For all of us devotees of Opera's Random Chat thread...Pop and and share with the group!

First let me say many thanks to Frenzie for providing us with this space to continue meeting and chatting with all of the old friends from Opera, and maybe make some new ones.

I get the feeling we're going gain a whole new appreciation for the Hebrews of old wandering the desert...hehehe...

 I'm glad all is well. 😁 I am doing good. After 4 years, I finally finished school. Just waiting to take my state exam.

I know it's been awhile, what's new?

After 4 years, I finally finished school. Just waiting to take my state exam.

Cor! Doesn't time fly. it only seems like yesterday that you mentioned that you were starting out for a nursing degree.
Hope it was a painless experience and didn't cause too many sleepless nights. Good luck with the exam when it comes. I'm sure you'll smash it. 

what's new?

Things have been very quiet around here lately, we've not heard from @Syav for a while for some reason. 

Hope it was a painless experience and didn't cause too many sleepless nights.

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't difficult at times and stress me out, but it wasn't as bad as a lot of people made it out to be.

Good luck with the exam when it comes. I'm sure you'll smash it.  

Thank you! I'm a bit nervous.

we've not heard from @Syav for a while for some reason.  

Oh no! I hope he's okay.

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't difficult at times and stress me out, but it wasn't as bad as a lot of people made it out to be.

Some folk find these things a breeze, others not so much, You were confident enough to go for it and that's half the battle.

Thank you! I'm a bit nervous

When is the exam?

Oh no! I hope he's okay.

I do hope so.

When is the exam?

I'm not sure yet. I have to wait on a number to test. I registered on the 2nd, and they said it would be 4-6 weeks before I get a number. I'm hoping for sometime in Feb, but it might not be until March; depending on availability.

Where it's gonna be at is my interest. I'm hoping for a mini road trip to East Tennessee.

Where it's gonna be at is my interest. I'm hoping for a mini road trip to East Tennessee. 

The only other city I can test in is one you don't like. 😕

Memphis?

Nope! Chattanooga.

I'll have to check locations once I get my number.

Call me crazy but I think you'd rather be there than a Memphis hospital during an evaluation.

Just an ugly boring city. Gorgeous lake tho. I might deep down just be jealous I'm not out on that lake.  

😂 True!


So the truth comes out. 😋 I just checked. Testing center options are Nashville, Brentwood, or Chattanooga.

Damn, those are pretty good odds you'll be close to home.

Unfortunately.  😕

Good luck on the exam!

I just had a contract end, so I'm looking for another job now.

Btw, I have (part of) that slightly annoying song stuck in my head now. You people over in Tennessee probably don't suffer from that, but I rarely hear anything about Chattanooga.

Ha. Don't tell me. I don't wanna catch it.

Apparently I got homesick on our last excursion up north. We visited her old stomping grounds and stopped in Chicago for a few days on the way back. I got Rocky Top stuck in my head the last day or so and the whole way home. No one was amused.

Good luck on the exam!

Thank you!

I just had a contract end, so I'm looking for another job now.

Good luck job hunting.😉

No one was amused.

I was. 😉

I just had a contract end, so I'm looking for another job now.

On Friday I made the boldest career move in my life: I quit my longest-held job, indefinite full-time contract, on the spot. I have serious accusations (easily provable, I think) against the work environment at the company. We'll see how serious it gets.

On recovery and subsistence mode now.

Wow, good luck!

On Friday I made the boldest career move in my life: I quit my longest-held job, indefinite full-time contract, on the spot. I have serious accusations (easily provable, I think) against the work environment at the company. We'll see how serious it gets.

That's quite a big decision to make even when it's the right one, which it sounds as if it is. Good luck with your future endeavours.

Starting this morning, my work e-mail is blocked. So it looks like the case is about to explode.

The matter has been a-brewing at least for a year. All I wanted was to move to another department in the company, because I have a dispute concerning overwork with my immediate boss. Just let me go to another department where the immediate boss no longer can bother me and everything will be fine. A global company like ours should be able to handle a little transfer of an employee, right? So, after discussing about it for months with the higher bosses, I was faced with a test in writing to verify my competences for the other department. And next day we had a multilateral meeting to discuss the matter.

The first point on the agenda of the meeting: How did the test go? The new department's boss: Perfect. My immediate boss: We have a lot of work to do and we cannot change tasks just so on a whim when somebody gets an attitude. We cannot rearrange the schedules to place these tasks on anyone else. [So, nevermind that the issue has been in multilateral preparation for months, the test went fine, and "a lot of work" actually means unpaid overwork which is illegal? Naturally I did not say any of this out loud.] My turn: My workload is unsustainable, unfortunately I cannot continue with it. Higher boss: In our company, when there is work to do, then we have to do it, and we cannot just... [basically, the higher boss echoed my own immediate boss; but the worst was yet to come]

In mid-sentence, the higher boss's smartphone ringed, and she stepped outside the room to answer it. Yup, that's a she. The meeting fell apart, just me and the HR boss remained, and when the higher boss returned from the phone call, she said, "So, what did you decide?" Well, some thoughts rushed through my head at that moment. To put it mildly, it was her job to decide and she f'd it up majorly.

Since nothing else was decided, the higher boss summarised that we go on as usual. In my view, her unprofessional behaviour ruined the critical meeting (again, I did not say it out loud to her face). By the way, all the other bosses are females too. They are making it impossible for me to escape the impression that they are a club of angry women whose main enjoyment is to suppress men, even when the man has all the rights in a particular case.

On Friday, I wrote to them bosses a list of reasons why I must quit on the spot (because according to law, quitting on the spot must have good reasons). My reasons: Years of overwork have ruined my health (I was on an almost two months sickleave just before the last week), my immediate boss refuses to lighten the workload, my higher boss does not have the administrative capability to transfer an employee to another department, so I am now going on the spot.

And now my work e-mail is blocked. Something amazing is about to follow.

Looks like what we would call constructive dismissal on reading all that.

No. It's the employer gone paranoid for fear of harm that the situation might cause. My letter quite possibly revealed to them that I had been planning this for long, collecting the evidence, and biding my time to hit at the right moment.

On the first contact today they tried to renegotiate to get the situation under a more favourable point of law ("parting ways in mutual agreement" instead of "overwork ruined the health"). I stuck to my claims. I am very confident I can back up, to any third party, every little thing I said. The overwork part may send a certain state authority to investigate the company and I am fully ready for that too.

Looking for a new job has gone pretty well. I will soon become a banker again.

And I got rid of the old one completely on my own terms. No "mutual agreement". I don't agree with any of their offers.

Looking for a new job has gone pretty well. I will soon become a banker again.

Congratulations! 

Hooray! Less success over here I'm afraid. You seemed great but the other candidate has more experience. Which is still nice to hear and all but it's not a job.