I hate it! Almost from the moment I first spoke to a member of staff I could feel my hackles rising, they just seem to have an inherent 'attitude' issue....service and manners not being a top priority apparently.
I wasn't sure exactly where I had to go so upon arrival I approached the reception desk, where almost ten minutes later a frousty faced woman asked if she could help me, completely without smile or interest. 'Help' was not her forte I suspect! I told her why I was there, she pointed aimlessly at a queue and grunted at me to wait there. Now my appointment was for between 3 and 3.15, I was happy to wait but she then grumbled at me that I was too early, Add to that the place is horrible, grubby, smelly, cramped and without as much as a single seat to sit on anywhere for anyone but the staff! Lord help anyone who has a disability!
So, as I waited I eavesdropped on the conversation going on at the desk in front of me, where a maybe mid twenty something, well dressed woman was getting a 'dressing down' from her interviewer for being 5 minutes late. Really, she was speaking to this lady like a five year old, no, I would hope a five year old who had been 'naughty' would be spoken too with more respect actually, and issuing her with a 'late letter', which she had to sign to say she understood that if she did it again she would lose a days benefit!!! Rules and regs. we may have to have but the delivery of them in this instance was utterly appalling!
By the time my name was called I was about ready to implode but I held my tongue, answered all the questions fired at me, signed on the dotted line and then dared ask a question. Why had I not yet received any monies given that I had been advised I would have last week? 'Madam miserable' looked at her screen and told me haughtily that I had....£8.17 last Friday!
Sorry, but you might understand how I had managed to miss that princely sum hitting even my meagre bank account!
By now I had had enough of being condescended too so I played my trump card and told her I wasn't feeling too well as I have shingles....she couldn't push me out the door fast enough! Ooopsss....did I forget to mention I am no longer infectious?! Result!
What concerns me most is this. As more and more people are forced to join the dole queue by no choice or making of their own, are the staff going to learn that not all of us are life-time work dodgers intent on playing the system and acquire a few manners and a little of the principles of customer service? Or are they going to continue to make this a much worse experience for everyone than it already has to be?!
If you felt crap and a little 'low of self esteem' about being out of work in the first place I can promise you the attitude and approach of these people makes you feel a whole lot worse! For me it really is a case of having to grit my teeth on the principle that I am entitled to this benefit, accept I am going to feel miserable and degraded, dig my heels in and get on with it....it's much tougher than it ought to be or than I had expected and it's utterly and horribly humiliating.
11 Comments:
Oh hun it sounds absolutely awful and i can totally understand how you are feeling about it.
The image that you have painted is totally what i have imagined it to be. People in low paying jobs treating others without a job like they are scumbags and not worth there time.
Its just awful that you have to go through that. Nothing anyone can say can make it any better for you and like you say.. you just have to grit your teeth and get on with it.
Maybe next time you should dress really scanky and smell of pee. That is probably what they expect and it would throw them off.
Big hugs to you. Chin up hun you are really better than them. You just need to keep telling yourself that. x
I am sorry it was so horrible, it can't have been easy to bite your lips and say nothing... I wish the staff would understand that not everyone in there is workshy, but of need of work.
I hope £8.17 isn't all they're giving you. What a pain. I imagine our offices are just the same.
so sorry to hear about your experience, Jane. These people have absolutely no right to treat others like that. I'd love to see some of them on the other side of the desk. Maybe then they might be a little more understanding and empathetic!
That is just so horrible - nothing has changed since the time back in 86 when I had a longish spell of signing on. There is nothing that can be done - the bru staff have the whip hand.
I'm not defending them - more Devil's Advocate but think back to your Customer Service days. The general public can be so damned annoying and the staff have such in large numbers the whole day. Enough to turn a Saint menopausal.
Hello, I've just found you via Kittys blog and loved your little icon so came for a nosey :) Flippin heck I had to sign on when I was made redundant in the early 90s and it sounds like things haven't changed much. As you say you feel shit, they make you feel shitter, keep your head held high, use lots of big words and take an intellectual book to read to intimidate them they are patronising arses and at the end of the day are boring jossworths, You are worth so much more than them. Tell yourself that next time you're there and I'll pop round like a super hero with my pants over my trousers waving a Twiggys Be Nice campaign placard, should do the trick :)
Keep your pecker up and fingers crossed you sort something out.
Twiggy x
PS Get over to my log and enter my giveaway missus.
PS should read jobsworths, not jossworths and blog not log - doh!!
Twiggy x
I sympathise with you wholly. When I signed on last time about five years ago my office was just as you describe yours. But this time it seems a lot better and the staff alot more friendly although I have heard tales of people being treated shabbily for being slightly late or having phoned to say they would be signing late becaue of a day's work and no record had been made of it.
good luck
You are entitlet to this so take what is yours!!! Others do it and should never even be allowed it!!
My EX after for weeks was so desperate to stop signing on he was prepared to take a Job at £6 and hour and travel 40 miles to and 40 miles home again!! Don't let them get to you..something will come along just keep at it.
Sending you hugs xx
Sometimes doing what's best for yourself really sucks. Sometimes it's the hardest thing you can do.
Isn't this one of those examples whereby if you pay peanuts you get monkies? Benefits agency staff are not highly paid and (present company excepted) they deal with 'challenging' people.
You are obviously an exception but there is no excuse for this person's shocking behaviour towards you.
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