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Original poster

Colleague charging electric scooter at work

276 replies

Whatt · 14/04/2023 00:12

One of my colleagues has recently started commuting to work on an electric scooter, which is great for the environment and saves them money on travel expenses. However, the issue is that they've been using the work place plugs to charge their scooter during the day.

Now, I'm all for being environmentally friendly and reducing waste, which is something that our management team has been pushing for lately. They've switched to cheaper hand wash and toilet roll, and they no longer provide bottled water or tea, coffee, and biscuits in the staff room. I understand that these changes are necessary due to the high cost of living and the need to reduce expenses.

However, I can't help but feel like it's a bit unfair that my colleague is essentially getting free electricity to charge their personal vehicle while the rest of us are being asked to make these small sacrifices.

I'm also worried that if our electricity bill goes up, management may take away other benefits and incentives that we currently enjoy, without realizing that the charging of the electric scooter is the cause.

I'm not sure if my colleague is aware of the impact this is having on our electricity bill, but I feel like it's something that management should know about. I don't want to be seen as a snitch or cause any unnecessary conflict in the workplace, but I do think it's important to be transparent and fair.

Yabu = mind your own
Yanbu = they're taking the piss

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
Qilin · 14/04/2023 09:43

TearsforBeers · 14/04/2023 09:39

I've worked in some very poor countries but have never known an office without tea&coffee and a water-cooler provided for staff.

Try working at a university.
We don't get anything!!

I teach. None of the schools I have worked for over the past 25+ years have provided tea, coffee, water coolers, milk, etc. None of it has been provided for free!

midsomermurderess · 14/04/2023 09:44

I wonder if this is the same poster who wrote about the dishwasher. Seems like a classic stir and run. That one has got up to 16 pages, and is still going.

Luredbyapomegranate · 14/04/2023 09:44

DojaPhat · 14/04/2023 00:16

Working life is made hard not by the work itself but by colleagues such as yourself.

Quite

Catch yourself on

saraclara · 14/04/2023 09:45

Qilin · 14/04/2023 09:43

I teach. None of the schools I have worked for over the past 25+ years have provided tea, coffee, water coolers, milk, etc. None of it has been provided for free!

Show quote history

Exactly.

I once visited a friend at his place of work, and not only did he get proper coffee (made by a barista) but also biscuits and beer from a hand pump! All free!

We had free use of a kettle.

viques · 14/04/2023 09:47

I am driven to confess.

On several many occasions I put small amounts of personal food shopping in the staff fridge to keep it cool until I went home. I possibly also put items in the freezer. I also used work sellotape to seal a personal letter because the envelope glue wasn’t working ( it was an envelope from home to be clear) in addition I put wet gloves on a work radiator to dry. However, I never charged my phone because I am not efficient enough to carry a charger around with me.

IamnotSethRogan · 14/04/2023 09:53

I mean what other benefits can you have if they don't even provide bloody tea ? Honestly I couldn't bring myself to give a shit about this. It seems like classic British race to the bottom. They're getting free electricity for their transport and I'm not and it's not fair.

dottiedodah · 14/04/2023 09:55

Quite honestly this is so petty. Come on OP! How on earth does it much cost FFS and how much better loo roll will be on offer once this "Criminal" is apprehended? I would turn a blind eye .If you report it and its found out to be you you will look pretty silly!

lostinfusion · 14/04/2023 09:58

good grief, I charge my phone & my watch at work oh & occasionally use the microwave (the horror)

KettrickenSmiled · 14/04/2023 09:59

Lasttraintolondon · 14/04/2023 09:31

I'd report him. Bet he has other luxuries like a chair and a desk to work at. People now days don't know they're born. He should count himself lucky he's not working by candlelight sitting in an unheated outhouse with the poultry.

People like you make work the unpleasant place so many of us hate.

Poultry?!!

Christ on an electric bike, you professional classes have it so good you don't know you're born.

We had a company rat, fattened for Xmas, to share between the entire factory floor.

ilovepixie · 14/04/2023 10:04

Christ Alive. Mind your own business! How do you know he hasn't asked management if it's ok! If you have noticed it I'm sure they have.

Jagoda · 14/04/2023 10:04

You really aren’t coming out of this well OP.

Really petty. Do you think people who use the loos more often than others (paper, water, soap, electric drier) are also worthy of report? Maybe you should start writing it all down in a notebook?

