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Post by bodger on Nov 10, 2019 20:46:51 GMT
which is all part of a normal handover process. nothing to do with initiative. I'm sure your company procedures require you to do exactly that - or if they don't then they should. No - that's just me. No-one else does it. The company I work for, like most companies, is not interested in suggestions - there are some simple improvements that could be made, such as access to all maintenance/servicing of the vehicles for the drivers via the Internet/application. Fuel amounts are entered into the bus's day book, but not the time or at what kilometers; whenever I swap buses I ask the other driver when was it tanked and are there any faults with it. First thing I did when I turned up at our garage 3.5 years ago was to tidy the whole place up and slap up a list on the wall telling where items are in alphabetical order, eg. alcohol-lock straws / tachograph discs / spare ticket machine rolls. how the hell do they monitor the use of (very expensive) fuel without auditable records? crap company - doesn't deserve even a norty canine to work for them. if I were you I'd come back to the UK straight away, bugger those stupid Finns. ... or start a scam selling fuel on the side.
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Post by Andyberg on Nov 10, 2019 21:00:39 GMT
find that kids in Finland simply "can't be bothered" in learning new things, or trying out something different. My dad's attitude was "there is always room for a new experience." How many years have you been driving a bus for E90 a day? 🙄🙄
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2019 22:46:46 GMT
In my experience workers from Eastern Europe have a way better work ethic than people born in the UK. I'm an HGV agency driver and I've lost count of how many times I've worked for a company and someone in the office has said "We phoned the agency and told them not to send us any more eastern Europeans". I worked at a place about this time last year, and the Transport Manager (TM) was trying to give an EE driver a very simple instruction- something like "Collect a trailer from Northampton and bring it back here". The EE driver just couldn't understand this instruction at all and looked blankly and vacantly back, yet every time the TM said "Do you understand?" he enthusiastically replied "Yes, I understand!" which was obviously an answer to the question "Do you understand?" which he had learned by rote. It was like watching Manuel off of Fawlty Towers, by the end the poor TM was almost banging his head against the wall. The damage the EE's cause to the trucks is phenomenal, many companies won't employ them any more because the original wage savings were completely wiped out and then some by the following year's massively increased insurance premium. I said 'in my experience'. I dont and never have worked in the road transport industry.
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Post by patty on Nov 11, 2019 6:52:06 GMT
In my experience workers from Eastern Europe have a way better work ethic than people born in the UK. I'm an HGV agency driver and I've lost count of how many times I've worked for a company and someone in the office has said "We phoned the agency and told them not to send us any more eastern Europeans". I worked at a place about this time last year, and the Transport Manager (TM) was trying to give an EE driver a very simple instruction- something like "Collect a trailer from Northampton and bring it back here". The EE driver just couldn't understand this instruction at all and looked blankly and vacantly back, yet every time the TM said "Do you understand?" he enthusiastically replied "Yes, I understand!" which was obviously an answer to the question "Do you understand?" which he had learned by rote. It was like watching Manuel off of Fawlty Towers, by the end the poor TM was almost banging his head against the wall. The damage the EE's cause to the trucks is phenomenal, many companies won't employ them any more because the original wage savings were completely wiped out and then some by the following year's massively increased insurance premium. When I lived in Caldecott(Rutland) large HGV parked opposite my house in the evening in appalling weather(we lived just before a very bad bend in the road)..anyway EE guy gets out..understood and spoke very little English. He showed me a scrap of paper with an address on it..wrong Caldecott but trying to get him to understand was a task beyond me. Meanwhile road stacking up with not so patient car drivers. In his cab wifey and small baby. Eventually he had to just drive off...I wondered how long it took him to find where he was supposed to be. I must admit it made me think about the sense of all this. 'Cheap' labour is all very well but in some industries such as HGV drivers if they don't speak or understand English it has to be more of a liability. TBH when I worked as a nurse, particularly before guidelines came in, I felt that the workforce who had poor command of our language presented challenges with understanding the patients verbal concerns. I am all for employment for anyone who can do the job/learn skills but they ought to be proficient in the language of the country they work in.
