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! :-)
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
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?...
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