London Org- Current scene
- Thread starter Vittorio
- Start date
Amadeus Einstein
Patron with Honors
My partner took a stroll down to the London org today (Queen Victoria St.) and there was just a young S.O. guy called Stephen on reception. My partner asked how many people were in the org today, and Stephen replied that there were two, apart from him.
WTF is everyone? :confused2:
WTF is everyone? :confused2:
Dulloldfart
Squirrel Extraordinaire
Ideal Morgue.
Obviously it was, er, lunchtime, and the hundreds of staff and public on services (today being Tuesday) were taking a break.
Joking aside, assuming they do have more full time staff than that, maybe they were doing all-hands Div 6 stuff along Tottenham Court Road, trying to make enough GI to pay the electricity and phone bill. I bet they don't heat the place much.
However, maybe they don't have too many staff. An SO member holding Reception is interesting. Usually orgs put someone very junior on Reception, rightly or wrongly. That an SO member is holding Reception could mean they don't have anyone lower down the org board than this missionaire. Heh. Maybe someone could give him a call and ask: (0207) 246-2700 or 011 44 207 246 2700 from the US.
Paul
Terril park
Sponsor
Tottenham ct Rd used to have 3 or 4 people visible in recent times. Only
one on protest days.
How do we know this receptionist was SO?
one on protest days.
How do we know this receptionist was SO?
degraded being
Sponsor
-snipped from Dulloldfart's post -
Ideal Morgue.
Ideal Morgue.
Amadeus Einstein
Patron with Honors
He was in uniform.
At the point I left about 2 years ago, London Day allegedly had 65 staff (mainly recruited from the E.G. field). It's possible some of them might have been at 68 yesterday, or even at Fitzroy. But for the whole place to be empty? God knows.
Pixie
Crusader
Me too Snuffy....
Snuffy
Patron Meritorious
Stopped by Tottenham Court Road test centre today while shopping. There was one person there. They have no supervisor because they don't have enough staff to staff the building on Foundation time. The tables for stress tests were set up outside, but there was no one to man them. The place was essentially deserted.
Vittorio
Patron Meritorious
What we all know as fairly factual is that London Org had a fair few stable staff and public, which would mean there would be at least 30 people in their new building at any time.
Amadeus, what was the actual question your partner posed to the receptionist?
Was this on the day of the big IAS weekend at all?
Was the receptionist referring to students or everyone in the building?
Was this undoubtedly a SO uniform and not the blue and white suits that all Org staff have to wear?
London Org has had it's ups and downs, this, many have witnessed first hand. What would be extremely interesting is data on the actual cost of rent on this building, a rough estimate of it's outgoings and just how much money staff have to raise to keep it open.
Amadeus, what was the actual question your partner posed to the receptionist?
Was this on the day of the big IAS weekend at all?
Was the receptionist referring to students or everyone in the building?
Was this undoubtedly a SO uniform and not the blue and white suits that all Org staff have to wear?
London Org has had it's ups and downs, this, many have witnessed first hand. What would be extremely interesting is data on the actual cost of rent on this building, a rough estimate of it's outgoings and just how much money staff have to raise to keep it open.
Amadeus Einstein
Patron with Honors
The question was, "How many people are in today?" This was mid-morning on a Tuesday. My partner grew up around the E.G. area and would recognize a Sea Org uniform, rather than those things with the London badge on. The answer referred to the total number of people in the building, staff and students.
Snuffy
Patron Meritorious
The building was purchased for London Org by the IAS for roughly 10 million pounds and then renovated. Plus, City of London does not make them pay rates, so all they need do (I'm guessing) is cover basics like electric and gas.
RK
Not paying rates - sheesh!
Won't they however be paying rent to IAS or INT or to some upper level corporate body with a secret bank account?
Axiom142
Gold Meritorious Patron
The latest info that I have, and this is very recent, is that London org have been paying off the costs of renovating their building, which has been taking up a lot of their income. And when they have done that, they will have more money to pay the staff. Yeah right.
Except by then, their new public will have dried up and existing ones will have been tapped out.
Paying the staff a living wage is apparently one of the criteria for being classed as an ‘Ideal Org’. But for this to happen, the org would have to have around 100 staff, each being paid at least £300 per week. And for that to happen, the org would have to be pulling in around £100,000 per week. Can’t see that happening with the awful PR the CoS has and the dire economic conditions.
Currently, staff are lucky to get their travelling costs paid for.
The only ones who can afford to work there are those who have an independent source of income (own properties they rent out or own businesses that someone else runs for them), have a partner / parents who support them, work at other, proper jobs or are illegally claiming benefits.
Ax
Snuffy
Patron Meritorious
Interesting. I was around during renovations and they were by and large carried out by SO, presumably RPFers. So the cult paid little or nothing for the renos to begin with, and then charges the org for them for years afterwards.
Axiom142
Gold Meritorious Patron
Interesting. I was around during renovations and they were by and large carried out by SO, presumably RPFers. So the cult paid little or nothing for the renos to begin with, and then charges the org for them for years afterwards.
I'm sure they were Snuffy.
However, to be fair, the materials would have cost a lot. Also there are the fees for designers and consultants etc. According to press reports at the time, the building cost something like £24M (purchase price and renovation). London Org were never going to get this for free.
Axiom142
Amadeus Einstein
Patron with Honors
When I was on staff, we often were told we had to reg public to donate for reno's. This was used to purchase paint, etc.
Similar threads
