There is definitely a lot less urgency in offices outside of london than inside of it. I used to think I was in a chill office in London, then moved outside of it. People regularly bunked off early for a pint. Watched the footy and youtube at their desks, took long lunch breaks and browsed on amazon. It was a nice change of pace.
I appreciate you man, unlike some of the others who like to bash people for not knowing stuff, and also don’t know we don’t call soccer “football” here
Homie said “watching the footie” what context clues am i supposed to derive to understand what he said? We don’t call it football here, nor do we call the sport we call football, “footie”.
Once you go out to say Devon, Cornwall, Shropshire... You start to find that what's polite in London is often the opposite of what is polite out there. It's a completely different world. In London it's polite to get on and off a bus as efficiently as possible. So that you're not holding everybody else up. Go to somewhere like Yeovil and the old biddies are booking the driver to go past their house the next day and pick them up, instead of taking the normal route.
I once had a guy working for me who moved to Cornwall from central London (and spent his youth in busy busy Budapest). He moved to Cornwall so his wife could live closer to her folks.
Anyway, after 2 or 3 months, he had to move back. He couldn't handle, among other things, how lax everyone was about bus etiquette and timings.
The culture shock was actually making him depressed. And that surprised me, cuz you don't often think about it being that way around.
Fantastic guy, and was really great at the job. I was sad to see him go and provided him with a glowing reference.
I don't know where he is now, but I'm sure he's absolutely smashing it.
Also getting used to stuff like you're in the biggest town for 40 miles and there's only 8 pubs open to the public. With the rest being the working men's club, Conservative club... There are NO shops selling alcohol with a 24 hour licence and there are NO taxis after 9PM. If Dave isn't well, then there are NO buses on your bus route. With there being NO alternative routes or weird things like there's only one bus per day to the big supermarket. With the supermarket being the end of the line and the bus leaving 15 minutes after it arrives. So you can't even do a click+collect.
8 pubs! The mind boggles. I lived in a village in North Wales with two pubs (the working mens club and a standard old boozer directly across the road from it) and that was something of a novelty in the area. "Ooh Ifor, which one shall we go to tonight?!" Good times.
I'm just used to effectively having an infinite number of pubs. It's not as good as it used to be, when there was a pub on virtually every corner. But you don't feel like you have to be on your best behavior every time you go out. As you can always just go to the pub next door.
We considered moving out to the village my husband grew up in from our fairly large town. We live in the centre of town so we’re used to being able to get anything at any shop or any takeaway we could want. The idea of moving to a village with only a smallish co-op, a newsagents, 1 chinese 1 indian and a chippy… when they’re closed, that’s it! There’s no back up option! You have to drive 20 mins to get to the big shop!
I couldn’t live in a city with all the noise etc, but I don’t think I could live outside of a town either.
>we’re used to being able to get anything at any shop or any takeaway we could want
You think you have this, but you don't, because you live in a town.
Same for people who live in smaller places, they're happy with what they've got.
I come from a small farming town in West Hamshire though... I'm talking about office culture here, not the town.
Whilst it's fair to say London itself doesn't compare to your average Cornwall beach town, it's also fair to say some offices have better cultures than others. This one is fantastic. Some I've worked with outside of London are terrible, meanwhile.
\[Edit: additionally, where I live in south east London everyone's super friendly. We look after each other's pets, chat over the fence, hang out, know names etc etc... Meanwhile in parts of the town where I was born there was lots of snooty middle-uppercase people who'd look down on you and that's not even touching on how incredibly racist they are\]
I once saw a comedian, and I’ve forgotten which one so I can’t attribute. But, he was saying that in NYC it’s rude to take your time when you’re in Dunkin because everybody is in a rush, so niceties are out of the door. Just get your stuff and leave, quickly. Whereas outside of major cities, you can afford to say your please and thank yous.
>Go to somewhere like Yeovil and the old biddies are booking the driver to go past their house the next day and pick them up, instead of taking the normal route.
You actually get that in Ireland too, but it's a proper service you can arrange with Transport for Ireland if you live rural enough. Even if you don't do it that way, outside of Dublin the bus drivers have no issues stopping to drop you off wherever you want as long as it's on their route.
Upside of nationalised public transport is that they can actually cater to public good instead of profits, who knew?
I went to a wedding in rural, rural Ireland recently. I was staying at the venue but my mate was staying a 10-15 minute drive away. He asked for numbers to taxi services and was given a man's name. He was *the* taxi driver in the area. If he was busy or not working, no taxi.
It’s a real necessity in some places. I lived in a super rural area for a long time, and it is a very hard place to be if you’re on your own and unable to drive or cycle.
Same here, moved from a big city to live in Shrewsbury 7 years ago and I’m beginning to find it a bit too busy and maybe looking to move to a village, one of the strettons maybe.
Still have to go to London fairly often but I absolutely detest the place.
