Tescos have finished building their highly unpopular new Express store in my little corner of paradise. There has been long standing opposition to the project since it was first mooted. At that time the actual owner was unknown (ie kept quiet). No one wants a Tescos here, not even me, certainly not the local traders who have been vociferous in their complaints regarding the whole thing. I don't know what impact it will have and to be honest while I don't want anyone to lose their business I'm not a big fan of the local shops because my JSA can't afford what they stock. It's a lose-lose situation. I'd much rather be able to afford nice freshly baked bread than Tesco's much any day of the week. But the store is built and it opens next month.
And I just got a call from the Jobcentre informing me they are recruiting for part time positions. I was compelled to agree to this. I said I'd take a look, but I've got no say in the matter. That's great. Now I'm going to be complicit in the potential fatal erosion of the existing community infrastructure. As I say I don't know how likely that is, but the people that do seem pretty sure the future isn't certain - and we all know Tescos don't play fair.
I have to apply to work in the most unpopular place where I live.
On top of that it will be a haven for the grotty little kids and teenagers that get drunk down the local kids play area and leave their refuse for someone else to clear up. These are the people that have made my life hell for the past 6 years for no good reason. So dealing with that is going to be an added bonus if I get employed by this company.
I feel as though I have no say in my own future. The jobcentre don't ruing up to discuss what I would like to do and how they can help with that. No, nothing like that happens. Instead I have to be grateful that a bastion of capitalism like mighty Tescos have deigned to offer me a crumb from their banquet table. But at what cost?
As an insight into the Tesco recruitment process; it took three phonecalls around their various departments to get to the people (another Express) dealing with the vacancy. Even they couldn't tell me anything more than 'it's part time, and it's down to the manager to assign your hours' which could be...? Reticent would be the word I'd use. Unfortunately (for me) I find all this very very difficult to deal with (an Aspergers trait?). I don't like not knowing where I stand and not being able to decide how to proceed, and I definitely don't like the JC ringin me up, out of the blue, to tell me about some crummy vacancy in a shop I have no interest working in and having to plaster a smile on my face and doff my cap like a Victorian pauper.
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Friday, 19 August 2011
Signing On (19/8)
My appointment with my adviser (assigned at the 3 month period for what would seem the rest of time) was for 10 past 10 in the am today. I turn up 5 minutes earlier and declare my arrival at the front desk only to find almost 15 minutes later that my appointment isn't with the adviser at all. At this point I'm about 20 minutes away from my bus which, if i miss, means i have to wander around town for 3 hours - and there's nothing to do in town, believe me. Unless you like charity shops (I don't dislike them at all, but that's all there are).
The desk wallah informs me quite matter of factly that I don't have an appointment as I had assumed, despite me producing the appointment card that I show her. A regular signing is performed instead. I find all this very confusing. Would it have been too difficult to just inform me of this in the first place - or at the time the appointment was made (4 weeks ago).
I can't help worrying this is the precursor to my finally being shipped off to the Work programme, which I am dreading. I am absolutely dreading it. I suffer an anxiety disorder and the very thought of having to deal with this sort of bullshit (again) is causing me serious grief. Unfortunately I have no way to know what's going on. To be fair it's possible the adviser was so booked up that a regular signing was substituted instead. They are apparently very busy on Friday's because no one wants to work on Fridays (you'd think they'd be contracted to, but apparently it isn't that simple). So now I'm worried that the postman, each morning, is going to leave me a nasty surprise. Despite what sites such as this would like to think I bet it's far from illegal. And I bet that if I go back to my GP (who is supposed to be organising an aspergers diagnosis - for all the good it will do) and say "this is one demand too far, I can't cope with this" he'll resort to the usual Victorian work ethic pseudo religious 'work heals all' crap that we always get told.
