posted on 27 September 2006 08:32
by
Ejc
Still plugging away
Well have had my meeting with the boss - and have explained my view point and reminded HR about their initial offer when I joined the company as I referenced it in my acceptance letter etc. They agreed that my skills are needed and that being home based in France is no barrier - but explained that living in rural France will be so much cheaper than the UK that I can't possibly expect my current terms and conditions...... but my response was that a 25% pay cut and removal of my car allowance was outrageous. I also pointed out that just because we didn’t have a huge mortgage to pay – didn’t mean that everything else was going to be cheaper – taxes, health top-up etc will all be more than in the UK and I don’t suppose our food bill or utilities will be any cheaper
Anyway - HR have gone away to draw up a proper binding offer, rather than the "of course we’ll transfer you type of response" - and I've made it clear that if it's not good enough I'll look else ware and possibly look at "constructive dismissel". Thank goodness I work in a job where there are other possibilities out there and that will be something “they” won’t want to happen – mind you if I was to leave I’d probably get put on “gardening leave” instead of serving out my notice and the thought of several weeks at home on full pay is not too unpleasant.
So hopefully having made my position clear and them knowing that the last thing they want is my going to one of their competitors we can all sort this out amicably. They have been a great company to work for up and till now - and the people I work with are really wonderful - so I'd rather not have to make another change.
On a more positive note – we now have some good quotes in for moving – including a full pack and export wrapping of out stuff – which is important to us as on top of around 4500 books we have around 30 paintings – none of them particularly valuable – many of them painted by my grandmother – but very precious to us and the thought of them being damaged during the move doesn’t bear thinking about. We also don’t want to have to move our dining room table – it’s made out of railways sleepers and is huge and very heavy.
Our next trip over in a few weeks time we will be measuring up to see where everything we’re brining with us will go. Because we’re planning to make what is currently a partially converted attached barn into a kitchen / family room – some of the furniture we’re bringing with us is a bit big for the space we have now – so we may need to do a bit of juggling to fit it all in.
Anyway the cat’s had all his jabs and has his passport – so he at least is all set – mind you he howls on his trips to the vets 10 minutes down the road – lord knows what he’ll be like on the trip over to France – but we will have some pheromone stuff that should help keep him calm – and he’ll be in my hubbies car….