![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Mar. 18th, 2009 05:07 pmHooray, got to come off the phones for the whole day to attend diversity training. Went up to the unit before the start to check my e-mail. Crushing news : I hadn't even got through the initial sift for the four-year full-time post. As if I hadn't had enough downers already.
Told Sue #5 who said she'd keep her eyes and ears open for any other opportunities and keep me informed. She said there were occasionally vacancies in the coding block, but i) I could not work for the calendar bitch and ii) the calendar bitch would never take me on. I explained to Sue that there are issues that prevent me go to coding, and that I'd tell her the story when we could talk in private, so she said she'd look out for any vacancies elsewhere.
The training day was quite good, someone called Heather led 11 of us - most of them newbies - in discussion sessions on various aspects of prejudice and discrimination, beginning with a talk about the current UK equal opportunities legislation and the EU Human Rights act. There was a cup full of drinks tokens on the table for us to help ourselves whenever we wanted a tea or coffee from the machine before the session started and during breaks.
The canteen had an excellent loin of pork with prunes for lunch and a tasty Bakewell tart for afters.
After lunch we were split into two groups for a brainstorm; our half were told to speculate on how life would turn out for a teenage boy who was academically bright, good at sport and good-looking. Unknown to us, the other lot were told to do the same for a girl with the same attributes. Our boy grew up to be a successful, go-getting professional, while the others' girl had a turbulent time before settling down as a teacher, marrying and having 3 kids. Heather said that whenever groups have done the exercise, our result for the boy was typical while the girl always ended up becoming either a mother or a model or something else based on her looks.
The day ended with a DVD about an American third-grade teacher who, in the late sixties, put her class through an experiment to teach them about prejudice and racism, where they were divided into the blue-eyed and the brown-eyed. Each eye colour group in turn had one day as the privileged elite while the other group were the persecuted underdogs. Very interesting.
Back home, not having heard anything about a new customer ID from the Alliance & Leicester, I rang their main customer service line and got through using my original ID and PIN, though I did have to reset my PIN to a new one of my choosing. The lady I spoke to said I would be keeping my original customer ID, they weren't generating me a new one. While it's a relief to have that resolved, I can't help wishing the left hand knew what the right was doing.
Told Sue #5 who said she'd keep her eyes and ears open for any other opportunities and keep me informed. She said there were occasionally vacancies in the coding block, but i) I could not work for the calendar bitch and ii) the calendar bitch would never take me on. I explained to Sue that there are issues that prevent me go to coding, and that I'd tell her the story when we could talk in private, so she said she'd look out for any vacancies elsewhere.
The training day was quite good, someone called Heather led 11 of us - most of them newbies - in discussion sessions on various aspects of prejudice and discrimination, beginning with a talk about the current UK equal opportunities legislation and the EU Human Rights act. There was a cup full of drinks tokens on the table for us to help ourselves whenever we wanted a tea or coffee from the machine before the session started and during breaks.
The canteen had an excellent loin of pork with prunes for lunch and a tasty Bakewell tart for afters.
After lunch we were split into two groups for a brainstorm; our half were told to speculate on how life would turn out for a teenage boy who was academically bright, good at sport and good-looking. Unknown to us, the other lot were told to do the same for a girl with the same attributes. Our boy grew up to be a successful, go-getting professional, while the others' girl had a turbulent time before settling down as a teacher, marrying and having 3 kids. Heather said that whenever groups have done the exercise, our result for the boy was typical while the girl always ended up becoming either a mother or a model or something else based on her looks.
The day ended with a DVD about an American third-grade teacher who, in the late sixties, put her class through an experiment to teach them about prejudice and racism, where they were divided into the blue-eyed and the brown-eyed. Each eye colour group in turn had one day as the privileged elite while the other group were the persecuted underdogs. Very interesting.
Back home, not having heard anything about a new customer ID from the Alliance & Leicester, I rang their main customer service line and got through using my original ID and PIN, though I did have to reset my PIN to a new one of my choosing. The lady I spoke to said I would be keeping my original customer ID, they weren't generating me a new one. While it's a relief to have that resolved, I can't help wishing the left hand knew what the right was doing.
