Unreasonable request from work?

He can't reply, they seconded him early, and he's currently lying top-to-toe having his face tickled by the human blobs toenails in the cheapest grottiest London hotel available, starving to death on his meager allowance.

Am I the only one here who actually gets an inconvenience allowance at the end of the month when I've been away as well as having my food and drink paid for? I just thought that was standard practice, but judging by posts it seems some of you's just get stiffed with a tight food allowance and a "thank you" for being away from home?
 
Mucky_Pup said:
Am I the only one here who actually gets an inconvenience allowance at the end of the month when I've been away as well as having my food and drink paid for? I just thought that was standard practice, but judging by posts it seems some of you's just get stiffed with a tight food allowance and a "thank you" for being away from home?
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No, i get everything paid with no fixed price for meals aslong as it's no excessive, i.e. i don't try and charge £50 for an evening meal.

Ontop of that we get money for being away from home which ranges in two bands, one for the UK / Western europe and another for the rest of the world, this is a day rate with rate one being around £60 per day and rate two around £140.
 
That's pretty similar to how we work, we just knew not to take the **** when getting food, but with it being Switzerland the food prices were going to be slightly higher.
 
tell them you will commute and quote them on a return ticket for the day - that way you are agreeing to work somewhere else but not under the room sharing / £20 day offer. When they see how much a train is you'll get a separate room I'm guessing
 
I'm stuck paying upfront for petrol costs at my own expense this month whilst working up in Coventry, Touching £150 in petrol, and 780 miles.

At 0.45p per mile, it's not a bad payback, but still a pain in the arse with the travelling/upfront expense.
 
didnt read all of it but do you have a girlfriend/wife? if so Id refuse to do it anyway to be honest own room or not may - october is an awfully long time to spend every weekday away. If I was single I would probably say yes provided I got my own room. I would no way share for that length of time!
 
I would agree to do it for £20 a night to cover food costs,that's more than enough.

But i would not agree with sharing a room with colleague,Tell them if your not happy... they cannot force you to do anything,Don't let them bully you..at the end of the day they're asking you not the other way around.
 
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I thought that any pretty major changes to employment terms like this have to be in writing giving about 3 months notice when appropriate.
May not necessarily be the case but at one place where i worked my lad was only 4 weeks old i was recovering from an appendectomy and my boss had to give me written notice of changing my working hours.
Is this not effectively the same thing, alebit for only 5 months.
Sharing a room is not on, but they do it at our place, which is also wrong imho.
 
Mucky_Pup said:
That's pretty similar to how we work, we just knew not to take the **** when getting food, but with it being Switzerland the food prices were going to be slightly higher.
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The thing with Swiss food prices the MCDs is the most expensive in the world but for less money you can get the best pizza I have ever had outside Italy (and better than most places in Italy) with a beer, a salad and a good icecream for less money. Similar, for less money I have had the bets Chinese of my life (and I lived in San Francisco area for a year with the biggest chinese population outside china), some dam good Indian, amazing horse steaks, a pile of the local perch all for less than a McD's menu.

There is then typically a big jump in prices again, but the quality is typically very high.
 
Quink said:
What happened in the end Goodie? Did you negotiate a better deal?
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Hey Quink. I managed to negotiate with them a little which makes the situation a whole lot bearable from my perspective. My primary concern was of sharing the room which they have now agreed to get us both separate rooms. I've also managed to negotiate that for a couple of the weeks during July and August I'll work back at home as normal. It did take some negotiating to get that much but that will do as a minimum. I'll just spend my time when I’m not working running or making some good headway with my research project, at least with the euro's and the Olympics being on there will be something to watch on the television at the hotel on the terrestrial channels.

Banzai_Joe said:
I thought that any pretty major changes to employment terms like this have to be in writing giving about 3 months notice when appropriate.
May not necessarily be the case but at one place where i worked my lad was only 4 weeks old i was recovering from an appendectomy and my boss had to give me written notice of changing my working hours.
Is this not effectively the same thing, alebit for only 5 months.
Sharing a room is not on, but they do it at our place, which is also wrong imho.
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There's a little bit that I have read in my contract of employment that lets them get away with it I think mate. I've had your trust message and I've got to say you are an absolute legend, I've got to go to football training shortly however I'll get a reply back to you as soon as I am back. Thanks mate.
 
Goodie, it sounds as if you've got the right result.

Make the best of your time away - try to make your evenings productive. You might value the experience later.
 
Absolutely would I not share a room with a fat, unsightly, unhygienic guy who snores.

I could possibly handle the work (I'd need a laptop for sure in the evenings) but I'd no way share a hotel room with an *******

How would you even fap? You know this guy would leave a massive **** in the toilet for you to deal with.
 
My company allows me £75/night for a hotel (£130 in London) and £7.50 lunch, £25 dinner inc drinks when working away from home, which is usually three nights a week - this is for my own room. I pay for these out of my own pocket and then reclaim the money as expenses.

I manage a team of people that work across several contracts up and down the country, and their allowance is exactly the same as mine I wouldn't have it any other way, they are inconvenienced enough by being away from their homes and families without worrying about scrimping on food or sharing a room with a colleague.

So no, I don't think being asked to share a room with a colleague is acceptable.
 
To me sounds highly unreasonable, I would never accept such a loss in quality life.

However, before you just tell them to stuff it... Have a sitdown with your boss. Explain to him what your concerns are, take any emotion out of the discussion and keep to a fact based conversation.
Don't shut the door on them and let see if they at least meet you half way. You have nothing to loose and you migh at least gain some barganing experience.

Do you have a union you can go to? Do they have a HR department?
 
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