It's funny how things change, the older you get. Five years ago i owned a nearly new car and had a five year old car in the drive. Now i rent a dilapidated static caravan from a senile landlord, and drive a posh-rotten Fiat Tipo diesel, where the electrics have a mind of their own (well, it was £350 i suppose...)
Still working, slowly driving me insane and i nearly, very nearly walked out the other day, childish i know, but being promised basic working tools and not getting them is childish as well...just so glad it's a temp job, things are really getting busy in the valeting trade, with scrappage and all. Just a shame that they're scrapping all the decent, usable, nice old bangers and hence the fact i'm driving around in a Fiat Tipo where the electric windows don't undo. Or do up.
Starting to think "What Next?" in the new year (good idea for a magazine title that, imagine it next to What Car...), when the contract ends and it's back to Housing Benefit and Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance for me. Will i get work again immediately?, will i have to wait another three months or so for another temp job to come up?, who knows, but it does worry me, especially as all my wages are going on old debts, which isn't a huge problem, as long as i have a few pennies to buy Fish and Chips for Friday tea-time, buy the odd second-hand book or CD from a boot sale and fill the old tank up with diesel, then i'm happy, for now.
The problem is how long will it get to being back on acceptable income again?, i'm living on the breadline now, instead of the poverty line and i kind of like it. It tastes better than poverty.
It's not just me, and i still class myself as a "mild" case of poverty. My only regret was not charging all my bills to my credit card (when i had credit) and going bankrupt and starting again. Other people as you will know are losing jobs, then losing homes, and perhaps losing families, ie breaking up and that is tragic.
I really hope everyone who's come a cropper in this god-awful, greed led, incompetence followed recession can make good of it. I know i will never be careless with cash again, it will be hard for us all to get back on our feet, as i'm finding at the moment, but maybe one day in the next five years, this recession will be over, wages will be comparitive to some sort of basic, good, living standard, and maybe, just maybe we can look back..and smile?
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Friday, 27 November 2009
Update, simple as that!
Just another brief update: I hate this job. I've never worked so hard for so little reward bar a pay packet and constant reprimands and reminders that if performance isn't up, then i'm gone...Stuff it, thinks i...
Ok, so that's a bad attitude to have, but the one thing that i can take from this job, is that it's seriously made me question what i want to do with my life. Do i want to be constantly slogging my nuts off for a pittance whilst i've got managers boasting that they're leaving for Saudi in the year, 70k a year tax free.
Sorry to bitch, and i guess be ungrateful. It's just been a very tough week...
Ok, so that's a bad attitude to have, but the one thing that i can take from this job, is that it's seriously made me question what i want to do with my life. Do i want to be constantly slogging my nuts off for a pittance whilst i've got managers boasting that they're leaving for Saudi in the year, 70k a year tax free.
Sorry to bitch, and i guess be ungrateful. It's just been a very tough week...
Thursday, 19 November 2009
In work and loving it: sort of...
Can we ever be truly happy? lol...
Ok, just a update here. Been in the new job for three weeks now and yes, i do like it. The job is ok itself, and something i've done before, but management are neither the brightest or best, and seem to put up new hurdles in the way of doing your job properly every day, which is extremely frustrating, especially as they are also target obsessed and never fail to keep reminding people what their performance is.
Which i could understand in a Sales environment, but not in a manual work environment. Sure, there are those who will always be lazy and will always need a theoretical kick up the arse from good management practice, but this is constant, "our work levels should be higher" which makes it feel as if the management have no faith in you, and add this to the constant goalpost movement and, sadly i hasten to add, it makes me feel sometimes as if there's no incentive to work hard, as it's always gonna be wrong...
Hold on, you might say: "you've been out of work for over a year, surely going back to work and earning is good enough incentive moves?" sure they are, but we are always in constant fear of losing our jobs early.
The contract ends in Feb 2010, but a sad, and strange thing i'm seeing is that if you make silly mistakes, you aren't reprimanded, in the words of Sir Alan Sugar: "You're fired."
No, seriously. The company (mention no names) is so obsessed with rules and targets, that you can be the best car valeter going but failure to dispose of rubbish properly makes you eligible for P45 collection duty in the name of "Health and Safety", but i think it's a acronym for "Hire and Fire", trust me, i've seen it happen. It shouldn't happen, but it does-we all knew we were on temporary contracts but it seems sometimes that the contracts are a bit too temporary...
Will report more soon...
Ok, just a update here. Been in the new job for three weeks now and yes, i do like it. The job is ok itself, and something i've done before, but management are neither the brightest or best, and seem to put up new hurdles in the way of doing your job properly every day, which is extremely frustrating, especially as they are also target obsessed and never fail to keep reminding people what their performance is.
Which i could understand in a Sales environment, but not in a manual work environment. Sure, there are those who will always be lazy and will always need a theoretical kick up the arse from good management practice, but this is constant, "our work levels should be higher" which makes it feel as if the management have no faith in you, and add this to the constant goalpost movement and, sadly i hasten to add, it makes me feel sometimes as if there's no incentive to work hard, as it's always gonna be wrong...
Hold on, you might say: "you've been out of work for over a year, surely going back to work and earning is good enough incentive moves?" sure they are, but we are always in constant fear of losing our jobs early.
The contract ends in Feb 2010, but a sad, and strange thing i'm seeing is that if you make silly mistakes, you aren't reprimanded, in the words of Sir Alan Sugar: "You're fired."
No, seriously. The company (mention no names) is so obsessed with rules and targets, that you can be the best car valeter going but failure to dispose of rubbish properly makes you eligible for P45 collection duty in the name of "Health and Safety", but i think it's a acronym for "Hire and Fire", trust me, i've seen it happen. It shouldn't happen, but it does-we all knew we were on temporary contracts but it seems sometimes that the contracts are a bit too temporary...
Will report more soon...
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Too much pressure
Way too much. I've always been the sort of bloke to be able to sort out my own affairs but now it really is getting too much. I'm being sent "where's our money?" letters on a semi-regular basis, the letting agent on the property i'm about to move from being a very sharp thorn in my side, with three letters so far. Having moved in to our new "home" me and my Fiance are arguing almost constantly, not directly, but in a way caused by severe lack of money and probably being stuck in a tiny space together.
And the loose ends that need tidying up, there seems to be no fucking end to it all. Address changes, joint benefit updates, the heating in our new home packing up, having to apply for more permanant work, the temp job not starting yet, etc, etc
But trying to sort it all out is a complete and utter fucking nightmare, even the simple bits and it's making me ill and in turn making me irritable and difficult, and more difficult for my fiance to be with me.
How she's put up with me so far is nothing short of a miracle. I make no bones about it: i have been a difficult bastard over the past few weeks with the stress of it all, and if she's reading this, i apologise.
I can put up with the heating not working, that's a minor problem compared to someone coming to pick up some surplus furniture from my old flat. I only wanted a fiver or tenner for it, if that, but i keep getting "ooh, it's not for me-i can't shift furniture, the colour's wrong etc, etc" from local second hand shops, i mean, for fuck's sake?, is it so hard?, i'm virtually giving you furniture that's not tat and you won't even take it?, fucking hell, is this what it's come to?
They keep giving me numbers for Sue Ryder etc, i don't completely mind giving furniture away to charity, i've done it before, but charity furniture collectors have a habit of not turning up (from my experience) and i'm below the breadline, and it galls a bit seeing stuff you paid for being given away and you don't even get the price of a bag of chips for it.
Sorry to gripe-it just keeps me sane...
And the loose ends that need tidying up, there seems to be no fucking end to it all. Address changes, joint benefit updates, the heating in our new home packing up, having to apply for more permanant work, the temp job not starting yet, etc, etc
But trying to sort it all out is a complete and utter fucking nightmare, even the simple bits and it's making me ill and in turn making me irritable and difficult, and more difficult for my fiance to be with me.
How she's put up with me so far is nothing short of a miracle. I make no bones about it: i have been a difficult bastard over the past few weeks with the stress of it all, and if she's reading this, i apologise.
I can put up with the heating not working, that's a minor problem compared to someone coming to pick up some surplus furniture from my old flat. I only wanted a fiver or tenner for it, if that, but i keep getting "ooh, it's not for me-i can't shift furniture, the colour's wrong etc, etc" from local second hand shops, i mean, for fuck's sake?, is it so hard?, i'm virtually giving you furniture that's not tat and you won't even take it?, fucking hell, is this what it's come to?
They keep giving me numbers for Sue Ryder etc, i don't completely mind giving furniture away to charity, i've done it before, but charity furniture collectors have a habit of not turning up (from my experience) and i'm below the breadline, and it galls a bit seeing stuff you paid for being given away and you don't even get the price of a bag of chips for it.
Sorry to gripe-it just keeps me sane...
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Countdown to work Part 1...
It's been a eventful past few days after i posted my last message, in fact the day after i posted my last message, my car died, literally-the cambelt snapped whilst driving to meet relatives, destroying the engine and i'm about £150 down financially due to that and it was a real panic time: i had no money to buy another car, none of my family had any spare cash to get another old banger to runaround in and i only had £50 to my name and £30 of that was the money i got from the scrapman for the car.
Thankfully a old mate came to the rescue with a £250 loan, and Neil, if you're reading, thanks again from the bottom of my heart and i am now mobile with another banger which will hopefully last a bit longer than the last one...
Finally got another place to live now, a mobile home. I was a bit weary of this at first, but i've decided not to be so stupid and snobby and just accept it, hopefully i might just even like it!
It was a cheap place to rent, and as a happy ending, me and my fiance are able to live together for the first time in six months. Not so nice is the letter i got from my current letting agent, similar to the one my Mum got in the last posting, but with more of a threatening court action slant...i wish they'd understand that if i could get the money to them any sooner, i would but had to pay for the new place to go to and did try a compromise with the letting agent as you will see on the previous post, and as said there: ho-hum...
Still waiting for the green light to start work, i got a phone call this week stating that it's been put back a bit, and i only hope i'm not being taken for a ride and in all honesty i'm taking advice from relatives about not putting all my eggs in one basket, and i'm going to apply for whatever suitable work i can find in the surrounding area of where my new digs are, but as said, i hope i'm not being taken for a ride, it would devastate me, especially as i trusted them so much.
