Firstly, thanks, yeah, i know, great news isn't it, yes, no, temp but on going, yeah full time and min wage for 12 weeks and then about £10 an hour after that, so all's looking good..... are just a few of the things i've had to say over and over today to friends and family who are thrilled with the news.
How did i get the job?
Well, this is a job agency that my friend works for. She'd simply posted on her facebook one day asking if anyone wanted a job packing/collecting and if so, get in touch... so of course this seemed like another job application that i could tell the job centre about and they'd be happy with it, and tbh, i wanted to know abit more about what this job was, so i sent her a message. I registerd with the agency and was told to wait and hear for news. I didn't hear anything for a few months and then today, i was asked to go in and find out the details of when i start working for this new employer.
I went in and was told what to expect, when i was starting, the working conditions, what the job involves doing, the hours, the pro's and con's basically.... and yeah, i'm happy to do it.
So, what have i been through to get to today?
Back in the november of 2009 i was released from my contract at KFC GB LTD (a part of Yum! brands) because of me being in hospital all night with a co-worker of mine after she'd been taken there by ambulance. She too had missed her shift the next day, as i had, due to being completely knackerd and not getting back home until about 9am after a night sat up waiting for news and trying to contact her family.
Also, the store manager just didn't like me anyway, if it wasn't for him chances are i'd still be working there to this day.
Anyway...
After i was released from my contract i recieved my final payment and went off to Bangor for the weekend to go and see my friend who was in uni there at the time. We had some giggles and it was a welcome boost to what was a pretty bad time for me overall.
I set back to looking for work upon my return but as you have all seen, the job market basically hit a brick wall and failed. While i was still signing on at the job centre i became a regular going in every 2 weeks, feeling a little bit ashamed each time to be going in through the electric doors because, well, what if someone i knew saw me... eurgh!
Anyway, at first, the help and support given by the job centre was ideal. They would sometimes send me to see a new person who'd want to see a copy of my cv, update bits on it, talk about jobs in the local area and sort of... put a plan together about getting back to work. This was really helpful because it gave you time to look for work and of course extra help was available if you wanted it.
In 2011 i was lucky enough to win (after almost a year of bidding) a bid on a flat near to where i was living. This would help me get back on my feet. The idea being that i could work any time i wanted and not have to tip-toe around when i came in from work at whatever time, it meant that if i was out of work or off, my friends who would often work up until about midnight could pop up and see me after work and we could watch some films or something like that... it was ideal, so on 11/11/11 i signed the dotted lines and got the keys. I was just so happy and of course over the next few months i began to decorate and get furniture together for moving in.
In the december of that year my nana (grandmother) was having a serious heart operation. Dr's were telling her and my mother at meetings that the chances of her dying on the operating table were high, even higher was the chances of her not surviving in post-operative care etc. This was a stupidly horrible time for all involved to have to go through and so of course as time grew closer to the operation, all plans and everything to do with the flat were put on hold. On the 14th of december she went in for the operation and we heard back later that day that everything had gone to plan, she was back on the intensive care unit and was showing sign's of doing really well. Over the coming weeks, she began to come back around (and i say started to, she was high as a kite on the drugs they were giving her, so most of the time she wouldn't know we were there, but we did, and thats all that counts).
As it was coming closer to the time that she'd be coming out of hospital, we all decided that i'd move out. My nana could have my old bedroom, my brother could have his room and that would be ideal for everyone. So, on new years eve, nana made it home at about half past 5. We were all over the moon, because for weeks before we'd been told that this may never have happend, any of it, and yet, here she was, sat in the kitchen, cup of tea in hand and talking as if nothing had happend to her.
I moved into my flat and began working hard to set it up as i wanted. Over the coming months i found it hard to make ends meet. Don't get me wrong, i'd set myself budgets to stick to and while i'd always stick to them, it never left me with a spare penny to my name.
One day on twitter, a friend of mine had commented to people about how easy it was to claim jobseekers allowance, how much money you got and how it was easy to make ends meet.... yet, i was living proof that it wasn't. So, i wanted to show him exactly how i was living, i wanted him to tell me how he could cope on the money i was living on. So if you're one of the 12,000 people that has since watched what i did next... that's the story behind the video.
Now of course this video was picked up on social media and to this day i still get comments about how i'm lazy, should be looking for work harder... all that jazz that i've become immune to hearing over and over again. Thing is though, not long after i made this video, the DWP (department for work and pensions, who basically own the job centre) changed things.... and NOT in a good way.
I was told eventually that as i'd been signing on for over 9 months that i'd have to go on a work programme. It was to last 2 years and designed to help me get into work. Me thinking that this could actually help me get back into work, went along for my induction and had to sign about two thousand bits of paper, basically signing my life away to be a part of this... or have my money stopped. After about 2 meetings i decided that this wasn't going to help me look for work, since most of the time you were placed infront of a computer and told to look for work. There was no help or support, this was basically all's i was doing when i was at home anyway.... so what was the point in me going?
i2i must have noticed my attitude towards them because over the coming months and year, they began to not post details to me about appointments, so of course i wouldn't attend and i'd recieve a sanction off the job centre. Infact, in 2013, i was subject to 4 financial sanctions from the job centre, 2 were active at the same time... go figure that one out, how do you take a persons only income off them twice at the same time?
Eventually, after my 2 year stint, i was told that i no longer had to attend i2i and that i'd now be going for the next 6 months on the "post work-programme activity". It involved (for me) going in once a week and possibly being sent back to the work programme providers, training courses, work experiance.... basically the job centre could do what they wanted with me and i had to either do it, or go through more months with no money to pay bills.
That's where i'm at today. I'm still on the post work-programme activity and funnily enough, they had wanted me to be going on a 2 week training course, starting on the same day that i'm now starting work.
Over my time with the job centre, i have been set-up by staff, so as i'd slip up on the paperwork and could recieve a sanction. I have had it confirmed to me by several members of staff at different job centre locations that they are indeed targeted on getting people sanctioned. I've seen companies with huge profit margins be taking in staff that not only do they not pay, but they are paid for taking on for periods of about 2 weeks at a time. I have been to the brink of putting myself into serious problems because i have had no food in the cubards, having to sit in the cold during harsh winters, because i couldn't afford to put the heating on and i had to call on people to send me money.
I've had to miss out on times when i've wanted to go out because i simply couldn't afford it. My love life was put on hold, because i couldn't afford to go on a date with anybody. I've been at the brink of wanting to take my own life, because what is the point?
Over all, it has NOT been easy. Being unemployed for a long time is possibly one of the hardest things you can do to this day and certainly in this society. The help that the job centre once gave, has now been sold to private companies who are only interested in draining the public purse of money rather than help you. You're more likely to find work with no wages, because why would a company with a multi-million pound profit company be able to afford your minimum wage job, in this financial climate.
Look, seriously though, the treatment of the unemployed people is not acceptable. I may now myself be off to working, but i know that still too easily i could be one of the ones who's back in the job centre in no time at all. Even if i'm lucky enough to stay in work, then i, personally, will not let the voice of the unemployed fall silent. They need help in every way you could think, yet not one government body is speaking up for them. Thats left down to the likes of boycott workfare or a social media parody account, all of whom join in the shouting that this kind of treatment needs to stop.
Tv shows like benefit street will still be made, to put the unemployed into the bad books of the country... with no real reason behind it, other than the public want somebody to dislike, so why not let it be some of the most poor people in the country.
End of rant.
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