The light can be seen at the end of the tunnel

A picture of light at the end of the tunnel.

Wow, Now close to ten weeks on a constant night shift and it is drawing to a close.

I have in this time growing back my balls and have been giving out abuse big time to my fellow employees.

The highlight was the e mails that went back and forth from myself and the company Managing Director. I just seemed to get more and more cheeky and insulting but done in the right way.
Basically I am right and he is wrong, a person who admits their mistakes are few and far between. This man has an idea and will not change his mind.

I am doing the night shift for a favour to him, but not long into it the knifes are out and targeted for my back. He will not pay for the extra time on site. 60 hour week is paid at a 40 hour week.
Now under the minimum wage law I should be paid minimum of £5.85. Adding up the 60+ week I find the company has in fact broken the law and in an area that is so well publicised.

The health and safety laws have been breached in many areas, again highlights are the welfare facilities. Erm None, ho toilet or washing facilities, canteen or place to store personal belongings. This is critical as the area is contaminated and you can't even was your hands before having lunch. Three of our staff have been off unwell with stomach troubles. I am ok as I am careful but many people have no experience of a site like this.

Next is the CS CS test that you have to take by law in England but not in Scotland. Yes anyone can wander onto a site up here and work with no training or even basic understanding of a work site. But the M74 JV have a rule that everyone on site MUST have this ticket. The result is that someone caught without a ticket(CS CS Card) can be dismissed by the client from the site and the company who they work for possibly blacklisted. Hey not a law as such and no courts involved but it could turn nasty and cast the company work. £17.50 to sit each person on the test is not much on a £1 Million contract.

I have talked of the night shift rules in a previous blog but they are very important and are law. No medical has been offered and we have not signed out on the 'Opt Out' contract. Two very important laws that have been overlooked here and are in place to stop cowboy companies like the one I work for doing what I am doing.

One area I have seen improve is the contact between people, this is mainly due to the contact I had with the MD. I like to know what I am doing on site as I am not daft, I can read and do a good bit. But the total ignorance of the people who I work with is a big reason why the job has went so bad. OK they have the degree and the job but no understanding of what the job involves, You still have to read up and study. If a doctor stops learning then people would still get treated by leaches for everything now.

I have been throughout the project as professional and as helpful as I can but in a company where employees have the extra few initials after the name representing some sort of professional success with no practical knowledge. Can I stay here with them if my hard work is undermined by someone who had daddy to pay for Uni?

Time to move on my thinks and a new tunnel to explore.

Keep Smiling Fletch

Been inside ere for 7 weeks now.

Seven weeks of the same four walls and the same people, now is that not a prison sentence?
Well if you call a life the only time you go out is to work and the only thing you do but work is sleep I feel the prisoners have is easy.

-7 one night a month ago and I said to my workmate that the Barlinnie inmates have got it good, it seem to have sunk in to him a few days later when he told me I was right.

We are contained in a solid cabin, much like the ones used for storing things on building sites. It has no window, heating or water. Also it has a fence round it and some sort of drainage system that looks much like a moat. I do 16 hour days and the rest is sleeping, I get an hour out to get food/water/air and that is it. Prison is what I sounds like.

When you think of prison you as a British person may instantly think of Porridge the great BBC TV show from the 70's.

I mean Fletch was nothing but a petty criminal till he got done for Breaking and Entering. What have I done to get given worse conditions than him?
I have a very nice person one one shift who is a bit dim, like Godber but a female. She is not too sure why she is here but like Godber she is unlucky and got caught once. She may never learn but goes on and on about gettin out. She should be happy with what she has when she gets out.
Mr Barrowclough is a hydro geologist, and a very incompetent one at that, the inmates seem to show him what to do and to keep an eye on em. With only new inmates to intimidate the older ones keep em at harms length at a gain to us. We need to have one of em on our side at one point and a good few favours are owed.
'Horrible' Ives is my bunk mate some days and will take anything he can get. Always on the lookout for a deal and a total grass and a sneak. He is the one to keep a secret from and to only trust a rumour with evidence.
Lukewarm is a lab rat here and is well liked by all, again just a bad day in the office and he has ended up as one of the inmates. He can do his role well here and is very good at getting the cons in a good mood.
Jock is a part time inmate here and he is a Labourer on site, he turns up here and there. Just as loud and violent as GBH original. He always does as he is told mind and is respected by the others. But he is the butt of many jokes.

I could go on as so many here are like the TV show. Mind you after all this time my mind must be playing tricks on me. Well No...

The Guvoner here is just as calamity minded but with good intent. He never gets the big picture. If it all fails he is so well in with the rich people that he will get another high powered job and never be blamed for his faults.

I will on the other hand get out and again find another stupid mistake force me to do porridge again. The next time it may be longer but I hope not.
Unlike the TV show this is not funny, Fletch can always find a joke and crack a smile but even he stopped doing that in Going Straight.

Now time to fight back

Well still on the nigtsift and it is really takin its toll.
Most of you know what the night shift is, yes staying up late and working. But I am doing 8pm till 8am. Add on three to four hours travel and it is a very long day.
In Europe you have to by law be offered a medical before undertaking te shift. Guess what company did not offer me one? Uh hu yup siree my company has not done that, I am now getting my fellow workers complaining of ill health while doing the shifts.
I have a good bit of knowledge on this as I worked before on a shift pattern and have first hand experience.
Where do we start...

Ah very easy sleep patterns.

Yes you do loose a good bit of your mind while trying to sleep at 2pm in the day. The kids outside making noise, the postman at the door, phone ringing. All the things you would expect but even after six hours sleep you will awaken to feel like you ave been run over by a steam train.
Now this is easy to have an opinion on as we have all felt tired but te way you feel is more of a mental problem. Much research done in the last decade has shown a big rise in mental disorders on people wo do shifts. It could be depression to insomnia. Not nice is it.

Missing your life/friends/family.

Ok you all do this when working but how bout not seeing yer friends at all in a six week period. Or even getting out the house. I get up say 3pm, get washed and ready to go out, on bus and at the shops at say half five. No use as in the UK most are closed about five.
It is also a bugger to meet friends as they tend to meet at weekends and I seem to be working them all the time so a few beers and a natter is out.
Seeing family is an odd one as you can again miss much of this due to the shifts. And when you do meet up you can be in a state of real sleepiness or worse (See above)

Physical Health.

As you eat at night your body wants to store the food as fat as it is thinking you will be in bed soon. My workmates have both put on a bit of beef due to eating chips and Curry's at night. Also exercising can be missed due to being knackered or just plain having no time.
After about 12 weeks you can easily put on a stone and feel really bad for it as the food you eat is so bad. Any work done before like weight lifting can be reversed and you will be back a square one.
Also accidents are more likely on a night shift due to people being more tired. I have already went roiling down a motorway embankment after tripping in bad light. Mind you it was comical so that is ok.

Something I ave seen in first sight is people develop drinking and drug problems. Even myself has at times went out totally knackered and got pished due to the above reasons.
I have seen many people turn up at work drunk and or on drugs for a night shift. Again I have told all this to my workmates and to my boss. But it seems to fall on deaf ears. We have a night out next month and I bet the two most drunken people will be the people I am working with.