What cheeses me off

[Quickstatus]

Ive read many exit agreements where nothing negative can be discussed with potential employers or recruitment agencies re references

"Sorry I'm unable to provide a reference" speaks volumes.

 

[RB001]

Oh my gosh !!!
Flipping heck I have and would continue to pay more to have parcels delivered by Australia Post in preference to that absolutely useless Couriers Please
On my Kmart order (very large and somewhat heavy ) it has instructions "can be left unattended"
Nope they have taken it to a pick up point which we will now need to take a trolley over to pick up the parcel at some point when I get a SMS Pin , that can apparently take up to 24 hours
Oh flipping heck

We call them Couriers Puhleeze (gotta inflect it just so...) - they do pretty much the opposite of what's instructed.
When it says 'Signature Required', they leave it at the door without knocking. The tracking notification of delivery comes through quite a bit later, if at all.
In our secure apartment building, this requires a lot more effort than just buzzing our unit and waiting 2 minutes for us to come downstairs and collect it!

 

[Happy Dude]

"Sorry I'm unable to provide a reference" speaks volumes.

It's possible it's more related to a legal issue and may be mandated by the referee's firm, rather than a reflection on the candidate. If a candidate fails to live up to the reference or is none too positive in the reference, the referee may be on the hook. Faced with a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario, some opt to decline to provide a reference. Mate who was at Rio Tinto said that he couldn't/didn't do references for that reason.

 

[andye]

I have seem some clever references in my time in medicine. Nothing overtly damning but enough to make you not touch with a bargepole (can't exactly recall the best but along the lines of "carried out clinical duties to their satisfaction", "demonstrated their skills in interdisciplinary conflict resolution", "able to prioritise their personal research interests despite a busy workload" )

 

[RooFlyer]

I should say in my case re-references this was in about 1998 - yes, the Middle Ages so things were a bit more 'flexible' then. The mining sector investment banking was a pretty small world so if you’re not known to people then they’ll always call on the mates network to find out about you. Even today, I’m sure you can have a beer with someone and the topic happened to come up.

Ive read many exit agreements where nothing negative can be discussed with potential employers or recruitment agencies re references

But the agreement would be with the person who got fired, not a third-party, wouldn’t it? So if Ithought the subject was unsuitable for the new position, I’d still be free to say so wouldn’t I, if asked? And if asked why I thought that, I would say so?

Or have I misunderstood?

 

[drron]

I have seem some clever references in my time in medicine. Nothing overtly damning but enough to make you not touch with a bargepole (can't exactly recall the best but along the lines of "carried out clinical duties to their satisfaction", "demonstrated their skills in interdisciplinary conflict resolution", "able to prioritise their personal research interests despite a busy workload" )

One may have been one I wrote. There was an intern I worked with in Tasmania who was quite irregular in attending rounds, made it obvious that she was available for extracurricular activities and even when she attended rounds she wasn't that capable of actually doing the work.
Surprisingly she still asked me for a reference. I wrote one which went something like - The candidate likes flexible working hours, usually loves her supervisors and knows about iron lungs.
I often wonder if she used it.

 

[Quickstatus]

In my case, the HoD rang me to ask why I didn't apply for advanced training- I confessed didn't know the jobs were open. Luckily the applications had not closed as that meant waiting another year - that would have really CMO. The HOD ended the phone call by saying "don't bother supplying referees , we already rung the people whom we want references from, not those you might prefer".

 

[andye]

My first boss had 4 generic references that he used. I ended up with the "Gold Medal" one which I think may have been due to my assiduous flirtation with his PA rather than my abilities as an Intern

 

[serfty]

iron lungs.

?!

Whoosh, strait over my head...

 

[prozac]

?!

Whoosh, strait over my head...

As in "couldn't work in a"

 

[drron]

After the polio epidemic in the early 50s many people had problems with breathing. An iron lung kept them alive. There was a woman in Peak Hill who lived at home with her iron lung. She often featured in magazines. She died in 1985 at the age of 45. The iron lung did the work of breathing hence the term- wouldn’t work in an iron lung.

 

[SYD]

After the polio epidemic in the early 50s many people had problems with breathing. An iron lung kept them alive. There was a woman in Peak Hill who lived at home with her iron lung. She often featured in magazines. She died in 1985 at the age of 45. The iron lung did the work of breathing hence the term- wouldn’t work in an iron lung.
View attachment 446780

As I’m sure you know, there were entire hospital wards dedicated to hundreds of Polio patients across the country encased in iron lungs.

Must have been incredibly frightening!

Thanks be to the polio vax.

 

[mrsterryn]

I am definitely of the era where polio and iron lung was known about . My son, mid forties, I doubt would have any knowledge of such a thing . Probably would need to explain "wouldn't work in an iron lung "

 

[Denali]

After the polio epidemic in the early 50s many people had problems with breathing. An iron lung kept them alive. There was a woman in Peak Hill who lived at home with her iron lung. She often featured in magazines. She died in 1985 at the age of 45. The iron lung did the work of breathing hence the term- wouldn’t work in an iron lung.
View attachment 446780

Reminds me of our visit to the CDC in 2017. Worth the visit if you are in Atlanta

 

[mrsterryn]

Ok just asked son and he has no idea what the iron lung reference is lol

 

[Quickstatus]

Ok just asked son and he has no idea

GenZ have not experienced or heard of a recession either. WCMO slightly is they think economy will always be good

 

[prozac]

GenZ have not experienced or heard of a recession either. WCMO slightly is they think economy will always be good

Who recalls when Sydney (& MEL) housing prices crashed in the early 1990s? Really crashed, not that hiccup in 2009ish.

 

[serfty]

After the polio epidemic in the early 50s many people had problems with breathing. An iron lung kept them alive. There was a woman in Peak Hill who lived at home with her iron lung. She often featured in magazines. She died in 1985 at the age of 45. The iron lung did the work of breathing hence the term- wouldn’t work in an iron lung.
View attachment 446780

Thank you; I certainly know what an iron lung was; lined up for the Sabin in primary school.

I have recently reached pension age and maybe the machines had become somewhat uncommon by late 60's as don't recall coming access that phrase before.

 

[blackcat20]

GenZ have not experienced or heard of a recession either. WCMO slightly is they think economy will always be good

40s is not Gen Z, we're millennials.

 

[Aeryn]

40s is not Gen Z, we're millennials.

Well actually anyone born in 1980 or earlier which includes those aged 45-49 are the tail end of Gen X. Millennials are only the younger half of the 40s, those turning 40-44 this year.

I am familiar with what an iron lung is, just not that turn of phrase. Iron lungs were phased out in favour of more mobile positive pressure ventilators, something i learned on an episode of Call The Midwife last season.