One day at work, about 7 years ago. One of our young apprentices was trying to get in the good books with a certain supervisor. He did his research and found out he loved Bathurst, so thrusday arvo he walks up to him with a beam of confidence and says "......are you going to watch the big race on the weekend?" looking around at the other workers in the lunch room, they all look down......"the supers reply is " only milk and juice come in 2 litres". Absolutely flattened he drops his head and starts to walk from the room. The super quickly yells to him, "hey, you better come over to my place when the real race is on! and watch it with the big boys."
The apprentice is walking about 7 feet tall with his chest pushed out thru his high vis vest, "HE has an invite to watch THE race".
Terrick, good one.
Proud as punch by the sounds of it..
The Giants/Bulldogs game was a corker! But I think the dogs did deserve to win. But I'm with Lyndon, go the Swans for the final.
I can't believe you guys get holidays for the footy and the horses! Enjoy it
Hewey, It would be great to see the sentimental favourites get up and have their first grand final in 50 something years… Go Doggies.
The holiday situation is a little over the top IMHO, but they are there as part of our award so I will be enjoying them..
1/2: i posted this over on the Safety 101 thread and your Holiday fits right in with this. "1/2: you are pretty wise with all the safety stuff you know so please share as you think of things and have time. for a long time i thought all Australians were rugby players and safety wasn't a word in their vocabulary. thanks for stopping in."
that said i really don't know the rules and have only seen a few games (or parts of games), but i remember some of the guys used to tape their ears down to keep from getting pulled off. one game i remember a player was 6'9" and about 320 pounds i'm guessing that was like a bull out there. funny this last weekend my wife was watching HER Seahawks playing football and i was walking by the TV and she asked me about some rule in our version of FOOTBALL and i said the rules have changed so much since i knew all of them that i wasn't sure. too many concussions and head injuries so it's a penalty now for players hitting the Quarterback above the neck or something like that and you see them slide now. hell your players don't even have pads or helmets so wondering when the safety monitors are going to change your game like ours has become. i barely even watch our football now and think if i can find the Bulldogs/Swans game on TV to record i might watch yours and try to figure out what the rules and object is other than to tear the other team guy's head off.
cheers and of course you guys deserve a holiday for sport because from what i hear AUSSIES LOVE THEIR SPORTS.
speaking of sports you probably heard ARNOLD PALMER passed Sunday and hard to believe he lived until he was 87 because he was a chain smoker and liked his drink. his memory and personality was that we should all try to copy and he will be missed.
drives, I will do. Here at work the safety message is drilled into us every day and I tend to take that message home with me in
The Shed Downunder and I guess the key thing we should all do is take a moment to actually think about what you intend to do and assess the risk before you tackle anything.
Even in sport nowadays participant safety is at the forefront of people’s minds.
We do like our sport out here although I am not a one eyed dye hard supporter of any particular team I like to understand who is doing what and how the matches went.
It’s certainly sad to here of
Arnold Palmer’s passing, he was a legend in his own time that’s for sure.
I just read one of our cricketing greats
Max Walker passed away this morning.
Drives
Just going to get in a reply now because a) Steve's long gone to the land of the long nod - and b) if you manage to find the Bulldogs/Swans game on Saturday, make sure you then watch the NRL Grand Final on Sunday (our time) which is the Sharks vs the Storm. You might be staggered by the difference....
And yes, very sad about Arnold's passing, but you can't say he didn't have a good innings. Loved watching him in the past.
Lyndon
You didn't think I was lookin' - did ya!
Lyndon, long past my bed time.
Who do you think will win in the
NRL??? my youngest is
Melbourne Storm through and through.
LYNDON (or 1/2 or any of you AUSSIES): if you know of a TV station where some of us can watch your version of FOOTBALL that we call RUGBY let us know. did you all grow up playing that game and how many of you had a concussion or broken bones from that tough game?
i don't know what the hour is DOWN UNDER, but i woke up at 4am and love reading and posting on GJ before the day gets underway here.
i've got a full day of sanding and staining my 4 year old pergola i needed to take apart and make a few changes too and hoping to GET R DONE before our rains start again.
drives, I will do some digging, you may have to stream it off the nett.
I played Aussie rules, tennis and to a lesser extent cricket in my younger days. As we grew into our late teens water skiing was our sport of choice. I can say there were never any injuries due to sport. Well that is not quite true when I think of it I did receive a nasty blow to my backside from a number 9 sports shoe from a Physical Education teacher after he caught me goofing off in class, does that count??
All the best with your Pergola, looking forward to seeing how it turns out..
Great sounding holidays I say! With all the politicians we have running around the USA trying to look progressive why don't they pass new holidays for the Super Bowl and the Kentucky Derby. Time to write the Congressman again.
Enjoy your long weekend.
rmalkow, take up a partition and see how you get on.
I am certainly looking forward to having three days off work..
Drives, Australian Rules Football is a game unto itself. It is not the same as Rugby or American Football. Here's a simplified chart comparing the three:
Bob, thank you much appreciated.
Steve, I don't think most Americans understand Australian holidays. Nor do they understand Australian vacation days.
When I joined IBM in October 1964 we got 11 holidays and 2 weeks vacation a year (except the first year). We got 3 weeks vacation after five years service, 4 weeks after 10 years and 5 weeks after 20 years. That's pretty typical in the US (except maybe the 5 weeks after 20).
Late in my career it was hard to take 20 or 25 vacation days off but they let vacation days accumulate into succeeding years. In my last years with the company the rule changed and we had to take vacation in the year it was earned or you lost it. They made an exception for some of us who were working 7-days a week for most of the year. When I retired after 30 years I had 16 weeks accrued vacation and IBM gave me the money equivalent in my severance check.
The vacation plan is simpler today: 12 paid holidays and 3-weeks vacation to start, increasing to 4-weeks after 10 years. The company also simplified the pension plan by getting rid of it.
My understanding is that Australians get 7 national holidays plus several more paid holidays that vary by state. All but the self-employed (like Hotfr8) get 4 weeks vacation per year, unless you are a minimum wage ($17.70/hr) part-time worker. Those folks get 25% higher pay to make up for the lack of paid leave. The whole "long service" leave thing just boggles my mind but all in all, the Australian approach seems more civilised.
The US federal minimum wage for tipped workers (restaurant servers, etc.) is $2.13 per hour (if they make more than $30 a month in tips) -- it really ***** to work in a restaurant that has a lousy cook or cheap early-bird specials.
Bob, that is interesting and thank you for sharing.
Our package goes like this:
• 38 hour week ( although my normal week is more like 48 hours plus which I don’t get paid for.)
• I don’t get overtime as this is supposedly built into my salary package?
• 4 weeks annual leave.
• 10 Public Holidays.
• Long service leave that accrues, 3 months paid leave after 10 years’ service, we can take a portion of that after 7 years’ service.
• 15 days Sick/carers leave per annum which is cumulative over the course of your employment with the one employer ( any more than 3 consecutive days you need a doctors certificate )
• With all the above I am on call pretty much 24/7, just part of being a service group I guess and work as a team.
Naturally this varies across differing work place agreements.
CodeRedZ, it certainly is..
Thank you one and all yet again, have a great day.
lucky Mrs 1/2Cup is away moment.
