Fully employed

Yesterday's "night out" was an employment law seminar at which I sat next to one of the people featured on the home page, Ed Gumbley.

Ed was fresh from  his Island Games qualifying half marathon at Gosport on Sunday and is going to be fully employed during the next 12 months. He is running in the Brass Monkeys Half Marathon near York in the Spring, he hopes to (yet  again) be a member of the Island Games team in Bermuda in July and, if all goes well, he'll run a marathon in the autumn.

I've been lucky enough to be employed all my life, well since the age of 13 anyway. From the age of 14 I had two weekend jobs, one on a milk round from 5.45 until about 11 am and the other on a petrol forecourt between 12 and 6. On a few occasions I used to cut somebody's grass in the time between. I always managed to find work for my placements during my business studies degree and during the only summer that I had a normal student vacation. I even found work in the unlikely role as a builder's labourer in the summer of 1979 before I found a permanent role.

And it struck me last night that I had seen employment law from every angle too. At one stage it was one of the nearest things I had to being a specialist subject and had to deal with a few delicate matters whilst earning my salary. On another occasion I was on the other side when I was in dispute with a former employer. Not that uncommon but I wonder how many people have sacked themselves?

That was what I did a few months ago when as part of the winding down of one business I prepared the documentation to dismiss myself. It was one way of ensuring that you reach a satisfactory outcome when you reach agreement with yourself.

Its nice when you get the result that you want as I had a new appointment, working from the same building and with the same people lined up. Such a contrast to last night when there was a technical problem with my television and it kept showing the ball going in the net at the wrong end.