It's time to move on - physically and mentally

I kept my intentions pretty quiet, I made sure nobody was aware of my career plans, I hadn't resigned yet but I had informed my manager in confidence of my intentions to seek alternative employment opportunities.

My intention was clear, I wanted to complete my obligations with my current employer before moving on to my next challenge. I didn't want anyone to know, this had become a toxic work environment with so much infighting, backstabbing and undermining that I wanted to just complete my obligations without any further drama and leave without fanfare.

Our team leader had retired and I thought it was fitting that I go at about the same time. This was a good time to be leaving, I had no energy for the job now, no enthusiasm and no patience for fools - I wanted out. This was the right time, I knew it and so did many others.

I had already packed up my desk and private possessions I had collected over my 13 years of employment. I hadn't told anyone, maybe they thought packing up my desk was an end of year clean up as I hadn't let anyone know on this final week of the year as I really didn't want to explain the whole situation to everyone.

I will have to return for a week or so just after the Christmas break but I can't see me working more than 2 weeks. I have 3 weeks paid leave planned starting mid December, my desk has been cleared so I don't have to return if the need arises. I just wanted to hand over programs I had been running but I don't even need that as it isn't my problem anymore.

My final day of 2018 disgusted me, the total lack of respect shown to the two longest serving members of the staff was unbelievable. I really don't want to work at a place that treats their staff so poorly, the leadership vacuum that has infiltrated this workplace has allowed a toxic work environment to prosper.

Leadership is all about influence; however, this is not the type of influence I want to associate myself with. I am glad I am out of there and I feel a just pure sense of relief, this is such a good time to build new employment opportunities, networks and I can work in an environment free from this form of behaviour.

The ongoing Brexit debate

As an insider looking in, the whole Brexit debate is astonishing, a referendum was held some time ago now and the people voted - what really is the issue?

Apparently now a segment of the population are unhappy with the vote and calling for another referendum. What happens if the result is the same? Call more referendums until you get the actual vote you really want? If the vote is closer, will there be discussion that public sediment is changing so a third referendum is required after the non-exit lobby undertakes further discussion and advertising?

Will leaving the EU give the United Kingdom more autonomy? I suspect so - from my discussions with people and I am aware this is a generalisation; it would appear the younger generation want to stay and the older generation want out. The EU is holding out, they are playing winner take all at the moment.

I can see that because the EU wants to make it unpalatable for further sovereign nations to exit the EU, they are trying to build the United States of Europe but they are dealing with independent countries with a long history who don't want to hand control of their country to a central government. No country wants to lose their national identity and the richer more efficient countries don't want to subsidise the poorer inefficient countries - I can see that.

The EU wants to erect barriers to prevent further nations from exiting, this however creates an atmosphere of distrust and a lack of respect for EU processes and membership. Just recently we saw the issues with Greece, then Portugal and also Ireland who wanted out after their debt crisis. The EU may have bailed these countries out but their residents ask at what cost?

From what I see and I know I could be incorrect, the EU pretty much doesn’t build relationships between nations at the moment, they are taking a more dictatorial approach. From my experiences in both the private enterprise and public sectors, business managers have learnt a command and control management approach has been succeeded by a more collaborative methodology but I'm seeing an EU leadership just not catching on.

A new start

A new job is a new challenge, a new lease on life and certainly new opportunities. You know when you have had enough, you know the time to leave and I think I worked a year longer than I should have.

After 13 years in the same job I am ready for a new challenge, I am ready to leave behind all the issues that plagued that job I force myself to show up every morning.I don't want to begin my new employment with ongoing issues from my previous employment but this is exactly what will happen.

I can't work here anymore

I can't work here anymore, I am leaving at possibly the perfect time but it could be argued that I went a year or possibly two longer than I should have. That being said, I knew I would return from leave after the Christmas break for just a week, or maybe two of work before I begin my new employment - that's enough.

I cannot believe how my former colleague was treated on his final work day, he will be on leave for the next two months before he actually retires but he won't be working another day - this was his last day of actual work. Another one received an earful of abuse, this is not how you treat people and it was difficult to listen to.

I always believe you should firstly secure your next employment before you relinquish your position. Fortunately, I was able to do precisely that and now I have the Christmas/New Year’s period to get set up for my next role. So now I am off to pre-employment medicals, immunisations and sorting out tax details. I feel better already, the stress I was feeling lifted and the overall feeling of relief is just amazing.

The Moroccan backpacker murder video emerges online - it's disgusting

The shocking video of the Danish and Norwegian women murdered in Morocco has emerged online. The question then needs to asked, do you seek it out and watch it or do you ignore it?

This is a question one just ask oneself, why do you want to view this video? I decided to view the video for purposes of research for my blog and to try to understand the phenomenon of radical Islam.

I will not describe the scenes I saw in this video, this is not the purpose of this post. I seek to understand the underlying issues behind the forces that has turned the religion of Islam into a satanic cult.

I have watched the video a number of times looking for details into how long Ms Jespersen's life ended. Without being too descriptive, you are able to see the point when the knife was placed against the throat of Ms Jespersen who was lying face down.

I believe she wasn’t aware of what was going to happen to her and she let put an audible yelp with the first movement of the knife blade against her throat.

She was then rolled over with further slicing at her throat. I carefully watched her arm movements for when they stopped. When you know she had gone past the point of no return, you just wish for a fast end to minimise the extreme fear and pain.

I am appalled by the barbarism of these men and their blind adherence to this pathetic cult of radical Islam. This is no religion, this is a pathetic perverted ideology followed by the uneducated and mentally weak seeking to return the world to a point in time where unlawfulness ruled.

There are calls to execute these pathetic losers, generally I am against execution and the death penalty but when you watch this footage and see these imbeciles spitting on this woman as they murder her, I am willing to admit my views to the death penalty is wrong. I gained no further understanding of their radical views - such a waste of two young lives.

I hate my job

I hate my job but this wasn't always the case. I used to enjoy getting up in the morning and heading off to work, the job itself hasn't fundamentally changed so what happened? I used to be first in and last to leave, I am still not the last in, but I do try to leave the moment the clock ticks over past knock-off time but that only lasted a couple of weeks and I was back to my old routine.

I am very ambitious and seek to do the job to the best of my ability, yet why I do I now care little about the job and the people I work with? The short answer is corruption and the politics of corruption. I am not the only one affected by this, some of the older guys are openly discussing retiring early and others not so close to retirement are considering employment elsewhere.

This is a terrible outcome for everybody; well, that is everybody except the select few who are benefitting from the efforts of everyone else. So where to from here, I am setting about exposing the corruption and will hopefully reverse the team stress instead redirecting the anguish to the members of the crony club shielding the effective team members from the corruptive forces engulfing my workplace.

Will I leave my current employment? The answer is yes but certain conditions need to be met, I will not just leave and become unemployed. I have a passion for work, I am motivated and I want to make a difference so I will not just be a guy who clocks in and out every day - I want to make a difference.

A terrible insult

The most pathetic insult I have witnessed in my working career is the snub of my former colleague on the last day of his employment. After 47 years of service he didn't rate a mention at our Christmas party despite a gift and speech for another retiree who was retiring with less service than me.

I couldn't believe it, I am gobsmacked, all the old retirees were there yet they couldn't even spare a word for a guy on his retirement day after 47 years of service. Technically he hasn't yet retired, he has started leave for the next two months and won't be returning to work, this was his last day of work. This was also my last day of work, I was embarrassed and I won't ever forget this snub - this was the ultimate insult.