Job seekers RANT!! (new here)

MrsE_2

samantham06 wrote: »

Actually we do not get housing benefit or council tax benefit as we live with family. So out of the £628 pm we have to pay £80.00 rent to them.

Thats strange, why did you write this then?:rolleyes:

samantham06 wrote: »

We are both on JSA and housing benefit- but through no fault of our own, my partner was made redundant 3 months ago, and I have a back problem, so cannot work.

I just assumed you were telling the truth in your first post.

LittleCharlie

I just want to provide some balance to the people saying that Jobcentres are awful.

YES, they are, but only because of the scumbags who are there. When I signed on the place was full of teenage mothers with screaming babies and alcoholic skin heads. Note - these people were my age.

I made the effort to be clean and tidy when I turned up to my appointments, polite to the advisors, and have ALL my paperwork with me. In return I was treated very well, and always had a gossip with the various advisors. I even felt sorry for them because they would sit there and the three or four people ahead of me wouldn't bother turning up. How rude. They always found relevant jobs for me to look at etc and had useful suggestions.

All this and I got just £44.50 a week. £5.50 of which was my bus fare to get to the job centre. If they gave higher amounts, then why would people bother to get jobs? If the job centre gave me £70 a week, to be honest I wouldn't bother being employed! It's not really much less than what I end up getting from my regular job after tax!

Perhaps if you're down in the dumps you don't always want to feel like people are doing things to help you. I'm sure the people that work in the job centres don't really want to be there either. I know from a friend who works there that the pay isn't that good... even for the senior advisors!

beccam

It's ok Samantha, its a truely S!!t situation and I know some days are just days when you could quite gladly kill the nearest person, especially if they happen to work in the job centre!!!

I hope something comes up for your OH soon, I think I'm going to have to start those letters soon too though we literally just changed mortgage to save money and I don't think they'll accept any less then the full amount each month!!

I'm having a good day today since I did a really good cheap shop yesterday and have cooked enough freezer things to keep us going for a long time!! Plus my friend came and picked up me and the child to go to other friends house for lunch, free lunch for us PLUS she gave me hand me down clothes for LO and sent her home with a halloween treat bag (which I then took all the sweets out of and put in cupboard for treats for the next few weeks!!

I feel like such a Scrooge but every little helps!!

Good luck again.

samantham06

Beccam,
I find the Boots thread (on shopping bit) on here really useful, theres always tips on using coupons and offers to get bits and pieces for next to nothing.

Eg.... today I managed to get a pack of pampers nappies for 0.99p!!
Its really good, try it, it has helped me alot.

Sorry again, I really should have read all your posts first.
x

beccam

LittleCharlie wrote: »

I just want to provide some balance to the people saying that Jobcentres are awful.

YES, they are, but only because of the scumbags who are there. When I signed on the place was full of teenage mothers with screaming babies and alcoholic skin heads. Note - these people were my age.

I made the effort to be clean and tidy when I turned up to my appointments, polite to the advisors, and have ALL my paperwork with me. In return I was treated very well, and always had a gossip with the various advisors. I even felt sorry for them because they would sit there and the three or four people ahead of me wouldn't bother turning up. How rude. They always found relevant jobs for me to look at etc and had useful suggestions.

All this and I got just £44.50 a week. £5.50 of which was my bus fare to get to the job centre. If they gave higher amounts, then why would people bother to get jobs? If the job centre gave me £70 a week, to be honest I wouldn't bother being employed! It's not really much less than what I end up getting from my regular job after tax!

Perhaps if you're down in the dumps you don't always want to feel like people are doing things to help you. I'm sure the people that work in the job centres don't really want to be there either. I know from a friend who works there that the pay isn't that good... even for the senior advisors!

Little Charlie I'm not sure when you were signing on or where but I can assure you that my OH makes an effort any time he goes there and is def not an alcoholic skin head or a scumbag! Though a few more months on JSA I wouldn't blame him for either!!!