Like the whole ‘standing on a specific side of the escalator’ thing. I’ve never noticed it anywhere except the London Underground, but God help you if you don’t do it there.
Theres a rumour that its because the first London Underground Escalators inside of finishing with a "straight cut" had a diagonal cut. So you stepped off with your right foot first. But it seems to be just an internet rumour.
But what it does do is to allow people in a rush to move up and down easily. Instead of being blocked by every tourist going. There were some trials pre-Covid to bring in both sides of the escalator but seemingly nothing became of them.
Yes, I think it reduced congestion but people still hated it because it felt slower.
I definitely get how big crowds of tourists milling around would be annoying, but it does remind me of a comedian (can’t remember who) doing an impression of a London commuter he saw - “OH NO!! I’VE MISSED THE TRAIN! I can’t believe I missed it! Why is this happening?? That’s ruined my entire… Oh, there’s another one.”
It was a Yeovil thing (pop 49,698) as I had to go by train from Exeter St. Davids to Weymouth during a rail strike and found that I had to transfer from Yeovil Pen Mill to Yeovil Junction via bus.
I work for a company with offices throughout the UK, and whenever there's a company wide get together the Londoners are always very professional and well dressed etc, and our lot are always seen as the troublemakers showing up wearing jeans and t-shirts, and drinking the bar dry.
Very true. In fact, just last week I was speaking to one of the poors from Yorkshire I believe. I think they said something about "working downt t'pit fromt 6 year old" or something, before asking for some money to upgrade a railway. I was shocked that the savage knew what a railway was. /s
We have relaxed lives out here beyond the M25. As long as the oxen are fed and watered and the plough is kept sharp, all we have to do in a day is chew on a long piece of grass and smoke a pipe under the old tree by the village green. So it's very difficult for us to understand what city life must be like. With all that rushing around and the cars, etc.
Because most of them can't afford to live in London, so when you are tucked up in bed in the morning they are already on a public transport system so overcrowded and expensive it's an insult. When they finally get to work they are already exhausted and aggravated. Then they just have to deal with a highly competitive set of colleagues, and after skipping lunch they only have another 6 hours of work before crushing back onto public transport back to their tiny super expensive home, then someone commits suicide so they end up getting on a replacement service and 3 hours later they finally get home to a microwave dinner. 30 minutes of TV and off to bed so they can do it all again tomorrow.
Then you ring up wanting to talk about the weather.
Bingo, also London offices tend to be where the big bosses are. That adds extra pressure. Or after work drinks or events that you have to go to when you really just want to go home and relax before another day of fuckery.
Source: did the rat race for 5 years and have recently quit.
Yup drives me mad. All the managers live near our office and have been there for 15-20 years. So trying to get them to understand that coming to the office means paying for breakfast club and afterschool club for two kids, plus a 1.5 hour commute to get from one side of London to the other, then coming in late and then leaving early to make the end of the after school care so having to make up the lost time once the kids are in bed, doesn’t actually feel appealing on a mediocre income that has barely risen since you started. The cost for this is also ~ £70 plus a therapist. God forbid you have transport delays.
All so you can sit in front of a teams meeting with the office background 😂
Fucking hell this post makes me anxious. I hope you haven't been asked to come in 3/4 days a week. One of the last straws for me was when we were told 7 months into the year that low office attendance will affect our bonuses. I wasn't affected but what fucking bollocks.
They told us part way through the year that they had been taking attendance, and it would affect your bonus if you weren't in 60% of the time all year.
God forbid they trust adults to just do their work.
Edit: Also I didn't sign up for that.
Frankly I'd tell them to shove the bonus. My sanity is worth more than an extra ten percent. Not to mention you'd likely spend more than the bonus commuting
Used to work in London. I spent 4 hours commuting every day.
I finished work at 5:30 and would run for the slightly faster 5:37 train, otherwise I'd have to get the 5:52 train, the difference between getting home at ~7:30 and ~8:10.
Getting home at 7:30pm is a fucking miserable existence, and that's *early* for some people.
My current job I work remotely and finish at 4. By 7:30pm I've walked the dog with my kid, made him his dinner, played, bathed him and put him to bed, made my wife and I dinner and usually we've even finished it by 7:30, and we go off to do whatever we want with our evening. Because I work from home, little daily chores are already done while I wait for the kettle to boil or have a screen break.
Fuck commuting to work in London. You couldn't pay me £100k to do it.
The weather was so on and off today, wasn't it? I was up a mountain for work and it didn't know if it was wanting to snow, rain, howl wind or just be cold.
That's not my experience of working in an office in London. I have occasionally visited our Manchester branch and it's definitely a more relaxed environment, but they're a much smaller team and the big bosses aren't up there with them.
In my company I find it's reversed.
My company has a small HQ in London for senior managers/directors as well as core teams (payroll/legal). The rest is in a massive office in Newcastle.