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Post by bodger on Nov 11, 2019 8:06:33 GMT
I am all for employment for anyone who can do the job/learn skills but they ought to be proficient in the language of the country they work in. that's understandable from your point of view Patty, but having worked in many countries where I didn't have any of the local language apart from hello, please and thankyou (e.g. Albania, Turkey and Myanmar where they don't use English at all, and many others where some folk had a smattering of English) I managed to get by somehow................. and I and all the other expats were doing work that the locals couldn't do. Perhaps we are rapidly getting to the point where the same applies in the UK.
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Post by naughtyfox on Nov 11, 2019 8:24:23 GMT
No - that's just me. No-one else does it. The company I work for, like most companies, is not interested in suggestions - there are some simple improvements that could be made, such as access to all maintenance/servicing of the vehicles for the drivers via the Internet/application. Fuel amounts are entered into the bus's day book, but not the time or at what kilometers; whenever I swap buses I ask the other driver when was it tanked and are there any faults with it. First thing I did when I turned up at our garage 3.5 years ago was to tidy the whole place up and slap up a list on the wall telling where items are in alphabetical order, eg. alcohol-lock straws / tachograph discs / spare ticket machine rolls. how the hell do they monitor the use of (very expensive) fuel without auditable records? I think you'll find that fuel is probably quite cheap when public transport (bus/rail/plane) companies buy it in bulk with contracts stretching 20 years in advance. Each vehicle has a 'day book' in which fuel amounts are entered. Fuel comes from the company's own tanks, and electronic cards are used at filling stations (in my case I have a card). Not working for administration I have no idea how they look at fuel use; I'd imagine the fuel used is about the same every year and if routes are added/subtracted then allowance made for that. But it makes no sense to try and work out why a particular vehicle has consumed x litres of fuel without looking at what that vehicle has done, and as we are all taking on extra duties (charter drives, for instance) as well as running along established routes, it really becomes too complicated. How do you think British Airways monitor their fuel consumption? Or London Transport? Do you count the amount of sugar grains on your doughnut, or the amount of sesame seeds on your McDonald's hamburger bun? How do you monitor the calories you take in each day? It's meaningless. But you do notice if you are getting a tad too fat.
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Post by naughtyfox on Nov 11, 2019 8:34:45 GMT
find that kids in Finland simply "can't be bothered" in learning new things, or trying out something different. My dad's attitude was "there is always room for a new experience." How many years have you been driving a bus for E90 a day? 🙄🙄 Six. Although there is plenty of change in this job to make it interesting. In fact I often like 'plain' days as a rest. Of course it's a drag getting out of bed at 0520 but we have boating adventures to look forward to, and other trips during the year, enough to keep the interest to put some effort in to keep going. And there are real seasons here to break up any monotony - snow down now, and minus 6 this morning. And nice and warm inside driving: wildlife provides extra excitement.
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Post by JohnV on Nov 11, 2019 8:58:23 GMT
I am all for employment for anyone who can do the job/learn skills but they ought to be proficient in the language of the country they work in. having worked in many countries where I didn't have any of the local language apart from hello, please and thankyou (e.g. Albania, Turkey and Myanmar where they don't use English at all, and many others where some folk had a smattering of English) I managed to get by somehow................. If you are doing a job where it is important, maybe even safety related important that involves interacting with the public, then a good grasp of the language used by that public is vital
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Post by naughtyfox on Nov 11, 2019 9:04:45 GMT
having worked in many countries where I didn't have any of the local language apart from hello, please and thankyou (e.g. Albania, Turkey and Myanmar where they don't use English at all, and many others where some folk had a smattering of English) I managed to get by somehow................. If you are doing a job where it is important, maybe even safety related important that involves interacting with the public, then that position a good grasp of the language used by that public is vital Not that Helsinki City Transport / Helsinki Regional Transport gives a toss, having got rid of 90% of their Finnish drivers, replaced by mostly non-Finnish-speaking arrogant and rude Estonians because they are cheaper. And every time a Somali rapist is caught and sent to court they have to have a 'translator' (one of their mates) there - how much more does that cost?!
