The Job Centre aka The Joke Shop.....

thriftymanc

ceridwen wrote: »

Errr....in answer to that question...ie the one about whats stopping someone working 2pm-10pm at Tesco - the minor !! little point about:

- when one would eat dinner (due 6pm - 7pm) for instance ... I would dearly love an explanation as to how one manages to eat dinner at dinnnertime ... if one works those sort of hours......

Gosh, you're completely right. And how on earth do all those people who work 9-5 eat lunch?! It's a mystery!

:rolleyes:

gingerdad

My 2p worth, the job centre plus, website and phone service are all a total waste of time and money. both as an employer and the one time i needed there help.

I was happily told by someone on the phone the the new deal was working and he was an example of it, being employed by the system to create the job. driving 20 miles to the nearest job centre to have a meeting with the advisor, to be told that couldn't claim as going on holiday (which is fine) but why did the plank on the phone not say this when discussed.

i only seem to get cretins apply for jobs via the job centre. and now even though it's free its not worth my time to put a job on their fantastic website, it takes about 2 hours to work the security out.

personnelly if you want a job get away from the job centre and look at totaljobs.com or other such route.

GD

Mumolulu

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thanatos
This is supposed to be a forum about helping each other. It is most certainly not supposed to be a forum about passing judgement on others and name calling.

The OP set the tone of the thread with :


Quote:
the joke centre
Quote:
How stupid can some people be? I have never known anything so stupid
Bozo

Actually it was shop, not centre, Bozo.

And my op was in fact an extremely light hearted rant about the 'silly' unhelpful woman that spoke to my extremely skilled, hard working, far from work shy, intelligent, non violent (of course he wouldn't actually grab her and chuck her at the wall:p ) husband of mine.

Interesting replies. :rotfl:

ps, for the person asking re the bingo calling job. Did you stop to think why it was actually a VACANCY?!! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Lighten up people.

Tarry

There is someone I know who seems to be permanetely unemployed *rolls eyes* I can't understand why someone would choose that for a living? That's what wxmlad was hinting at, people who think that the world owes them. Eh, no, it doesn't. In one job I had I finished work at 1745, and my hourly bus went 2 minutes before that, so I had to wait in the cold a long time and it never did me any harm I've also had a job where I started work at half 7 in the morning and not only that it was freezing as it was a greengrocers, brr I'm not fussy.

mvengemvenge

Thanatos wrote: »

What a sad thread this is turning into - it seems everyone is very quick to pass judgement on others with very little information about their lives other than a short post.

Calling people workshy and lazy? Telling people they have to sell their car with no real knowledge of their lifestyle? Generaising that british people believe some work is beneath them? Forigners get all the jobs? Dictating how long people should be expected to communte to work?

Erm......no, actually......many people on here seem to not get what JSA is about.

It does what it says on the tin. It's an allowance for people who are seeking a job. The criteria for what qualifies you to receive it are laid down by the government, not by the jobcentre staff. However, the staff have to implement the rules about qualifying. When you sign the benefit forms to claim JSA, you sign up for all the rules and regulations that go with it. No-one drags you into the office and forces you to claim.

Now, I think you'll find that 99.9% of staff join with thoughts of doing a job where they're helping people who are desperate to get off benefits and into work. Unfortunately, the reality is something different. It doesn't take long before staff realise that 80-90% of 'jobseekers' (generalising) aren't actually seeking a job, and resent you trying to find them one. I was unemployed for 9 years, so I completely understand this mindset, believe me.

No-one from the 'staff side' has said anything on this thread (or this board, that I've seen) that is 'reportable', they've just personalised what are the factual rules for claiming benefit.

For up to 13 weeks, you can have a 'Permitted Period', where you are allowed to specify just one job, if you've done it for a long time or had special training in it.

Between 13 weeks and 6 months, you have to increase your range of jobs to at least two.

From 6 months onwards you cannot restrict the type of job you will accept or the wage you will accept as long as it's a job you are physically and mentally capable of doing.

Of course staff can use common sense in offering jobs (ie someone on public transport can't get to a job starting at 6am), but by the same token, if someone signs a form every fortnight (a legal document, by the way) that they are seeking work, but is then refusing jobs, the staff have every right to a) implement the rules and possibly start the process of sanctioning their benefit and b) make the reasonable assumption that this person is not quite as keen to work as they are claiming.

This is not Unemployment Benefit, where you got money just because you didn't have a job, it's an allowance for jobseeking. If anyone doesn't like the rules, either write to your MP or sign-off, because as I said, no-one forced you to claim it.

CFC

ceridwen wrote: »

Errr....in answer to that question...ie the one about whats stopping someone working 2pm-10pm at Tesco - the minor !! little point about:

- when one would eat dinner (due 6pm - 7pm) for instance
and
- evening social events tend to start between 7pm-8pm for instance (or are you seriously expected to have very little social life indeed for however long the job lasts --which could be years.........!!!!!!!). This does tend to ignore the point that the whole point of life is to actually HAVE a "life"....

?........

If you are simply expressing that you would rather work social hours, well of course. If you are implying that a person should simply refuse to work if the only work available is anti social hours, then that is an extremely annoying and self centred post.

My husband works anti social hours, including weekends, and my hours are totally different so I rarely see him, and we have no social life together. I have also worked anti social hours. Do you think anyone who works anti social hours chooses to do so out of their own free will because they enjoy it?

People working these hours do so because they have far too much self respect to take money from other people who go to work, to essentially scrounge your living off them, as a personal choice. Especially when many of those tax payers are working anti social hours as their job...