The unemployed are just not being heard or respected. Whatever schemes are dreamed up any problems you have facing up to them or dealing with them are never enough because being unemployed is just deemed so terrible. This is a myth. In fact I think the powers that be just don't like all those independent though alarms going off and people being allowed to think for themselves in case they realise "hey I'm getting shafted here!". I've got stuff I work on in my own time which has every chance of being successful. But the chances of the DWP funding that are somewhere between slim and none. Nope, better off being made to apply for endless zero hour contracts or desk jobs in pointless office bureaucracies.
The desk wallah informs me quite matter of factly that I don't have an appointment as I had assumed, despite me producing the appointment card that I show her. A regular signing is performed instead. I find all this very confusing. Would it have been too difficult to just inform me of this in the first place - or at the time the appointment was made (4 weeks ago).
I can't help worrying this is the precursor to my finally being shipped off to the Work programme, which I am dreading. I am absolutely dreading it. I suffer an anxiety disorder and the very thought of having to deal with this sort of bullshit (again) is causing me serious grief. Unfortunately I have no way to know what's going on. To be fair it's possible the adviser was so booked up that a regular signing was substituted instead. They are apparently very busy on Friday's because no one wants to work on Fridays (you'd think they'd be contracted to, but apparently it isn't that simple). So now I'm worried that the postman, each morning, is going to leave me a nasty surprise. Despite what sites such as this would like to think I bet it's far from illegal. And I bet that if I go back to my GP (who is supposed to be organising an aspergers diagnosis - for all the good it will do) and say "this is one demand too far, I can't cope with this" he'll resort to the usual Victorian work ethic pseudo religious 'work heals all' crap that we always get told.
The unemployed are just not being heard or respected. Whatever schemes are dreamed up any problems you have facing up to them or dealing with them are never enough because being unemployed is just deemed so terrible. This is a myth. In fact I think the powers that be just don't like all those independent though alarms going off and people being allowed to think for themselves in case they realise "hey I'm getting shafted here!". I've got stuff I work on in my own time which has every chance of being successful. But the chances of the DWP funding that are somewhere between slim and none. Nope, better off being made to apply for endless zero hour contracts or desk jobs in pointless office bureaucracies.
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Zero Hour
Seems a good metaphor for the current, post riot, state of our nation, though that's not what I'm going to discuss. I have made various comments on the Guardian comments pages over the past week. I even considered a diatribe on here, but the whole thing has made me very depressed. In fact this last week has exacerbated my anxiety to new levels. I had two episodes of hypoglycaemic stress last week (where I feel like I'm going to faint and have to eat, it's made worse by anxiety - or perhaps vice versa). How the hell I'd function in a strict workplace environemtn I don't know. I'm not sure I really want to either. Post riot, Britain seems to have forgotten the rule of law overnight and entered a whole era of fascism where liberal=scum (even more so). I don't condone violence at all. I condone political opportunism and ignorance even less.
Zero hour contracts are something I've heard about a lot. Benefit Busters focused on some kids at the A4E gulag forced to apply for such positions in a cake factory. Recently I've seen a few of these jobs on the DWP jobsearch website over the last week. What's the point of even bothering?
There are now routinely a few jobs, usually 'customer service' which the DWP categorise under retail even though the jobs are almost always call centre work, which I abhor. I hate them. End of. They are all advertised by what appears to be a meta site: a job website that seems to exist by collating (or perhaps stealing) adverts from other sites, usually agencies. There are plenty of sites like this, and they are all very unhelpful or poorly organised. The problem here is that the advert gives no information and is clearly a cut and paste job. The point of contact is an automated email that provides no answer at all. You are meant to just email off your CV and that's it, which is ridiculous. What about information? All that happens is the DWP office that uploads these ads just trawls the web and copies from these ads and posts them as proper jobs, the same as if an actual living breathing employer had done the same, on their site. This isn't right. There's no accountability and if you complain you are just regarded as lazy.
Not only that but most of these jobs probably don't exist. There I said it. They are also largely temporary offering a minimum number of hours, usually far too low. You therefore end up employed by the agency - assuming you can get through to them. I got through to an agency last week about a job packaging pet food (which I would NOT have done, I don't care what anyone says I'm better than that - we all are ffs - but it doesn't hurt to enquire). End result was just that: minimum hours = zero and you are working for the agency. The job was temporary but they couldn't tell me how long for. So it's just casual work. What a waste of anyone's time. Why are the jobcentre focusing on gigs like these and not helping people into proper career based employment?