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Post by thebfg on Nov 11, 2019 9:08:11 GMT
how the hell do they monitor the use of (very expensive) fuel without auditable records? I think you'll find that fuel is probably quite cheap when public transport (bus/rail/plane) companies buy it in bulk with contracts stretching 20 years in advance. Each vehicle has a 'day book' in which fuel amounts are entered. Fuel comes from the company's own tanks, and electronic cards are used at filling stations (in my case I have a card). Not working for administration I have no idea how they look at fuel use; I'd imagine the fuel used is about the same every year and if routes are added/subtracted then allowance made for that. But it makes no sense to try and work out why a particular vehicle has consumed x litres of fuel without looking at what that vehicle has done, and as we are all taking on extra duties (charter drives, for instance) as well as running along established routes, it really becomes too complicated. How do you think British Airways monitor their fuel consumption? Or London Transport? Do you count the amount of sugar grains on your doughnut, or the amount of sesame seeds on your McDonald's hamburger bun? How do you monitor the calories you take in each day? It's meaningless. But you do notice if you are getting a tad too fat. I believe over here, when drivers fill up they give their mileage. They then get an mpg reading with the invoice. A lot of companies will offer bonuses if drivers get over certain targets. It easier to see patterns to see if someone is abusing the fuel cards.
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Post by naughtyfox on Nov 11, 2019 9:20:55 GMT
So a driver who does 500km from A to B non-stop is a better driver than the poor sod who does 100km but has to stop at every bus stop - not just the braking and accelerating for 200 stops, but the fuel wasted during idling whilst the passengers board/alight? I'm sure the company I work for has a rough idea of what engine uses how many litres of diesel per 100km, and I have counted consumption in some of the buses I've driven, but it really doesn't mean anything in the larger picture of 300 buses doing all kinds of work along all kinds of roads and routes. Basically it's a matter of what money comes in, what goes out, and is there anything remaining? If there's no profit, then it's time to fold. Fortunately the company I work for seems to have a good reputation throughout Finland, and seems to be doing OK. Having employees like me helps
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Post by thebfg on Nov 11, 2019 10:00:55 GMT
Buses may be different. I've no idea.
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Post by bodger on Nov 11, 2019 10:58:25 GMT
I just can't get over the incompetence of a system where a driver fills up with fuel, enters it in his daybook, but doesn't need to record the mileage.
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Post by naughtyfox on Nov 11, 2019 15:04:01 GMT
I just can't get over the incompetence of a system where a driver fills up with fuel, enters it in his daybook, but doesn't need to record the mileage. Mileage is recorded every day at the end of the day in that daybook too. I don't think anyone ever bothers to check that because it's like you filling your car up. Do you make records of each trip and how much fuel you have put into your car every filling? And what can you make of that all? Nothing - it's all irrelevant. Your fuel bill each year is going to be roughly the same unless there are big changes. On the other hand, perhaps I'm looked upon as honest and trustworthy - and you are not? Badger the Pilferer. Arise Sir Knight!
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Post by patty on Nov 11, 2019 15:41:35 GMT
having worked in many countries where I didn't have any of the local language apart from hello, please and thankyou (e.g. Albania, Turkey and Myanmar where they don't use English at all, and many others where some folk had a smattering of English) I managed to get by somehow................. If you are doing a job where it is important, maybe even safety related important that involves interacting with the public, then a good grasp of the language used by that public is vital Thats what I was trying to say but maybe I put in too many words and my meaning got lost...
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