Urgh!
"In the past ten years a chasm has opened up between the workaholics and the quaintly named 'work-shy'."
"As one man outside a Jobcentre Plus in Peterborough explained: 'I'd prefer to sign on than do that. I don't want to work in no cornfield for £25,000 a year'."
No cornfield could have kept me away for that kind of money if I'd applied for and been accepted for the job! The most I ever earned as a legal secretary was about £11,000. If I'd known there were vacancies out there where I could have a job working outside in the fresh air, doing a job which actually fed and benefited people, and benefiting me too through being outside and getting exercise, instead of being stuck in an office doing a stressful job to line the pockets of what, for the most part, were ruthless money-grabbers, I would have so gone for it! The perceived wisdom was that agricultural work was very low-paid - and I had a mortgage to pay... Maybe that was correct at the time and wages have improved since. Dunno.
I agree with most of this article, except the following:
The GOS says: I'd just like to add one little personal note. One Times reader, Katie from Frome, wrote in to say "Why are you suggesting that depressed people are workshy? Depression is a very serious and debilitating illness."
There's the nub of the problem, really, isn't it? We have come to accept that almost any ailment or unhappiness is someone else's fault, and that sufferers must be pitied, helped and treated as victims. Many years ago I was diagnosed with depression myself. I never missed a day's work, though, and with the help of the doctor's pills and some meditation classes I hauled myself through it eventually and never looked back. In my experience depression is as debilitating as you allow it to be.
And was Katie from Frome claiming to be a "Victim"? Someone else's fault? It doesn't read that way. (Incidently, I went to school near Frome, but I don't know Katie!) Is 'flu someone else's fault? Maybe, if they sneeze over you, but how are they to know? Heart disease, someone else's fault? No, probably your own. Cancer... Who knows? Genetics probably plays a part in heart disease and cancer, for example, but are we going to blame our loving parents? I don't think so. I can't answer for the "stupid" people of whom the author speaks. I just wonder if they've ever applied for jobs and been turned down coz they're too "fat". I don't think so... I doubt if they have ever wanted a job...*
The stigma is so far entrenched that I even feel uneasy writing about it here, dear readers. The fear of rejection is, well, horrible...
I think the author of this article was either not seriously depressed or was in a job he really loved... That can make a difference you know?!
Read the whole article here. Not all Brits are spongers!
* coz they've prolly never applied for a job ever at all in their whole lives, lol!
:) xxx
I agree with most of this article, except the following:
The GOS says: I'd just like to add one little personal note. One Times reader, Katie from Frome, wrote in to say "Why are you suggesting that depressed people are workshy? Depression is a very serious and debilitating illness."
There's the nub of the problem, really, isn't it? We have come to accept that almost any ailment or unhappiness is someone else's fault, and that sufferers must be pitied, helped and treated as victims. Many years ago I was diagnosed with depression myself. I never missed a day's work, though, and with the help of the doctor's pills and some meditation classes I hauled myself through it eventually and never looked back. In my experience depression is as debilitating as you allow it to be.
I have been a lifelong depressive. To get jobs I've had to hide it. Lying (even by omission) goes against the grain, but there has always been a stigma attached to depression. It's got a little better in recent years but it hasn't really permeated into the "working world". The only jobs I've ever been turned down for, when I've got as far as an interview, are those where I was upfront about my depression! "Workshy"? I don't think so.
And was Katie from Frome claiming to be a "Victim"? Someone else's fault? It doesn't read that way. (Incidently, I went to school near Frome, but I don't know Katie!) Is 'flu someone else's fault? Maybe, if they sneeze over you, but how are they to know? Heart disease, someone else's fault? No, probably your own. Cancer... Who knows? Genetics probably plays a part in heart disease and cancer, for example, but are we going to blame our loving parents? I don't think so. I can't answer for the "stupid" people of whom the author speaks. I just wonder if they've ever applied for jobs and been turned down coz they're too "fat". I don't think so... I doubt if they have ever wanted a job...*
The stigma is so far entrenched that I even feel uneasy writing about it here, dear readers. The fear of rejection is, well, horrible...
I think the author of this article was either not seriously depressed or was in a job he really loved... That can make a difference you know?!
Read the whole article here. Not all Brits are spongers!
* coz they've prolly never applied for a job ever at all in their whole lives, lol!
:) xxx
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