How " normal " will back to normal be ?

[Daxx]

I think that it is likely personnel serving in HM Forces will find themselves required to have the COVID-19 vaccine.

 

[Goatman]

Trousers?

Well , I did think of going for the ' whale-net hold ups with kitten heels ' option but chickened out and opted for Mister Cube* in the end.

However when one of the interviewers had to break off to answer the door , I reached for the ever-present ukulele and played a few soothing chords...can't say I've ever done that in a job interview previously.....

Anything like these?

Public sector job: “Tell us about a time when you demonstrated a positive commitment to diversity?”

Private sector job: “Tell us about a time when you demonstrated the skills relevant to the job being applied for?”

The latter.

And the only person to mention diversity was me (being from an effnic minority group myself and an economic child labour migrant )

But having trained to do Competence based interviewing myself , it's hard not to reflect on the mechanical nature of the process. That said, I still had to think about examples from my previous life that met the theoretical case.

Meanwhile, it remains to Debrett's to remind us that, just because we have been through some strange and difficult times of late , that doesn't mean we should let standards slip.....we are, after all, British .
[ not you Lardbeast]

The Golden Rules of Dining - Debrett's

The Golden Rules Of Dining​

Limited social contact has taken its toll on formal dining, and hosting and attending dinner parties seems like a distant memory when lockdown rules restrict social gatherings.

However now that there is light at the end of the tunnel, there is no excuse for letting dining standards slip. Here are a few pointers that will serve you well:

• If using a knife and fork together, always keep the tines of the fork pointing downwards and push the food on to the fork. It may be necessary to use mashed potato to make peas stick to the fork but it is incorrect to turn the fork over and scoop.
• Always eat pudding with a spoon and fork.
• Indicate you have finished your meal by placing your knife, fork (with the tines facing upwards) and/or spoon on the plate in the six-thirty position.
• Put salt on the side of your plate rather than sprinkling it on your food.
• Resist the temptation to mop up sauce, or the last few mouthfuls of soup, with bread; eat only what can be eaten easily with a fork or spoon.
• Do not pick individual grapes from a bunch. Use either fingers, or grape scissors, to remove a small bunch.
• Pips and stones should be discreetly spat into a cupped left hand and deposited on the side of the plate or discarded.
• When served bread rolls, break into bite-sized pieces that are eaten individually. Break off a new piece for each mouthful, rather than dividing the rolls into chunks in advance.
• Butter, served with bread, should be taken from the butter dish with the butter knife and placed on the edge of your side plate. Each piece of bread is individually buttered.
• When eating soup fill the spoon by pushing it away from you, towards the far side of the bowl. Bring this to the mouth and tip the soup in from the side of the spoon. Tilt the bowl away from you in order to get the last few spoonfuls.

* Mister Cube is like Mister Shine (Him Diamond) only much, much squarer....
+ I'm almost sure this is tongue-in-cheek, but with some people you just never know

 

[delivering_capability]

I wish I was 21 again for it, just imagine how much drunken shagging will be going on after 12 months of celibacy for most!

...Imagine the forthcoming baby boom, March 2022 will be a busy time in maternity wards

 

[Joker62]

pas the vaccinations moves down the age cohort, the refusenik percentage us going up.

My local Health Trust has released figures of staff take-up, around 92% Caucasian, around 75% Asian and 26% Black/African, not good reading considering that one of the major groups at supposed risk and one of the main hospital staff ethnic grouping aren't having the vaccine.

 

[Joker62]

It ought to be legal to smack a huffing puffing jogger off the pavement, though...along with cyclists over 6 yrs old etc

Why leave out the under 6s, they need to get used to the treament they'll be recieving in later life.

 

[Tedsson]

My local Health Trust has released figures of staff take-up, around 92% Caucasian, around 75% Asian and 26% Black/African, not good reading considering that one of the major groups at supposed risk and one of the main hospital staff ethnic grouping aren't having the vaccine.

Unfortunately the good Doctors Facebook and Twitter and religious "leaders" are telling the BAME types that the vaccination is honky voodoo cooked up by whitey to reprogramme their DNA/turn them into 5G controlled zombies/inject trackers into their bloodstream/sterilise them in some silent genocide/unnecessary as God and Allah will protect them/insert wibble of choice, rinse and repeat.