On a negative work note, my fiance's uncle and cousin both worked for the same major player construction firm, the Uncle for over ten years and both were given their notices this week. I myself thought the building trade was going through some pickup in trade, and i hope they can both find alternative employment. Best of luck lads.
Just also noticed that if it drags on much longer, and i start work next month, it will be a month to the year since i first started this blog, crikey...
Thankfully a old mate came to the rescue with a £250 loan, and Neil, if you're reading, thanks again from the bottom of my heart and i am now mobile with another banger which will hopefully last a bit longer than the last one...
Finally got another place to live now, a mobile home. I was a bit weary of this at first, but i've decided not to be so stupid and snobby and just accept it, hopefully i might just even like it!
It was a cheap place to rent, and as a happy ending, me and my fiance are able to live together for the first time in six months. Not so nice is the letter i got from my current letting agent, similar to the one my Mum got in the last posting, but with more of a threatening court action slant...i wish they'd understand that if i could get the money to them any sooner, i would but had to pay for the new place to go to and did try a compromise with the letting agent as you will see on the previous post, and as said there: ho-hum...
Still waiting for the green light to start work, i got a phone call this week stating that it's been put back a bit, and i only hope i'm not being taken for a ride and in all honesty i'm taking advice from relatives about not putting all my eggs in one basket, and i'm going to apply for whatever suitable work i can find in the surrounding area of where my new digs are, but as said, i hope i'm not being taken for a ride, it would devastate me, especially as i trusted them so much.
On a negative work note, my fiance's uncle and cousin both worked for the same major player construction firm, the Uncle for over ten years and both were given their notices this week. I myself thought the building trade was going through some pickup in trade, and i hope they can both find alternative employment. Best of luck lads.
Just also noticed that if it drags on much longer, and i start work next month, it will be a month to the year since i first started this blog, crikey...
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Under pressure...
Today, my mum got a heavy letter from my letting agent on the current place i live in, after the rest of the rent i owe, a measly £190. I rang the letting agent midweek to let them know that as soon as i get the money, i'll give it to them, and if not, take it from my deposit at the end of the month when i move out.
So why the letter?, pardon my French but fuck knows. It's just another poxy "where's our money" letter from somebody else, other than those i'm already getting letters from, ho-hum.
I'm just getting bored of it all now. Really bored...
So why the letter?, pardon my French but fuck knows. It's just another poxy "where's our money" letter from somebody else, other than those i'm already getting letters from, ho-hum.
I'm just getting bored of it all now. Really bored...
Monday, 5 October 2009
Baby it's cold outside...
It's bloody cold out there. And in here too, in my bedsit as the battered storage heater doesn't seem to work. It's 6am on Tuesday 6th October, i'm wearing a fleece as i type this and this is Shiftswinging!
If i ramble a bit too much i'm also suffering with a cold, and i'm having trouble thinking straight lol!
Actually, it's illness i want to talk about. Since being unemployed last year, i seem to catch every illness bug going, including a very bad cold virus when swine flu was about last time, although i don't think mine was swine flu, but there was a lot of cold and "suspected swine flu" going about at letternumberletter when i caught whatever it was, because i think that's where i got it from, no allegations though!
Illness makes me very anxious and worried, and to be honest i could do without it at the moment with all the other problems that i have at the minuite, and i'm praying that i don't catch the next wave of swine flu that there is supposedly about at the minuite, although i do have the Tamiflu if that happens...
My main worry is what happens if i'm ill when i'm meant to start work?, it's only a temporary job and i'm very worried that if i'm ill they will find someone else and i will be up shit creek without a paddle as everything rests on this job: Getting somewhere to live, clearing debts, getting a new car and paying for Christmas.
It is a bit of a worry, to be frank. Another worry is that i still haven't found anywhere to live. I could go and live with my parents if pushed, but even then i still don't have anywhere to store all my things-i don't have a lot of them, having got rid of quite a few items during consecutive house moves, (and this one is no exception), as storage costs and i have no money...
I've rang around for a few places and you need about a grand up front. In retrospect maybe i shouldn't have handed in the lease on this place, but i couldn't stand it here anymore, i never liked it here to be honest, but that's another story covered in a previous chapter.
Still not started the job yet, this starts in November, preparing ex-lease cars for resale (cleaning, polishing, general valeting etc)
I'm off to bed (well, sofa at least...) to try and get warm...
If i ramble a bit too much i'm also suffering with a cold, and i'm having trouble thinking straight lol!
Actually, it's illness i want to talk about. Since being unemployed last year, i seem to catch every illness bug going, including a very bad cold virus when swine flu was about last time, although i don't think mine was swine flu, but there was a lot of cold and "suspected swine flu" going about at letternumberletter when i caught whatever it was, because i think that's where i got it from, no allegations though!
Illness makes me very anxious and worried, and to be honest i could do without it at the moment with all the other problems that i have at the minuite, and i'm praying that i don't catch the next wave of swine flu that there is supposedly about at the minuite, although i do have the Tamiflu if that happens...
My main worry is what happens if i'm ill when i'm meant to start work?, it's only a temporary job and i'm very worried that if i'm ill they will find someone else and i will be up shit creek without a paddle as everything rests on this job: Getting somewhere to live, clearing debts, getting a new car and paying for Christmas.
It is a bit of a worry, to be frank. Another worry is that i still haven't found anywhere to live. I could go and live with my parents if pushed, but even then i still don't have anywhere to store all my things-i don't have a lot of them, having got rid of quite a few items during consecutive house moves, (and this one is no exception), as storage costs and i have no money...
I've rang around for a few places and you need about a grand up front. In retrospect maybe i shouldn't have handed in the lease on this place, but i couldn't stand it here anymore, i never liked it here to be honest, but that's another story covered in a previous chapter.
Still not started the job yet, this starts in November, preparing ex-lease cars for resale (cleaning, polishing, general valeting etc)
I'm off to bed (well, sofa at least...) to try and get warm...
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Good News?...
It's been all quiet on the blogging front this past month or so, and with good reason. I've got a job. Yes, i actually, after months of applying for jobs and getting nowhere, listening to agency waffle, and other poverty related indignities, i finally have a job. A fortnight ago i set myself a target to work really hard, to pull out all the stops, to get employment of some kind, either paid or even voluntary work, and strangely, i did!
I can't really say too much, that would give the game away, other than it's a short-term job in the motor trade, but i'm not complaining as the rates of pay are good and i get to work a shift where i don't get a feeling of jet-lag...(i'm not really a early morings or nights person), so i'm happy.
It would have been nice to have been a permanent job, but that's showbusiness i guess!
Anyway, as said, i'm not complaining. It would be nice to get a bit of money in the house, as i am literally on the bare bones of my arse.
Previous readers of this blog will have noticed that i probably play the poverty card a lot, but it was/is true at the time, but somehow, someway i managed to keep my head above water, well, at chin level at least...something always came out of the bag at the last minuite, (usually selling stuff) but the last couple of months have been extremely hard, this one being the hardest, one problem is that the job does not start right away, and there is another problem: the lease on my flat runs out in the end of October, i don't have any money really to go anywhere else at the minuite, which is a problem.
So i'm skint, have nothing to sell, owe various utility companies a stack of money, and i am homeless in five weeks time. Not a great start.
Maybe it's my own fault, maybe it's not-but it is a problem none the less. I've been ringing various estate agencies but even the most dire places need extortionate deposit and admin fees: would you pay £500 deposit to live in a elderly static caravan?
It's not the fact it's a caravan, and, besides: the rent was cheap enough a month, but there is no way i can afford that off my own back at the minuite, besides, renting bricks and mortar works out strangely cheaper than a caravan when you do the maths...
So that's to sort. One thing i won't miss about being unemployed is the aimless travel everywhere to agencies where jobs don't exist. In fact, i've become a lot tougher and resillient due to this, i hate being tough, but doing the rounds of bad agencies taught me that:
1.) It's a dog-eat-dog world out there
2.) I don't think i like the taste of it...You have to have a hard skin to deal with the BS.
Another thing, i don't think i discovered myself, but i did discover something about me, and that's the fact that i am a small-town boy, i really loathe going to big towns and cities and wandering round as a stranger, not just of the place you've gone to, to look for work, but want of a better phrase, "a stranger of the world..." because that's exactly how i felt, completely alone. I could be a good sixty miles from anyone i knew and 30 miles from my bedsit, in a town where i knew absolutely nobody.
Now, before you think i've lost it, all i'm saying is that i was used to small time rural Lincolnshire life, and after living in and visting some wildly different places in the last two years, and thinking i could take to a sort of sub-Alan Whicker county hopping jetsetting lifestyle, well, the honest truth is that the Lincolnshire is well and truly in this boy, and he thinks that's how he likes it, having tasted the alternatives...
We will just have to see what happens, watch this space...
I can't really say too much, that would give the game away, other than it's a short-term job in the motor trade, but i'm not complaining as the rates of pay are good and i get to work a shift where i don't get a feeling of jet-lag...(i'm not really a early morings or nights person), so i'm happy.
It would have been nice to have been a permanent job, but that's showbusiness i guess!
Anyway, as said, i'm not complaining. It would be nice to get a bit of money in the house, as i am literally on the bare bones of my arse.
Previous readers of this blog will have noticed that i probably play the poverty card a lot, but it was/is true at the time, but somehow, someway i managed to keep my head above water, well, at chin level at least...something always came out of the bag at the last minuite, (usually selling stuff) but the last couple of months have been extremely hard, this one being the hardest, one problem is that the job does not start right away, and there is another problem: the lease on my flat runs out in the end of October, i don't have any money really to go anywhere else at the minuite, which is a problem.
So i'm skint, have nothing to sell, owe various utility companies a stack of money, and i am homeless in five weeks time. Not a great start.
Maybe it's my own fault, maybe it's not-but it is a problem none the less. I've been ringing various estate agencies but even the most dire places need extortionate deposit and admin fees: would you pay £500 deposit to live in a elderly static caravan?
