Arson, employers and risks taken

9 October

Some months ago there was a fire in the Dorktown branch of Wilkinsons that forced it to close for a short time. A few days later it was reported that a 15 year old girl had been arrested over it. I remember thinking at time that she should have been at school, not in town. Today the News has answered the questions about that. The girl was on a work experience week. She has now been to court and pled guilty to the arson charge. Her reason for starting the fire? She was bored and wanted to go home! Ye gods … what is wrong with some of these kids?

The fire has caused the Wilkinson chain to halt all work experience placements across the country. So because of the one selfish act of a spoiled brat, a lot of other kids will not lose out on getting work experience. But it has made me wonder about the risks that all companies face when hiring workers. During an interview the company will look at past experience at the job involved, work history as a whole, and of course, how they present themselves during the interview.

What they can’t gauge though is their mental state or how they will fit into an existing work team. It does mean that no matter how much they take up references and so on, there is always the possibilities of a personality clash between the new employee and an established one. There is little an employer can do about when looking for new worker. The risks are not just to the employees involved but also to the overall future of the company.

Jan is at the again today, breast screening this time. She is happy to report that most of the pain from her dentist fart about, has reduced quite a lot. That’s good news of course. But back to today’s hospital thing … Her first task is to make sure she has enough change to pay for parking. We have a small beaker by the telly that we put £1 coins in so we have change for parking. It’s a good job we do considering how many places charge for parking these days. Hospital parking charges are certainly a tax on illness now – but only in England; Scotland and Wales have different rules. Time it was sorted out properly!

And so it’s photo time …

Seeing it's dark cold and wet out there right now, a shot of Mayflower with a big blue sky earlier this year.

And today’s funny …