 

[Tedsson]

Why leave out the under 6s, they need to get used to the treament they'll be recieving in later life.

Hear hear. Well done that man.

Spare the rod, spoil the child.

A good daily flogging made me the man I am today.

Harrrumph.

 

[Tappet]

As I said earlier, it's being diagnosed as Covid.

Some proof of that will be required.

 

[don't tell him pike]

12 months ago we wouldn't dream of putting a mask on our face to visit a shop - especially not a bank. Now it feels normal to grab your mask as you step out of a car, and you're not even allowed in the bank without a mask.

They didn't seem too happy when I went into the bank wearing this

 

[Fang_Farrier]

hah...the 'new normal'....I had a job interview over a Zoom connection today - I even put a collar and tie on .

Same old questions though

'Tell us about a time when......'

What EVS....

I had an interview over Teams.

Told management I can't access Teams due to IT issues (they won't give me an up to date laptop)

No problem, we'll send a junior manager to your location with their laptop.

Collar, tie, full interview kit on.

Manager could not get IT to work, ended up a telephone interview over a very bad phone line.

Usual questions, allegedly scored highly but lost out on promotion.

Turns out on last question I misheard question. Found this out the next week during the debrief.

 

[PhotEx]

• Resist the temptation to mop up sauce, or the last few mouthfuls of soup, with bread; eat only what can be eaten easily with a fork or spoon.

so no licking the plate or bowl then?

 

[dombo63]

so no licking the plate or bowl then?

Or asking of your neighbour, fork poised, " You leaving that?"

 

[RedDinger]

Or asking of your neighbour, fork poised, " You leaving that?"

Will licking your neighbour be OK?

 

[Goatman]

I'm sure Debrett's have an advisory on

' Actions to take when approached by a stranger requesting a lick of your lolly'


That was a gen email BTW....reminds me of a website /Reddit(?) called
Very British Problems

Today's sample: https://twitter.com/soverybritish

' "Honestly... It's fine" - Translation: My brain is vibrating with pure rage. '

 

[ivan_the_tolerable]

I think that it is likely personnel serving in HM Forces will find themselves required to have the COVID-19 vaccine.

I expect that will be the same for quite a few occupations. I had mine via work recently. I wasn’t overly enamoured at the prospect but am of the mindset that if it gets life back to normal sooner, then so be it.

 

[Tedsson]

They didn't seem too happy when I went into the bank wearing this

View attachment 552423

Cthulhu Walt.

 

[Chalkythedog]

There will be a lot fewer jobs. Earlier this year Saga closed its Ramsgate call centre which housed 600 agents when the penny dropped they could work from home. Maybe. For the time being. It only took a few months for Saga to work out the jobs could be re-homed domestically.
How long before they move abroad?

 

[PhotEx]

There will be a lot fewer jobs. Earlier this year Saga closed its Ramsgate call centre which housed 600 agents when the penny dropped they could work from home. Maybe. For the time being. It only took a few months for Saga to work out the jobs could be re-homed domestically.
How long before they move abroad?

long-time never.

 

[Tedsson]

There will be a lot fewer jobs. Earlier this year Saga closed its Ramsgate call centre which housed 600 agents when the penny dropped they could work from home. Maybe. For the time being. It only took a few months for Saga to work out the jobs could be re-homed domestically.
How long before they move abroad?

It just said on the news that ASDA were talking about cutting 3000 back office/admin jobs.

The rationale was apparently the refocus to online deliveries.

I wouldn't be surprised if the real reason was that they were just warm bodies doing makework and the company had discovered over the last year that it could get on very well without them, thank you very much.

Possibly a somewhat jaundiced view but I can't help thinking that if they were necessary to sell stuff in-store they ought to be necessary to sell online (purchasing, operations, financial, legal, HR etc.).

 

[TamH70]

It just said on the news that ASDA were talking about cutting 3000 back office/admin jobs.

The rationale was apparently the refocus to online deliveries.

I wouldn't be surprised if the real reason was that they were just warm bodies doing makework and the company had discovered over the last year that it could get on very well without them, thank you very much.

Possibly a somewhat jaundiced view but I can't help thinking that if they were necessary to sell stuff in-store they ought to be necessary to sell online (purchasing, operations, financial, legal, HR etc.).

More like the new owners up to more tricks, just look up how they got their takeover funded as just one example.