Job center telling me off for being 3 mins late

[makowhite]

When they never apologise when they call me in 20+ mins later (when I'm early) and the half an hour meetings never last more than 5-10 mins.

I'm rarely late, but seeing as the appointment is far longer than needed and they are late most of the time.

That explains a lot Iggle.

I was on job seekers 8 years ago, sad to hear it hasn't changed. Every week I arrived at 12.50 for my 1pm appointment, the earliest I was ever seen was 1.30.
The best was when they changed where you had to wait for my advisor to upstairs but nobody told me or the others waiting (no signs up either) so I waited till 1.45 and then asked at reception if all was ok. I received a lovely telling off like I was supposed to be a fucking mind reader that my advisor had switched offices

So glad to only be on for a few months.

Which shop is it Furi.

People who are never late for anything, because they've got time enough to kill that they can arrive 30 or more minutes early for every appointment, can't have particularly busy schedules.

By definition job seekers have at least 40 more free hours than the rest of us, not including commute. If they happen to be so busy, how would they have time to slot a full time job then?

It is a Scottish chemist type chain of shops, I 100% believe if they can have me work full time for this 'experience' they can give me a part time job I am only looking for 20 hours maximum as I have 2 children that will need full time childcare when not at school.

Thing is Furi if they get to have you work there for no wage for six weeks whats to stop them repeating it over and over again in conveyer belt fashion.

This is scary Queen Fury, because as of 2 weeks I need to sign on as a contract I am working on is ending. What about the rule that you have the right to limit your availability to your child's school hours if they are under 12 I think? Are they just ignoring that? This worries me :(

I won't go near my job center after the woman in charge of disability said "You work? Quotation mark to me the last time I went there. Yes as a matter of fact I do work, internationally I might add. And I am the head of my organization

As an example off the top of my head, parents with jobs are generally in a better position to find and afford childcare than those who are out of work, points Do you really need this explained to you?

I went once at appointed time and they were st lunch and I had to wait for them to come back.

Don't bother feeding points, computer, or anybody else. She made herself look foolish upthread, won't answer questions, and is back to stir.

Takemedown- There is supposed to be this rule. I was signed up for this extra help today voluntary but they didn't make it clear to me I was signing it they said sign this and we will talk about the next steps and it was dropped on me and I was told to come back in two weeks. They've also said I have to find work up to 90 minutes away which is almost Edinburgh way. I am seriously considering telling them to keep their money in the hope I can keep child tax credits and child benefit along with housing benefit to keep a roof over my boys heads. Finding a job though is proving hard I suffer anxiety, a stutter and have no experience I was a carer for my late mum until she died suddenly 18 months then my partner left me for someone else and I get zero maintenance. Sorry this has turned into a rant about my sorry excuse for a life .

Arseholes. I took a minimum wage job while looking for something, so I could get off the dole. The way they spoke to me... Worse than any parent / teacher / boss.

And again, in my experience as a recruiter, in the real world a majority of people are polite and on-time.

"In my experience as a 'patronising twat' spotter, this caught my eye"

A few of us spotted that one, justanother

That sounds dreadful, Queenfuri! I hope somebody can offer advice.

reuset What questions? I have replied to posters and was abused because I dare mentioning my experience in recruitment, fairly relevant when you are talking about candidates looking for jobs and companies looking for staff. That's what I do everyday, that's what I am paid for and my job being pretty much commission only, I must be doing something right.
You are free to dismiss my views, who cares, not sure about the necessity of insulting me because you don't agree. You are so mean, I might go and cry myself to sleep now, shall I ?

Well, and for example, I asked you the same question twice, as you can't answer it, you chose not to.

You are so mean, I might go and cry myself to sleep now, shall I grin?

Hmm...that's not odd at all. Don't you have any homework to be getting on with? It's not quite half term yet

People who work in the job centre aren't power mad! They are normal people, earning just enough and being pushed by their managers to follow all the constantly changing, complicated and unfair criteria set out by the government. They don't want to sanction you but they have to or they will be sat on your side of the desk. They get abuse as well from some clients hence security guards. I don't think I could do it. I don't think you deserved a telling off for being 3 minutes late but I imagine most of them will be under a lot of pressure.

