Outrageous things done at work

[Globalti]

Years ago I worked as a surveyor's assistant for Gleeson's civil engineers on the building of the Stokenchurch cutting where the M40 goes through the Chiltern hills. We had a room in the main office complex. Next to our room was the switchboard where a receptionist worked. Somebody had drilled a hole through the wall and covered it with a construction machine poster, so if you lifted the poster and peeped through the hole you could see straight up the receptionist's miniskirt. This became a frequent source of fun until one day when I settled down with my sandwiches and thought I'd take a quick dekko at today's choice of underwear. To my shock there was an eye staring straight back at me and I heard female voices saying "it was the one with the long hair". A minute later the door flew open and the office manager burst in demanding to know who had made the hole. Embarrassing.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Got to say great name.

 

[gbb]

GBB - that wouldn't have happened to have been the maintenance dept at the 'world's favourite airline' I did some sub-con work @ Heathrow for them a few years ago and staggered to find that they actually got the planes out the door. The nightshift clocked-on at 10am and you'd be lucky if any work was done before 2am - and they clocked-off at 6am. A former colleague worked at BL in Oxford - now the BMW Mini Plant. They actually had a crew of enforcers who'd walk round to make sure no-one was working on nights!

No Monty...it was a pea processing plant ..pretty much like many other largish factories. Guys i was with previously worked at a well known washing machine factory, diesel engine manufacturers, turbine manufacturers..all in Peterborough. Apparently...engineering departments are much the same where ever they are.

 

[longers]

When working in the woodshop it was mainly a case of lots of foreigners being done. We had all the gear and an endless supply of hardwoods. Look busy and you'd get asked no questions.

I was very moral and only used offcuts. I've got a set of six chairs in pippy oak made from offcuts!:?:

 

[stephec]

No Monty...it was a pea processing plant ..pretty much like many other largish factories. Guys i was with previously worked at a well known washing machine factory, diesel engine manufacturers, turbine manufacturers..all in Peterborough. Apparently...engineering departments are much the same where ever they are.

Which pea plant was it? I'm a service engineer who's in food factories everyday, I'd love to know.

 

[gbb]

No Monty...it was a pea processing plant ..pretty much like many other largish factories. Guys i was with previously worked at a well known washing machine factory, diesel engine manufacturers, turbine manufacturers..all in Peterborough. Apparently...engineering departments are much the same where ever they are.

Which pea plant was it? I'm a service engineer who's in food factories everyday, I'd love to know.[/QUOTE]

It was the now defunct Christian Salvesen plant in Peterboro Stephec. I think most of the pea plants dissapeared over the years, Easton, Hull, Lowestoft...maybe Droitwich as well. i visited most of them quite often. The old Frigo plant in Lynns long gone i think...obviously no money in peas any more .
They spent years telling us that at wage negotiations...we always thought...yeah right...any excuse to keep the wages low

 

[Melvil]

On a summer job back in Uni days, I worked in an off-license The amount of frankly dodgy dealings that went on in there would be sufficient to fill a book but here's a summary:

1) Our manager and some of the staff took a liking to calling international phone-sex lines from the staff phone (by the counter and the window FFS!) for hours at a time.

2) Every so often the manager would hold 'in license' nights where he would keep the door open after the shop was supposed to be closed and we would bring in the stereo, play some tunes and invite anyone who passed by in for a drink 'on the house'.

3) On one occasion we passed a company audit primarily due to the manager procuring a couple of hundred thousand carrier bags (they have a monetary value, oh yes).

4) Ten pin bowling with the skittles being £150 bottles of champers

5) A particularly memorable occasion was when I was serving some customers who'd brought back a case of wine they weren't particularly chuffed with. I phoned my manager - he was at a local footie match - to ask if I could give a refund. Over the roar of the crowd he screamed 'tell the c**** to f**** off!' Needless to say they heard it and made a formal complaint to head office. Amazingly, however, nothing came of it.

OK, this is more a story about my manager than anyone else, but at times it really did feel like another planet, not work.