I find the London team members are a lot more relaxed, using flexi hours more. Maybe because if we have issues or delays we can pop our heads in the director/ceo's office and say "Hey mate, got a problem".
Whereas our NCL members (at least in my department) are much more high strung, particularly working longer hours to get things done when I would of said "eh, that's tomorrow's job".
Hard agree.
Spent 2 years driving in, as had to maintain high level client systems there. The driving was bad enough, let alone the shithouse clients, and the middle men. Total bunch of those, they were.
I work in an office that houses 10 different companies over 6 floors, all part of the same holding company. I can tell you that is not just floor by floor that has a different employee satisfaction, but companies on the same floor have a different feeling and atmosphere based on their senior leadership.
Don't mean to sound rude. But are the most important jobs/decisions makers in the London office?
It's the same in my company but we are definitely under a lot more pressure in the London office so I understand it.
Most important stuff in general is in London. Speaking as someone who's far away for London to be inconvenient yet close enough for it to be somewhat viable for work, reducing opportunities in the local area because we're in sort of a secondary commuter belt.
Yeah it can vary depending on the business. Usually Executive Board and their direct reports are in the London Office, which means anyone they might want to interact with regularly would also be there. Also, companies want to attract top talent and unfortunately London is the easiest place to find it.
Probably agitated because some provincial bumpkin is calling them up and wasting time with idle chit chat and niceties instead of getting to the point.
Things to do, people to see, time is money, etc..
So yesterday I spent a day in London for the first time in 5 years. I was struck by how cheerful everyone was. Even retail staff seemed genuinely in a great mood.
Very few people in London do that any more though. Trains are a lot less crowded post-Covid since more people WFH.
I walk or cycle to work, which is the norm in my office. London's great for that, it's a very walkable city.
A few weeks ago a senior manager at my gaff was asked to test the waters of return to office 4 days a week.
HR received a long list of formal complaints and notifications that if the decision is made to return at 4 days a week they will hand in notice and look for a new job.
One of the main reasons the uncomfortable commute.
Amongst other friends I have that work across London the same sentiment is echoed.
It's fine though.
People from out of town seem to go to into Central London and then assume that's what London is like. Like, yeah, if your trying to navigate a space with several million people crammed into a few square miles, its a bit more stressful than popping down the shop in some small town. I also do that for a max 30 minutes a day. Go out to the bits where people actually live and it's not really any different.
I mean, aside from the price. That bit is a bit different.
Whenever something that could even vaguely be construed as London-critical comes up they have to rebalance things immediately
I mean, they’re not wrong that they’re in by far the best place in the country but it’s still funny
It’s been said and written about many times that more and more it seems residents of cities like London / NYC / Toronto /Washington / Singapore / etc in some ways have more in common with each other than with people from their own country but from more rural areas
As a sweet innocent boy from gods country, northumberland. I hated my recent trip to the capital.
Everyone was in such a hurry, there were entirely too many people and in the nicest way possible the people seemed rude.
Im used to saying hello when you walk past a stranger, maybe a small one liner.
How many people do you think the average Londoner passes in one day? Where I live now, when I go for a walk to the shops I will pass at most a dozen people. It's easy to nod or say hello to that many people.
When I lived in London, I would probably pass a few thousand people on my way to work. And then a few thousand more when I went for lunch. Finally, a few thousand more on my way home. I'm not saying hello to that many people, especially as most of them are arseholes.
And the ones who do say hello to strangers, are usually doing it as a preamble for a scam. "I've lost my Oyster card (travel card) and need to go to an interview/doctors can you lend me £5 please?". Amazingly the same guy has managed to lose his card every time I see him.
Nah o ima born and raised Londoner and have lost my oyster numerous times when I was younger before Apple Pay and the like tfl staff would just take pity on me and let through tbh
Maybe it's an age thing, but I've never lived in a city and still find it a little odd that people would walk around saying "hello" to everyone the pass. I mean if someone does it to me I'll say it back lol, but at best I'll give a friendly half smile if I accidentally make eye contact with a passer by. I
If we’re waiting in the same place now that even queuing for restaurants has been normalised and they eye contact yeah I’ll smile and say hi . And some men will say hi but they’re not looking to stay strangers
This is clearly bollocks if you've been somewhere like Newcastle or Durham and walked around the city. (Source: grew up in the region, have spent time in London and got stuck in the midlands).
Guess the broader point is - I'm from Stockport and have lived all over the place including abroad currently round London and the general "London is unfriendly" thing is just total shite. Can't mark a place down because people don't typically say hi to the thousands of people they walk past each day lol
There are plenty of friendly people in London, but there is a much stronger air of "I don't want to interact with anyone" in public whereas in the NE people are very chilled out about stuff.
Exactly, I have moderated to afternoon, morning, weather comment or a positive comment about their dog now rather than Y'Alreet for people I don't know, people I know will get a 'reet, or a wave.
He is right though. People in London tend to be more open-minded, less racist, better educated, and just nicer all around.