I have just finished browsing the DWP site for today (I do it daily) and another such job was listed. They named the agency concerned, even though the ad says ring such and such a person to apply. I never apply without first gathering ALL the information, and why shouldn't I? I googled the agency to find a place in Cheshire (the job's in Bristol) and a search of their online database comes up with no vacancies at all.
I then googled the phone number and find it registered to a hairdresser in Wrexham!
Zero hour contracts are something I've heard about a lot. Benefit Busters focused on some kids at the A4E gulag forced to apply for such positions in a cake factory. Recently I've seen a few of these jobs on the DWP jobsearch website over the last week. What's the point of even bothering?
There are now routinely a few jobs, usually 'customer service' which the DWP categorise under retail even though the jobs are almost always call centre work, which I abhor. I hate them. End of. They are all advertised by what appears to be a meta site: a job website that seems to exist by collating (or perhaps stealing) adverts from other sites, usually agencies. There are plenty of sites like this, and they are all very unhelpful or poorly organised. The problem here is that the advert gives no information and is clearly a cut and paste job. The point of contact is an automated email that provides no answer at all. You are meant to just email off your CV and that's it, which is ridiculous. What about information? All that happens is the DWP office that uploads these ads just trawls the web and copies from these ads and posts them as proper jobs, the same as if an actual living breathing employer had done the same, on their site. This isn't right. There's no accountability and if you complain you are just regarded as lazy.
Not only that but most of these jobs probably don't exist. There I said it. They are also largely temporary offering a minimum number of hours, usually far too low. You therefore end up employed by the agency - assuming you can get through to them. I got through to an agency last week about a job packaging pet food (which I would NOT have done, I don't care what anyone says I'm better than that - we all are ffs - but it doesn't hurt to enquire). End result was just that: minimum hours = zero and you are working for the agency. The job was temporary but they couldn't tell me how long for. So it's just casual work. What a waste of anyone's time. Why are the jobcentre focusing on gigs like these and not helping people into proper career based employment?
I have just finished browsing the DWP site for today (I do it daily) and another such job was listed. They named the agency concerned, even though the ad says ring such and such a person to apply. I never apply without first gathering ALL the information, and why shouldn't I? I googled the agency to find a place in Cheshire (the job's in Bristol) and a search of their online database comes up with no vacancies at all.
I then googled the phone number and find it registered to a hairdresser in Wrexham!
Friday, 12 August 2011
Riot
Here's David Cameron, our beloved master, on the riots:
http://treasureislands.org/david-cameron-takes-on-the-tax-evaders/
Here's David Cameron, our beloved master, on tax fraud, evasion and inequality:
...
http://treasureislands.org/david-cameron-takes-on-the-tax-evaders/
Here's David Cameron, our beloved master, on tax fraud, evasion and inequality:
...
Thursday, 4 August 2011
Self vs Society
Still waiting to see when I can get a diagnosis for Aspergers (or not, I can't be sure of course). I think it's important to note that I might not get found to have that condition, though if I don't I believe that I have something like it. What does that mean? I don't know. In the immortal words of that great philosopher, Popeye, I am what I am. Unfortunate society is what it is. for most people the two can coexist well enough. For those of us, and I don't believe I'm the only one, cursed with a certain outlook, a perception that just happens to see what's really going on perhaps, we find the two don't mix.
Unfortunately that just comes across as arrogant. It's not. It's a fact of life. When I search for jobs, as I do every morning on the hopelessly inept JC+ site, I find that looking at some of these vacancies (when I find one that is listed correctly, or that I've been able to google properly) is like staring into the sun. No matter what, I just cannot do that job. It would be the end of me. That isn't a childish retort, like a kid chucking his toys out the pram when faced with bathtime (we've all been there, kids) - I just cannot do that. It's like forcing a square peg into a round hole. Unfortunately, in the eyes of the system, all pegs and all holes are the same shape. Sadly that's not how life works. Maybe it would be easier if I was wired that way. I'm sure for such folk life is a lot easier and a lot happier. Anyway, that's just how it is.
