Daniel DeBourg
12th Oct 2010, 16:53
I hope some of you can see where I'm coming from with this and I'm not seen as whining for the sake of it so here's the scenario...
I'm on det somewhere hot and dusty and my new posting comes through on JPA wef as soon as I get back to the UK. "Great," I think, as I call the admin staff at my new unit to introduce myself. The phone call goes like this:
"Sorry to tell you this whilst you're still away but you'll be going there again for a further three months in Feb 11."
Okay, I can cope with that, going away is a large part of my job. Mobile is exactly that, I've done my fair share of going away recently (two 3 monthers in 18 months) but another det won't be so bad, bringing me up to 300+ days in exactly two years.
"In the meantime, as soon as you return from your current det to you going on your next, you're fully booked with training and courses."
Again, not so bad, they're obviously quite organised and have planned me in, I'm pleased so far and they're happy with my enthusiasm. Then BANG, I log into JPA and find myself on a course in the middle of my PODL, not good especially when I booked my holiday and informed work about it five months ago!
Another phone call;
"We can sympathise but there's nothing we can do, the courses are hard to get onto as it is."
Right, they're happy to send me away again within 4 months whilst I put my life on hold in the run up to it, but they're not happy to arrange things so the little downtime I have is unaffected as soon as I return. Courses are run once a month, its a few months before the course actually starts so I'm thinking a swap would be quite straightforward?
JSP 760 is clear about PODL but surely, someone has got to realise that they can't take and not give anything back otherwise no one would stick around? My next phone call will need to be a diplomatic one, so does anyone else think I've got the justification to have my PODL unaffected seeing as it's my only time off since July and will be all the way through to my return in June next year?
Any feedback would be much appreciated as usual, I think the service has done well out of me so far, I really don't want to have to ruffle feathers before I've even got back to the UK, but I feel that something has got to give in this instance.
I'm on det somewhere hot and dusty and my new posting comes through on JPA wef as soon as I get back to the UK. "Great," I think, as I call the admin staff at my new unit to introduce myself. The phone call goes like this:
"Sorry to tell you this whilst you're still away but you'll be going there again for a further three months in Feb 11."
Okay, I can cope with that, going away is a large part of my job. Mobile is exactly that, I've done my fair share of going away recently (two 3 monthers in 18 months) but another det won't be so bad, bringing me up to 300+ days in exactly two years.
"In the meantime, as soon as you return from your current det to you going on your next, you're fully booked with training and courses."
Again, not so bad, they're obviously quite organised and have planned me in, I'm pleased so far and they're happy with my enthusiasm. Then BANG, I log into JPA and find myself on a course in the middle of my PODL, not good especially when I booked my holiday and informed work about it five months ago!
Another phone call;
"We can sympathise but there's nothing we can do, the courses are hard to get onto as it is."
Right, they're happy to send me away again within 4 months whilst I put my life on hold in the run up to it, but they're not happy to arrange things so the little downtime I have is unaffected as soon as I return. Courses are run once a month, its a few months before the course actually starts so I'm thinking a swap would be quite straightforward?
JSP 760 is clear about PODL but surely, someone has got to realise that they can't take and not give anything back otherwise no one would stick around? My next phone call will need to be a diplomatic one, so does anyone else think I've got the justification to have my PODL unaffected seeing as it's my only time off since July and will be all the way through to my return in June next year?
Any feedback would be much appreciated as usual, I think the service has done well out of me so far, I really don't want to have to ruffle feathers before I've even got back to the UK, but I feel that something has got to give in this instance.