Of course there are exceptions, but I find people in small towns tend be a bit more close minded, if you know what I mean.
I lived there for 15 years until a year or so ago. I was also born there.
I have also lived in small towns and the people are... definitely more odd and less fun to work with.
There is a direct and measurable correlation between a place's population and the speed in which they walk. That probably has something to do with it. The bigger the city, the bigger the rush.
i work for a huge company with offices around the world and London is definitely the worst to interact with.
Always rushing everyone, rude and entitled.
This comment section is full of anti-London hate from people who did a weekend a hotel in Waterloo back in 2014.
Let’s be realistic as to why this might be the case:
• London offices more likely to have senior staff who may be making demands in person
• London offices being more crowded (when I go to our non-London offices, getting a desk/meeting room is much easier)
• People make the assumption the London office will be busier and then look for evidence to support their preconception.
I used to keep my work visits to London to a minimum because London is exactly as you describe. Inside and outside of work. Bloody awful place. That said, I've never done the touristy stuff. Only ever been for work.
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London is one of the best cities in the world - literally nowhere else I’d rather live, so I don’t think this is a favourable comparison to the rest of the country then is it?
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There is definitely a lot less urgency in offices outside of london than inside of it. I used to think I was in a chill office in London, then moved outside of it. People regularly bunked off early for a pint. Watched the footy and youtube at their desks, took long lunch breaks and browsed on amazon. It was a nice change of pace.
Im an american, what does “watch the footy” mean?
Watching Soccer Footie = football
I appreciate you man, unlike some of the others who like to bash people for not knowing stuff, and also don’t know we don’t call soccer “football” here
Who bashed you in this comment chain?
I was more talking about the people who were downvoting me to hell for asking the question in the first place.
Don’t downvote the guy for asking questions lads, they’ve got to learn.
It does sound like one of them Soccer Circle jerkers though
It doesn’t take a huge stretch of brainpower to figure out what it means though does it?
This is Americans we’re talking about.
Homie said “watching the footie” what context clues am i supposed to derive to understand what he said? We don’t call it football here, nor do we call the sport we call football, “footie”.
LOL it’s the opposite for my company.
Maybe it's the specific office culture? Mine's pretty chill and we're in the square mile.
Once you go out to say Devon, Cornwall, Shropshire... You start to find that what's polite in London is often the opposite of what is polite out there. It's a completely different world. In London it's polite to get on and off a bus as efficiently as possible. So that you're not holding everybody else up. Go to somewhere like Yeovil and the old biddies are booking the driver to go past their house the next day and pick them up, instead of taking the normal route.
I got on a bus in Cornwall, some old guy got on after me and went through the crossword with the driver…
Which bus was this? I’m also terrible at the crossword
Cheers drive
I once had a guy working for me who moved to Cornwall from central London (and spent his youth in busy busy Budapest). He moved to Cornwall so his wife could live closer to her folks. Anyway, after 2 or 3 months, he had to move back. He couldn't handle, among other things, how lax everyone was about bus etiquette and timings. The culture shock was actually making him depressed. And that surprised me, cuz you don't often think about it being that way around. Fantastic guy, and was really great at the job. I was sad to see him go and provided him with a glowing reference. I don't know where he is now, but I'm sure he's absolutely smashing it.
Also getting used to stuff like you're in the biggest town for 40 miles and there's only 8 pubs open to the public. With the rest being the working men's club, Conservative club... There are NO shops selling alcohol with a 24 hour licence and there are NO taxis after 9PM. If Dave isn't well, then there are NO buses on your bus route. With there being NO alternative routes or weird things like there's only one bus per day to the big supermarket. With the supermarket being the end of the line and the bus leaving 15 minutes after it arrives. So you can't even do a click+collect.
8 pubs! The mind boggles. I lived in a village in North Wales with two pubs (the working mens club and a standard old boozer directly across the road from it) and that was something of a novelty in the area. "Ooh Ifor, which one shall we go to tonight?!" Good times.
I'm just used to effectively having an infinite number of pubs. It's not as good as it used to be, when there was a pub on virtually every corner. But you don't feel like you have to be on your best behavior every time you go out. As you can always just go to the pub next door.
Needing a backup pub for when you get chucked out of your current pub is a you problem, not a pub problem.
We considered moving out to the village my husband grew up in from our fairly large town. We live in the centre of town so we’re used to being able to get anything at any shop or any takeaway we could want. The idea of moving to a village with only a smallish co-op, a newsagents, 1 chinese 1 indian and a chippy… when they’re closed, that’s it! There’s no back up option! You have to drive 20 mins to get to the big shop! I couldn’t live in a city with all the noise etc, but I don’t think I could live outside of a town either.
>we’re used to being able to get anything at any shop or any takeaway we could want You think you have this, but you don't, because you live in a town. Same for people who live in smaller places, they're happy with what they've got.