It's not the fact it's a caravan, and, besides: the rent was cheap enough a month, but there is no way i can afford that off my own back at the minuite, besides, renting bricks and mortar works out strangely cheaper than a caravan when you do the maths...
So that's to sort. One thing i won't miss about being unemployed is the aimless travel everywhere to agencies where jobs don't exist. In fact, i've become a lot tougher and resillient due to this, i hate being tough, but doing the rounds of bad agencies taught me that:
1.) It's a dog-eat-dog world out there
2.) I don't think i like the taste of it...You have to have a hard skin to deal with the BS.
Another thing, i don't think i discovered myself, but i did discover something about me, and that's the fact that i am a small-town boy, i really loathe going to big towns and cities and wandering round as a stranger, not just of the place you've gone to, to look for work, but want of a better phrase, "a stranger of the world..." because that's exactly how i felt, completely alone. I could be a good sixty miles from anyone i knew and 30 miles from my bedsit, in a town where i knew absolutely nobody.
Now, before you think i've lost it, all i'm saying is that i was used to small time rural Lincolnshire life, and after living in and visting some wildly different places in the last two years, and thinking i could take to a sort of sub-Alan Whicker county hopping jetsetting lifestyle, well, the honest truth is that the Lincolnshire is well and truly in this boy, and he thinks that's how he likes it, having tasted the alternatives...
We will just have to see what happens, watch this space...
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Thank you!
There's not usually a lot of good to be said if you read this blog, if you look at the older postings, but, i do have some good news: no, unfortunately, not a job, but a huge weight off my shoulders!
I thought today was going to be total crap, it was a "interesting" signing on appointment at the Jobcentre today (did i fancy being a commis chef?!) and i thought it was going to be downhill from there...not so.
I am in arrears with a electric bill from the last place i lived in, it was a harsh winter, like the ones we used to get, in a electrically heated house: nuff' said perhaps, and although i don't owe much in theory, in reality it's a pain in the arse to make the ninety quid payments every month along with other debts etc.
I made a arranged token twenty pounds payment a fortnight ago, because i couldn't make the full payment, got a "where's our money?" letter from the electricity company today, so i rang about the oversight, and...
I was allowed to make as little or as much payment as i want as long as the debt was cleared by late January. Wahey!, i asked why couldn't i pay this way before and was stuck with huge mandatory payments a month, and the reply was:
"Some people are like machines and just look at the figures on a screen, it's lucky you're talking to a human being today..."
Amen, i say...Whoever you are, i didn't catch your name, but thank you very, very much! :-)
I thought today was going to be total crap, it was a "interesting" signing on appointment at the Jobcentre today (did i fancy being a commis chef?!) and i thought it was going to be downhill from there...not so.
I am in arrears with a electric bill from the last place i lived in, it was a harsh winter, like the ones we used to get, in a electrically heated house: nuff' said perhaps, and although i don't owe much in theory, in reality it's a pain in the arse to make the ninety quid payments every month along with other debts etc.
I made a arranged token twenty pounds payment a fortnight ago, because i couldn't make the full payment, got a "where's our money?" letter from the electricity company today, so i rang about the oversight, and...
I was allowed to make as little or as much payment as i want as long as the debt was cleared by late January. Wahey!, i asked why couldn't i pay this way before and was stuck with huge mandatory payments a month, and the reply was:
"Some people are like machines and just look at the figures on a screen, it's lucky you're talking to a human being today..."
Amen, i say...Whoever you are, i didn't catch your name, but thank you very, very much! :-)
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Don't call us...we'll call you...
I'm mobile this week now: I got the brakes fixed on my car yesterday, with help from my Dad after panicking about being unavilable for work at any opportunity. I needn't have bothered...
Human beings, by definition, are vain, stupid, etc, and i'm no exception. Although in my last blog i said that i would be moving back to South Lincolnshire, i foolishly though that there might be a chance for me to get work in Northamptonshire, my fiance said i'd be better off still moving back home, but somthing in me still believed naievely that i could get work.
I doubt it now, every job i've tried for, via a agency in Northants bar one (who are still "waiting to get me in" at the warehouse, three months after the registration/induction...) has been either: "It's been filled", "We're just registering right now, we'll call you back" (famous last words), or "we're after people a bit nearer...", or when they do answer, they always ask now how far away you are from the job, which is really annoying as you get the impression that they won't recruit anyone more than ten minuites walking distance from the job, even if you have a car. It really sounds as if they can't trust you to turn up to work.
A sort of contrast to one job i had in the "good old days" (for want of a better word) when i was working in South Lincolnshire in the late 90's, The company i worked for would take virtually anyone on, (possibly why i was there lol!)including Agency staff from Sheffield, and two groups of people would commute a total 150 mile a day journey, six days a week from Doncaster. Now that's dedication! (All i can say is thank god they were using a Proton to get there and back, many people mock these little tin boxes on wheels but if a old car can do this sort of journey a day, it's a good 'un...)
I don't advocate swearing in a blog post normally, but f**k it, absolutely f**k it, the agencies can keep their jobs, it might sound bitter and it possibly is, but i'm sick of trying and just ending up p***ing in the wind. It just hurts so much when you see something like: "40x Warehouse Operatives needed! registering now!" and you ring it and the f**king job has been filled or you get the vague, timid office junior on the phone who knows as much about recruitment as they do the names of pre-war American presidents, it just makes me so angry i just want to scream or puke, how can people play with other people's lives like this?, i've heard jokes/comments about how useless some recruitment agencies are: just scan You Tube for a video or two, but you don't believe it can happen to you. I'm sure all are not bad, as i have dealt with two, who to be fair, were very professional, but why is it the majority of agencies that are p**s poor when dealing with people?, grrrrrr...
Well, they can keep their jobs, that's all i can say without doing a Raspberry right now, i'm starting to apply for jobs "back home", it's a lot simpler...
Human beings, by definition, are vain, stupid, etc, and i'm no exception. Although in my last blog i said that i would be moving back to South Lincolnshire, i foolishly though that there might be a chance for me to get work in Northamptonshire, my fiance said i'd be better off still moving back home, but somthing in me still believed naievely that i could get work.
I doubt it now, every job i've tried for, via a agency in Northants bar one (who are still "waiting to get me in" at the warehouse, three months after the registration/induction...) has been either: "It's been filled", "We're just registering right now, we'll call you back" (famous last words), or "we're after people a bit nearer...", or when they do answer, they always ask now how far away you are from the job, which is really annoying as you get the impression that they won't recruit anyone more than ten minuites walking distance from the job, even if you have a car. It really sounds as if they can't trust you to turn up to work.
A sort of contrast to one job i had in the "good old days" (for want of a better word) when i was working in South Lincolnshire in the late 90's, The company i worked for would take virtually anyone on, (possibly why i was there lol!)including Agency staff from Sheffield, and two groups of people would commute a total 150 mile a day journey, six days a week from Doncaster. Now that's dedication! (All i can say is thank god they were using a Proton to get there and back, many people mock these little tin boxes on wheels but if a old car can do this sort of journey a day, it's a good 'un...)
I don't advocate swearing in a blog post normally, but f**k it, absolutely f**k it, the agencies can keep their jobs, it might sound bitter and it possibly is, but i'm sick of trying and just ending up p***ing in the wind. It just hurts so much when you see something like: "40x Warehouse Operatives needed! registering now!" and you ring it and the f**king job has been filled or you get the vague, timid office junior on the phone who knows as much about recruitment as they do the names of pre-war American presidents, it just makes me so angry i just want to scream or puke, how can people play with other people's lives like this?, i've heard jokes/comments about how useless some recruitment agencies are: just scan You Tube for a video or two, but you don't believe it can happen to you. I'm sure all are not bad, as i have dealt with two, who to be fair, were very professional, but why is it the majority of agencies that are p**s poor when dealing with people?, grrrrrr...
Well, they can keep their jobs, that's all i can say without doing a Raspberry right now, i'm starting to apply for jobs "back home", it's a lot simpler...
Friday, 14 August 2009
Midnight train to Georgia
If there was ever a song to describe what i've decided to do, then the evergreen Gladys Knight (i think...) classic would be it.
I've decided to go home. If you've missed some of my earlier postings, to cut a long story short, i "emigrated" from South Lincolnshire nearly two years ago, in the hope of finding work that wasn't in a veg preperation factory, or minimum wage. I did fulfill that aim: I got a job in a engineering firm in Norfolk which was, well...let's not get into it, ahem...(cue embarrassed silence)
Anyway, from there, and since then i've tried to find the elusive "non veg" job, and to be honest, it hasn't materialised. I've moved four times, to three different counties and, i think due to the recession, the jobs just aren't there. Research shows that there are 173 people for every one job in nearby Peterborough (ok, i made that one up but i dare say that it's not far wrong, the job hunting folk of that city have my honest and humble sympathy.)
I've tried getting work in Northamptonshire as where i live now borders that county, but it's either thanks but no thanks, or "your name's still on file, we'll call you", or in the past week i haven't been able to look for anything because a fortnight ago i was floored by a bad cold virus which left me weak, and this week the brake cylinder on my car failed, costing around £75 now and it's still not fixed so i'm 15 miles away and stranded away from any work and with my cash supplies rapidly dwindling.
And that's another problem. I am now so skint and behind with bills that i have to consider Bankruptcy or a IVA.
Not great then. To be honest after a lot of thinking in the last month and much discussion with my fiance, i have decided to go back home to South Lincs as soon as i can afford to do so, it's a hard choice but one thing i have learnt, in fact the only thing i've learnt in my time of exile is that apart from most estate agents being shysters when it comes to property letting, that, although it's a cliche, home really is where your heart is. Nowhere i've ever really lived since leaving home has seemed like home, either the locals are (in the most case when i've dealt with them, so it's only a personal opinion) unfreindly or the property prices are insane.
So i might as well be poor at home where i know what's what, sounds a little small-time i know, but it's how i feel. I know i might not be able to get work at home but i will have to try when i move.
