How many days of could you afford??

A man was sick and tired of going to work every day while his wife stayed home. He wanted her to see what he went through so he prayed:
"Dear Lord: I go to work every day and put in 8 hours while my wife merely stays at home. I want her to know what I go through, so please allow her body to switch with mine for a day. Amen."

God, in his infinite wisdom, granted the man's wish. The next morning, sure enough, the man awoke as a woman.
He arose, cooked breakfast for his mate, awakened the kids, Set out their school clothes, fed them breakfast, packed their lunches, Drove them to school, came home and picked up the dry cleaning, took it to the cleaners And stopped at the bank to make a deposit, went grocery shopping,
Then drove home to put away the groceries, Paid the bills and balanced the cheque book.
He cleaned the cat's litter box and bathed the dog.
Then it was already 1 P.M. and he hurried to make the beds, do the laundry, vacuum, dust, and sweep and mop the kitchen floor.
Ran to the school to pick up the kids and got into an argument with them on the way home.
Set out milk and cookies and got the kids organized to do their homework,
Then set up the ironing board and watched TV while he did the ironing.
At 4:30 he began peeling potatoes and washing vegetables for salad, breaded the chops and snapped fresh beans for supper.
After supper, he cleaned the kitchen, ran the dishwasher, folded laundry, bathed the kids, and put them to bed.
At 9 P.M. he was exhausted and, though his daily chores weren't finished, he went to bed where he was expected to make love, which he managed to get through
without complaint.
The next morning, he awoke and immediately knelt by the bed and said,
''Lord, I don't know what I was thinking. I was so wrong to envy my wife's
being able to stay home all day. Please, oh please, let us trade back."

The Lord, in his infinite wisdom, replied,
"My son, I feel you have learned your lesson and I will be happy to change things back to the way they were. You'll just have to wait nine months, though. You got pregnant last night."

Voted Women's Favourite Email of the Year!

<hr width=100% size=1>If work was so good, the rich would have kept more of it for themselves.
 
By whom?

I have a copy of this joke going back 16 years, but a search on the words on google shows many copies, and a search on "Voted Women's Favourite Email of the Year!" shows very few voting forums. The very few that show up, just seem to quote the phrase mindlessly

Who voted it favourite and why?

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni
 
"Having done alot of recruiting for clients there is no way a candidate will be put forward who is likely to be wanting maternity leave, paid, etc anytime soon"

I am pleasantly surprised to read this comment from a professional recruiter. There are so many 'horror stories' out there about small businesses that have come to grief over industrial tribunal cases.

I'm assuming that the potential maternity leave, paid, etc, candidate is not told the real reason for their non-employment.

Speaking as someone who has been on both sides of the fence, industrial tribunals seem to be the only forum where the complainant can accuse and the defender has to demonstrate they are innocent.

My point being? I dunno, as usual.

<hr width=100% size=1>It could have been worse - it could have been me.
 
If you were running a small company with perhaps 4 employees .would you employ a young women if you suspected her intentions may be to start a family in the next few years?



Obviously the larger the company the less of a problem percentage wise but no hardnose buisnessman is going to intentionally expose himself to a financial risk if the post could be filled with an equally suitable candidate unlikely to require maternity/paternity leave.



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<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>

If you were running a small company...

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Not if I could help it.

John

<hr width=100% size=1>I am the cat but I am only 6.
 
Re: I was a bit surprised

that people don't appear to save up to have kids anymore. Do people not have any of their own resources at all anymore? I'd have thought starting a family when you can't even stand the loss of a couple of weeks wages was a bit ill advised.

Also how everyone thinks it's really important to do the bonding thing but not if you have to give up money or holidays.

How often it was stated that how good it was for companies to fund this sort of thing, where as in real life it appears to cause disruption to business and piss of those that remain behind working.