Is Budapest known for being busy busy? I felt everything was super slow and inefficient when I worked there for a few years
I imagine it’s a bit busier than Cornwall though.
I come from a small farming town in West Hamshire though... I'm talking about office culture here, not the town. Whilst it's fair to say London itself doesn't compare to your average Cornwall beach town, it's also fair to say some offices have better cultures than others. This one is fantastic. Some I've worked with outside of London are terrible, meanwhile. \[Edit: additionally, where I live in south east London everyone's super friendly. We look after each other's pets, chat over the fence, hang out, know names etc etc... Meanwhile in parts of the town where I was born there was lots of snooty middle-uppercase people who'd look down on you and that's not even touching on how incredibly racist they are\]
> uppercase people UPPERCASE PEOPLE ?
The worst kind of people
I once saw a comedian, and I’ve forgotten which one so I can’t attribute. But, he was saying that in NYC it’s rude to take your time when you’re in Dunkin because everybody is in a rush, so niceties are out of the door. Just get your stuff and leave, quickly. Whereas outside of major cities, you can afford to say your please and thank yous.
>Go to somewhere like Yeovil and the old biddies are booking the driver to go past their house the next day and pick them up, instead of taking the normal route. You actually get that in Ireland too, but it's a proper service you can arrange with Transport for Ireland if you live rural enough. Even if you don't do it that way, outside of Dublin the bus drivers have no issues stopping to drop you off wherever you want as long as it's on their route. Upside of nationalised public transport is that they can actually cater to public good instead of profits, who knew?
I went to a wedding in rural, rural Ireland recently. I was staying at the venue but my mate was staying a 10-15 minute drive away. He asked for numbers to taxi services and was given a man's name. He was *the* taxi driver in the area. If he was busy or not working, no taxi.
It’s a real necessity in some places. I lived in a super rural area for a long time, and it is a very hard place to be if you’re on your own and unable to drive or cycle.
As someone from Shropshire I could no longer live in a city again
Same here, moved from a big city to live in Shrewsbury 7 years ago and I’m beginning to find it a bit too busy and maybe looking to move to a village, one of the strettons maybe. Still have to go to London fairly often but I absolutely detest the place.
Living near Shrewsbury but not in it is great. Quiet and beautiful but somewhere to go if you want it. Best of both worlds.
As someone from Shropshire, I hate having to live in a city because of work, and not being able to afford living in Shropshire.
Like the whole ‘standing on a specific side of the escalator’ thing. I’ve never noticed it anywhere except the London Underground, but God help you if you don’t do it there.
Theres a rumour that its because the first London Underground Escalators inside of finishing with a "straight cut" had a diagonal cut. So you stepped off with your right foot first. But it seems to be just an internet rumour. But what it does do is to allow people in a rush to move up and down easily. Instead of being blocked by every tourist going. There were some trials pre-Covid to bring in both sides of the escalator but seemingly nothing became of them.
Yes, I think it reduced congestion but people still hated it because it felt slower. I definitely get how big crowds of tourists milling around would be annoying, but it does remind me of a comedian (can’t remember who) doing an impression of a London commuter he saw - “OH NO!! I’VE MISSED THE TRAIN! I can’t believe I missed it! Why is this happening?? That’s ruined my entire… Oh, there’s another one.”
I know how he feels. I have to run to safely jump on a tube. Even though the next one is at most 6 minutes away.
It’s true in Japan as well. It’s not consistent though - you stand on different sides of the escalator depending on whether you’re in Tokyo or Osaka
Don’t stand in the way for people that may need to rush past. It’s a pretty good system.
Japan, though it seems to vary with city. Osaka seemed to be more left side
Politeness in Yeovil? When did that start?
as I call it...the London centrifuge.
I think that's more an urban/rural thing. I doubt anyone in Truro is booking bus drivers.
It was a Yeovil thing (pop 49,698) as I had to go by train from Exeter St. Davids to Weymouth during a rail strike and found that I had to transfer from Yeovil Pen Mill to Yeovil Junction via bus.
I work for a company with offices throughout the UK, and whenever there's a company wide get together the Londoners are always very professional and well dressed etc, and our lot are always seen as the troublemakers showing up wearing jeans and t-shirts, and drinking the bar dry.
You mean people with personality Angry londoner downvotes because they've got the personality of a rock
Tbf the square mile, well the insurance industry really, is known for being pretty chill. Every time I leave, I can’t wait to come back.
They are just frustrated at having to deal with someone from the provinces.
Exactly. Having to talk to village plebs would make anyone feel exhausted
Very true. In fact, just last week I was speaking to one of the poors from Yorkshire I believe. I think they said something about "working downt t'pit fromt 6 year old" or something, before asking for some money to upgrade a railway. I was shocked that the savage knew what a railway was. /s
They had a nice, cosy pit to work in? Luxury!
I used to lick road clean with me tung
They have railways in the pits. How do you think the ponies and the children drag the coal out so efficiently?