This is kind of closure on this blog, the end of a adventure, and it has been a adventure in many ways, i will keep blogging, but i can't promise it will be as interesting but i hope you will keep dropping in to see what happens, who knows?...
I've decided to go home. If you've missed some of my earlier postings, to cut a long story short, i "emigrated" from South Lincolnshire nearly two years ago, in the hope of finding work that wasn't in a veg preperation factory, or minimum wage. I did fulfill that aim: I got a job in a engineering firm in Norfolk which was, well...let's not get into it, ahem...(cue embarrassed silence)
Anyway, from there, and since then i've tried to find the elusive "non veg" job, and to be honest, it hasn't materialised. I've moved four times, to three different counties and, i think due to the recession, the jobs just aren't there. Research shows that there are 173 people for every one job in nearby Peterborough (ok, i made that one up but i dare say that it's not far wrong, the job hunting folk of that city have my honest and humble sympathy.)
I've tried getting work in Northamptonshire as where i live now borders that county, but it's either thanks but no thanks, or "your name's still on file, we'll call you", or in the past week i haven't been able to look for anything because a fortnight ago i was floored by a bad cold virus which left me weak, and this week the brake cylinder on my car failed, costing around £75 now and it's still not fixed so i'm 15 miles away and stranded away from any work and with my cash supplies rapidly dwindling.
And that's another problem. I am now so skint and behind with bills that i have to consider Bankruptcy or a IVA.
Not great then. To be honest after a lot of thinking in the last month and much discussion with my fiance, i have decided to go back home to South Lincs as soon as i can afford to do so, it's a hard choice but one thing i have learnt, in fact the only thing i've learnt in my time of exile is that apart from most estate agents being shysters when it comes to property letting, that, although it's a cliche, home really is where your heart is. Nowhere i've ever really lived since leaving home has seemed like home, either the locals are (in the most case when i've dealt with them, so it's only a personal opinion) unfreindly or the property prices are insane.
So i might as well be poor at home where i know what's what, sounds a little small-time i know, but it's how i feel. I know i might not be able to get work at home but i will have to try when i move.
This is kind of closure on this blog, the end of a adventure, and it has been a adventure in many ways, i will keep blogging, but i can't promise it will be as interesting but i hope you will keep dropping in to see what happens, who knows?...
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
It's just all that...
I'm going to whinge. I apologise for this but i just wanted to put down how 13 months on the Dole has affected me.
I miss having a Job, i have to be honest and say that all the jobs i've ever had, bar one, and my paper-round when i was 15, were crap. Absolute crap.
But i miss so much not having a function, but what hurts the most is not being to hold my head high when with freinds and relatives (goodbye pride...), having to scrounge, and back out of buying a "luxury" costing more than three quid.
Dole, i think to be honest, is way short of survival money. Although i can just about survive, i really struggle with anything big: buying six months car tax last month was a killer.
And another thing that hurts, which perhaps makes me want to cry the most, is the condescending c***s on internet forums who say that you shouldn't be picky, you should volunteer every spare hour you have, there's work out there for those who want it, all unemployed are lazy Jeremy Kyle addicts who sit around in their pants all day, grow your own veg to save money, when all you want is a DECENT JOB, not a opportunity to land you in more shite by doing something you know deep down you'll be no good at, or another hobby, thanks.
Sometimes the strain feels like Geoff Capes trying to crush your skull with his bare hands, and that's no lie. I do wonder if unemployment is affecting my life and health a bit too much: i don't have a fridge (no money) so any food i have is either dried, tinned or brought hot and fried, so along with the strain of managing life on the dole, i guess this can't be doing my ticker much good.
The worry of who's going to get paid out of all the "where's our money?" letters from utility companies and the like, plus the crap food makes my intestines like a Hoover spin drier at times, leading to sleepless nights.
And i get angry these days, very short and sharp tempered which i worry about getting me in trouble eventually.
It was just something that troubles me, but i'm working on it:-)
I miss having a Job, i have to be honest and say that all the jobs i've ever had, bar one, and my paper-round when i was 15, were crap. Absolute crap.
But i miss so much not having a function, but what hurts the most is not being to hold my head high when with freinds and relatives (goodbye pride...), having to scrounge, and back out of buying a "luxury" costing more than three quid.
Dole, i think to be honest, is way short of survival money. Although i can just about survive, i really struggle with anything big: buying six months car tax last month was a killer.
And another thing that hurts, which perhaps makes me want to cry the most, is the condescending c***s on internet forums who say that you shouldn't be picky, you should volunteer every spare hour you have, there's work out there for those who want it, all unemployed are lazy Jeremy Kyle addicts who sit around in their pants all day, grow your own veg to save money, when all you want is a DECENT JOB, not a opportunity to land you in more shite by doing something you know deep down you'll be no good at, or another hobby, thanks.
Sometimes the strain feels like Geoff Capes trying to crush your skull with his bare hands, and that's no lie. I do wonder if unemployment is affecting my life and health a bit too much: i don't have a fridge (no money) so any food i have is either dried, tinned or brought hot and fried, so along with the strain of managing life on the dole, i guess this can't be doing my ticker much good.
The worry of who's going to get paid out of all the "where's our money?" letters from utility companies and the like, plus the crap food makes my intestines like a Hoover spin drier at times, leading to sleepless nights.
And i get angry these days, very short and sharp tempered which i worry about getting me in trouble eventually.
It was just something that troubles me, but i'm working on it:-)
Monday, 27 July 2009
I can see clearly now...
The rain has gone, well, not quite here as it's still p***ing it down...
I'm clearer of mind though. Last week was the pits for me for one thing or another and i genuinely thought "should i give up, should i be a professional claimer as this is what society thinks of me?"
Well, as you can guess from that, there was some rejections and desperate moments involving lack of money last week. I'm the sort of bloke who can put a positive spin on most things but last week took the biscuit to be honest. (Don't ask me about the quest for the electric top up, please...)
This week though, i'm a bit more positive, i don't know why and i will probably get that booted out of me by the jobcentre/training providers/agencies/potential employers/take your pick this week, but it's good to start the day on a positive note i guess.
Tomorrow?: Well, at 9.30 it's trivial sign on mystery time at the Jobcentre, as they pick over every last bone of what you've done to find work, even the trivial stuff like what papers you buy/read, after dinner it's a trip to the ever jolly agencies to find any work, (you've scraped together a fiver for diesel becuase your training provider wants to see evidence that you've looked for work so have to get a business card or headed notepaper) and then it's home, for Tesco Value super noodles for tea before i climb into my sleeping bag on the sofa because i can't afford a bed, ready to spend a full day at the training provider. Oh the joy. I feel like Victor Meldrew already...
I'm clearer of mind though. Last week was the pits for me for one thing or another and i genuinely thought "should i give up, should i be a professional claimer as this is what society thinks of me?"
Well, as you can guess from that, there was some rejections and desperate moments involving lack of money last week. I'm the sort of bloke who can put a positive spin on most things but last week took the biscuit to be honest. (Don't ask me about the quest for the electric top up, please...)
This week though, i'm a bit more positive, i don't know why and i will probably get that booted out of me by the jobcentre/training providers/agencies/potential employers/take your pick this week, but it's good to start the day on a positive note i guess.
Tomorrow?: Well, at 9.30 it's trivial sign on mystery time at the Jobcentre, as they pick over every last bone of what you've done to find work, even the trivial stuff like what papers you buy/read, after dinner it's a trip to the ever jolly agencies to find any work, (you've scraped together a fiver for diesel becuase your training provider wants to see evidence that you've looked for work so have to get a business card or headed notepaper) and then it's home, for Tesco Value super noodles for tea before i climb into my sleeping bag on the sofa because i can't afford a bed, ready to spend a full day at the training provider. Oh the joy. I feel like Victor Meldrew already...
The day after the night before...
Unemployment. It's a depressing thing to think about. Nobody wants you, work wise at least, and as those of you that are out there know, it can be a lonely, depressing episode. Writing about it can be tough, evaluating what you have and haven't done, and speculating why you are still out of work is, at times, a soul destroying business.
Hence the lack of updates so far over the last month. Apart from the bleak inward looking periods of recent times, i've also been busy with something else other than navel gazing and claiming dole.
Yes, i've been on some actual interviews: they were, to be honest, to my mind at least, were sucessful-i like to think that i gave it my very best on each interview, but i didn't get the girl, or the job in the end. One was for a warehouse job at a upmarket clothing catalougue in the UK's smallest county, and despite a grand tour of one of the most impressive buildings i've ever seen (their HQ) i just didn't get the job.
One other job had a "Britains got Talent" style contest. In the past, i was a Car Valeter. I'm not proud of a lot of things i've done in my life but i was a bloody good Car Valeter, so, locally a valeting job turned up-i've been on quite a few valeting interviews before, even trained chaps like me are ten a penny-that's why, if you look carefully in your Yellow Pages, there's so many one man Car Valeting bands, and to be honest, at the minuite, self-employment does not grab me.
So, the interview: Goes well, guy turns round and asks if i can clean a car, to show how i work, tomorrow, no can do says i, as i have another interview tomorrow and i don't want to be late for it (Car valeting is not a five minuite bucket and shammy leather job!) i explain this politely, and can we arrange another time?, ok says he, come back tomorrow and lets talk, so the next day, after the interview, i go down to the garage, try and arrange something with the secretary who informs me that they have potential valeters doing "trial" cars all week and the boss will get back to me if they have a suitable time date, and i'm still awaiting that call, nearly two weeks later.
Now, there's people out there of a Daily Mail bent who will say that i should have rung him back about fifty times to get a response and that nice Mr. Tebbit was right about getting on your bike and looking for work, eee i don't know, it's not like my Geoffery, 30 years in the civil service, there's work out there for those who want it etc, etc...but if he's got a person in each day to do cars, (the garage boss told me he was waiting until september to find the right person), then surely he's getting a lot of cars cleaned for free.
In retrospect, maybe i should have got off my arse and rung him fifty times, but c'est la vie i guess. We can only learn from our mistakes.
It's my last week of letternumberletter this week too. Those who have been on one of these courses will know very deeply how relieved i am to be finishing this. Nuff' said.
