Lied to before starting a new job?

[Greedo]

Nightmare,

I used to work in recruitment and it is very very common.

Had loads of candidates come looking for jobs after a short period in another saying that it was not the job they signed up for.

That's one good thing about a decent recruiter. He'll find out exactly what the role is before you waste time going through the whole process

 

[yello]

Managers don't know everything (some of them don't know much at all), and are sometimes looking for staff to take the lead.

This is a very good point. I reckon Ranger's comments would ease my concerns too.

This job may yet turn around to be very enjoyable and rewarding!

 

[Arch]

I have to say, knowing the park in question, I'm not sure how a single person could hope to cover it all in terms of getting people out of an evening. You'd need two at least, to herd them and check all the spaces. Plus there are a lot of places to hide, and at least 3 entrances.

 

[Cranky]

I left one particular job after six working days. There had been a thorough application and interview process and I'd felt very lucky to be appointed.

The people were great but the specific role was different to what I'd expected. I had a chat with the manager about the problem and, to cut a long story short, he was really understanding about it, acknowledging that the details of the role could have been clearer. I left there on good terms with the promise of a reference to clarify the events if I needed it. In fact, I was even offered some casual work by the same company very shortly afterwards which, in turn, led to further work from an associated company.

 

[NickM]

I'm going to have no back up at all if anything goes wrong.

Mr Spade?

I wonder whether I hold the record for "quickest exit from a particularly crap job"? Well under two days

 

[ChrisKH]

I used to work for a dragon of a lady. Her record recruitment/de-recruitment time was an hour and a half. Poor girl who started at 10.00 am Monday morning had done a runner by 11.30. Not that I could blame her.

 

[tyred]

I applied for a maintenance position in a local creamery once. I didn't get that job but they offered me another job as a "machine operative". I sat with huge piles of milk cartons feeding them into a machine which packed custard as they were required. The noise was deafening (even with earplugs), the job was boring, the smeel of hot custard was turning my stomach, the pay was shoot, the only thing that seemed to be available in the canteen was yet more custard, milk and butter and I just couldn't face doing it 5 nights a week so I left after one shift!

They did post me a pay cheque for my 8 hours work though

 

[Wigsie]

Is it really worth the risk? Talk to your employer ASAP if they are ignoring you go above their head.... The affects of an attack will stay with you alot longer than the memory of a couple of days in a dodgy job.

Quite often jobs that sound great are too good to be true. I have had my fair share and i dont think i have ever had one that was exactly what as in the description. A comment earlier about asking for th eresults of a risk assessment is a good idea. whatever you decid make sure you have written confirmation of any new agreements or anything you have asked for.

 

[JamesAC]

....

On the lone working, this is a real issue. I would ask if an adequate risk assessment has been carried out and what the outcome was, also it may be worth voicing your concerns to either your Union rep or the organisations health and safety officer.

I agree.

I was employed as an IT person in a large FE college. The Executive got the bright idea that each senior manager should, in turn, be "duty principal" for an evening .. doing a job similar to OP's but
indoors! Not unusual for the "duty principal" to be threatened, or even assaulted with students waving pool cues. I refused to do the duty. I was put on a disciplinary, and had an interview with the deputy principal. I pointed out that this duty was way outside my job spec and that a poke in the eye from a pool cue would blind me and make it extremely difficult to do my regular job. Nothing more was said, and after a couple of months the whole scheme was dropped, and they employed proper security people instead.

Stand your ground: don't put yourself in danger. It is not your job, you haven't had the training.

Join a union, if you don't belong to one, and get them involved immediately.

Good luck

 

[got-to-get-fit]

every employer, employing 5 people or more must have a written risk assessment for every task they carry out if it is reasonable that the activity may pose a risk to the individual or others.