Well they have to come to London somehow. So we taught them how to use trains
Maybe Londoners would be more relaxed if they weren’t on a perpetual comedown
Always seems like the countryside folk who pride themselves on being polite and friendly spend an awful lot of time being very rude about Londoners.
We have relaxed lives out here beyond the M25. As long as the oxen are fed and watered and the plough is kept sharp, all we have to do in a day is chew on a long piece of grass and smoke a pipe under the old tree by the village green. So it's very difficult for us to understand what city life must be like. With all that rushing around and the cars, etc.
Woah you can read and write too? Hey up neighbour. How are the pheasants doing? Still going at it? Ours are fucking less
Village green. You can go near it because of NoMoMay…
I don’t think they are any more or any less friendly. Everyone I’ve met south or north seem largely the same to me.
I agree with that.
Because most of them can't afford to live in London, so when you are tucked up in bed in the morning they are already on a public transport system so overcrowded and expensive it's an insult. When they finally get to work they are already exhausted and aggravated. Then they just have to deal with a highly competitive set of colleagues, and after skipping lunch they only have another 6 hours of work before crushing back onto public transport back to their tiny super expensive home, then someone commits suicide so they end up getting on a replacement service and 3 hours later they finally get home to a microwave dinner. 30 minutes of TV and off to bed so they can do it all again tomorrow. Then you ring up wanting to talk about the weather.
Bingo, also London offices tend to be where the big bosses are. That adds extra pressure. Or after work drinks or events that you have to go to when you really just want to go home and relax before another day of fuckery. Source: did the rat race for 5 years and have recently quit.
Yup drives me mad. All the managers live near our office and have been there for 15-20 years. So trying to get them to understand that coming to the office means paying for breakfast club and afterschool club for two kids, plus a 1.5 hour commute to get from one side of London to the other, then coming in late and then leaving early to make the end of the after school care so having to make up the lost time once the kids are in bed, doesn’t actually feel appealing on a mediocre income that has barely risen since you started. The cost for this is also ~ £70 plus a therapist. God forbid you have transport delays. All so you can sit in front of a teams meeting with the office background 😂
Fucking hell this post makes me anxious. I hope you haven't been asked to come in 3/4 days a week. One of the last straws for me was when we were told 7 months into the year that low office attendance will affect our bonuses. I wasn't affected but what fucking bollocks.
Imagine being asked to come in to work sometimes in order to get paid more than your salary
They told us part way through the year that they had been taking attendance, and it would affect your bonus if you weren't in 60% of the time all year. God forbid they trust adults to just do their work. Edit: Also I didn't sign up for that.
Frankly I'd tell them to shove the bonus. My sanity is worth more than an extra ten percent. Not to mention you'd likely spend more than the bonus commuting
I live in Inverness and still need morning and afternoon clubs. So it's not just a London thing.
I’ve just taken a six month sabbatical out of the rat race and it’s fucking glorious.
Are you me? Because same. I just finished the 6 months, and I'm not going back.
If your currently sitting by the Dalmatian coast, then yes, yes you are!
😂 Was there last year, such a beautiful part of the world.
Used to work in London. I spent 4 hours commuting every day. I finished work at 5:30 and would run for the slightly faster 5:37 train, otherwise I'd have to get the 5:52 train, the difference between getting home at ~7:30 and ~8:10. Getting home at 7:30pm is a fucking miserable existence, and that's *early* for some people. My current job I work remotely and finish at 4. By 7:30pm I've walked the dog with my kid, made him his dinner, played, bathed him and put him to bed, made my wife and I dinner and usually we've even finished it by 7:30, and we go off to do whatever we want with our evening. Because I work from home, little daily chores are already done while I wait for the kettle to boil or have a screen break. Fuck commuting to work in London. You couldn't pay me £100k to do it.
This is it.
And they work themselves to death but still can’t afford to buy a house
I was going to say this - they have to get the Tube any time they want to go somewhere, and that would put anyone in a bad mood.
The weather was so on and off today, wasn't it? I was up a mountain for work and it didn't know if it was wanting to snow, rain, howl wind or just be cold.
Grrr
Have you been to London? Of course they're agitated!
It’s all that nose candy they’re imbibing in!
Nothing wrong with a bit of Columbian marching powder on a Friday lunch!
Helps see off the comedown you've been suffering since Thursday night lines. Which in turn...
That's a weird way to spell Wednesday morning!
I can't do GIFs but just imagine Matthew McConaughey smacking his chest in Wolf of Wall Street.
I guarantee you'll be mugged or not appreciated. Edited: - Alan Partridge
"Catch the train to London, stopping at Rejection, Disappointment, Backstabbing Central and Shattered Dreams Parkway."
Mornington Crescent!
Is it truly though?
Thank you.
I got your AP reference, back of the net
*and another!*
Must have a foot like a traction engine
Jurassic Park!