Hence the lack of updates so far over the last month. Apart from the bleak inward looking periods of recent times, i've also been busy with something else other than navel gazing and claiming dole.
Yes, i've been on some actual interviews: they were, to be honest, to my mind at least, were sucessful-i like to think that i gave it my very best on each interview, but i didn't get the girl, or the job in the end. One was for a warehouse job at a upmarket clothing catalougue in the UK's smallest county, and despite a grand tour of one of the most impressive buildings i've ever seen (their HQ) i just didn't get the job.
One other job had a "Britains got Talent" style contest. In the past, i was a Car Valeter. I'm not proud of a lot of things i've done in my life but i was a bloody good Car Valeter, so, locally a valeting job turned up-i've been on quite a few valeting interviews before, even trained chaps like me are ten a penny-that's why, if you look carefully in your Yellow Pages, there's so many one man Car Valeting bands, and to be honest, at the minuite, self-employment does not grab me.
So, the interview: Goes well, guy turns round and asks if i can clean a car, to show how i work, tomorrow, no can do says i, as i have another interview tomorrow and i don't want to be late for it (Car valeting is not a five minuite bucket and shammy leather job!) i explain this politely, and can we arrange another time?, ok says he, come back tomorrow and lets talk, so the next day, after the interview, i go down to the garage, try and arrange something with the secretary who informs me that they have potential valeters doing "trial" cars all week and the boss will get back to me if they have a suitable time date, and i'm still awaiting that call, nearly two weeks later.
Now, there's people out there of a Daily Mail bent who will say that i should have rung him back about fifty times to get a response and that nice Mr. Tebbit was right about getting on your bike and looking for work, eee i don't know, it's not like my Geoffery, 30 years in the civil service, there's work out there for those who want it etc, etc...but if he's got a person in each day to do cars, (the garage boss told me he was waiting until september to find the right person), then surely he's getting a lot of cars cleaned for free.
In retrospect, maybe i should have got off my arse and rung him fifty times, but c'est la vie i guess. We can only learn from our mistakes.
It's my last week of letternumberletter this week too. Those who have been on one of these courses will know very deeply how relieved i am to be finishing this. Nuff' said.
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Mum, am i stewing?...
It's been a quiet week on the jobs front this week. I did find some good possible jobs last week, and i rang up about them:
"Well, we are taking people's details and will be in touch next week" (not so far...)
So you give details, and then...you hear nothing. To be honest, i know i'm not the only one in this boat, and despite my background/roots, i still feel really sorry for those who have had decent jobs, for years, possibly turning up at the same place of work every day for the past 15 years, and now they're out in the cold.
Cruel victims of a capitalist structure going horribly wrong, or "Just the way it is"; you decide...
Hearing nothing about jobs you've applied for is, to me at least, worse than there actually being no jobs, as that was the position in the last town i lived in, before moving. Here, in "new town" there are now bits and bobs about but it's getting a foot in the door. It's so bad even agencies are frowning over a year long unemployment gap.
You could chase these people up, but i'm more of a persuasion that this is tanatamount to harassment. It's like cold calling, but i think from a employer/agency point of view, more annoying.
Maybe i am wrong but if i was a employer and i kept being asked every day "got any jobs mate?" by a stranger every single bloody day for a week, i would get cheesed off and promptly strike them off the list, pronto.
People say that you must not get disheartened, should not lose hope, but although i do know that one day, someone, somewhere will employ me i do really get so "down" about it all.
I do get like this quite often now. In fact, so bad sometimes, i wonder if i'm going to be on benefits long term, and before anyone rings the Daily Mail newsdesk, i would like to say on record that i don't want to be. I'm a worker, i come from a family of workers, my Grandfathers both grafted hard, working "on the land" (farm and field work) in isolated rural areas, and this "work hard" attitude is mine also.
However, i don't want to be exploited, it's not fair to be treated like shit, working long hours for minimum wage on a short term contract. I don't mind minimum wage, no sir, but not struggling and tugging my forelock for it.
I do worry that sometimes that i will end up like Lee Evans' character in the brit flick "The Martins", a bloke with family on benefits, and his life is so bad, all that keeps him going is entering competitions for dream holidays.
I just don't want that, i really don't want that...
"Well, we are taking people's details and will be in touch next week" (not so far...)
So you give details, and then...you hear nothing. To be honest, i know i'm not the only one in this boat, and despite my background/roots, i still feel really sorry for those who have had decent jobs, for years, possibly turning up at the same place of work every day for the past 15 years, and now they're out in the cold.
Cruel victims of a capitalist structure going horribly wrong, or "Just the way it is"; you decide...
Hearing nothing about jobs you've applied for is, to me at least, worse than there actually being no jobs, as that was the position in the last town i lived in, before moving. Here, in "new town" there are now bits and bobs about but it's getting a foot in the door. It's so bad even agencies are frowning over a year long unemployment gap.
You could chase these people up, but i'm more of a persuasion that this is tanatamount to harassment. It's like cold calling, but i think from a employer/agency point of view, more annoying.
Maybe i am wrong but if i was a employer and i kept being asked every day "got any jobs mate?" by a stranger every single bloody day for a week, i would get cheesed off and promptly strike them off the list, pronto.
People say that you must not get disheartened, should not lose hope, but although i do know that one day, someone, somewhere will employ me i do really get so "down" about it all.
I do get like this quite often now. In fact, so bad sometimes, i wonder if i'm going to be on benefits long term, and before anyone rings the Daily Mail newsdesk, i would like to say on record that i don't want to be. I'm a worker, i come from a family of workers, my Grandfathers both grafted hard, working "on the land" (farm and field work) in isolated rural areas, and this "work hard" attitude is mine also.
However, i don't want to be exploited, it's not fair to be treated like shit, working long hours for minimum wage on a short term contract. I don't mind minimum wage, no sir, but not struggling and tugging my forelock for it.
I do worry that sometimes that i will end up like Lee Evans' character in the brit flick "The Martins", a bloke with family on benefits, and his life is so bad, all that keeps him going is entering competitions for dream holidays.
I just don't want that, i really don't want that...
Thursday, 11 June 2009
Soon time for Tartan slippers and a Pipe...
I was doing something i'm kind of good at, Reminiscing, the other day, whilst on YouTube the other day.
I'm a child of the 80's, and as a kid, i loved technology, modern tech is great but i think the method of tuning your TV in manually using funny little knobs behind a little door is sadly missed!
I remember the TV/Radio shops you could get at the time, although we rented a wood panelled Philips colour set from a local dealer becuase the terms for my parents, being poor, were affordable, and apparently, Mr. Fox, the TV rental man, was a bit of a all round honest good guy as well. Sadly, his shop, and the model shop that was next door have long gone. They are now part of a car park for a branch of PC World.
We had Visionhire, Radio Rentals, and Rumbelows. They've all gone. Visionhire is now a card shop, so is the former Radio Rentals and the once very big Rumbelows is now a Phones4U.
It makes me wonder what happens to people when organisations like this cease trading, of course many find other jobs, but some people worked for these sort of places for years, and although it sounds a bit soft, i do wonder how people who spent years working for these sort of places adjusted to a new, streamilned business or alternative employment, or even retirement. Do they just get on with it?
Likewise all the people organisations like BT must have shedded since privatisation in 1984...
I actually wanted to be a TV Repair Engineer as a kid, this was the service depot arm of Granada Rentals/Visionhire years ago, looks like a good place to work!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDeD0MMzkqI&feature=channel_page
Spiders...
Something i've noticed recently, perhaps other places in the UK have it, but the weather has been a bit odd round these parts recently, and there is the biggest amount of greenfly and some really odd light coloured spiders with tiny bodies and comedy spindly legs...
Perhaps it's the amount of time this flat was vacant before i moved in, or just something i noticed...
More interesting topics next time! :-)
Perhaps it's the amount of time this flat was vacant before i moved in, or just something i noticed...
More interesting topics next time! :-)
Don't Panic! we know what exactly is going on...
A wise old former soldier i once worked with once told me that "back in the day" when he was in the Army, you never volunteered for anything, ever, unless you were completely kamikaze.
I sometimes wonder if "Civvy Street" life is like that also. I, about a month ago volunteered to go onto a job hunting training course provided by a organisation with a number-letter-number configuration in the title.
I'm now wondering whether this is a mistake. I have learnt, via the magic of the internet that people usually get forced onto these courses, and in Sheffield, it is regarded as something of a punishment apparently.
My own course, is highly reminiscent of the things i hated at school. Although i left school donkey's years ago, i still remember and shudder at some of the poor attitude of the teachers, who , apart from a couple of cases, seemed to either be incompetent or megalomaniacal, or tyrants, or all three cases.
Some of the staff at the training course are reminiscent of my teachers, last week i was told that basically i have a negative attitude (no, i have a realistic attitude, which is different), a defensive attitude, and was somehow responsible for the 1973 Miners strike, despite it being six years before i was born...
I said that i fancied working in admin but was at a loss, despite IT qualifications, because i have no experience, and at nearly 30, perhaps a bit too old for a apprenticeship.
Apparently, i was the only one holding me back. Not the poor GCSE's that i have, not the fact i lived for years in a area where there were not many Office roles available, and you had to take what you could get, so i ended up in a factory.
No, it's me and my negative attitude. And apparently i have "issues" too.
To be honest, i get a bit sick of this "Your life is in your hands" crap. Ok, your life is in your hands but there are often outside factors controlling it, like lack of money, putting a roof over your head etc, so i try and make the most of what i've got, unfortunately i don't get very far but that's another story.
I wanted to use my time the other day trawling the local agencies, rather than the Northampton agencies i went to a fortnight (see previous post), and when informing a course leader about this, i got looked at as if i was something he'd stepped in:
"You did this a week ago, didn't you?", i informed him it was a fortnight ago in Northampton.
I was allowed to go in the end. Sometimes i just wonder if it's me or other people who are stupid, hold on, perhaps i'd best not ask...
