DutchGirl's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
HanaSolo
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2021 6:24 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by HanaSolo »

DutchGirl wrote:
Tue Sep 28, 2021 3:55 am
My teamleader, unhappy with me wanting to work less hours, during our phone call on this topic: "I will have to find out whether you can just one-sidedly say that you want to reduce your hours like that."
This comment impressively captures the reason "middle management" garners little respect. It betrays both a low regard for employee preference and the inability to make adjustments or decisions on the fly. It also beautifully sets up a scenario where they can blame the "higher ups" if the ultimate answer is no, you can't cut your hours. Good for you knowing what you want and deserve. It's inspiring and motivating to me.

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

I ran a red light this morning... It was early, I was still a bit tired, I was mindlessly cruising along (at a perfect speed I might add) behind a truck; and saw too late that the light was orange, and then it was red when I crossed. And it was at a crossing where my infraction was noted by a camera. Ouch, ouch, ouch, that's like 250 euros down the drain for no good reason at all.

And I had even planned to go by train this morning, but by the time I left the house I was too late for the train, so I chose the car after all.

So arrrrggghh... not my day today. On the other hand: still alive and kicking, so that's the good news.

I'm going to sleep early tonight to get some new energy, and hopefully to avoid any further lawbreaking from my side tomorrow. Oh, tomorrow is the annual outing with my colleagues and we're going to learn how to play golf. So I really really really need to get some sleep so that tomorrow I can get a good start at my new early retirement hobby :lol: .

rube
Posts: 883
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:54 pm
Location: Europe (NL)

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by rube »

Ouch on the expected ticket.

Regarding golf: DW and I were walking earlier this week and we passed a golf course. She said, you're not going to do this when you're "fully" retired, are you? Obviously it's not her thing. Not mine either btw, but I'm more "neutral" to it.

Enjoy, perhaps with some beginner's luck you can have the "hole in one" score :lol: .

Married2aSwabian
Posts: 265
Joined: Thu Jan 07, 2021 7:45 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Married2aSwabian »

DutchGirl, you should move to The Motor City, where traffic rules are seen more as “guidelines” to be heeded only if one “feels like it”. :D No camera enforcement here. Sorry about your pending ticket - I can empathize as I’ve gotten a few camera / radar tickets while living in Germany over the years. I would always get nailed at the edge of a town. In Germany, speed limit typically goes from 80 or 100 km/h on more rural roads to 30 in town and you get zero warning prior. Cameras were always very well hidden, too! Sneaky Germans.

I gave up golf 10 years ago. Yay! Seems to be the “anti-ERE” sport to me. Pricey as hell, with lots of guys sitting around bragging about how much they spent on their driver while not practicing enough to be any good. :D

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Well, as for the golf: it turns out that luckily I'm not very talented. On the other hand, I didn't hurt anyone with ball or golf club, so that's good :-D

I now have more respect for the professionals who not only manage to hit the ball, but also send it in the right direction at the right speed. I've sent a few pieces of grass flying this afternoon...

Married2aSwabian
Posts: 265
Joined: Thu Jan 07, 2021 7:45 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Married2aSwabian »

Omg I’ve never been to a pro event, but in ‘96 I went to the Western Am here in Michigan. It’s the biggest amateur tournament. Tiger Woods was in it and went pro after that. Didn’t get to see him play, as he was knocked out by day we went (match play), but it was unreal how close all the spectators stand to the players and along the line of their shots! I was thinkin’, “Man, somebody’d be goin’ to the hospital if I was up there hitting!” :lol:
Last edited by Married2aSwabian on Thu Nov 04, 2021 8:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Still no ticket for running the red light. Oh, please please please please, gods of traffic, I'll promise to be a careful driver from now on... please let the camera have been empty or something like that... :?

Otherwise things are going fine. I had a three-day-weekend just now due to sheer luck with work schedules, and it was great to rest and recuperate. Also I noticed that I got restless by midday of the second day, so nope, I'm still not able to relax very well. Even when I know I've earned it. This week I'll work for roughly 40 hours, so that's reasonable as well.

COVID19 numbers are going up here, mostly among the unvaccinated. The number of COVID19 patients in the ICU have doubled over the last two weeks or so (unfortunately), so I'm afraid we'll see downscaling of regular healthcare once more, which is a pity for the mother of a friend who could really use surgery right now. If she could work right now, she would work in healthcare, but she can't until she's had her own surgery. Oh, the irony. Well, fingers crossed for her, I guess.

radamfi
Posts: 143
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 5:46 pm

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by radamfi »

DutchGirl wrote:
Mon Oct 25, 2021 3:06 pm
Still no ticket for running the red light. Oh, please please please please, gods of traffic, I'll promise to be a careful driver from now on... please let the camera have been empty or something like that... :?
Here there is a 14 day limit for tickets to arrive. If they arrive after that they are invalid. Is there a similar rule in the Netherlands?

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Thanks for giving me the idea to look this up. It's apparently four months in the Netherlands. So I've got some time to go still.

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

No traffic tickets yet. So fingers crossed...