Unfortunately, the DWP system just doesn't work with 'exceptions'. Everyone must conform to the 'norm' because if you can't (ie don't) you are quickly singled out. What makes you so special? What makes you so different? Out come the social bullying tactics: other people manage, why can't you? How dare you think differently? How dare you question the relevance of work in a godawful call centre (ugh), or wiping the toilets of bankers or whatever? Work is good and great whatever it is because work is not only good for us physically, it's spiritual!
I'm sorry, but until things change there are going to be a lot of people that don't fit in who will end up getting marginalised. These are the people the populist press want to call chavs, the people society wants to label as lazy sods that don't surface before midday and only for Jeremy Kyle.
What needs to happen is that the DWP need to accept people are different and stop compelling them to apply for jobs they just can't do. It's like forcing a lame horse to run in a race, and then blaming it for not winning. This silly 'winners and losers' duality that pervades society needs to go as well. In order for someone to win, there must be losers - that's the function they perform, so why be an arse about it? Life is life, there are no winners and losers and 'competitiveness' has been one of the most divisive and destructive forces in the world. People do the things they like well, because they like doing them. Winning doesn't come into it.
The Jobcentre needs to stop palming people off onto the ghastly private sector gravy train, which is quite frankly little more than a racket, and it needs to engage people properly. Why not just give the unemployed a free place on a university course or something similar (perhaps a proper vocational course, if they aren't academically inclined)? A proper degree with a proper opportunity. But since the ruling elite have kicked the ladder away that's not going to happen.
Unfortunately that just comes across as arrogant. It's not. It's a fact of life. When I search for jobs, as I do every morning on the hopelessly inept JC+ site, I find that looking at some of these vacancies (when I find one that is listed correctly, or that I've been able to google properly) is like staring into the sun. No matter what, I just cannot do that job. It would be the end of me. That isn't a childish retort, like a kid chucking his toys out the pram when faced with bathtime (we've all been there, kids) - I just cannot do that. It's like forcing a square peg into a round hole. Unfortunately, in the eyes of the system, all pegs and all holes are the same shape. Sadly that's not how life works. Maybe it would be easier if I was wired that way. I'm sure for such folk life is a lot easier and a lot happier. Anyway, that's just how it is.
Unfortunately, the DWP system just doesn't work with 'exceptions'. Everyone must conform to the 'norm' because if you can't (ie don't) you are quickly singled out. What makes you so special? What makes you so different? Out come the social bullying tactics: other people manage, why can't you? How dare you think differently? How dare you question the relevance of work in a godawful call centre (ugh), or wiping the toilets of bankers or whatever? Work is good and great whatever it is because work is not only good for us physically, it's spiritual!
I'm sorry, but until things change there are going to be a lot of people that don't fit in who will end up getting marginalised. These are the people the populist press want to call chavs, the people society wants to label as lazy sods that don't surface before midday and only for Jeremy Kyle.
What needs to happen is that the DWP need to accept people are different and stop compelling them to apply for jobs they just can't do. It's like forcing a lame horse to run in a race, and then blaming it for not winning. This silly 'winners and losers' duality that pervades society needs to go as well. In order for someone to win, there must be losers - that's the function they perform, so why be an arse about it? Life is life, there are no winners and losers and 'competitiveness' has been one of the most divisive and destructive forces in the world. People do the things they like well, because they like doing them. Winning doesn't come into it.
The Jobcentre needs to stop palming people off onto the ghastly private sector gravy train, which is quite frankly little more than a racket, and it needs to engage people properly. Why not just give the unemployed a free place on a university course or something similar (perhaps a proper vocational course, if they aren't academically inclined)? A proper degree with a proper opportunity. But since the ruling elite have kicked the ladder away that's not going to happen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)