I sometimes wonder if "Civvy Street" life is like that also. I, about a month ago volunteered to go onto a job hunting training course provided by a organisation with a number-letter-number configuration in the title.
I'm now wondering whether this is a mistake. I have learnt, via the magic of the internet that people usually get forced onto these courses, and in Sheffield, it is regarded as something of a punishment apparently.
My own course, is highly reminiscent of the things i hated at school. Although i left school donkey's years ago, i still remember and shudder at some of the poor attitude of the teachers, who , apart from a couple of cases, seemed to either be incompetent or megalomaniacal, or tyrants, or all three cases.
Some of the staff at the training course are reminiscent of my teachers, last week i was told that basically i have a negative attitude (no, i have a realistic attitude, which is different), a defensive attitude, and was somehow responsible for the 1973 Miners strike, despite it being six years before i was born...
I said that i fancied working in admin but was at a loss, despite IT qualifications, because i have no experience, and at nearly 30, perhaps a bit too old for a apprenticeship.
Apparently, i was the only one holding me back. Not the poor GCSE's that i have, not the fact i lived for years in a area where there were not many Office roles available, and you had to take what you could get, so i ended up in a factory.
No, it's me and my negative attitude. And apparently i have "issues" too.
To be honest, i get a bit sick of this "Your life is in your hands" crap. Ok, your life is in your hands but there are often outside factors controlling it, like lack of money, putting a roof over your head etc, so i try and make the most of what i've got, unfortunately i don't get very far but that's another story.
I wanted to use my time the other day trawling the local agencies, rather than the Northampton agencies i went to a fortnight (see previous post), and when informing a course leader about this, i got looked at as if i was something he'd stepped in:
"You did this a week ago, didn't you?", i informed him it was a fortnight ago in Northampton.
I was allowed to go in the end. Sometimes i just wonder if it's me or other people who are stupid, hold on, perhaps i'd best not ask...
Monday, 1 June 2009
The quest begins again...
Breaking news, as CNN might say, or Sky news, or the BBC for that matter...
"Shock news as Lewis Heyward turns his back on badly paid agency job with long hours, spokesman for Mr. Heyward said: In the light of tough economic conditions, he has decided to save what is left of his sanity, despite the money offered..."
Well, something like that. If you read my last post, you would have read that i had been offered a job working for a employment agency, working in a vegtable factory, for 12 hours a day, four days on-two days off for the princely sum of £5.75 an hour.
I am desperate, but i have had a huge, long think over the last few days. I didn't really want to do the job, i've done this sort of thing before, and it was bad enough when i was getting nearly £7 an hour and working a 8 hour day, so god knows what it would be like doing it for twelve on minimum wage.
Plus, i don't want to walk out of another shit job again, i've done it before and it's personally humiliating and embarrasing, because it's admission of defeat in a way, but i suffer with depression and despite medication, a bad situation becomes a very bad situation for me, so crap jobs are like sheer hell for me and i get what could be politely described as sheer stage fright but in reality is the situation of my nerves being frayed with stress, sleepless nights and believe it or not, the squits, and it's not like it's bad at first because of starting a new job then it gets better, it's just bad full stop.
Crap jobs did this to me, believe it or not, especially factory work, which can be hell if your face dosen't fit and mine was a triangle in a square hole on a couple of jobs, which ended in tears, which i won't go into too much, other to say that i've been bullied at work twice before and it's not pleasant, nor something with easy answers to. Especially worse still when management are too gutless to do anything about it.
So, after a long, long think this sunny weekend, i had to make a very tough decision, even more so as i am desperately skint thanks to my JSA being put on hold (see below) but i decided, in the interests of saving my sanity, to cancel my application for the job.
Things are going to be desperately shit now, but i still have my sanity despite the combined efforts of my local jobcentre to deprive me of money, and the uneasy unfamiliarity of the new letternumberletter jobseeking course i started last week.
NB: FOOTNOTE
Please agencies, stop advertising jobs that are filled or not available, i went to Northampton on Friday to look what was about, not a lot despite the ads in the windows...
On the subject of agenices, here's something interesting from the moneysavingexpert.com forums:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1717367
Viva los Job Applications!
"Shock news as Lewis Heyward turns his back on badly paid agency job with long hours, spokesman for Mr. Heyward said: In the light of tough economic conditions, he has decided to save what is left of his sanity, despite the money offered..."
Well, something like that. If you read my last post, you would have read that i had been offered a job working for a employment agency, working in a vegtable factory, for 12 hours a day, four days on-two days off for the princely sum of £5.75 an hour.
I am desperate, but i have had a huge, long think over the last few days. I didn't really want to do the job, i've done this sort of thing before, and it was bad enough when i was getting nearly £7 an hour and working a 8 hour day, so god knows what it would be like doing it for twelve on minimum wage.
Plus, i don't want to walk out of another shit job again, i've done it before and it's personally humiliating and embarrasing, because it's admission of defeat in a way, but i suffer with depression and despite medication, a bad situation becomes a very bad situation for me, so crap jobs are like sheer hell for me and i get what could be politely described as sheer stage fright but in reality is the situation of my nerves being frayed with stress, sleepless nights and believe it or not, the squits, and it's not like it's bad at first because of starting a new job then it gets better, it's just bad full stop.
Crap jobs did this to me, believe it or not, especially factory work, which can be hell if your face dosen't fit and mine was a triangle in a square hole on a couple of jobs, which ended in tears, which i won't go into too much, other to say that i've been bullied at work twice before and it's not pleasant, nor something with easy answers to. Especially worse still when management are too gutless to do anything about it.
So, after a long, long think this sunny weekend, i had to make a very tough decision, even more so as i am desperately skint thanks to my JSA being put on hold (see below) but i decided, in the interests of saving my sanity, to cancel my application for the job.
Things are going to be desperately shit now, but i still have my sanity despite the combined efforts of my local jobcentre to deprive me of money, and the uneasy unfamiliarity of the new letternumberletter jobseeking course i started last week.
NB: FOOTNOTE
Please agencies, stop advertising jobs that are filled or not available, i went to Northampton on Friday to look what was about, not a lot despite the ads in the windows...
On the subject of agenices, here's something interesting from the moneysavingexpert.com forums:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1717367
Viva los Job Applications!
Thursday, 21 May 2009
You just haven't earned it yet, Baby...
As said in the post below, i've been offered a job, well sort of. I've put my name down for a job with a agency working in: ta dah...a food factory, the one place of work i wouldn't ever want to go back to ever given the choice.
Problem is, i haven't. I am skint and i'm being terminally being f**ked around by the social security system at the moment so i will be penniless very very soon, if they don't pull their finger out of their you-know-what.
Also, i miss work. I don't miss the Bullying or the conditions that would make George Orwell's "The road to Wigan Pier" look like a brochure for a trendy Urbansplash flat (yours for a deposit of 30%, move in today...).
But i do miss the cameraderie, the laughs, the feeling of being useful and earning a crust.
One thing i found interesting at the agency, was although the agency lady was lovely, unusual for agency staff, she did frown a bit at the one year gap in my employment history.
This i could maybe understand if i was going to work in IT, finace, or management consulting, but as a hired hand in a grotty factory, i don't really, but still i (perhaps i'm either too naieve or too much of a old school socialist) don't really understand the whole employment/recruitment thing. When i left school in 1996, it was more or less, at least in the factories, if you could do the job, you were in. This caused a lot of problems admittedly (some of the stories i could tell about co workers, but can't...) And now we seem to be in a position of: "If you don't have a perfect CV and work history, no gaps mind..." then you don't work, or are viewed as some sort of half-creature which has part worked, part been on the dole, and in these box-ticking days then that does not compute. You're either a worker or claimer and that's a narrow attitude to have, not just in recruitment.
Still, they've got the power now. I haven't. I guess i'm just a worker ant waiting to be exploited. I still can't wait for the day that i actually do get a full time job because somebody actually wants me...
Problem is, i haven't. I am skint and i'm being terminally being f**ked around by the social security system at the moment so i will be penniless very very soon, if they don't pull their finger out of their you-know-what.
Also, i miss work. I don't miss the Bullying or the conditions that would make George Orwell's "The road to Wigan Pier" look like a brochure for a trendy Urbansplash flat (yours for a deposit of 30%, move in today...).
But i do miss the cameraderie, the laughs, the feeling of being useful and earning a crust.
One thing i found interesting at the agency, was although the agency lady was lovely, unusual for agency staff, she did frown a bit at the one year gap in my employment history.
This i could maybe understand if i was going to work in IT, finace, or management consulting, but as a hired hand in a grotty factory, i don't really, but still i (perhaps i'm either too naieve or too much of a old school socialist) don't really understand the whole employment/recruitment thing. When i left school in 1996, it was more or less, at least in the factories, if you could do the job, you were in. This caused a lot of problems admittedly (some of the stories i could tell about co workers, but can't...) And now we seem to be in a position of: "If you don't have a perfect CV and work history, no gaps mind..." then you don't work, or are viewed as some sort of half-creature which has part worked, part been on the dole, and in these box-ticking days then that does not compute. You're either a worker or claimer and that's a narrow attitude to have, not just in recruitment.
Still, they've got the power now. I haven't. I guess i'm just a worker ant waiting to be exploited. I still can't wait for the day that i actually do get a full time job because somebody actually wants me...
Full Circle
Next month, on the 17th, i will have been out of work for exactly one year, and what a year it was too! I threw in the towel in a job where the more i learnt the more it pushed out the old stuff (to quote Homer Simpson...), and the chance to work with people you really wouldn't want to be anywhere near given half the chance. Cashed in the equity off my house and indulged on a mega bucks spending spree, moved to three different houses, in two different areas, but just couldn't get settled at all, brought and sold cars, and kept the local takeaways in business, but still, i have to say, the money didn't make me happy, and trust me, it was a stack of cash, but don't worry about blackmailing or mugging me: It's all gone. I have around three quid in my pocket at the moment and i was happy with that as i usually only have a pound plus coppers for parking, not that i pay for it much anymore, running the gauntlet i know, but it's parking or dinner. Dinner wins every time...
