8 Years Working in the UK | Honest Opinion

have you ever worked abroad before?? how did it go? 💼 Cheers to Odoo - Get one free app for life! www.odoo.com/r/L6t

I just moved back to America from the UK. I worked in an office for almost 3 years in England and the differences are astounding. I truely miss the British banter. I’ll be sad this Christmas because I’ll miss out on the big “Christmas Do”

"Do you remember that Alanna who used to work in the office?
The one who never contributed to the coffee costs, but always used to drink it?
Yeah... that one... ;) "

Great vid Alanna

We do forget sometimes just how lucky we are to live in the UK, especially when it’s holiday time. Not only having wonderful places here to visit with historic towns and castles, but, in a couple of hours travelling, we could be in Paris, Amsterdam or Brussels absorbing the delights those cities bring. Spain, Italy, Greece are great full holiday destinations for many of us, as is many of 5he Mediterranean islands.

I'm an American who lives in the US, and filing taxes here is an absolute nightmare. I didn't know it was similar in Canada until I watched this video. These tax companies lobby the US government to keep the system complicated on purpose so they can make more money. I am sad to hear that Canada has a similar state of affairs.😢

I used to be a boss, thankfully I was liked, plus I am strict but the first person to have a laugh. This particular girl who had been working with me for a year, had to have her dog put down, I cleared it for her to have a week off. She became pregnant maternity leave I made sure she was paid full wage for 12 months. I looked after my staff. The best thing was in return every month our targets, were met and more. I retired at 50 that was 7 years ago. To this day I see all 20of them, still go out with them all, god father to 3 kids . Every one let the company within 6 months after I retired.
Treat staff how you would like to be treated. It’s simple.

I’m not a fan of the after work drinking thing, if that happens where you work - mainly because I’ve just spent 8 hours with those people and they usually talk shop. Much prefer going home!

I haven't worked in a foreign country but I did work for Air France for about a year. It was cathartic, I would highly reccomend to anyone who has worked in customer service. Our "guest relations" training consisted of learning the phrase "ce n'est pas un problème pour moi, c'est un problème pour toi" also free wine and cheese in the break room!

I always go on holiday over my birthday, one because I don't want people to know I'm getting older, and two, because then I don't have to buy chocolates.

I hate working from home. There are too many distractions, there's no one to ask advice or bounce ideas off, nowhere to walk round to think, and my flat isn't big enough to have a work space and I don't like working where I live, working at the table where I eat.

Great video, Alanna. I nearly always watch, rarely comment but you always deliver.

I spent my working life in UK schools.
Our 'birthday' arrangements were always someone keeping track of the birthdays and organising a joint card from the whole staff to the birthday recipient, which we all signed - and yes, the Birthday Girl/ Boy would be expected to bring in treats of some kind on the day.
The school I was in for the last 20 years of my career also started a tradition that if it was someone's Big Birthday (one ending in a zero) there was additionally a buffet lunch or afternoon tea paid for by the school out of the team building/ wellbeing budget, and organised by a small group of colleagues for everyone to enjoy.
After work drinks only ever happened for the Christmas 'Do' and the end-of-school-year 'Do'.

I worked in an office in Manchester where there was a list in the kitchen of who took tea, coffee, sugar or milk, so anyone deciding to brew up had no excuse not to brew up for everyone. On one occasion my coffee was delivered to my desk by the local beat bobby who was encouraged to pop in for a brew when passing.

I worked as en engineer in a small design office in the early 90s. The whole office would go to the local pub at lunchtime every Friday and the senior partners would be buying rounds. Nothing ever got done on the Friday afternoons.

So many British people seem to knock the UK these days and don't realise how blessed we are work-wise, compared with some countries. PAYE and at least 28 days hols - marvellous. Mind you, compared to the French we are still in the Dark Ages. Everyone seems to have August off in France and most appear to retire at 55. And get this, according to a Brit friend of mine who lives in France: If you leave your job, you get 80% of of your wage paid by the Government for a year, so everyone seems to have a year off at some point. I have probably got some of the facts on this a bit wrong, but you get the idea.

What a delightful lady and great advert for Canada and Canadians. Kudos to her and her work ethic for being employed continuously.
I'd love to see her in Switzerland - we have great coffee in the offices typically.

There are certain 'Friday night drink from work' experiences that I'll remember for life. I'd once organised a tour around our local brewery for 6pm on a Friday night. All of the places had been filled, but then one guy had to drop out and one of our employer's management invited himself along to fill the vacancy (he was something like our boss's boss's boss!)
The tour part of the evening wasn't a problem, but when we were shown into the breweries own bar, we knew he'd probably cramp our style and put a bit of damper on things.
The tour guide went behind the bar and said: "Right then, I'll serve you all for your first drink, and after that you can help yourself, and the bar is free until 11pm". He turned to the 'bossman' and said: "What can I get you?" and the answer he got was: "You wouldn't have a dry white wine, would you?" the tour guide's reaction was as surprised as ours. We were in a brewery for goodness sake! We were supposed to be sampling the beer they produced. The tour guide replied: "No I bloody wouldn't!". (He actually followed that with an instruction to go away, though in the form of the two word one, that begins with and ends with 'F') The bossman had a half pint of a lager and then left, and the rest of us could relax.
(Incidentally, as 11pm approached we had a whip round (collection) for our guide, who was so appreciative, he extended service until 12am. We actually rolled out of there sometime after 1:30am. One of the best nights, and certainly the cheapest, any of us had ever had.)

Worked in France for a few years on and off (3 months UK, 3 months France), for a British company. Due to an agreement between the UK and France, as long as you pay tax in one country, you do not pay it in the other. At the time the taxes in France were around 45%, but they don't pay VAT, so goods were cheap in France, compared to the UK. So paying tax in the UK, and buying every thing you need in France was win, win. Oh!! and to top it off, about once a month, someone used to drive one of the companies diesel hire cars to Spain (2 hours away), where prices were even cheaper.

Love the vlog as always ❤❤❤

Another common thing is for a person to bring biscuits or sweets into the office when they get back from holiday from the place they went on holiday!

Moved from the UK to the US. The thing I found difficult was in the US, people would just wander up to your desk to chat. In the UK, you're mostly focused on work and chit-chat is reserved for breaks.

If only you worked here in the 80s and 90s. On the first day of my first job I was taken by my new boss to the works bar at 10:30AM, Monday morning and bought two pints. That really set the tone for the office - complete madness looking back!