And that's it...No more, no more. Shiftswinging is over. I haven't added anything for a while but here's a breif recap of what's happened recently:
1.) The valeting job ended two months early, the day before Christmas Eve, which was nice...
2.) After becoming seriously worried about what would happen next, i tried, and i tried, and i tried-applying for jobs that is, and it paid off with a unexpected find-a job working directly (albeit temporarily) for a large multinational car hire firm as a driver. (Don't worry, i'm not showing off, it sounds grander than what it was!)
3.) The job wasn't that great to be honest but i stuck it out for it's three month period, and was then laid off.
4.) And here i am again, unemployed.
Since starting Shiftswinging, the future fortunes of the country have improved, just a little. And i'm on the move too, moving around, trying to find work, and it's going to take time, but to quote a really old, obscure Prefab Sprout song: "end of the road i'm travelling, i can see Jordan beckoning..." Maybe one day i'll find my own Jordan (not the model obviously!) but we shall see...
This has been Shiftswinging, thanks for reading :-)
Friday, 11 June 2010
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Just thinking...
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?
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?
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!
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