It's now May. I've moved for the fourth time in a year into a bedsit that would make a 60's town planner's heart cry for joy, but it's home for now. I hate it, but it's home, although i plan to spend as little time here as possible.
The new area i've moved to is rather well to do, and don't have the usual Jobcentre clientele, the last two times i've been, i was sat next to a (former) Journalist, and the other day someone who sounded like they had been a big noise in banking once, this also means for some reason that they don't have the usual "No job mate?, yeah, i know it's tough, just sign here and we'll see you agin in a fortnight, ta ta!" attitude, which although over-simplifying it, means that at least they know there is no jobs about at the moment.
No, these kindly folks are of the "Why are you on the dole?" school, made popular in the 80's TV Drama "Boys from the Blackstuff", they really don't take any crap. They've been condescending, vague, and forgot i was there for 20 minuites for one apointment, a phone call from them is like a bomb hoax, their phone manner is that bad.
I missed signing on the other day, my car broke down, and i was stranded 30 miles away at my fiance's house, i phoned the Jobcentre up, told them i couldn't make it and was politely informed that if i did not turn up it would involve filling out a form, to have a decision made on whether or not i should have my dole paid to me as "it's not a genuine reason" for missing signing on.
I informed them that expecting me to walk 30 miles was out of the question, but yesterday, i had to fill out all the "why weren't you here?" paperwork, and i'm now awaiting a decision to see if someone is petty enough to turn my dole down.
Dole this week is the last of my Contribution (NI Based) JSA, and although i have filled the paparwork out to get income based JSA, and a small loan to buy second hand furniture, i was informed yesterday that it still hadn't been sorted, i only filled the forms out last week, but when you live hand to mouth, if you wait for money, a day's gap is like a year.
Still, it's not all shit. Although i've had to leave my fiance 30 miles away to live with her parents, which broke my heart when i drove away from her, she was crying and i (perhaps rightly) felt like such a c**t. This really is all my fault. Shit.
It's a sobering thought. X-Amount of thousand pounds to nothing in a year, i really am a c**t.
The clincher here though is that i (sort of) have been offered work to start in June. Shit work, long hours, pocket money pay, but work. I'm hoping now to save up to put down a deposit on a small house nearer my fiance, i hope for my sake that it all works out, i couldn't stand this bedsit more than six months and that's pushing it. It's like one of those flats they give to the millionaire to see how the other half lives in C4's "The Secret Millionaire"...
I'm not looking forward to the job, in fact, i'm trying desperately to find out what else is about work wise so i don't have to take it.
Another plus point is that now i have been put on a free course to help my jobseeking skills, with free stamps and internet. Kerching, as they say...
It's now May. I've moved for the fourth time in a year into a bedsit that would make a 60's town planner's heart cry for joy, but it's home for now. I hate it, but it's home, although i plan to spend as little time here as possible.
The new area i've moved to is rather well to do, and don't have the usual Jobcentre clientele, the last two times i've been, i was sat next to a (former) Journalist, and the other day someone who sounded like they had been a big noise in banking once, this also means for some reason that they don't have the usual "No job mate?, yeah, i know it's tough, just sign here and we'll see you agin in a fortnight, ta ta!" attitude, which although over-simplifying it, means that at least they know there is no jobs about at the moment.
No, these kindly folks are of the "Why are you on the dole?" school, made popular in the 80's TV Drama "Boys from the Blackstuff", they really don't take any crap. They've been condescending, vague, and forgot i was there for 20 minuites for one apointment, a phone call from them is like a bomb hoax, their phone manner is that bad.
I missed signing on the other day, my car broke down, and i was stranded 30 miles away at my fiance's house, i phoned the Jobcentre up, told them i couldn't make it and was politely informed that if i did not turn up it would involve filling out a form, to have a decision made on whether or not i should have my dole paid to me as "it's not a genuine reason" for missing signing on.
I informed them that expecting me to walk 30 miles was out of the question, but yesterday, i had to fill out all the "why weren't you here?" paperwork, and i'm now awaiting a decision to see if someone is petty enough to turn my dole down.
Dole this week is the last of my Contribution (NI Based) JSA, and although i have filled the paparwork out to get income based JSA, and a small loan to buy second hand furniture, i was informed yesterday that it still hadn't been sorted, i only filled the forms out last week, but when you live hand to mouth, if you wait for money, a day's gap is like a year.
Still, it's not all shit. Although i've had to leave my fiance 30 miles away to live with her parents, which broke my heart when i drove away from her, she was crying and i (perhaps rightly) felt like such a c**t. This really is all my fault. Shit.
It's a sobering thought. X-Amount of thousand pounds to nothing in a year, i really am a c**t.
The clincher here though is that i (sort of) have been offered work to start in June. Shit work, long hours, pocket money pay, but work. I'm hoping now to save up to put down a deposit on a small house nearer my fiance, i hope for my sake that it all works out, i couldn't stand this bedsit more than six months and that's pushing it. It's like one of those flats they give to the millionaire to see how the other half lives in C4's "The Secret Millionaire"...
I'm not looking forward to the job, in fact, i'm trying desperately to find out what else is about work wise so i don't have to take it.
Another plus point is that now i have been put on a free course to help my jobseeking skills, with free stamps and internet. Kerching, as they say...
Friday, 24 April 2009
Guess who's back in town again...
I'm back!
To be honest, i've not really applied for any jobs recently, because there isn't any. Now, to every true blood Daily Mail reader this sounds like i'm a very nasty dole scrounger, but i want to tell you i'm not. I'm a human being too and this is my story of why and how i'm still on the dole:
I'm in my late 20's, i left school to go to college because i was promised it was the best thing since sliced bread and it wasn't, i should have done a apprencticeship because i'm not academically minded, but i'm not stupid either. I then got on the manual low wage jobs conveyor belt because when i left college i had no money and no real skills due to poor schooling and toilet paper BTEC qualifications and had to support myself somehow. This was in the beginning of the economic boom times in the mid 90's and i was able, at one point to pull in a £14k a year job, good money for a unskilled blue collar worker at the time. Now it's all virtually gone. I sold my house to move to a area where i thought would be better prospects, and i lost my job during whilst looking for another house to buy, so i had to rent and find a job where i can at least have a reasonable standard of living either financially or emotionally. This hasn't happened and it was nearly a year ago since i had a job. I'm soon having to move into a bedsit, paid for by housing benefit. I am on the bottom of the pile now, after once owning my own place and a three year old car, i now rent and drive a banger, which i can't always afford to use. A chunk of this is my own fault, and i readily admit that. But don't look down on me. I will climb back to the top of the pile, and i will get to the top again, be it in one, two or three years.
Don't look down on me because i'm on the dole. Don't post your bile on websites saying that people are like me are dole scum and ought to do part-time bar work or whatever. What sort of job is that?, how could anyone live on part-time wages?. If you're on the dole, then you survive, that is all. I am lucky to have what little i have now and i count my blessings for it.
I don't apply for shit jobs because there is no point in applying for very short term work or part time work under 30 hours a week, because i wouldn't be surviving, i'd be drowning in poverty, and once the temp work is over then it's back to the dole queue, and claiming benefits again, and to be frank, i'd rather get one good job, with proper full time hours, even if it's minimum wage, rather than the dribs and drabs some people want us to do because "it's a job" or you think i'm driving your NI contributions up, well i paid into that system too and i'm using what is due to me in a time of crisis.
It must be great to work in Finance in Kent and look down your nose from the comfort of your new build three bed semi, but not everyone's that lucky. We can't all do very well for ourselves thank you, and it's not about survival of the fittest. If you believe that then you are really binkered. It's about being human, luck, chance, where you live and skill and it's a lottery with few real winners.
Rant Over...
To be honest, i've not really applied for any jobs recently, because there isn't any. Now, to every true blood Daily Mail reader this sounds like i'm a very nasty dole scrounger, but i want to tell you i'm not. I'm a human being too and this is my story of why and how i'm still on the dole:
I'm in my late 20's, i left school to go to college because i was promised it was the best thing since sliced bread and it wasn't, i should have done a apprencticeship because i'm not academically minded, but i'm not stupid either. I then got on the manual low wage jobs conveyor belt because when i left college i had no money and no real skills due to poor schooling and toilet paper BTEC qualifications and had to support myself somehow. This was in the beginning of the economic boom times in the mid 90's and i was able, at one point to pull in a £14k a year job, good money for a unskilled blue collar worker at the time. Now it's all virtually gone. I sold my house to move to a area where i thought would be better prospects, and i lost my job during whilst looking for another house to buy, so i had to rent and find a job where i can at least have a reasonable standard of living either financially or emotionally. This hasn't happened and it was nearly a year ago since i had a job. I'm soon having to move into a bedsit, paid for by housing benefit. I am on the bottom of the pile now, after once owning my own place and a three year old car, i now rent and drive a banger, which i can't always afford to use. A chunk of this is my own fault, and i readily admit that. But don't look down on me. I will climb back to the top of the pile, and i will get to the top again, be it in one, two or three years.
Don't look down on me because i'm on the dole. Don't post your bile on websites saying that people are like me are dole scum and ought to do part-time bar work or whatever. What sort of job is that?, how could anyone live on part-time wages?. If you're on the dole, then you survive, that is all. I am lucky to have what little i have now and i count my blessings for it.
I don't apply for shit jobs because there is no point in applying for very short term work or part time work under 30 hours a week, because i wouldn't be surviving, i'd be drowning in poverty, and once the temp work is over then it's back to the dole queue, and claiming benefits again, and to be frank, i'd rather get one good job, with proper full time hours, even if it's minimum wage, rather than the dribs and drabs some people want us to do because "it's a job" or you think i'm driving your NI contributions up, well i paid into that system too and i'm using what is due to me in a time of crisis.
It must be great to work in Finance in Kent and look down your nose from the comfort of your new build three bed semi, but not everyone's that lucky. We can't all do very well for ourselves thank you, and it's not about survival of the fittest. If you believe that then you are really binkered. It's about being human, luck, chance, where you live and skill and it's a lottery with few real winners.
Rant Over...
