I am totally confused!
Yesterday I went into town for my appointment at the job centre to sign on. I have never had to use the job centre in my life and am finding it the most demeaning experience ever!
So, I applied for Job seekers allowance three weeks ago and received a letter a week later to say I would receive £72 a week, four days later I got another letter to tell me they had changed their mind and I wouldn't get anything! So I phone the 'Helpline' number and a lady tells me that JSA only lasts for 28 days so I need to apply for something else...also named JSA, get a form from the job centre.
Yesterday was my third visit, and while I sat wedged in between a young man who kept sucking his teeth while cradling his can of special brew and seemed to have trouble stopping his legs from shaking and another young man who had terrible body odour and kept sniffing every two seconds, I thought WTF am I doing here? and get yourself a bloody tissue.
This isn't fair, I keep telling myself this is just a process but honestly mingling with the 'cant be arsed to find myself a job' people of the world, just makes me feel so horrible, sad and low.
I am always called first which also irritates me, its like they think, oh quick, its the blind lady, we better see her first, actually I am quite happy to sit and wait my turn, either that or they are putting off dealing with the smelly little sods sitting beside me.
I dunno, maybe I am wrong, but I kind of thought that the people at the job centre were supposed to recommend jobs for you to apply for, I thought that was the whole point! Last time I went I took in my CV, the lady sat behind her desk and looked blankly at me when I handed it to her and said...errr, I'll pop it in your file! It's no good in the bloody file, at no point has anyone I've seen asked me if I have applied for any jobs or offered me any kind of job related conversation. As far as I can tell, you go in every two weeks, sign on the line and your money gets paid into your account (except it doesn't in my case) and that's that, you are free to go sit on a bench with your can of special brew. Surely they are supposed to guide you into work and get you off the JSA, surely its better to be in work than claiming benefits isn't it? I want to work, but I don't think the job centre is going to support me with this, and I wonder if its just me, maybe they think I should be sat at home on the sofa feeling isolated and lonely, because that's what disabled people should do isn't it?
Not this bloody disabled person, I can see I have one hell of a fight ahead of me, and I think I might have to get RNIB's new slogan tattooed across my forehead...See the person not the sight loss.
I don't think I have ever felt so useless, and frankly so poor, literally skint.
I wish I didn't have to go to the job centre but I am doing everything I am supposed to. I have found myself watching people a lot more, trying to decide if they are enjoying the job they do, and I am not actually sure the crowd in the JC do enjoy their job, the guy who I saw yesterday gave me the distinct impression that he was looking down his nose at me, when I told him I had been to the RNIB offices to do some shadowing, he stopped typing on his computer, looked at me over the top of his glasses and said dryly without any enthusiasm...'Good luck with that!' if the people who are supposed to be helping you aren't helping how the hell does anyone stand a chance of moving forward and finding work.
However, they are about to come unstuck as I have a meeting on this subject soon, and now I have experienced how just bloody awful it is having to battle to fight your corner, I shall not be shy in telling whoever wants to know that this is shit!
No-one knows what I am capable of, no-one knows how hard I will work, no-one knows how much I can give, no-one knows how reliable I am, and no-one is prepared to give me that chance, just because I have a sight problem, it doesn't mean my brain has stopped working, if anything my brain is more alert than some of the people I have worked with who are sighted. Please don't judge me on my sight loss.
And now I am off to the fridge to find some chocolate, and sit back on my sofa.
xx
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