Been offered a job, WIBU to turn it down and continue claiming benefits?

[Stevenson100]

Really struggling here. I am a single mum to 3 gorgeous boys - I've been in remission for a while now and could easily work. I do need the money and I want to prove to my boys that even if you get knocked down (cancer) you get back up again and build something for yourself. I have qualifications and used to be a chef for a really great hotel company.

I was offered a job role just before Christmas and I need to let them know by the new year, I'll have to cook live lobsters. I am so not keen on this. I don't have an issue cooking with meats, etc. but to be a part of the killing process? There is no way I'd be comfortable with that and I think that would cause a massive problem. WIBU to turn this job down because of that? I'd obviously be looking for other work and finding whatever comes up and going for it.

I think this is a great opportunity for you to 'be the change', find out how to do the freezer/killing thing and do that so you only pop them in the pot dead. If the restaurant doesn't allow that then leave. It is strange to be the person doing the killing at first if you have only ever dealt with meat that someone else has slaughtered but it can be a positive, you know you will treat each living thing in the humane, compassionate and respectful way it deserves, these lobsters are heading for the pot, regardless if you do it with compassion or if you leave it for someone else to cook them alive.

I agree with you chit, slaughterhouses are much worse than how lobsters are killed before eating

Well that's bollocks.

Take lamb for example.
They get off the lorry into a pen, in the same bunch they grew up in, went in the field with, travelled in the lorry with. No stress as they're used to travelling and being in pens.
They get their tags checked (all electric, don't even need hands on them).
Then they go down a race (a narrow channel that just admits one), again, all very normal and something they've done countless times on the farm.

The difference is that after a bit the first lamb goes around a sharp corner, and a spring gate stops the rest. The one round the corner (so the others can't see it) is stunned instantly and that's it. Then the rest go, one by one.

It couldn't really be any more humane.

I'm not sure you can compare that to being hoyed alive into a pan of boiling water.

wellerr. That may be true for non-intensively reared livestock from the UK - but meat imported from Europe and further away is often from livestock which have never been outside and and reared in hideous conditions.

The demand for cheap food means many restaurants and supermarkets source their meat, dairy etc from abroad and welfare is atrocious.

But they are not put in the pan alive. They are killed quickly and humanely before that point. If they are being put in the pan alive the chef is inexperienced.

Very true New. Which is why I only ever eat British meat - harder than you think, and rules most pizzas etc out.

You can't take the job and then lay down the law about which bits of it you will do, and it is wrong (and not good for you) not to take a job which you physically could do. So YABU - but good luck and from one survivor of cancer to another.

SomeOne up thread said that "the job sounds beneath you"

I just wanted to say that I don't think any job is beneath anyone. I don't think anyone is too good for any job.

If the op feels they are not capable, then I suppose it's fair enough. But it's a skill that can be learnt or adapted.

www.fishforthought.co.uk/lobsters.htm

www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/lobster

I think you should take the job and learn a more humane way to kill the lobster. Unless you are vegetarian or vegan it would be hypocritical to do otherwise.

I remember my dad boiling crabs in a big pan as a child and can still hear them screaming...So no I wouldn't apply to a sea food restaurant.

However. as a parent of 3 boys, what are the perks of this job? Are they great hours? Will it give you more experience and scope in the future.

I think principles are fine...Sometimes what you as a family need is more..

People will still eat, lobster, mussles and crab no matter whether you work there or not..I know nothing about how they are cooked ...Do you know how they prepare them in restaurant?

pinkmagic1 If the OP takes the job she'll have to do it, and if that includes killing lobsters by Method A she can't go in and announced that she is gong to use Method B, even if she believes Method B is more humane. That's not how the world of work goes.

Well I couldn't do the job. I'd go home crying every night. Thinking about the agony the poor thing must have been in, but then, I would not apply for a job in a sea food restaurant or Did the powers that be Aka Job centre "recommend" it to you, and you can't really say no. I don't suppose

I'd take the job as I think a life on benefits is a struggle. Always having to justify your every waking breath to some official who sees you more as a statistic; read: nuisance - than a person.
It's a lobster, you're a chef. Get on with it.

I remember my dad boiling crabs in a big pan as a child and can still hear them screaming..

The "screaming" is nothing more than the air in the shells expanding and escaping.
Shellfish, including crabs and lobsters, cannot vocalise - it is a ridiculous myth that does nothing more than validate the hypocrisy of meat/fish eaters who choose not to eat shellfish.

Andrew, I have been consistently employed since I left school so fully aware how the world of work works!
If she approaches her employer and explains that she is prepared to do it if she can use a more humane method they may be open to this. Work places evolve all the time and suggestions of staff members are often taken on board if the ideas are good for business.

I would take it too - although not a pleasant aspect of the job, will it be 100% of your job? It will do your self esteem no end of good and great for your boys to see you working. You might be able to move around in the kitchen, and do something different. Also it's much easier to get a job when you are in a job, so something else might come up.

YABU - if you eat meat and fish (I certainly do) it is incredibly hypocritical to be squeamish about the fact that living creatures need to be killed for it. You can and should, of course, insist on doing it humanely.

to turn the job down and then expect the state to support you would be ' a little shellfish' boom boom!

Get your coat december

YABU, providing for your children should be priority. Unless you are a vegan then I see little difference as you are happy that eat animals so your morals are very shallow to draw the line there.

A chef in a seafood restaurant who isn't prepared to deal with lobsters. Okay....

Where do you draw the line? The poor ickle wickle mussels? What about those innocent little winkles? Or the traumatised razor clams, ripped from their homes and forced onto our plates? I can hardly bear the trauma of it all.

No problem with vegetarians but getting all misty-eyed and sentimental over a bloody lobster is way over the top, as is spreading misconceptions about screaming crabs. As if. OP has had good advice about asking the restaurant about methods of dealing with the lobsters but if part of the job is dealing with live lobsters then she'll just have to get on with it. We can't pick and choose the bits of a job we don't fancy doing, especially as turning down a perfectly good job while reliant on state support will probably get you sanctioned.

screaming crabs

Starlight2345 I know you didn't intend it to be but your post is hilarious.

I think you would need to weigh up your decision based on what's best for you and your family. When DC were young I found childcare costs really high and juggling family life very tricky. Good luck whatever you decide

I'm afraid YABU. You've been offered a job which you can do and you have a responsibility to provide for your family rather than expecting someone else to do that while you look for the perfect job. Why not see this as an opportunity to learn a new skill and as others have said, talk to the restaurant about the methods they use. All the best with everything OP.

Can't believe the amount of posters who don't give a shit about an animal dying for food- particularly in an inhumane way. Yes, I am a vegan because I couldn't be a part of this, and yes most humans are cunts for not having a conscience.

Surely we- not from some medieval backwards country that does halal for e.g.- should be concerned with an animal's welfare, and kill the unfortunate animal as quickly and 'cleanly' as possible?

Are lobsters not frozen til they sleep and then cooked alive? That's what I thought the process was. It's not like you're going to hear it screaming and thrashing around.

I am slightly conflicted. I don't think you should do a job that you feel this strongly against. To me, its not a 'benefits vs job' situation. Its a moral one. If you morally can't cook live lobster then don't do it.