Thursday, 12 March 2009
Today i'm bitching about...The Used Car Trade
Sorry to divest from my usual job related rants people, but bear with me on this one! i'm going to ask a small, maybe personal question, and you don't have to contact me with an answer, but how much did your car cost, that is if you drive?,
£10k? £5k? £1500?
Now, let's face it, even if you haven't been in the position to buy a car for less than £300, just be glad you don't, it's a joyless, depressing episode. I sold my old Volvo recently as it wasn't going to make it through another MOT so i let someone else buy it to run it into it's grave because i doubted i would be able to afford to put it through another MOT.
I got a reasonable £300 for it, and started trawling the small ads to find alternative transport, one dealer had some stuff that looked cheap and promising so off i tootled to have a look.
Most of his stuff was dross, real heaps, including a mystery mondeo: "I don't know nothing about it, just came in on a trailer, no log book though."
So this was a man who really knew his stock inside out, always handy that. I said a straight no to what he had but he notified me that at his house, a few yards away, he had a Citroen ZX Diesel with a broken clutch cable. I used to work in the motor trade, and do a bit of car tinkering, where relevant so i thought it might be worth a look if it was cheap enough.
And shown it i was: it was grubby, the rear wheels didn't sit right and the rear window mechanism had broken, and so had the clutch cable, as said to give it it's due, it started "on the button" as they say and sounded very sweet. I thought it would be worth, to myself, with the extra work of putting a new clutch cable in, about £100-£150. So i asked the fine purveyeor of cost-effective automobilia how much he wanted for this shed of dreams.
£200 was the breathtaking reply. Ok, it had tax and mot but putting in a clutch cable without ramps etc would be hard work, so it was a "i'll have to think about it then" from me. You just can't really say "no, it's a bag of shit, mate and i don't want to be lumbered with it like you obviously are..."
Apparently, according to Arthur Daley here, it was worth £350 "all day" when fixed. That i doubted, Citroen ZX's are now obsolete and have a wildly differing value system where they can be worth £50-£500.
So, with my refusal in his ears, the vendor turned off the engine, shut the car door, and said sharply: "I've got things to do", walked in his house and shut the door. What a arrogant git. I didn't mean to annoy him, it's embarassing enough having to look for cheap wheels, but i didn't deserve being snubbed like that.
Trouble is, the used car "game" is full of people like this, more sinner than saint. It's a shame really, ok, at £300 you aren't buying the bells and whistles of a full customer service led dealer experience, but that dosen't mean that every customer has to be treated with, at best, contempt and at worst, the feeling of being treated like dog poo by them.
I once went into a part-worn tyres warehouse, four of the fitters stood there looking at me like something they'd stepped in, with grubby mugs of tea in their hand, i asked about having a couple of tyres slapped on my trusty Volvo, they said nothing but one miserably pointed to a chap in the office. At least i got joy from him.
It's enough to make you puke sometimes.
£10k? £5k? £1500?
Now, let's face it, even if you haven't been in the position to buy a car for less than £300, just be glad you don't, it's a joyless, depressing episode. I sold my old Volvo recently as it wasn't going to make it through another MOT so i let someone else buy it to run it into it's grave because i doubted i would be able to afford to put it through another MOT.
I got a reasonable £300 for it, and started trawling the small ads to find alternative transport, one dealer had some stuff that looked cheap and promising so off i tootled to have a look.
Most of his stuff was dross, real heaps, including a mystery mondeo: "I don't know nothing about it, just came in on a trailer, no log book though."
So this was a man who really knew his stock inside out, always handy that. I said a straight no to what he had but he notified me that at his house, a few yards away, he had a Citroen ZX Diesel with a broken clutch cable. I used to work in the motor trade, and do a bit of car tinkering, where relevant so i thought it might be worth a look if it was cheap enough.
And shown it i was: it was grubby, the rear wheels didn't sit right and the rear window mechanism had broken, and so had the clutch cable, as said to give it it's due, it started "on the button" as they say and sounded very sweet. I thought it would be worth, to myself, with the extra work of putting a new clutch cable in, about £100-£150. So i asked the fine purveyeor of cost-effective automobilia how much he wanted for this shed of dreams.
£200 was the breathtaking reply. Ok, it had tax and mot but putting in a clutch cable without ramps etc would be hard work, so it was a "i'll have to think about it then" from me. You just can't really say "no, it's a bag of shit, mate and i don't want to be lumbered with it like you obviously are..."
Apparently, according to Arthur Daley here, it was worth £350 "all day" when fixed. That i doubted, Citroen ZX's are now obsolete and have a wildly differing value system where they can be worth £50-£500.
So, with my refusal in his ears, the vendor turned off the engine, shut the car door, and said sharply: "I've got things to do", walked in his house and shut the door. What a arrogant git. I didn't mean to annoy him, it's embarassing enough having to look for cheap wheels, but i didn't deserve being snubbed like that.
Trouble is, the used car "game" is full of people like this, more sinner than saint. It's a shame really, ok, at £300 you aren't buying the bells and whistles of a full customer service led dealer experience, but that dosen't mean that every customer has to be treated with, at best, contempt and at worst, the feeling of being treated like dog poo by them.
I once went into a part-worn tyres warehouse, four of the fitters stood there looking at me like something they'd stepped in, with grubby mugs of tea in their hand, i asked about having a couple of tyres slapped on my trusty Volvo, they said nothing but one miserably pointed to a chap in the office. At least i got joy from him.
It's enough to make you puke sometimes.
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Michael Fish, where are you...
Hi All,
It's been a terrible week for weather hasn't it?, i guess, and this is where i sound like a trendy young vicar doing a sermon on Radio 2, that the weather represents the mood of the time in Britain, at the moment, ie shit. If it hasn't been snowing, then it's been raining. I drove up to Corby via (i think) the A47 yesterday, and it was like a apocalypse of snow, slush, wet and fog. Add that to the papers giving their usual "worst recession since the dawn of man" spiel, and you can see why more and more people are on anti-depressants...
It's been a terrible week for weather hasn't it?, i guess, and this is where i sound like a trendy young vicar doing a sermon on Radio 2, that the weather represents the mood of the time in Britain, at the moment, ie shit. If it hasn't been snowing, then it's been raining. I drove up to Corby via (i think) the A47 yesterday, and it was like a apocalypse of snow, slush, wet and fog. Add that to the papers giving their usual "worst recession since the dawn of man" spiel, and you can see why more and more people are on anti-depressants...
Thursday, 5 February 2009
There aint half been some clever....Bastards
So sang one of my musical hereoes, Ian Dury. What a wacky month it's been. As i type there's four inches of snow outside and although i'm cold, i'm still sweating thanks to a Electricity bill from e.on where our money owed to them, i thought, looked like someone's telephone number it was that high. And i can't pay it.
I'm back, still fighting, despite the recruitment "dead month" of January. To supplement my JSA i'm reduced to having glorified pawn shops with the name "Cash" in the business title, laugh at the items i'm bringing in to sell, ok, so they're not worth much, but FFS guys, can we stop the childish sniggering and casual remarks of "it's not worth much" or "that's old". Otherwise i really will start believing that you are the Bastards that you play act to get items of any value, for tuppence.
But it's not all bad news. There are a couple of jobs about, and i've applied for them, both Warehouse work, thankfully not in a food factory so i will see what happens to them, unfortunately, they're in Northampton, i had to do it because there's just nothing here, and if i don't earn something soon i'm going to be in dead schtuck, with a mounting council tax and leccy bill mountain...
I'm just looking for cheap digs at the moment, although i will be glad to see the back of where i'm currently renting, all electric, in the country, and very cold, "my bad" entirely. We just needed something bigger and cheap to rent, and lesson learned guv'nor, i won't rent a all-elctric house again!
I'm back, still fighting, despite the recruitment "dead month" of January. To supplement my JSA i'm reduced to having glorified pawn shops with the name "Cash" in the business title, laugh at the items i'm bringing in to sell, ok, so they're not worth much, but FFS guys, can we stop the childish sniggering and casual remarks of "it's not worth much" or "that's old". Otherwise i really will start believing that you are the Bastards that you play act to get items of any value, for tuppence.
But it's not all bad news. There are a couple of jobs about, and i've applied for them, both Warehouse work, thankfully not in a food factory so i will see what happens to them, unfortunately, they're in Northampton, i had to do it because there's just nothing here, and if i don't earn something soon i'm going to be in dead schtuck, with a mounting council tax and leccy bill mountain...
I'm just looking for cheap digs at the moment, although i will be glad to see the back of where i'm currently renting, all electric, in the country, and very cold, "my bad" entirely. We just needed something bigger and cheap to rent, and lesson learned guv'nor, i won't rent a all-elctric house again!
Monday, 5 January 2009
Drifting...
It's been a strange sort of month, i actually gave up jobseeking in the second week of December as i tried to find out about being a lorry driver and basically, 1.) It's expensive to get the licences, very expensive. 2.) No guarantee of a job afterwards 3.) Poor wages. So that was me put off that idea, so i just got frustrated and gave up, not altogether you understand, just for christmas. I did though, have a throughly excellent Xmas and new year. And now, it's back to the grind.
Things are not looking good, i'm down to my last fiver and i miss home, Lincolnshire. I've not really achieved much since i came up East Anglia way, there seems to be virtually no jobs in the city (Peterborough, that is) and that was before the credit crunch, so god knows what will happen up here. I might migrate back to Lincolnshire, i don't know yet, but at least i gave what a lot of my generation's worth of townfolk want to do a chance, i got out.
I'm not sure if the grass is greener on the other side, perhaps, in reality it is, but it's finding the right fucking field that's the problem...
Things are not looking good, i'm down to my last fiver and i miss home, Lincolnshire. I've not really achieved much since i came up East Anglia way, there seems to be virtually no jobs in the city (Peterborough, that is) and that was before the credit crunch, so god knows what will happen up here. I might migrate back to Lincolnshire, i don't know yet, but at least i gave what a lot of my generation's worth of townfolk want to do a chance, i got out.
I'm not sure if the grass is greener on the other side, perhaps, in reality it is, but it's finding the right fucking field that's the problem...
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