Ask to see the risk assessment that has been completed for lone working. this should categorise the level of risk percieved and provide mitigation measures to control or eliminate the risk.....typical measures would include panic alarms, communication devices, lone worker registers and most sensibly not working alone (having a co-worker with you)

If they do not have this risk assessment in place then they are breaking the law under the Health and Safety at work act and also the Management of health and safety and welfare regulations HSG65

.......you do have rights

 

[Willow]

every employer, employing 5 people or more must have a written risk assessment for every task they carry out if it is reasonable that the activity may pose a risk to the individual or others.

Ask to see the risk assessment that has been completed for lone working. this should categorise the level of risk percieved and provide mitigation measures to control or eliminate the risk.....typical measures would include panic alarms, communication devices, lone worker registers and most sensibly not working alone (having a co-worker with you)

If they do not have this risk assessment in place then they are breaking the law under the Health and Safety at work act and also the Management of health and safety and welfare regulations HSG65

.......you do have rights

I was just going to say the same thing. Much as I detest H&S I have been busy writing a whole load of risk assessments and setting up monitoring systems for the place I work. Lone working being one of them - small risk for us but not for you I would hazard a guess that lone working in that situation poses too high a risk.

 

[Ranger]

every employer, employing 5 people or more must have a written risk assessment for every task they carry out if it is reasonable that the activity may pose a risk to the individual or others.

Ask to see the risk assessment that has been completed for lone working. this should categorise the level of risk percieved and provide mitigation measures to control or eliminate the risk.....typical measures would include panic alarms, communication devices, lone worker registers and most sensibly not working alone (having a co-worker with you)

If they do not have this risk assessment in place then they are breaking the law under the Health and Safety at work act and also the Management of health and safety and welfare regulations HSG65

.......you do have rights

Indeed they do, but you would be surprised (then again maybe not) by the number of local authorities who do not have risk assessments for this type of work, simply because no-one has done it before and it hasn't cropped up that they need one before.

It is for this reason I would just make a gentle enquiry to see if has been assessed, if it hasn't you are then at liberty to refuse to do the task until an adequate assessment has been carried out and the identified control measures put in place (just make sure you have union/legal support before you go down that route)

There are a hierarchy of control measures, the first of which would be elimination (i.e. don't do it) the rest is just to mitigate any possible effects of an incident, but possibilities would be mobile 'phones, a dedicated contact centre to register that you have finished work and left site safely etc.

Another question that occurs to me (as Arch says it is a largeish site) is how do people get out if they are locked in after you leave? Can they just jump the fence, in which case what purpose is being served by locking it at night other than it always has been

 

[Arch]

Another question that occurs to me (as Arch says it is a largeish site) is how do people get out if they are locked in after you leave? Can they just jump the fence, in which case what purpose is being served by locking it at night other than it always has been

I can't remember what the perimeter is like all the way round, but I'd say there were possibly areas that were less than secure. In fact, now I think about, I'm sure there are. (for Gromit - that bit of ruin round by the KM garages...)

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

Another thought for Gromit, just in case you've not already considered it: is it too late to go back to your old job? have they replaced you, or could you maybe go back to a different role in the same place?

Granted, it's not always possible .. but you never know unless you ask. We had a chap leave my office to try something new; it didn't work out for him and he contacted my boss to see if he could come back. My boss asked what I thought and I suggested we get him back as quick as we could ...

So long as you didn't burn your bridges as you left, there might be chance.

 

[Gromit]

Thank you for all your advice, had an interesting day looking through incident reports of assaults, threatening behavior etc. Looked at the file containing risk assessments for office staff and museum workers. Nothing really covers loan working, there was a procedure for violence at work, which said never put yourself in any situation that you felt uncomfortable with, always have some one at hand to help you if a situation arises. Who am I going to call at 8.30pm if I being assaulted? No ones going to be there to help...

Met the H & S bloke yesterday, there are no risk assessments for the garden guide job yet, he would be interested in finding out what we think after he gets back from his holiday to Australia in June.

Its the woolly thinking from a bunch of academics I cant stand, who want to put me in danger. Nothing will happen to them because they leave at 6pm.