The people in job centres may not get paid much but I'm sure its more than £60/week and yes I'm sure they deal with some nasty types but like I've said before, I'm a nurse I don't get to pick and choose my patients, they are all to be treated equally no matter what they're personal situation, I cannot discriminate against anyone even when some are particularly nasty to me.
If I failed to correctly inform my patients of what I was going to do or gain their consent and understanding I would be considered negligent. My excuse cannot be 'well they didn't ask so I didn't tell' like some previous posters have said should be the case with the JB staff.

Simply courtesy, a little bit of understanding and a tiny bit of effort go a long way!

Oldernotwiser

samantham06 wrote: »

Actually we do not get housing benefit or council tax benefit as we live with family.

But you said,
"We are both on JSA and housing benefit" so it's no wonder people thought you got it!

Sorry, Mrs E, just read yours.

CCQueen_2

Actually I've just got a position with Jobcentreplus and no the money is not great(because I'm part time for the kids) but it's not bad either. I'm nearly finished my training and all that is being drummed into us is that we must be consistent, tell the truth, treat all customers the same no matter who they are, not to be rude or aggressive at anytime or steps will be taken, and if you don't know the answer to the customers query, find it out, after reading all the posts I'm beginning to wonder what the heck I'm letting myself in for. Good luck tho' I know what it's like to be on benefits and it's not a nice place to be, so hopefully when I do finally finish my training I will have alot more empathy for people on benefits, because I've been there and I know how frustrating it is when you can't get a straight answer. xx

LittleCharlie

beccam wrote: »

The people in job centres may not get paid much but I'm sure its more than £60/week and yes I'm sure they deal with some nasty types but like I've said before, I'm a nurse I don't get to pick and choose my patients, they are all to be treated equally no matter what they're personal situation, I cannot discriminate against anyone even when some are particularly nasty to me.
If I failed to correctly inform my patients of what I was going to do or gain their consent and understanding I would be considered negligent. My excuse cannot be 'well they didn't ask so I didn't tell' like some previous posters have said should be the case with the JB staff.

Simply courtesy, a little bit of understanding and a tiny bit of effort go a long way!

That's my point! When I signed on the people at the JobCentre were really nice to me, and really helpful. I was trying to provide balance to the people saying that job centres are horrible places etc and that the staff were nasty. Not all job centres are created equally.

And like I said, you're lucky to get £60 a week.

And there are always jobs going in Tescos stacking shelves and burger flipping that pay more than £60 a week. Believe me, I've done some rubbish jobs in my time! Even office junior jobs pay considerably over minimum wage!

beccam

Believe me when I say hub has applied for everything that he can, Tesco are not recruiting in our area at the mo, Sainsbury's are only recruiting P/T temp for nights which won't work along with my work as childcare doesn't happen overnight (unless you count that woman on the cbeebies program, she minds children every hour of the day!!) he has literally applied for hundreds and out of them all has managed 3 interviews!!

I just think that job centre staff are dealing with the public and providing a 'service' of some description but yet some (so ok maybe not all) can be very unhelpful. Again it is not entirely their fault as I do believe it is the system that is most flawed.

I appreciate the fact that £60/week is better than a kick in the teeth but like I've said before it's not keeping a roof over our heads for very long.

beccam

I just wanted to come back to this thread after reading another thread about how helpful people on MSE can be. This was my first thread when I was in despair over what was happening to us.

I had some genuinely helpful and supportive posts (some not so but hey ho!)

To update anyone who might be interested, I finally had my surgery at the end of Feb and have been (touch wood) in much better health so have now resumed work AND......

MY HUSBAND GOT A JOB!!!

I am very proud of him as after months of applying for everything going he took a chance on a job totally different to anything he has ever done before and he got it! He has now been working as a diversional therapist in a nursing home (doing activities with the oldies!) since March and loves it. He always worked in production/manufacturing so it is taking some getting used to but he is happy and it is a safe job....unlike any production job he would have got.

Really I just wanted to say thank you to some very kind people (Moggylover you brought me close to tears!!) and to say to anyone finding themselves in a similar position....there is light at the end of the tunnel!