a flag to your billing system like "SV650.org", so that all the custom related to the site can be identified?

Then Steve can really see how much business is going through!

[Itching 2 go]

Joe,

in the future.... is there anyway you can add a flag to your billing system like "SV650.org", so that all the custom related to the site can be identified?

Then Steve can really see how much business is going through!unfortunatly not but I am gonna start printing all the PM's I get relating to parts and stuff just to prove a point!

as far as pay goes, thats not really one for public debate, specially as Sarah, Steve's wife browses the forum.

[Viney]

If thats the case Joe, then do yout hink that this thread is on? If Sarah sees it, dont you think its going to put you in an awkward situation.

All i would say, is if people want parts from your company, then either mail you, or phone you?

That way no one looses, other than you searching for goat porn, but thats another story!

[Itching 2 go]

If thats the case Joe, then do yout hink that this thread is on? If Sarah sees it, dont you think its going to put you in an awkward situation.

All i would say, is if people want parts from your company, then either mail you, or phone you?

That way no one looses, other than you searching for goat porn, but thats another story!not really, as far as I see it it might solve a problem, if it makes one then ho humm. tbh I just need to vent off at someone and cant so am just starting to stew on stuff.

[Bud]

Another alternative would be to use specified times that others would have as smoke breaks etc.. to go on the forum taking away any ambiguity with when you are and aren't allowed on the forum.

Personally, I wouldn't just tell them where to go unless you have somewhere else to go yourself. Being miserable at work is enough to drag you down and you want to avoid that route.

[Nouf]

Hi am fairly new on ere so hardly know any of you guys. But it's a fairly simple situation from my point of view. I spend a lot of time on teh internet from work but just make sure it doesn't affect my work. From my point of view and the bosses point of view, the work needs to be done. If I can manage to do all my work on Monday and then surf the nety the rest of teh work it's my choice.

I am not sure of your situation, you obviously in a bike related business. I think you should be frank with your boss and tell him that it's not all surfing for fun and part of it is for work. If he can accept that then great, if he says no he doesnt want any or very minimal net surfing then it's his call at the end of the day. He is the boss and he has to make these calls.

Now here is a little something that one of my bosses told me when I first started working

2 simple rules to go up the ladder

1 The boss is right

2 If the boss is wrong, go back to rule one

Hope that helps ;)

[Itching 2 go]

let me just put this straight, I don't let the internet interfear with my work. I browse it and don't take a lunch break. I don't take fag breaks. From where I sit and the position I hold the business would struggle to run properly without a person in my chair. now weather that is me or someone else it doesn't matter. I am down to earth and understand that they could fill this position with someone at some point if I were to leave, I DO NOT want to leave I like it here most of the time the reason I came here was that I hated my last place to the point that I increased my travel costs and took an offer that was 3k less than the offer my then current boss put on the table for me to stay. I am good at what I do and keep getting praise from customers for it occasionally i screw up like anyone else in the world. I find it dificult to accept that A) I need to improve my time keeping when I am here 9/10 before anyone else. occasionally i run 5 maybe 10 minutes late.B) I need to surf the web less when I don't take breaks and have brought so much money in to the business through it. Its not as if I am looking at multiple sites!

I might just not bother at all and see what happens then I don't know I am just a little fed up and ****ed off

[Iansv]

considering the business you bring in I can't see a problem, Voted A....

I'll be ordering a few more bits in a month :wink:

Same thing as I do here... I stay logged into the forum and browse when time allows, its tolerated as I get my work done (in fact more than most others) and I rarely bother with any other sites.. as opposed to others who go all over the place

[K]

I find it dificult to accept that A) I need to improve my time keeping when I am here 9/10 before anyone else. occasionally i run 5 maybe 10 minutes late.B) I need to surf the web less when I don't take breaks and have brought so much money in to the business through it. Its not as if I am looking at multiple sites!

I might just not bother at all and see what happens then I don't know I am just a little fed up and p*ssed off

Y'know, with only this to go on and not having been a fly on the wall at the time... this sounds like a case of "appraisal worthyness".
It's a sad affliction caused by people knowing that most appraisals are an excercise in pointlessness and simply following an American trend! :roll:

In otherwords - it's got to be done but it's a bit silly when all you do is go:
"Well everything seems to be going OK. Do you have any problems?"
"No.""Well, as you don't need any training or anything I guess that's it for another year."

So barrels are scraped and nit-picking gets blown out of proportion - one person feels like they've run a purposeful appraisal - the other feels a bit needlessly put apon and a bit crappy.

One day both bosses and workers will accept that sometime everyone can be happy in their work environment and leave it at that. :roll:

[Viney]

If thats the case Joe, then do yout hink that this thread is on? If Sarah sees it, dont you think its going to put you in an awkward situation.

All i would say, is if people want parts from your company, then either mail you, or phone you?

That way no one looses, other than you searching for goat porn, but thats another story!not really, as far as I see it it might solve a problem, if it makes one then ho humm. tbh I just need to vent off at someone and cant so am just starting to stew on stuff.

Fair enough, but if i was your emplyer, then i wouldnt be too happy to be honest. Fair point, but i probably wouldnt have an issue with you using the net anyway. I always tell my staff, whislt the work is there, then it has to be done, when quiet, you can do pretty much what you want. To be hoset as i have said, the shop doesnt seem massivly busy, and as long as you int got nuffin to do, then surf away. if it brings money in as well, what more can you want.