That is what taking benefits when you could work actually is. And saying that you 'don't like the work' or 'don't like the hours' is a pathetic excuse for self centredness.

bobbiely

I don't particularly like the job centre but that has more to do with some of the other people in there rather than the advisers. Although I did have a pearler the other day from a particularly tired adviser. I have just graduated and need admin work experience as all my feedback has mentioned my lack of office experience (only worked in cafes). So I asked and the conversation went like this:
"What would happen to my JSA if I took on unpaid work experience?"
"why wouldn't you be paid?"
"because it would be work experience"
"but why wouldn't you be paid?"

I couldn't help but laugh, surely work experience that pays is a job? In the end he just told me not to tell the job centre if I do get any work experience.

mvengemvenge

bobbiely wrote: »

I don't particularly like the job centre but that has more to do with some of the other people in there rather than the advisers. Although I did have a pearler the other day from a particularly tired adviser. I have just graduated and need admin work experience as all my feedback has mentioned my lack of office experience (only worked in cafes). So I asked and the conversation went like this:
"What would happen to my JSA if I took on unpaid work experience?"
"why wouldn't you be paid?"
"because it would be work experience"
"but why wouldn't you be paid?"

I couldn't help but laugh, surely work experience that pays is a job? In the end he just told me not to tell the job centre if I do get any work experience.

This is because of something called 'Notional Earnings'. If you declare voluntary work for a charity or charity shop, no problem, but if you do unpaid work for an employer (for which someone else would get paid), the Benefits Agency may have to take into account what you might/should have earned. You can do up to 4 weeks on a Work Trial through JCP and get travel/meal expenses paid. Why don't you look into that?

j-lo1972uk

ceridwen wrote: »

Errr....in answer to that question...ie the one about whats stopping someone working 2pm-10pm at Tesco - the minor !! little point about:

- when one would eat dinner (due 6pm - 7pm) for instance
and
- evening social events tend to start between 7pm-8pm for instance (or are you seriously expected to have very little social life indeed for however long the job lasts --which could be years.........!!!!!!!). This does tend to ignore the point that the whole point of life is to actually HAVE a "life"....

I would dearly love an explanation as to how one manages to eat dinner at dinnnertime and then go off for an evening of social life if one works those sort of hours......hang on in there....I feel a reply coming on from SomeBozo here (as his favourite hobby these days seems to be ceridwen-baiting;) )...oh well...mustnt deny people their little pleasures.......

or - by 2-10 - do you actually mean 2am-10am in fact? Impossible...as people are asleep until 6am-8am...barring being a total insomniac and night owl?........

Lol, Ceridwen, I sincerely hope you never have to go into hospital or a restaurant between 6-7pm in the future...you may find yourself all alone while the staff are off eating their dinner or actively following their social lives.....lmao:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Seriously tho, I worked in a Jobcentre for ten years...and can categorically tell you that some days it is totally soul destroying to work there....I've been spat at, punched, hit in the face with a telephone receiver, followed to my car by a disgruntled claimant and been subject to verbal abuse at least once every week, often much more, simply for doing the job that I was paid to do. I wasn't a jobsworth and did indeed go into the job thinking it would be great to help people who'd been in the same situation as me....and I was thanked on numerous occasions by people who genuinely appreciated the help and advice I had strived to give.......

I left 10 years ago as a Band 5 (manager) to go to a job that entailed shifts (yes even late shifts!!!!!!), nights, weekends and every public holiday (and I still managed to eat, maintain relationships and have a social life!!!!!:eek: ) for a third of the wage I was on at the Jobcentre....as I simply couldn't stand it anymore......I now work with violent offenders....but don't get anywhere near the abuse I got at the jobcentre.....the people that work there try their best in sometimes very limited circumstances....if the jobs you are wanting aren't there, why can't they be a bit creative and offer you something alternative.???...you are, under certain circumstances allowed to say 'no' after all.....and you may just decide to go for it.....if not, no harm done.....

I think people should be thankful that we have a welfare system at all (by the way, the money going into the system doesn't anywhere near cover the amount that goes out in pensions, sickness and disablity benefits and benefits for parents, working or otherwise, let alone cover the unemployed) that at least provides you with some money to enable you to seek the work you are wanting without immediately having to take up residence in the workhouse.....I wonder how fussy people would be about travelling time, shifts etc etc etc if we had no JSA at all???

cyclonebri1

wxmlad wrote: »

reported for what exactly? defending my colleagues? stating facts? explaining that you cant choose not to get a job because you dont feel like it? I'll think you'll find that the government are planning on stopping benefits after a certain period if people are NOT willing to take jobs. Slagging off JC staff because your unemployed or not willing to work certain times is not the answer to gaining employment. Things I have said are what you will be told at the job centre. I think you've had issues at the jobcentre in the past.?


noone has any right to come in a give me abuse and spit in my face just because they cant have money or aren't happy about taking a job, a customer at our office has just got 6 months in prison for assaulting a member of staff, so i cant imagine if you report me the manager will say 'yes by all means feel free to assault and abuse our staff'
your comment was a bit silly really

Laddy, I,ve never been to a job centre in my life. I'm now retired from a senior position with the one company I worked for the whole of my working life, so maybe best not to make assumptions? Yes?

I read this thread out of interest as it appears to be in a recently set up section. Read it as an interested, but independant reader. While I expect rants from some of the type of people you refer to, I do not expect to hear these generalisations from an official from the other side of the desk.
I'll say it again, someone in your position should know better, and thats without taking sides

Oh, please don't call me silly or the next post won't be quite so polite;)