why i love the job centre

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by dragon_bunny, Feb 2, 2005.

  1. dragon_bunny

    dragon_bunny Valued Member

    i have no job so i'm applying for the dole while i look for one..
    my favourite questions from the lady on the phone :-

    do you have a car? Yes
    Do you have a clean driving lisence? Yes
    Do you have your own transport? ..umm does my car count? :confused: :bang:

    After 20mins of explaining my university studies and student loans she then procced to ask me if i had any qualifications... fair enough i could have failed uni but you do need them to get in to a uni ... :rolleyes:

    it's painful, i know she had a job to do but the people need to considered the order their questions come in :D
     
  2. seikido

    seikido New Member

    I sympathize, dragon bunny. After enquiring here about welfare during a hard patch, explaining about my student loans and my PhD, I was told by the office I should consider going back to school. "oh, um, I didn't realize that there are any MORE qualifications I can get above that?"
    Hang in there. Hope things improve for you soon.
     
  3. dragon_bunny

    dragon_bunny Valued Member

    :) thank you but on the plus side 2hrs after the stupid (40min) phone call to arrange an appointment to *apply* for the help i got offered a job figures.. :D
     
  4. Lurch

    Lurch Angry Kid

    you ever noticed how they always have the heating on full blast in those places? I mean, why?
     
  5. Sgt_Major

    Sgt_Major Ex Global Mod Supporter

    I sat arguing with a woman in there one day. Id applied for a job, just about had the qualification/experience they needed.....not quite, but damn close.....she said she didnt think the company would be interested, I said why dont you just give me the form anyway....no harm in trying. She was adamant that they wouldnt be interested.....I shouted "Gimme the {hmmmm} Form!" She did. I got the job! :D

    And yeah, whats with the heat!?
     
  6. Visage

    Visage Banned Banned

    Well, its good to know where the money I lose in tax is going :woo: :woo: :woo:
     
  7. dragon_bunny

    dragon_bunny Valued Member


    my local job centre no longer has people that you go and talk to about the jobs, or people to talk to about applying for benifits.. i don't quite know what they do there now!

    Yeh i argued with a lady once like that - needed a years lab experiance but no qualifications. I have a science degree but (had) no lab experiance so i thought it would be worth a go and she refused because she wasn't alowed to let people apply who didn't have the right experiance. So i asked her to just write down the guys number and i'd phone and she refused to do that!
    she even refused to pass me the pen so i could copy it from the screen, she made me reach over her desk to pick it up becuase "she wanted no part in this" as if i was going to fess up that she'd passed me a pen! :bang:
     
  8. Dr NinjaBellydance

    Dr NinjaBellydance What is your pleasure sir

    Sympathies from me too, I HATE the job centre. Last time I was signing on was years ago, I had an 'interview' with some spotty 16 year old, looking down his nose at me, didnt know what an 'MSc' was and couldnt spell 'environmental', and I was thinking "YOU are working and I'm not!?"
    *grrrrr*
    ;)
     
  9. Saz

    Saz Nerd Admin

    Dude, your 18, do you even pay tax. Its more likely my tax is going on your child benefit/student loan! :p :)

    I was unemployed for 6 months before getting my job. I've got a bachelors degree and a masters degree in IT. Here's what actually happened at my sign on one day.

    Clerk: OK Miss Evans, you've been without work for sometime now, I think the reason for this is that your IT Skills are out of date.

    Me: I'm Sorry?!?

    Clerk: We want to send you on an IT refresher course. You're more likely to get employement if you're computer literate,

    Me: Sorry, but no, I'm not doing an IT refresher course...

    Clerk: Well, if you refuse, we can and will halt your benefit.

    Me: Have you even looked at my file?

    Clerk: Err... no, why?

    Me: Take a look, and then tell me why you don't think I want to do the IT course!


