After the excitement of the weekend's 'illicit' shenanigans with one of our temporary staff agencies, it was almost heartbreaking to have them thoroughly let me down this morning.
I got in nice and early to prepare everything for a temp who was meant to be starting today. I say meant to be starting, as she couldn't actually start due to her complete lack of English skills.
Now, I'm not one of those people who think that the influx of migrant workers from Eastern Europe is going to spell the end of civilisation as we know it. Far from it in fact, from personal experience (25% of our entire workforce is now from Eastern Europe), they have been a welcome breath of fresh air. Indeed, recent reports support this view.
However, as all of our agencies have been made more than well aware on countless occasions over the last couple of years, we need to have people who understand English to at least a basic level. This isn't to be awkward or to discriminate against anyone, it's just a realistic view given the potential Health & Safety problems this could cause in our environment.
Today, however, my former favourite agency chose to ignore that. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned here. Maybe our rules banning the acceptance of gifts are there to stop suppliers thinking that they can take the mickey just because they got you very drunk at the weekend.
Whether it's a lesson I'll choose to learn shall be seen...
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