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Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

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Comments

  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
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    ukmaggie45 wrote: »
    I got really angry earlier today about how Job Centres don't have toilets for claimants (or should that be "clients"?) to use...

    So I've started a petition on the Gov petition site about it.

    First hurdle is you have to have 5 people support you. Then they look at it and decide if it's allowable.

    I've got the 5 (and more) so now am sweating over if the thing goes live or not. I'll let you know if it does!
    Speaking as somebody who could go all day without needing a wee .... I can't imagine needing a loo at a JC as I'd either go before or after visiting them :)

    I'd imagine, from their perspective, it'd then need to be a place they managed/secured against bad behaviour/drug taking etc - the kind of feral activities low life scum who see the JC as their social club would be doing.

    You've also got the additional role/task of bog cleaner on tap as staff in any establishment are very unlikely to mucky up a works loo in the same way as afore-mentioned feral scum would treat a "public" loo at the JC. Some might be deliberately destructive in there.
  • ivyleaf
    ivyleaf Posts: 6,431 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    ukmaggie45 wrote: »
    I got really angry earlier today about how Job Centres don't have toilets for claimants (or should that be "clients"?) to use...

    So I've started a petition on the Gov petition site about it.

    First hurdle is you have to have 5 people support you. Then they look at it and decide if it's allowable.

    I've got the 5 (and more) so now am sweating over if the thing goes live or not. I'll let you know if it does!

    I used to work at the local Social Security office. We did have a toilet for "customers" but it was closed in the end, because it was continually vandalised, addicts would go in there to take drugs, and sometimes couples used it as a place to have sex :( (well, they got fed up waiting so long to be seen and had to pass the time somehow!)
  • michaels
    michaels Posts: 29,223 Forumite
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    ivyleaf wrote: »
    I used to work at the local Social Security office. We did have a toilet for "customers" but it was closed in the end, because it was continually vandalised, addicts would go in there to take drugs, and sometimes couples used it as a place to have sex :( (well, they got fed up waiting so long to be seen and had to pass the time somehow!)

    And what better way to increase benefits entitlement whilst reducing requirement to job seek....
    I think....
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    ivyleaf wrote: »
    ... sometimes couples used it as a place to have sex :( (well, they got fed up waiting so long to be seen and had to pass the time somehow!)

    I can also imagine that the word "couples" there could also mean "random women/men who hooked up while waiting and had a sh4g within 10 minutes of meeting", or "bumped into a hot ex, fancied a bit" ... and the same as that except "£5 exchanged hands"

    :)
  • ukmaggie45
    ukmaggie45 Posts: 2,968 Forumite
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    Thanks for your thoughts on my petition.

    While I do understand that facilities have been mis used, there are circumstances under which people really do need access to toilets. Remember as the retirement age rises there will be more and more elderly folks having to sign on. Men with prostate problems are likely to need a loo quite often.

    There are various medical conditions (eg Crohn's disease and IBS) where a toilet may be needed urgently. :eek: Apparently the staff can decide if a claimant can use the toilets, but one case I read about the staff member allowed it only for the security guard to turn the elderly man (aged 60) away so he had to go back into a room full of people and ask staff member again.

    Lots of folks in the WRAG will have to visit job centres, these are people not fit enough to work yet, but considered to maybe be fit enough in a year or so. Many of these may be on various medications, some will be cancer patients, meds can seriously affect how frequently you need to pee.
  • Generali
    Generali Posts: 36,411 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I'd sign if you put up/PM'd the link if us furreners are allowed.
  • ukmaggie45
    ukmaggie45 Posts: 2,968 Forumite
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    Generali wrote: »
    I'd sign if you put up/PM'd the link if us furreners are allowed.

    Thanks Gen! :) But it's on the Parliamentary petitions site (or will be if they decide it's allowed) so you have to be a British Citizen. And I suspect resident here too as they ask for a post code. Not sure what happens about soldiers overseas if they want to sign anything there.
  • GDB2222
    GDB2222 Posts: 26,490 Forumite
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    edited 31 March 2016 at 3:46PM
    ukmaggie45 wrote: »
    Thanks Gen! :) But it's on the Parliamentary petitions site (or will be if they decide it's allowed) so you have to be a British Citizen. And I suspect resident here too as they ask for a post code. Not sure what happens about soldiers overseas if they want to sign anything there.

    I'll sign up if you give us the link.


    Edit: I couldn't find yours, Maggie, but I did find an eminently practical petition, that there should be a Minimum text size for "Excessive consumption may cause a laxative effect". Sadly, only 6 people signed that.
    No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
  • ukmaggie45
    ukmaggie45 Posts: 2,968 Forumite
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    GDB2222 wrote: »
    I'll sign up if you give us the link.


    Edit: I couldn't find yours, Maggie

    It's not live yet. Had to get 5 people to sign and then they look at it to make sure it's allowed - guess they get a fair few p*55 taking ones. Apparently it usually takes less than a week for them to come to a decision. So I'll put up the link when/if it goes live.

    Thanks for the support GDB. I just think that Job Centres should be rather more civilized places than they seem to be now. Especially since the travelling to them is likely to take longer now they're shutting loads of them down.
  • zagubov
    zagubov Posts: 17,939 Forumite
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    edited 31 March 2016 at 7:43PM
    I've just been in Inner Herts (travelled from Stansted to north London). Can't say what Stansted's selling point as an airport is. The UK arrivals is about the size of a broom cupboard with about the same facilities.

    There seems to be no easy way of dropping anybody off without forking out dosh, everything is miles apart and yet toilets are hard to find.

    Having said that, as you drive along the M11 towards London you actually see its skyline below you which is quite a sight.
    There is no honour to be had in not knowing a thing that can be known - Danny Baker
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