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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think this is a sign of the times we live in.....

396 replies

MidWeekSlump · 05/09/2012 23:56

My daughter today was telling us about her new high school... lots of stories. Then we got to lunch, her friend gets free dinners, when they went to get dinner (which cost my daughter £2), her friend complained as she had to pay 20p extra to add to her lunch as hers is free.

She said her friend started arguing with the dinner ladies about her free dinner and being a single parent family, then went on to say she shouldn't have to pay for the drink.

My daughter said she thought her friend was being silly as it was a lovely meal for only 20p a day if she wants extras....

Am I wrong for feeling sad that my daughters friend at 11 is already pulling the whole "I'm entitled to it" attitude out of the bag????

OP posts:
AllThingsOrange · 06/09/2012 01:00

Amber many bus companies provide ID cards so children can prove their age and qualify for their discounted tickets.

tethersend · 06/09/2012 01:01

"Your the ill educated one shirley"

Grin
Birdsgottafly · 06/09/2012 01:02

I also used to be on benefits when I was first left holding the baby and I couldn't believe the ridiculous amount of money u get

You must have lived on a different benefit system to me then, when my DH died, because i did live in poverty.

You also lived on a different benefit system to the one that 'my families' (via work) live on.

LineRunner · 06/09/2012 01:06

We are only getting this version of events 3rd hand anyway.

Flojo1979 · 06/09/2012 01:07

JSA for a single person is pretty shit, but income support with kids and all the extras is crazy. Every body is different. I'm certainly not disputing that some ppl smoke and drink and r crap with money or having got debt and end up chasing their tail and I'd be the first to help them out.
All children should be entitled to a hot meal, dessert and a drink at school
What I don't like is the patronising ppl on here that immediately assumed the child was skint when we don't know that.

thecook · 06/09/2012 01:07

I also used to be on benefits when I was first left holding the baby and I couldn't believe the ridiculous amount of money you get

Now you are talking out of your arse.

SuperB0F · 06/09/2012 01:09

I cannot believe this thread has even been started. Frankly, I feel ashamed to call myself a mumsnetter in some of this company.

AllThingsOrange · 06/09/2012 01:13

I was brought up by my mother after my father died. There were 5 of us. Mum had a part time job and received no benefits apart from the family allowance that all were entitled to. We struggled but we survived, I was well fed, I got presents at Christmas. I say we struggled but in reality it was my mum who struggled, worried and had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Had we received the benefits people receive today life would have been so different for mum.

Part of me thinks that a fair few people are bloody acting entitled these days. It gives the truly needy out there a bad name and all get tarred with the same brush. The whole system needs a thorough review IMO.

SayersIsBetterThanGreggs · 06/09/2012 01:13

I call bollocks over this thread.

Big fat hairy bollocks >

Sorry op but I don't believe a word of it, it's benefit bashing by stealth and you madam, are a twat.

SayersIsBetterThanGreggs · 06/09/2012 01:16

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Moominsarescary · 06/09/2012 01:16

Don't know how much things have changed in the last 8 years but I certainly didn't get lots of money, was in a HA property at the time with storage heaters and I could only afford to heat the childens room for an hour at night and an hour in the morning and have the gas fire on in the livingroom for a bit each day. I used to cook dinner in my coat it was so bloody cold.

I was lucky as my mum helped out buying food for the 6 months it took me to finish my access course and get a job else I wouldn't have been able to have the heating on even that much

tethersend · 06/09/2012 01:17

Yeah, all these bloody people with a sense of entitlement to the benefits they are entitled to, Bastards.

Flojo1979 · 06/09/2012 01:20

This reply has been deleted

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Darkesteyeswithflecksofgold · 06/09/2012 01:21

Now i'm working I'm much worse off but I love my job and have a strong work ethic and I'm no longer entitled to FSMs or all the other perks that come with being on benefits.
above quote from Flojo.
Translated this means "i dont get it so why should they"
"im worse off so they should be too."

AmberLeaf · 06/09/2012 01:21

Your the ill educated one shirley by assuming she was poor. What ever made u assume such a thing?

Hmm id hazard a guess at the fact that she is on free school meals being an indicator that shes poor?

AmberLeaf · 06/09/2012 01:24

You're not very bright are you flojo?

There is no need to assume anything about a persons finances if their children get free school meals.

The mere fact that they get them means that their parents are poor.

Flojo1979 · 06/09/2012 01:25

I was in private rented and my housing benefit didn't cover it and still plenty left over. But every one is different. I have friends on benefits who moan they r skint then go out and buy (what I perceive) to be silly things. And i have friends that work who r very skint cos of mortgages and nursery fees.
Everyone is different. Hence why ppl shouldn't have assumed FSMs girl couldn't afford 20p, maybe it was OP dd who couldn't.

Flojo1979 · 06/09/2012 01:29

Amber I was getting FSMs and I def was not poor, I just ticked the right box on the sheet.

thecook · 06/09/2012 01:29

Flojo1979 I don't need online calculators, I have been on JSA before. Worst time of my life.

And you are benefit bashing. I do hope you aren't claiming child benefit, because that is a benefit you know.

Flojo1979 · 06/09/2012 01:29

I think its u that's not bright Amber to make such an assumption.

Flojo1979 · 06/09/2012 01:31

the cook I'm on benefits, just diff ones now I work I.e lost the income support/JSA perks.

tethersend · 06/09/2012 01:33
Biscuit

That'll be 20p, please Smile

Flojo1979 · 06/09/2012 01:35

If u don't have 20p u can't have the snack. Sounds equal to me.

AllThingsOrange · 06/09/2012 01:38

We can squabble all night on here about benefits but it won't change the fact that the whole benefits system is flawed and out of control.
I'm bitter about the whole thing right now. I have friends who are struggling and can't get enough help and I've just seen someone abuse the system so much that I wanted to scream. It's just wrong.

AmberLeaf · 06/09/2012 01:39

You ticked the right box~? what do you mean the being on income support box?

Unless you were being paid some mystical amount of income support that only applied to you how can you say you were not poor?

What you said earlier about the assumptions people on here make about people on benefits....do you think everyone on here is middle class and earning megabucks~? do you think they need to rely on your story of what its like to be on benefits?

Believe me lots of people on here are on benefits.

We know from our own experiences that if you're a single parent on income support you are poor.