The Last Taboo

No secrets with the Mrs, but I don't discuss it with friends, family or
peers.

 

How do you know they didn't?

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, John B

<shudder>

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "He's hopeless, but he's honest"

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (Fallen apart) Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single"
Norton 850 Commando Kawasaki GTR1400

 

The .wmv files are "protected using digital rights." When you try to
access one it checks for the licence (which expires) before playing. If
someone were to try and convert the .wmv it will report a damaged file
DAMHIK.


--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Should have just moved to Norfolk.

 

Nothing hidden here, but we each have our own accounts as well as a
joint "household account". Might be something to do with both having
been married before. SWMBO's 'previous existence' left her with a strong
resolve to always have some money which is under her sole control.

We calculate the joint expenditure, and then each pays by monthly
standing order in to the household account to cover that, in proportion
to their income (including investment income). The ratio has changed a
bit over the years (particularly since I retired).

Unforeseen, and some planned, major expenses lead to a bit of
negotiation based on full knowledge of each others savings, as well as
joint investments.

I don't expect SWMBO to finance my bikes and she doesn't expect me
contribute to buy her a car (though I do sometimes give her an interest
free loan).

Naturally the house is in joint names.

As to work, coming from the public sector, the concept of not knowing
pretty much exactly what everyone else is on is alien to me.

I don't discuss it with friends or other family members.
--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

These are changing times. When I were a lad it was common for this to
be the case for "salaried" staff and was much reinforced by Them to make
sure the monthly paid didn't talk about how poor and badly treated they
actually were in exchange for the privilege of starting and finishing
work an hour later. It was never a matter of preventing jealousy but a
case of stopping laughter.

Although up until the 1980's it was changing and folks were becoming
more aware of the gross inequalities in pay and conditions for doing the
same work right up until Maggie joined forces with the Left Wing to once
and for all destroy the Unions and return to the status quo of fear and
silence.

In conclusion then, whatever your opinion makers might tell you, nothing
seems to have changed much, the gullible on low wages are still scared
and still keep very quiet about how little they really do earn.

 

I suspect this occurs quite a lot - most of the people in my team have
a similar arrangement with their partners (married or cohabiting[1]).

Phil.

[1] Now theres a word I haven't seen used for a long time!

 

We don't have joint accounts and I pay the bills - it's open about our
finances but we don't discuss them, simply because it's rather dull.

To coin an old train driver joke when the wife sees his payslip "I have
to pay the fireman and buy the coal out of that too".

 

Then so am I.

 

Quite a few drivers still do this. It wasn't uncommon to see the wives
lining up to pick up the husbands pay packet when I first started.

 

Maybe that's something else to consider, my dad worked for BR[1] from
the 70's to early 90's, so it was probably part of the general culture.

[1] He didn't drive trains, but did joinery for the various sites they
used to have in Derby.

 

But Mars is just plain wierd. Having worked there as a consultant for
about 2 1/2 years on and off during the late 80s, I saw a lot of
bizzare practices (for permies) going on, including:

Everyone had to clock in and out, and received a Good Timekeeping
Bonus based on being there for their chosen start times. One minute
late, once in any calendar month, would lose it for the whole period.
And it was 5% of the salary. In practice they just needed to get their
manager to sign it off as acceptable, but why have such a punitive
system in the first place?

Clear desk policy - at any time, without notice, a sweep could take
place, whereby anything left on a desk apart from computer and phone
would be bundled up into a bin bag and taken away. No matter how
work-critical. At one point while I was there this was extended to the
contents of desks, such that _no_ personal items were allowed to be
left in desk drawers. I imagine they excepted womaen's personal
hygeine products etc., but the policy even went so far as to specify
how many pens and pencils would be deemed an acceptable maximum.

Meeting booking and calendars - everyone used the same calendar system
(IBM's PROFS, resonably advanced for 1986) and was deemed to be
available for any meeting unless time was booked for something else.
So you could arrive in the office one morning to find your entire day
booked into meetings you knew nothing about. In practice many people
took to booking themselves in meetings for four hours or more each day
with titles like "getting some work done" to avoid this.

I could go on...
--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com)
\`\ | /`/ DS#8 BOTAFOT#3 SbS#2 UKRMMA#13 DFV#8 SKA#2 IBB#10
`\\ | //'
`\|/`
`

 

Pretty much what I'd go for, but probably from a very different
viewpoint. I've no problem telling people who need to know, but there's
far more interesting topics to talk about than how much money people
have or don't have.

If there aren't then it's time to find new people.

 

Discount policy?

 

Mars is a family company owned by some very strange Septics. I'm not
surprised.

 

Watching a prog the other day stating that (IIRC) 33% of people don't
even tell their partners.

My wife knows, my boss knows, that's *probably* about it, more because
I've only been asked outright once, and I find it slightly uncomfortable
knowing how much I was earning only 18 months ago.

heh

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

One each, and a joint.....

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Are there any other sort, to a greater or lesser degree?

 

At one city company that I worked at, disclosing details of ones
salary or annual review to colleagues was specifically banned.