    The first time I went there, I got asked about any learning difficulties I had. I told the clerk I was dyslexic, at which she snorted and looked down her nose at me. She turned around to type it on her screen, and paused for a bit before saying "How do you spell Dyslexia?". I just sat there and smirked at her.

    The job Centre truely blows...
     
  10. Sgt_Major

    Sgt_Major Ex Global Mod Supporter

    LMAO! Oh I would have laughed! Its mad how people get treated when they say they have Dyslexia....my mate has it and people start to talk slow at him like he's thick! :woo: :woo: :bang:
     
  11. Normally, you'll see a fight or two whilst you're in there!
     
  12. Saz

    Saz Nerd Admin

    Yeah, I get that, and people assuming I can't read anything either. I just start doing it back to them, they soon cut it out :)
     
  13. Visage

    Visage Banned Banned

    Nope, I do pay tax, no longer get child benefits and Im not a student so I dont get a student loan :p
     
  14. budogirl

    budogirl Armed and fabulous!

    I hate the job centre too. I was unemployed for a short while after Uni. They were no help whatsoever in helping me find a job. The only thing they offered me was to work for BT (British Telecom) and climb up telegraph poles. Luckily, the dumb bint behind the desk gave me a get out clause:
    "This job will not be suitable if you have a fear of heights"
    "Ah, that is unfortunate, because I do" I lied... :D (years later, I jumped off a 40 foot telegraph pole!).
    Anyway, when I found a job for myself (had two job offers to pick from) I had to inform them and my bank (I had a student account and they asked me to let them know when I would have a regular amount going in the account).
    When I told staff at the job centre, a woman said
    "Fill this in" thrusting a form in my face.
    When I told the staff at Barclays Bank, a woman said:
    "Congratulations! What will you be doing?"

    I know they have different agendas but really, a vague pat on the back from the Job Centre would have been nice...

    *goes off on a tangent*
    The serial killer Dennis Nilsen was sacked from the Met Police and went to work for the Job centre. When police arrested him after discovering human remains in his drains, they took his diary as evidence. His last entry noted how he had lent his huge pot to make a curry for the job centre Christmas party...that same pot contained the head of his last victim when the police arrested him and now sits in the Crime Museum at New Scotland Yard...I have seen it and it is truly gross :eek:
     
  15. dragon_bunny

    dragon_bunny Valued Member

    i'm just reclaiming the money i lost in taxes while i was working :rolleyes: if i could afford not to i wouldn't - mainly cause then i wouldn't have to interact with the job centre people! :D
     
  16. LilBunnyRabbit

    LilBunnyRabbit Old One

    We're planning to get my partner signed on at the job centre, I figure this is quite reasonable as the total amount that I pay in tax pretty much covers the amount she'll be getting in benefit.
     
  17. seikido

    seikido New Member

    Tejitsudo, I hope you never have to experience the absolute hell of being unemployed. I personally would be far more concerned about my tax dollars going to buy cluster bombs to blow up innocent children in some foreign country than I am about helping a university graduate out while they're in that "in between" stage before they become part of a high-income tax bracket themselves.

    After living in the UK, I can see how you might be upset at some of the people who seem to do quite well on the dole, but the gov't also spends more on policing the dole, looking for fraud, than gets used fraudulently! I don't know any facts for the UK, but in Ontario, welfare gets you $520 a month. That's roughly $6000 a year. That represents only 36% of what the "poverty line" is considered to be (http://www.ccsd.ca/facts.html). It doesn't take much to see you're not even giving people the absolute minimum they need to survive. Most people on welfare, therefore, want desperately to work. The few "bums" you hear about who run scams, sell drugs, or use the system fraudulently are actually very few and far between. Consider your tax dollars are often going to help keep honest people from committing suicide or committing crime while they try to find work.

    BTW, Canadians, there are ways to opt out of your tax dollars going to military spending by putting it in a Peace Tax Trust Fund (http://members.shaw.ca/consciencecanada/trustfund/index.html).
     

Share This Page