Alright, so if you read my post yesterday (If you haven’t, please do) you’ll know I recently became unemployed for the first time in a good few years. Today I signed on… for the first time…ever. Now admittedly I’m not a judgmental person and generally to go into things with an open mind, today was going to be no different. Until I got there.
Now before I say anymore I would just like to point out again that this is the first time I have ever signed on and have no intention of doing it for any longer than I have to, I have not earned any of the money I will get from JSA and very uncomfortable with that fact but unfortunately I need money to live.
So getting the above statement out of the way, I went to sign on with an open mind and with hoping that I wouldn’t walk into what could be an audition room for Jeremy Kyle… Sadly I was wrong.
As I have said I am not one to judge or attach a person I have never met to a stereotype but there came a point today that I couldn’t help it. Before I had even entered the building I was greeted with a man wearing a man made matching tracksuit smoking a not entirely legal substance. (I have no issue with this but not outside a public building waiting to sign on). He was also holding a can of Fosters, this was at half ten in the morning.
Ok so not the most comforting of starts, still it was just the one person. Upon entering the building I was actually pleasantly surprised by how friendly the staff were, you smiled, they smiled back. I like smiling at people, it makes me feel more comfortable. This however was the staff, the people that work there, everyone else… Didn’t help the stereotype I was desperately trying to not place them in.
Whilst I was waiting for my “Work Coach” Alan to call me over it became all to easy to start people watching and overhearing conversations I probably shouldn’t have. One man wanted to get a job in social work (Good for him) when he was asked what experience he had his answer was “Oh, …do you need experience for that then mate?” (Well the incentive was there I suppose). He was handed an application form for something which I then later witnessed being thrown into a bin. Maybe he wanted to fill it in online.
This is where it unfortunately started to go down hill, someone walked in , again wearing a tracksuit bottom and sports jacket only to be told that he was half an hour late and to come back at four o’clock. He told the “Work Coach” that she was fu&*ing joking before storming out. Ok he was having a bad day and this just pushed him a little too far, it’s happened to us all right? The next person to walk in was also late, and surprisingly it was the man I encountered before I came in. Upon hearing that he had missed his appointment he hissed, yes he hissed the words “For f*ck sake” under his breath, sat down, rolled a cigarette and left.
By this point I have completely given into any assumptions I was trying not to have and am waiting to see a spokesman for Jeremy Kyle to announce himself, thankfully before this could happen I was called for interview. Halfway through my discussion with Alan about what he would do the gentleman next to me (I use this term very lightly) Stood up and pushed everything off the desk in front of him. Screaming at the top of his lungs “This is a waste of time, it’s a fu*king joke, your a fu*king bit*h.” So this is why there were security guards, I had wondered.
I can only imagine that he was escorted out if the building, which would make sense , what doesn’t make sense is the fact that the fire alarm went off within minuets of the man being removed. I’m all for believing in coincidences but sometimes it’s just a little too much. I’m not saying the alarm was set off intentionally but after everything it wouldn’t have surprised me.
So…this is going to be a weekly occurrence for me for the unforeseeable future. I will try to keep going with an open and un-judgmental mind as I am fully aware that not everyone there is a candidate for a certain daytime confrontation show, I will try.
I am not judgmental…
Peace
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