I feel you're frustration OP, when I was on job seekers a few years back, I had a job interview land on the same day as sign on day.
I phoned the job centre to explain and ask for a rearrangement for another day as I knew I'd be pushing it for time due to having to rely on a train and a bus. I was told this was not acceptable reason to rearrange as my interview was at 10am and appointment at JC was at 1pm.
My interview overran and I missed my train so had to wait an hour for the next, when I got off train I ran to closest JC (not the one I had an appointment at) to explain that I wasn't going to make it and could I conduct appointment in that one. I was told no and because I couldn't make it to my JC on time I got sanctioned
Luckily I got the job I went for so I could come off JSA the following week.

My experience of job centre staff is mostly positive. But I believe that is a combination of meeting mostly nice people and the fact that I am very assertive and prepared to make calm and coherent complaints at the drop of a hat. The smarter nasty people sensed that and went for easier targets. The stupid ones got caught.

You should never be afraid to make a complaint. Yes, they can sanction you. But there are rules. They have to abide by them. The scary thing is that they can sanction you immediately. Your complaint might be upheld, but that's no consolation if you've been living without money for two months or more.

The truth is that some job centre staff are utter cunts and the system allows them to exercise their cuntishness. I believe some of the people on this thread don't understand that.

The alternative is that they do understand it. In which case I would direct them to their dream job in Jobcentreplus

I think jc can be ridiculous. I was on it for 3 months and one advisor was lovely. Another was an arrogant, jobsworth who seemed to think she knew everything about finfing work and looked down on me despite being the same age. They moan at you for being late yet theyre constantly behind on appointments. They give out sterling advice like not wearing jeans to interview. Youre made to jump through numerous hoops for your pittance, are told more or less that youre not trying (wgich i bloody was, i hated bsung out of work and actually stuck a job where staff were assaulted daily because i hated being unemployed, until i was assaulted that was). You are busy on jc. Its not 40 hrs doing fa. You have to account for 40hrs jobseeking a week in detail, its like being back in school. Op smile at tge advisor, dont rise to it, all the time thinking what a bastard thdy are and how petty. Im not saying tgeyre all like that, most ive talked to arent, but theres a few that are jobsworths and inflexible and they seem to be tge ones you get stuck with

Anyone supporting JCP staff and thinking the welfare system is generous obviously has little or no real experience of it. I simply say be careful what you wish/vote for as unless you have a guaranteed income for life then one day it could be you reaping what you've sowed

Being 3 minutes late is a matter of perspective, clocks can differ by 3 minutes surely?

Hopefully you haven't been sanctioned OP.

Yes and when a family friend had to do 37 hours work in a charity shop for his 70 quid (workfare) he was Aldo expected to job search.
I foolishly went into a job centre once for advice for a friend and the security guard on the way in treated me like scum. I am so glad I didn't bother to sign on when I didn't return to work after maternity leave.
My sister gets treated like scum by job centre staff too. Sees one advisor and tell them something. New advisor has a go at her because they can't be arsed to read file.
Gets sanctioned for working in a charity shop when they originally arranged work experience and had followed the rules. Spent a hour on an 0845 number to sort it.
Has to pay £5 to travel to sign on as they closed job centre. Mentioned it to an advisor and was told we have to pay too. Err you probably drive. No one on JSA can afford a car.
I could carry on but no I have no sympathy for job centre staff but plenty for the claimants. Yanbu op

I sometimes wondered whether my local jobcentre picked up the security staff that rough-as-arseholes nightclubs rejected for being a bit too aggressive.

The jobcenter do get things wrong.
When i wasn't working they were supposed to be calling me instead of me coming in. ( until i was signed off).
My usual advisor wAs sick and nobody rung me.
I rung them to be told i had missed my appointment
They decided to let me off and rearranged my app.
A week later i spoke to my usual advisor who said she had no idea why the other person had missed the giant memo on my file stating i was to be rung until further notice

There's a #No2Sanctions march on 30th March