Every now and then I remember that I'll downshift in January to a workweek with (even) less hours... and then I feel this burst of joy. Just a little less than two more months to go until then. It looks like my workweek will be, most of the times, an 8-hour-shift on Tuesday and then another shift on Wednesday or Thursday. However, as always there can't be a fixed schedule (pfff!), so there may be occasional Monday-instead-of-Thursday or one-place-instead-of-the-other where I'll work. Still... I'm looking forward to it!

The Tuesday shift will be in the town where my mother-in-law lives, so that means that every two weeks or so I can visit her in the morning to drink coffee with her and see how she's doing before I work the afternoon and evening.

From a very busy June until September, things have slowed down a bit in October, which means I've been able to spend some more time at home and be a bit more organised with appointments, home-cooked meals and housework, things like that. I love that. I'm not the most organised person, but now that the living room isn't that messy anymore, it's much nicer to be here and enjoy a quiet evening.

And it was nice to have a small family reunion 2.5 weeks ago, and to have dinner with my brother and sister last Sunday to catch up without my adorable nieces and nephews getting in the way. I'm not sure yet what the December holidays will look like this year, but these get-togethers have been nice.

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

I had a meeting yesterday at work... I'm soooo over these kinds of things! New middle manager (this time "interim") is hired to fix the problems. Promises results within a year. (He's just here for that 12 month contract anyway). Tells us he's so surprised by how bad things are for us, but that he will FIX THIS. There are two potential outcomes:

1. Goes on medical leave with burnout before his year is up
2. Ends the year, cashes his reward, gets a farewell party and leaves us in roughly the same situation

Given his predecessors, I'd say the odds are 2 to 1 for these two scenarios.

Oh... with another "big announcement" on our company strategy coming from upper management in a week or so, announced on the intranet this week :shock:

Meanwhile, we'll just keep chugging along here and do our jobs as best as we can.


Ha ha ha... except with reduced hours starting January 1st! :D

Also I'm happy about the raise we're all receiving. They're going to recalculate salaries starting from January this year, meaning that I'll see a few hundred euros extra in my next paycheck.

Finally: I'm doing two presentations in the upcoming two weeks. I volunteered for one of them. This is a message from me to me: You are okay at giving presentations. But you don't enjoy them enough to make all the preparations worthwhile. In short: never do that again, you idiot!

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

One presentation down, one more to go, two weeks from now... I got some nice interaction going with the one I gave this week, even in the afternoon after lunch, so I'll count that as a win. Also saw some improvement options for myself, so that's good, too. The one in two weeks will be via Zoom, so that will give less interaction no doubt, but it will also mean that I won't have to travel.

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

DutchGirl wrote:
Sat Nov 06, 2021 3:40 am
Oh... with another "big announcement" on our company strategy coming from upper management in a week or so, announced on the intranet this week :shock:
Guys, guys... the big announcement is that we're going to try to do MORE of the things that we're good at, and will try to avoid having to increase costs while doing so!

rube
Posts: 883
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:54 pm
Location: Europe (NL)

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by rube »

Well, that's great news, isn't it? I mean the shareholders will be super excited I supose.

January 1st is around the corner.
Last edited by rube on Sat Nov 20, 2021 5:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Mendes
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2020 7:15 am

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by Mendes »

Serious?

shaz
Posts: 420
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2021 7:05 pm
Location: Colorado, US

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by shaz »

Haha well at least they don't plan to do more of the things they are not good at. It could be worse ...

DutchGirl
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:49 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by DutchGirl »

Mendes wrote:
Sat Nov 20, 2021 4:24 pm
Serious?
Yup. That's my 10-second summary of 50 minutes of presentations.

I guess Shaz is right: it could be worse.


In other news: I MADE MY ORIGINAL GOAL! YES, I'M SHOUTING! :lol:

My original goal back in 2011 was 240k. That would be 12000/year with a 5% withdrawal rate. (And a 5% withdrawal rate would be okay, in my opinion, because I also have a national pension and a work pension waiting for me by age 67). With my paycheck of today, I've surpassed that goal.

Now there are two unfortunate things. Number one is that 240k euros back in 2011 is like 282k euros now. Number two is that my personal lifestyle has inflated somewhat since 2011, too. Bigger house, for example.

So... I'll need to work for juuuust a little bit longer. But I am going to work less from January onwards because: why not? I'll get to 280k or 300k anyway...

chenda
Posts: 3289
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:17 pm
Location: Nether Wallop

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by chenda »

DutchGirl wrote:
Mon Nov 22, 2021 12:07 pm
In other news: I MADE MY ORIGINAL GOAL! YES, I'M SHOUTING! :lol:
Congratulations Dutchgirl! I just reread your whole journal it is very inspiring seeing you start from scratch and get all the way here : )

sky
Posts: 1726
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:20 am

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by sky »

Congrats!

Now, back to work!

(written in sarcastic joking tone)

shaz
Posts: 420
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2021 7:05 pm
Location: Colorado, US

Re: DutchGirl's journal

Post by shaz »

Congratulations! You set a big goal and accomplished it.

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