Thursday 6 October 2011

Staff must not abuse the tuck shop

Is the university concerned with our three years of real-terms salary cuts? Bigger class sizes? A lack of rooms? 


Not judging by this important missive about us 'abusing' the £3.00 lunch voucher we get while we work on Open Days (I'm doing four this year, all on Saturdays): apparently eating while we volunteer is a 'good will gesture' - well so is all the extra effort we make without appreciation, so there's something we could withdraw if we continue to be treated like naughty children. 
Please note there will be a change to the lunch voucher system at this Open Day due to reports of a few staff inappropriately using the lunch vouchers at the last Open Day. These vouchers are a good will gesture to staff that have given up their Saturday to work the Open Day and are intended to pay for lunch, however at the last Open Day a few staff had collected a number of vouchers and were buying pounds worth of confectionary. This is not acceptable and catering staff have been advised to not accept lunch vouchers for this purpose – they can be used to purchase a main meal and drink or sandwich, snack and drink only. There should be just one voucher per person and there will not be any additional vouchers available on the day so please make sure you provide your staff names and numbers accurately. It would be a shame if the actions of a few spoil this for the majority but if there are any more reports of abuse of this system I will be forced to remove the lunch vouchers from Open Days.
Oh no! The Chocolate Cops are on to us! I'm just in a meeting with the new Vice-Chancellor, so maybe I'll raise it with him. 


Update: I didn't. I asked him instead whether having a tax-evading expenses cheat suspended from the House of Lords was bad for our reputation. He rather wittily avoided the question. 


What he did very effectively do was explain the huge range of challenges facing the university with the government's ridiculous plan to privatise and rig the education sector. What a shame then that some sections of the institution are more concerned with whether staff buy chocolate or chips when they work weekends…


Further update: my colleague has reassured us:

The new VC has acted swiftly to deal with the embarrassment caused by `Chocolategate’. The Committee for the Reduction of Unnecessary and Needless Chocolate Hiatuses Involving Employees (CRUNCHIE) has been established and it is hoped that CRUNCHIE will produce robust guidelines re cocoa-based infractions shortly.

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