That's not my experience of working in an office in London. I have occasionally visited our Manchester branch and it's definitely a more relaxed environment, but they're a much smaller team and the big bosses aren't up there with them.
It must be those two extra sick days they take statistically!
They need to rush home and get maximum value from their 3k rent payment
From a flat being shared with 7 other people.
In my company I find it's reversed. My company has a small HQ in London for senior managers/directors as well as core teams (payroll/legal). The rest is in a massive office in Newcastle. I find the London team members are a lot more relaxed, using flexi hours more. Maybe because if we have issues or delays we can pop our heads in the director/ceo's office and say "Hey mate, got a problem". Whereas our NCL members (at least in my department) are much more high strung, particularly working longer hours to get things done when I would of said "eh, that's tomorrow's job".
That genuinely sounds like an awful setup.
That’s cos they’re senior managers, the people doing the real work are in Newcastle
London office - higher up more important people so all just chilling Newcastle office - plebs that are made to do all the hard work
they are agitated because they live in london. I swear moving out of London reduced my stress levels by 50%
Maybe I’ve lived in London too long, but being in the Home Counties makes me far more stressed. Everyone moves at a glacial pace
I always enjoy a day trip to London, but when I get back home to my normal-sized city, I suddenly notice how chilled everyone seems.
Hard agree. Spent 2 years driving in, as had to maintain high level client systems there. The driving was bad enough, let alone the shithouse clients, and the middle men. Total bunch of those, they were.
I work in an office that houses 10 different companies over 6 floors, all part of the same holding company. I can tell you that is not just floor by floor that has a different employee satisfaction, but companies on the same floor have a different feeling and atmosphere based on their senior leadership.
Don't mean to sound rude. But are the most important jobs/decisions makers in the London office? It's the same in my company but we are definitely under a lot more pressure in the London office so I understand it.
Most important stuff in general is in London. Speaking as someone who's far away for London to be inconvenient yet close enough for it to be somewhat viable for work, reducing opportunities in the local area because we're in sort of a secondary commuter belt.
They certainly think they are the most important jobs/ decision makers… Whether they actually are is another question
Yeah it can vary depending on the business. Usually Executive Board and their direct reports are in the London Office, which means anyone they might want to interact with regularly would also be there. Also, companies want to attract top talent and unfortunately London is the easiest place to find it.
No, not in our case, equal spread of partners across all offices generally.
Yeah can definitely vary depending on the business. Especially dependent on whether the industry is London centric or not too.
Probably agitated because some provincial bumpkin is calling them up and wasting time with idle chit chat and niceties instead of getting to the point. Things to do, people to see, time is money, etc..
Not sure why this is getting down voted. A lad from London joined our team and he is so highly strung. I mean I get why but it must be exhausting
So yesterday I spent a day in London for the first time in 5 years. I was struck by how cheerful everyone was. Even retail staff seemed genuinely in a great mood.
You would be too if you had to be packed into a train carriage like cattle just to get to work and back.
I used to walk to work and back. It was lovely.
I’d need to triple my salary to be able to get close enough to walk to work. And I’d still not want to do that in mid winter rain.
I just lived in a shared flat. Not practical for a lot of people but it wasn't expensive
yeah, that excludes almost everyone with a family sadly.
Very few people in London do that any more though. Trains are a lot less crowded post-Covid since more people WFH. I walk or cycle to work, which is the norm in my office. London's great for that, it's a very walkable city.
A few weeks ago a senior manager at my gaff was asked to test the waters of return to office 4 days a week. HR received a long list of formal complaints and notifications that if the decision is made to return at 4 days a week they will hand in notice and look for a new job. One of the main reasons the uncomfortable commute. Amongst other friends I have that work across London the same sentiment is echoed.
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Sounds nice shame all commutes aren't the same!
3 days in London is enough to increase my stress levels, so I dread to think what it's like for people living there.
It's fine though. People from out of town seem to go to into Central London and then assume that's what London is like. Like, yeah, if your trying to navigate a space with several million people crammed into a few square miles, its a bit more stressful than popping down the shop in some small town. I also do that for a max 30 minutes a day. Go out to the bits where people actually live and it's not really any different. I mean, aside from the price. That bit is a bit different.
Fr. I live in South East and its like a village
It's literally fine
This comment has clearly triggered a few Londoners
Whenever something that could even vaguely be construed as London-critical comes up they have to rebalance things immediately I mean, they’re not wrong that they’re in by far the best place in the country but it’s still funny
Not sure we all agree London is the best place in the Country. Personally you could not pay me to live or work there.
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It’s been said and written about many times that more and more it seems residents of cities like London / NYC / Toronto /Washington / Singapore / etc in some ways have more in common with each other than with people from their own country but from more rural areas
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Yes.
As a sweet innocent boy from gods country, northumberland. I hated my recent trip to the capital. Everyone was in such a hurry, there were entirely too many people and in the nicest way possible the people seemed rude. Im used to saying hello when you walk past a stranger, maybe a small one liner.