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Re: I was a bit surprised

yes, but the world has changed, we now live in a country where the monthly council tax is a weeks wages for those on minimum wage, where you have to have 2 incomes to even think about buying a house - and these are hardly frivolous luxuries. we're in our early 30's just starting a family and obviously if we can afford a boat we can afford to go without a salary for a few months, but not forever. Most people are not this fortunate. I guess the average age on this forum is the same as in sailing generally - i.e probablly got kids already, bought the house when house prices were about 3-4 times average income, not 4-5 times average household (i.e double) income, and then rampant 70's and 80's inflation effectively negated the mortgage etc. etc.
It seems to be a very british thing for one to climb the ladder oneself and then push it away from the wall, lest those following use up the precious resources.


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Re: I\'m a ladder pusher for sure

of course being 50 next birthday my attitude would be a bit old fashioned.

Need more money in the family exchequer? Work harder, get a better job or give something up.

Want to spend more time at home with the growing family? Change the way you live your life.

So thats another ladder pushed over. Still all you 30 somethings need to do is hang around till the parents, who did do the boring aquisition through self sacrifice stuff, fall of the twig or the ladder. Of course we are all hanging around a bit these days.

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Re: I was a bit surprised

Sad but true.

Firstly we now live in a high-cost economy, where most families live close to (if not beyond) their income. The cost of the "essentials" for a first baby are probably about £2000-3000 anyway and at a time when many couples will be facing a reduced income because the mother has to give up work. Not really surprising that they feel reluctant to relinquish additional income.

As for saving - that really went out of fashion in our parent's generation (the high inflation 70s and 80s) when saving was useless. It made a bit of a comeback in the late 80s and 90s but this present Government is actively discouraging people from saving by increasing the taxes on savings and means testing all benefits.

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Re: I\'m a ladder pusher for sure

I wasn't commenting that your attitude was old fashioned, just that I hear alot of people (not necessarily on this forum - just generally) commenting that they manged to own a house on one income, have children etc. etc. And I'm sure they're being truthful about their experience, but perhaps don't realise how much things have changed. Its easy to forget the cost of getting on the property ladder these days, and the size of mortgage you really need to get as a first time buyer. Even for me who bought my first house in '95 and therefore don't have a particularly huge mortgage (It would be alot smaller if I hadn't bought the boat - /forums/images/icons/shocked.gif ).
I just think that in these caring, sharing times there is room in our society for family ("work-life balance" i believe is todays buzzword) and maternity and paternity leave. As usual the answer probably lies somewhere between the unions request for absolutely everything an the CBI's wish to give nothing.

Bedoin - you ain't wrong there. I went into mothercare last weekend - £365 quid for a bloody pushchair - holy crap - and everyone tells me I need 2 different types!
I need to make sure the baby car seat will also go on the boat /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

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Re: I was a bit surprised

Our governments are probably forced to increase taxes, to pay all the whinging spongers who think the nanny state and their employers owe them something.
If we carry on like this our economy will soon be as rocky as France's.

Wake up you lot! Take responsibility for yourselves and your family........ regain a little bit of your personal pride......stop thinking the world owes you a living.......and for God's sake STOP WHINGING!

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Re: I\'m a ladder pusher for sure

To take advantage of "life today" you need to either be in the public sector, where fringe benefits fall into your lap. Or you need to have a very flexible approach. I started a business 25 years ago so that I'd be involved in bringing up my family. I have friends who changed their lives in some way to do the same. Most people don't change anything. The idea that spending more time at work to earn the big bucks is great for family life is clearly tosh. The idea that spending hours at each end of the already long working day commuting is as mad as a sack of stoats and for what? To get on the "Housing Ladder".

We live in a time when meeting the demands of housing costs, added to the need for designer kit, two cars and three holidays, are destroying society and industry both. Housing cost are pushing up labour costs, driving vital skills to cheaper areas, and taking crucial time out of family life. So whats the HMG approach to fixing all of this. A bit of paternity leave and slightly higher interest rates.

That being said the aspirational side of house purchasing causes much of the grief. Not many people seem to settle for enough anymore.



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