tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841898474478695116.post4441085323703392491..comments2019-10-08T07:30:47.181-07:00Comments on Geoff Huijer - A Scottish Writer's Musings: Life On The DoleAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08723713771162081318noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841898474478695116.post-44653132954836313602019-10-08T07:30:47.181-07:002019-10-08T07:30:47.181-07:00You missed a lot of Shropshire!You missed a lot of Shropshire!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841898474478695116.post-43833562954412759332015-05-17T11:13:02.208-07:002015-05-17T11:13:02.208-07:00Thanks Des.
You are, to be frank, one of the las...Thanks Des. <br /><br />You are, to be frank, one of the last people I can imagine even being in<br />a 'dole centre' and that is meant solely as a compliment; and I daren't <br />even wish to be a fly-on-the-wall whenever you have been or will be given <br />your insect comment.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08723713771162081318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2841898474478695116.post-9533055489892676582015-05-17T06:55:39.629-07:002015-05-17T06:55:39.629-07:00Well done, Geoff! Difficult circumstances dispassi...Well done, Geoff! Difficult circumstances dispassionately described. You have prompted me to contribute. I recognise a lot of the references in your recent experience, though I've been far less unlucky in my own, far less severe, plight.<br />I've been an on-and-off claimant over the last couple of years, myself; and the experience is mystifying. The vagaries of the system are (at the very least) bizarre. Other readers might like to know that Geoff and I worked happily together for several years at Guinness, in the noughties; and, like him, I am not a long-term claimant - having worked pretty much full-time, without interruption for the past 30 years, since leaving University. I am now predominantly self-employed, when I can track down appropriate, gainful work opportunities. Self-employment is another highly complicating factor for the benefits system to try and deal with. My up-and-down income leads to much scratching of heads and sucking of teeth. In my longer income-less spells, sometimes I am allocated JSA; sometimes not ... depending on how the tax year timings and my recent paid assignments have fallen. I don't even bother to try and claim anything else. Sometimes I meet with a sympathetic adviser (most times, to be honest, in fact; although I do tend to get passed around a lot, like a hot 50+ potato) sometimes less so; and I only have to walk a few hundred yards around the corner, when required. I have been fairly lucky.<br />I am, in many ways, luckier than Geoff. My 30 years of work have made me a home- and car-owner with savings. Quite rightly, that puts me somewhere near the bottom of the pile when it comes to hand-outs, despite my two dependent kids; and I have no complaints about that. I do, however, find my dealings with 'the authorities' quite Kafka-esque, at times; and my notebook pages, filled with overheard, and sometimes Orwellian, conversations from the Jobcentre might one day make an interesting series of short stories. Why are these sorts of discussions not held in private, rather than in an open-plan office environment? Does anybody know? While I sit on the mysteriously-sticky orange upholstery of the always over-crowded waiting areas, I sometimes genuinely expect to be (unexpectedly!) transformed into some sort of gigantic insect.<br />If and when that happens, I will surely write and let you all know... if I can train my antennae to type.<br /><br />DESDes Harneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14663081326795247331noreply@blogger.com