To think that people living on welfare shouldn't be running off every five minutes for a new tattoo or piercing?

[allfurcoatandnoknickers1]

I'm probably going to get shot down for this, but I just had a little disagreement with a woman I know. She posted a photo on Facebook of a rather large tattoo on her forearm that she'd just had done. Last month she had skin divers put in her chest and hand. The month before she had another shit tattoo.
This individual is single and has two children. She hasn't worked a day in the last decade, but is living off the state. Am I being a bitch by thinking she should spend the money she receives on feeding the children and keeping a roof over their heads? I noted that she feeds her boys Pot Noodle for dinner but makes sure she's got her fags too. It just annoys me.

Op I can't believe that people don't agree with you!

Literally no one on this thread has said the OP is wrong for thinking the tattoo lady needs to prioritise better. No one.

Dixie charity shops are everywhere... same as pound shops and coffee shops. The shopping precinct in my area has 7 charity shops in a mile stretch.

Erm...library's have been around for some time, you know. I've heard it all now. Do you seriously think benefits are there to spend at bloody Waterstones? I agree with everything the op has posted.

Do RTFT. My library has been knocked down.

I also recently bought my DD practice papers for her upcoming SATs from waterstones. Would you rather I had spent my ESA on fags user?

dawn enjoy your coffee.

Rose I suggest you broaden your social circle then.

Can someone draw up a list of places benefit claimants aren't allowed to go?

Quite sad to be banned from Waterstones.

Dixie the charity shop that is nearest to me is two towns away. It's also ridiculously expensive now and I refuse to shop in there after I saw the disgraceful way their treated their workers one Christmas.

I've been reading a wonderful nook I got for £1 from Asda though. I'm wondering if I've been too frivalent now and should have rooted around the thousands of charity shops near my mums when I visited last week though. You know. For one that was about 20p so I didn't waste my money like...

I was raised in a small Berkshire village.

There were two buses a day – one in the morning, one in the evening – which got people in and out. There is no Tesco or Sainsbury. The closest one of those is about 40 min away on the bus. There is a co-op in the village. There’s no charity shops at all – the closest one is, again, 40 min away on the bus. When I was a kid it had a library. A few years ago the library cut back its opening hours to two days per week. Last year it closed. So, no, there aren’t a lot of options for people on benefits there to get these amazing practically free books. I doubt my village is unique.

I also note that most people don’t spend their lives on benefits. Under 1% of families have two generations on benefits. Only 2% of families on benefits have never worked. It’s a tiny proportion. More than 80% of job seekers claimants are on benefits for less than six months. So you’re not actually punishing the work shy or lazy. You’re mostly aiming to punish people who lost a job and need a bit of help for the relatively short period of time in which they get a new one. That’s who you’re going after – people who have worked, and will work again. Those people are also the people likely to come onto benefits with financial commitments they can’t get out of. Don’t know about you, but if I lost my job tomorrow, I’d still have a smart phone because I’ve got a two year contract. Sky also doesn’t let you cancel partway through a contract. And if the odds are high that you’ll be out of work for 4-5 months, it’s bloody ridiculous to sell off all your possessions for a fraction of what they are worth and then have to buy replacements later on when you get back in work.

The people who are most likely to be on benefits long term are the disabled, or people with caring responsibilities who apparently you want to also give a sound kicking to. Because screw those people.

Annesmyth123, no you're not. I was just working. What should you have done? Contacted the police would be my first step.

He told me the police,wouldn't believe me. That I was so stupid and worthless if I went to the police Ss would take my kids off me and he'd make sure I never saw them again. Nobody would believe it. It wasn't rape it was just his rights. I had no bruises who would believe me and stood and laughed at me.

So I didn't.

I failed your test.

Rose your right someone needs to take a good look in the mirror.

My dh and I work bloody hard for sod all!
We pay rent, travel expenses household bills, buy cheap food
with what is left, and have NOTHING to show for it.
This right???!?

Ok right
I was too scared to contact the police, too scared to go against my evil bastard ex in case I got another punch!!!!!

What should you have done? Contacted the police would be my first step.

Ah if only it were that simple. The DV courts would be a lot less busy and women's aid and other DV charities could have a rest too!

Awaywiththepixies, I don't know about take this, but I do have a private GP. I also Ave to pay an NHS surcharge if I should require it which I hope I don't of course. I am entitled to no benefits. I have zero children and did all my education in my home country and post graduate education in UK on scholarship from my home country. Do you have anything more to say about how I take in more from the state than I put into have put in during my 12 years here?

Portia you don't need to explain yourself. Most of us here have the sense to know that the police and DV charities know that leaving is the most dangerous time to leave or report a violent partner.

blueyedboy do you and your DH have children?

The victim blaming on here is vile and disgusting.

I didn't even have a phone that I could use without being questioned. He knew every single place I went. I had to account for every single trip in the car. He knew where I was every minute of every day and if a strange number had shown up on a phone bill he would have found out what it was and I'd have had hell to pay.

Some people really have no idea.

Do you have anything more to say about how I take in more from the state than I put into have put in during my 12 years here?

Actually yes I do have something more to say below:

For god sake read the bloody thread! I specifically stated CHILD related benefits/IN WORK benefits. If you don't have children/don't claim any IN WORK benefits, then YOU don't apply do you?

Ilovesooty I'm trying!

He has, on occasion, locked me in the house and on another stood in front of the door refusing to let me leave and telling me if I laid a hand on him he would report me for assault.

The thread was about benefits claimants who take advantage of teaching system. Anyone ill or disabled is not taking advantage but using the system as it is meant. Anyone using benefits to better a bad situation is using the system as it is meant. People who take advantage either deliberately or benigly through exercising bad choices after bad choices with no desire to learn or better themselves becuase you know those bad choices will be supported and validated with endless sate support, are the target of ire and rightfully so.
Dawndonnaagain, you have spoken at length on other threads of your circumstances and they are very difficult. I have never said people on benefits should be given food stamps or not allowed to buy books. Having said that, I work and in the eyes of this country I am supposedly right enough to warrant a higher tax rate (what a joke when a supposed high earner cannot even afford a house) and I don't buy my books new from Waterstones and I read a lot. I buy second hand books for 1p from amazon marketplace.