Paul streamlines Special Parking Activity

After the brouhaha regarding the Zero Income Ration Calculator And Demonstrator of Inactivity Abolishment Negotiation work counting exercise had died down somewhat, the drivers thought that they might at least not hear any more about it for a while. They were wrong.

The first inkling that they had that the issue was far from buried was an email one of them received asking him to reduce his Special Parking Activities by almost half. A word of explanation here: the Special Parking Activities formed one part of the laborious time-counting that had gone on some weeks previously. they represented the part of the working week that supported the main activity of actually using the vehicles - counted under Driving Customers in Cars - and included such tasks as training Learner drivers, keeping up to date with new uses of the vehicles, marking exam papers for the Learners, auditing their own work, and of course parking up the vehicles. Paul had decreed that these activities should not exceed a quarter of the working week but he knew full well that in reality they took up more than this but the drivers took work home with them or did it after hours. They did this largely because they were interested or helping out colleagues and accepted the fact that they would not be paid for every last thing they did.

Now Paul wanted them to reduce the amounts that the Ration Calculator stored in it's deep, inaccurate electronic belly. The driver was surprised as he thought that his contributions to these various activities had previously been valued and he had not advanced any claim for more pay. He sighed, logged on to the Ration Calculator and checked how much of each he was doing. Using this he compiled a lost of non-driving activities that he could theoretically cut and sent them to Paul.

"Excellent!" replied Paul by email. "That is very helpful. You choose which combination you would like to amend, but of course this will not alter your working week template in the real situation."

"What does that mean?" queried the driver still unused to the language in which Paul traded.

"We need to ensure that all drivers have no more than 2.5 Special Parking Activities each," emailed Paul. "But naturally cutting these on the Ration Calculator will not affect the material pattern of you week."

"You mean you want me to delete the electronic reference to some of the work I do and yet continue doing it?" asked the driver incredulously. "Isn't that simply deceitful?"

Paul had no answer.

"And then next year presumably you'll point to the absence of these items as evidence that I am not working too hard?" continued the driver, by now incensed beyond belief.

Again, Paul had no answer. But he just smiled.