TheOrigRights · 14/04/2023 10:05

In my old place you had to ensure every piece of elec equipment was PAT tested. So if you brought a fan or a heater from home you couldn't use it until it was PAT tested.

Mercurial123 · 14/04/2023 10:16

You sound like someone I'd avoid.

topcat2014 · 14/04/2023 10:19

The illegal activity of using a scooter would concern me more.

Potentially condoning such use by the company.

If I owned the firm I might have an adverse view

Puppers · 14/04/2023 10:23

Omg are people really getting wound up by this obviously fake post?

I quite enjoyed it, OP. I imagined you as Jenny Joyce, all grown up and out in the wild 🤣

TulipsAndDaisiesAndBlossom · 14/04/2023 10:23

StepAwayFromTheBiscuitJar · 14/04/2023 00:30

I'd be pretty pissed off if my workplace stopped providing tea and coffee tbh. Last two jobs had fancy free vending machines and current one have a proper professional one like you see in Costa etc.

I've been feeling pretty hard done by having to drink instant at the site office. 😂

That’s unusual though. Most workplaces you have to contribute to a tea and coffee fund.
I work in a school and of course we bring our own biscuits in and contribute to a tea and coffee fund, but we also have to buy stationery and soap for the classroom plus any extras needed for any fancy lessons. We have an Amazon wish list as a school for soap, glue sticks etc which some parents also buy things for. What I’m getting at is, at some workplaces literally every penny counts.
At my school we are very strict with electricity use. Lights off wherever possible, heating off whenever possible etc. I guess it depends where you work OP.

2bazookas · 14/04/2023 10:24

Domino20 · 14/04/2023 00:13

You clearly do want to be a snitch.

I want her to be a snitch too.
Next door's visitor comes to stay and charges their car on a long cable from her sitting room window and across the public foot path.

Arapawa · 14/04/2023 10:27

Cheaper hand soap and cheaper toilet rolls, no tea or coffee. Really small costs to a company but sure to upset employees. Sounds a horrid company to work for.

poetryandwine · 14/04/2023 10:34

@Pinkfluff76 it is likely that after the journey to work the scooter is run down and needs a full recharge

EddyF · 14/04/2023 10:35

TwoMonthsOff · 14/04/2023 00:45

Jobsworth alert
FFS life is too short to be so petty minded.

LOL. I genuinely can’t believe there are people like this in life. How empty and sad does your life have to be for this non-issue to even feature in your headspace?

The things I read on here.

Everanewbie · 14/04/2023 10:54

KettrickenSmiled · 14/04/2023 09:59

Poultry?!!

Christ on an electric bike, you professional classes have it so good you don't know you're born.

We had a company rat, fattened for Xmas, to share between the entire factory floor.

Show quote history

Paradise. My old workplace put our rat on a diet and used offcuts from the paper bin as bog roll.

2bazookas · 14/04/2023 10:54

Endlesssummer2022 · 14/04/2023 09:24

It’s becoming a bit of a thing in the UK now to be jealous someone has something you don’t so you scheme and campaign to have it taken away from them. Sad state of affairs.

"Becoming"??? It's been like that for centuries. I blame Cromwell.

ShimmeringShirts · 14/04/2023 10:55

See this is why so many workplaces are toxic to be at. You’ve got cunts abound ready and eager to tell tales for the tiniest non offence there is. It’s rather sickening, I’d imagine people like those would be the informants in places where you’re encouraged to snitch on your neighbours so they’re taken away.

ImSweetEnoughDarlin · 14/04/2023 10:57

One place I worked once used to give out free breakfast, toast and cereal, in the ON-SITE costa 😍!

No doubt OP would have apointed herself the breakfast allowance monitor, bringing in scales and everything 🙄

NeverDropYourMooncup · 14/04/2023 10:58

DanglingMod · 14/04/2023 07:28

No, don't charge phones at work (school). Not allowed as charger not PAT tested. But, surely, you don't need to charge your phone at work since you don't use it much during the working day? Mine still has 85+% left on it when I leave. No free tea or coffee in most workplaces, either.

I wouldn't snitch on him for the cost of the charge, but I might consider it if his charger isn't PAT tester or if he's driving it illegally (quite likely).

Just stick a USB cable into the computer, then. No need for a PAT certificate when it's going into something that has been tested.

Never shed any tears over refusing to make the attempted compulsory voluntary donation towards bread, biscuits, milk and drinks at one place, though - why would I want to pay for other people's breakfasts and snacks?