HR Practitioner’s Diary: HR eats in Hell’s kitchen ... continued

Annie Hayes

Sift

Editor

HR Practitioner’s Diary: HR eats in Hell’s kitchen … continued

By Annie Hayes

The ‘hot coal’ effect!
I recently came up against a training issue within the local council transport division. A good friend of mine, David, who is totally blind arrived at Northampton bus depot, along with his guide dog, and set about finding a member of staff who could help him.

Bearing in mind it was 7pm, David eventually found someone who was able to ask for directions to a disabled toilet. The member of staff then sought the help of two further colleagues and a five minute debate took place about which toilet David could use as the public toilets are locked from 6pm onwards! They eventually guided him to their staff toilet.

When David emerged he had been deserted by the staff members and, with his guide dog, attempted to re-locate them. After negotiating an escalator (which is a nightmare with a dog when you are sighted, let alone blind), he eventually found the three employees again. David asked if they could take him to the taxi rank just outside the bus depot. To his amazement he was told that they could not leave the site as they had to “look after the buses”!

Out of frustration, David left the station in a direction which he believed would take him towards the taxi rank. He and his dog ended up walking around Northampton town centre aimlessly for a good hour in which time they managed to negotiate some pretty dangerous traffic junctions. David had three cars sound their horns at him in this time – no-one offered any help!

Eventually a passer-by guided David into a town pub where the landlord was superb and called for a taxi for David.

The added difficulty of all of this is that David’s mobile phone was flat, so he was unable to phone me to help him, and even if he had called he could not have told me where he was – how would he have known? Ironically I had driven around looking for him earlier, but without success. The worry caused was immense and the poor chap was completely stressed out when he eventually arrived.

He immediately sat at his computer (which has voice recognition software) and composed a fairly hefty complaints letter to the Council and bus company alike. The main focus of his complaint was why the staff were not properly trained in assisting a disabled member of the public and as a result placing him in so much danger.

The ‘cop out’ was the replies he received. Firstly from the Council, whilst they apologised profusely they indicated that their staff all received training under the DDA legislation and that David’s plight had been a ‘one off’ event! The bus company’s reply was worse, in that they said they had 93 buses and 50 staff to look after and could not leave the station to help David across the road to the taxi rank! I do wonder at 7pm how many buses were active and the fact that David could only locate three members of staff out of a supposed 50 leaves their response under some suspicion!

This was an appalling show of poor training, with organisations and their staff simply not taking responsibility. David has suggested he go along to each organisation and carry out some DDA awareness training – the response from the Council and bus company will give a true indication of their commitment to take positive action under this Act.

I’m just relieved that David and his dog survived the encounter. On a positive note he did get a free pint from the pub landlord to calm his nerves – so it’s not all bad!

Now spring has sprung it will be interesting to see what March brings, but for now …

Vital Stats:

Weight: 9 st 5 lbs (the idea of wearing a bikini this summer is slowly becoming a reality!)

Chocolate: – nil (resisting all temptation – it’s not really that difficult.)

Wine: sticking to no more than six units per week, feel so much healthier. Some may call me a bore, but do I care – NO!!

Cider: I still enjoy half a cider after a game of golf – old habits die hard!

Boyfriends: New Year was the bad omen I feared. Ron and I did not celebrate it in style. His ‘baggage’ built up to an unbelievable level and our relationship was suffering as a result. I made the tough decision this month to bring things to an end, hence the visit to ‘heartbreak hotel’. I feel terrible, but we both need time and space as it was all too much too soon. At least we still love one another and can talk and laugh about the fun times. Who knows, if he gets his ‘baggage’ sorted out we may find the right time and place in the future – I secretly hope so! In the film Somethings Gotta Give there’s a lovely part of the script that goes, “you shouldn’t be afraid to love just in case you get hurt and might become unglued again. I’ve learnt how to fall and now want to fly”. Right now I feel rather unglued, but daring to ‘fly’ again was so wonderful, I know I’ll dare to love again without fear.