To think people in decent jobs don't realise how hard it is to get a second crappy job..

[ssd]

I keep seeing comments on the tax credits threads about tc claimants needing to work more, like its that easy.

I can imagine if you have kept up your job since having kids due to either being able to afford childcare or having that and a mix of free family help, then you will be earning a decent enough wage and there might be overtime at your organisation, or at the very least you will be on set hours/days...so if you wanted overtime you'd know when you were available to work.

I can imagine thousands on tax credits arent in this position. I work part time and have been trying to get a full time job, or at least another part time job that would fit in with the job I have.

Its bloody impossible and trust me, I'm trying!!

Full time jobs are very rare, round here its all part time job requiring full time flexibility...so they offer you 20 hours a week and expect you to be free all week to fit around them, this makes it impossible to have 2 part time jobs

So for every poster saying "work more", please consider this isnt as easy as you'd imagine.

But as you've said it now, I'll settle for showing you my SA302 by PM if you show me yours

Not really the people you resent will still be in a better position than you.
It's life there there are some better off and some worse off.
I'm hardly ever on MN just come on occasionally to read stories and now I'm off to bed as I have theatre first thing!

What on earth are you dribbling on about Lolli?

Oh seriously lollipop

I spent 4 years at uni and a further 1 year post post grad on the job training - all self funded (no family support)

I got married at 31 and had my first child at 32 - all fine and dandy until DH's business collapsed and he left me and our 3 kids for the OW

Don't fucking blather on about hard work - lots of people on low wages work fucking hard - I don't work as hard now as I did working as a waitress or chambermaid

I worked hard - I have worked since I was 17 - I am still on £18k and need CTC

Stop looking down on other people

and if you are a surgeon I am the pope - bless you

DeoGratias: Did you think, at all, about whether you were paying these people the equivalent of a living wage for the cleaning/DIY they were doing? Or wonder about how much of the money you paid actually went into the pockets of the people who did the work and how much was taken by the agency?

When I was doing leaflet distribution, my then-boss was happy for me to take on smaller jobs by myself and negotiate with clients: time after time potential clients would say that I was charging too much. I would point out, politely, that what they wanted to pay or claimed to have paid in the past worked out to less than half the minimum wage, and that perhaps it wasn't surprising that if this was all they were prepared to pay, the distributors were prone to vanishing or throwing the leaflets in a skip.

Oh and BTW, one of those glib but uncomfortably true memes doing the rounds on social media - "If hard work were all it took, every African woman would be a billionaire...". It's another of those factors that keeps people poor in the UK: you can work your arse off in minimum-wage-ish agency jobs, but there's no promotion or pay rise, because the agency really doesn't give a flying fuck about the pool of cheap labour it manages and the agencies have control over most if not all of the unskilled or low-skilled jobs in your area.

Very true SGB

in any case, the hardest work is often the lower paid work, IME. By a very long chalk.

(Even in this country, I mean - despite better tech than much of Africa)

I'm sorry to burst your bubble but yes I am a surgeon, an ophthalmologist to be exact I have my medical degree and have my full FRCOphth... Plus a BSc... I am in specialty year 5 of training... I independently do my own phaco list and I work in the BIrmingham Miland Eye hospital... If you want my full credentials pm me I would be much obliged!

I'm sorry I'm not trying to say I've worked harder this is not a competition but I have worked hard! But I appreciate hard work does not always equal high pay and I don't think I'm highly paid either!

I am an immigrant ( well was not born here) and I'm also 31. It's about choices to be honest some might say I've made good choices and I'm grateful for the position I'm in today.

As a doctor believe me you don't have to tell me about poor health and how that can change ones life in the blink of an eye just last week I dealt with a patient who most likely has MS and presented with her first episode of optic neuritis.

I as merely stating life is about choices and hard work that's all

My mum was a a cleaner and carer and came to this country with nothing so I'm hardly the one to look down on anyone please grow up

It's about choices to be honest some might say I've made good choices and I'm grateful for the position I'm in today.