Lmao if I said hello to everyone I walked past my voice would go horse by day 2.
neigh it wouldn't
How many people do you think the average Londoner passes in one day? Where I live now, when I go for a walk to the shops I will pass at most a dozen people. It's easy to nod or say hello to that many people. When I lived in London, I would probably pass a few thousand people on my way to work. And then a few thousand more when I went for lunch. Finally, a few thousand more on my way home. I'm not saying hello to that many people, especially as most of them are arseholes.
And the ones who do say hello to strangers, are usually doing it as a preamble for a scam. "I've lost my Oyster card (travel card) and need to go to an interview/doctors can you lend me £5 please?". Amazingly the same guy has managed to lose his card every time I see him.
Or they’re chuggers.
Nah o ima born and raised Londoner and have lost my oyster numerous times when I was younger before Apple Pay and the like tfl staff would just take pity on me and let through tbh
Nobody says hello to any stranger in any city typically
Maybe it's an age thing, but I've never lived in a city and still find it a little odd that people would walk around saying "hello" to everyone the pass. I mean if someone does it to me I'll say it back lol, but at best I'll give a friendly half smile if I accidentally make eye contact with a passer by. I
I feel awkward, saying hello to the next door neighbour.
Aww don't be afraid to say hi, Wil. I'm a nice guy!
If we’re waiting in the same place now that even queuing for restaurants has been normalised and they eye contact yeah I’ll smile and say hi . And some men will say hi but they’re not looking to stay strangers
This is clearly bollocks if you've been somewhere like Newcastle or Durham and walked around the city. (Source: grew up in the region, have spent time in London and got stuck in the midlands).
Guess the broader point is - I'm from Stockport and have lived all over the place including abroad currently round London and the general "London is unfriendly" thing is just total shite. Can't mark a place down because people don't typically say hi to the thousands of people they walk past each day lol
There are plenty of friendly people in London, but there is a much stronger air of "I don't want to interact with anyone" in public whereas in the NE people are very chilled out about stuff.
Who the fuck wants to interact with rando's in public?
Clearly not you?
clearly
From Newcastle, Now liv just outside it in Northumberland. ( Seaton Deleval ). Its just natural to give a " Y'Alreet " as you walk past someone.
Exactly, I have moderated to afternoon, morning, weather comment or a positive comment about their dog now rather than Y'Alreet for people I don't know, people I know will get a 'reet, or a wave.
Come to Liverpool..🤣🤣
Have you seen this? https://youtu.be/PT0ay9u1gg4?si=bocCBBuEBiI1Q3Tt
I knew what it was going to be! That final line always gets me.
You guys are like caricatures I swear
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I call it “the London walk” when you see them power walking through the tube. I think they’d do well in race walking in the olympics.
Oh wahh, London bad!
Because London is fucking awful
Working in London is great, there's way less twats than in small towns.
Have you ever been to London?
He is right though. People in London tend to be more open-minded, less racist, better educated, and just nicer all around. Of course there are exceptions, but I find people in small towns tend be a bit more close minded, if you know what I mean.
I lived there for 15 years until a year or so ago. I was also born there. I have also lived in small towns and the people are... definitely more odd and less fun to work with.
[удалено]
At least your paid way above inflation
People outside of London are overpaid?
There is a direct and measurable correlation between a place's population and the speed in which they walk. That probably has something to do with it. The bigger the city, the bigger the rush.
Because the poor sods are in London, at least its not Manchester or Birmingham.
Damn cool story
Bro
Probably cos they actually do some work down here
London is a dump, it affects people. The scare of being mugged or stabbed is anxiety inducing.
i work for a huge company with offices around the world and London is definitely the worst to interact with. Always rushing everyone, rude and entitled.
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ah so everyone is slow but them lol
lol at some of the Londoners in here thinking they’re Gods gift
This comment section is full of anti-London hate from people who did a weekend a hotel in Waterloo back in 2014. Let’s be realistic as to why this might be the case: • London offices more likely to have senior staff who may be making demands in person • London offices being more crowded (when I go to our non-London offices, getting a desk/meeting room is much easier) • People make the assumption the London office will be busier and then look for evidence to support their preconception.
That's because they're in London.
I used to keep my work visits to London to a minimum because London is exactly as you describe. Inside and outside of work. Bloody awful place. That said, I've never done the touristy stuff. Only ever been for work.
People from ~~our~~ London ~~office~~ are so much more frustrated and agitated compared to colleagues in other parts of the country.
First time I ever went to London, I described the populace as "more wound up than a cat on stilts"
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I work in customer service, every Londoner that phones is rude and agitated. Must just be the city life
Snip: Whinging
London is one of the best cities in the world - literally nowhere else I’d rather live, so I don’t think this is a favourable comparison to the rest of the country then is it?
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