 

[Fab Foodie]

No Monty...it was a pea processing plant ..pretty much like many other largish factories. Guys i was with previously worked at a well known washing machine factory, diesel engine manufacturers, turbine manufacturers..all in Peterborough. Apparently...engineering departments are much the same where ever they are.

Which pea plant was it? I'm a service engineer who's in food factories everyday, I'd love to know.[/QUOTE]

Hi stephec

What kit do you work on in food factories?
I used to work for Frigoscandia...the Equipment Division, Freezers, Coating, Frying and cooking etc.

 

[gbb]

Which pea plant was it? I'm a service engineer who's in food factories everyday, I'd love to know.

Hi stephec

What kit do you work on in food factories?
I used to work for Frigoscandia...the Equipment Division, Freezers, Coating, Frying and cooking etc.

Sorry to butt in FF, we had Frigo 110W freezers...for the uninitiated, theyre about the size of a house with kin big fans blasting freezing air into the freezing chamber above. The guys working the freezer used to look like yeti's, with the coldstore suits on. I walked into one one day...and found the operator fast asleep in the corner...minus 25 degree winds blasting round him

 

[Fab Foodie]

Which pea plant was it? I'm a service engineer who's in food factories everyday, I'd love to know.

Hi stephec

What kit do you work on in food factories?
I used to work for Frigoscandia...the Equipment Division, Freezers, Coating, Frying and cooking etc.

Sorry to butt in FF, we had Frigo 110W freezers...for the uninitiated, theyre about the size of a house with kin big fans blasting freezing air into the freezing chamber above. The guys working the freezer used to look like yeti's, with the coldstore suits on. I walked into one one day...and found the operator fast asleep in the corner...minus 25 degree winds blasting round him [/QUOTE]

Must have been real tired...or have good earplugs,as well as fearsome cold with the wind-chill they're chuffing noisy inside!
Good bits of kit the FloFreeze W's. Never got to see the 22 tonne per hour version they built for Birds-Eye though (worlds biggest pea freezer), must have been the size of a row of terraced houses!
Ha
Small world!

 

[trustysteed]

I spent a good 6 months shagging a dirty (in the good way!) woman every day in all the toilets around the building. The best ones were the disabled toilets as they have those bars she could hold onto in front of the mirror!

was almost a shame to leave the place.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

I spent a good 6 months shagging a dirty (in the good way!) woman every day in all the toilets around the building. The best ones were the disabled toilets as they have those bars she could hold onto in front of the mirror!

was almost a shame to leave the place.

ah, is that where the username comes from

 

[trustysteed]

 

[Aperitif]

Not in the same league as trustysteed but... As an impoverished art student in the 70s, I had a nightime job as a 'cleaner' (ha ha) at Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge - a short trot from Chelsea - the perfect way to get much needed beer tokens.

The motorised floor cleaner / polisher was a huge wrestling match which used to take place in the staff canteen. My friend Ian and I managed to cripple several chairs and sundry stuff. More 'interestingly', it overlooked (maybe still does) the cylindrical shaped hotel next door (I forget the name...) (Sheraton Park Tower!)

During our tour of duty we were privileged, on two or three occasions to snigger at businessmen (we could see that they were men, my friend told me so...) receiving 'luxury massages' as their curtains were often left open inthe heat of the moment - that's what we thought anyway. In the records department, we hoovered and dusted to James Brown or blasted Lynrd Skynrd and even stole a cream cake - seemed like a cake of monumental proportions then - and scoffed it.

We got the sack - and a bag to put it in very soon afterwards

 

[Elmer Fudd]

Worked at a company in brum where they built an "inspection hut" in the middle of the shop floor. One of the inspectors was called Terry Latif, obviously not of a white persuasion.
Overnight a very professional looking painted wooden sign went up on it saying "Latifs mini-mart and taxi rank".
6 months later the company anounced that due to its financial situation we wouldn't be getting our christmas bonus or turkey this year. A sign went up
"No turkey, no workey"