As a doctor believe me you don't have to tell me about poor health and how that can change ones life in the blink of an eye just last week I dealt with a patient who most likely has MS and presented with her first episode of optic neuritis.

I as merely stating life is about choices and hard work that's all

So people CHOOSE to be ill or disabled do they? You're not sounding any more delightful as this wears on.

Every word you write makes you sound more unpleasant.

And I don't get this people who get paid less work harder! When I'm deep inside someone's eye I'm constantly ensuring I do a good job and they don't go blind from my operation.

If that's not stressful I don't know what is

Go away Lolli, there's a dear.

Psst. Did anyone tell superior Strawberry about the 48 hour rule yet?

If that lady with MS needs to apply for DLA/PIP will you be helping her with that Lollipop.

There are actually quite a few shy Tory NHS workers on here and i highly doubt they would post the same comments on FB under their real names.

maybe watch less Greys Anatomy?

anyway hard work is NOT always reflected in pay - that's just a fact

so stop with the 'I worked hard' bollox - so did most people - they just didn't get the grades or have the money to go to medical school

These are my opinions if you don't like them too bad
You don't need to attack people just because you don't agree with them
YOU are the ones being unpleasant you are adamant I'm lying about my career even though I say I'm not why would I lie and I don't support Tories either what makes you think I do? I've filled in many CVI forms for blindness/partial sightedness reg which I'm sure people claim benefits do hell even my mum claims benefits I'm not against benefits

I'm sorry not all doctors are born with a silver spoon in their mouth I worked HARD whether you like it or not I'm also repaying a massive student loan so I didn't spend much going to medical school my first 4 years fees were laid by the state

There are many doctors on mumsnet I guess they choose not to mention their career possibly because they will get a bunch of jealous neurotic women attacking them if they do

Methinks it's time for a name change
I'll disappear now as I know you people don't like to be around people who are not like you!

Where did I say choose to be I'll sort I have to address that comment too as you are turning things around to make me sound unpleasant because you don't like me

All because I said I was a hard working doctor and made an inaccurate reference to your name

I'll disappear now as I know you people don't like to be around people who are not like you

Charmed, I'm sure. Let's just hope you don't ever fall on hard times eh?

I don't think people were "attacking" you because they're a bunch of jealous, neurotic women but more because your initial post seemed quite antagonistic and implied that you made some incorrect, unpleasant and unfounded assumptions about people's work ethic particularly in relation to your own based upon their capacity to work full or part time hours.

StrawberryField You know what amazes me in the UK?! There are thousands of locals moaning about not being able to find a job for months, but then arrives a guy from Eastern Europe with 5 words in English and ta-da in few days he has a full time job, one of those crappy jobs btw. Surely a person, who has always lived in the UK, is fluent in English, understand the local system and culture, should be having advantage over that guy?

You really really don't have a clue, do you. Having been made redundant earlier this summer, DH now has an "ongoing" temporary contract. Some temps will eventually get permanent jobs there, but it won't be DH. He's British so he's the wrong nationality.

The OP is also wrong about one point. I have a professional career. Not brilliantly well-paid (certainly not in any danger of paying higher rate tax) but probably what she considers a decent wage. My contract states, as I expect do many, that I am required to work the hours necessary to fulfill my role. There is no such thing as overtime.

My initial post.

I do get what strawberrytealeaf is saying.
It is about making the right choices at the right time. I had fairly pot parents gee up k. A council estate but my parents were always thinking highly about what they encouraged their children to do and I'm very grateful for their encouragement and guidance.

But I've had to work bloody hard to be where I am today, spent huge amounts (now thankfully being paid back) but also still spending on postgraduate exams, courses and what not. I've spent hours studying to pass the necessary exams. I've spent hours of my time in wetlabs to be a better surgeon.

I literally have invested a lot of time in my career and I feel I'm being rewarded now I have a very good pay in my opinion with lots of opportunity for lucrative locums/overtime. I've also made sacrifices too like delaying getting married and delaying motherhood.

I know it will be worth it in the end though not just from a financial point of view but I feel accomplishment too.