I might well be unreasonable but here goes.....

[cocktailclub]

It seems that a lot of the working age population now are snowflakes or incompetent or just don't care enough to do a good job. It's rare to manage people who actually work reliably the hours they are paid to.
I just wonder what would happen to the economy in general if
A) employees turned up and worked hard for the hours they were paid
B) employees only took sick leave when they were really unwell
C) employees did not regard the usual ups and downs of life as 'mental health' but reserved that for people with actual mental illness like clinical depression, schizophrenia etc
D) employees just genuinely cared about doing a good job and tried hard

Also would the NHS thrive if we weren't all so dependent on referrals for minor issues and just took a bit of ownership and responsibility for staying well.

If people stopped blaming social workers for child abuse and looked at the parents.

Sorry a bit of a rant but I'm disillusioned

People pull a sickie for a school nativity play? Heard it all now!

👏

How do you make the drunken/ drug taking/ mentally I’ll/ themselves from an abusive and damaged home accountable?

Ok. every single one of us, every member of the UK workforce os going to take your advice & do exactly this - take a higher paid job.

This is BRILLIANT. We are all now high paid workers.

Except ... who is now doing the low paid jobs? The shitwork, the McJobs, the zero hours & minimum wage jobs? Will you volunteer, OP?

Imo,

1. people aren’t so afraid to admit it now- less shame around it. Shame still a problem though.

2. mental health issues generally increase when it’s harder to make a living, house and feed yourself and your kids etc.

3. the pandemic - enormous stress fear and isolation.

Also, we are more aware of mental
health issues as a topic because accessing help for mental health has become more difficult.

This isn’t a new thing. There have always been people like this this in work, public and private sector and there always will be. If you have a lot of staff like that it’s more likely to be your fault though - poor pay, poor conditions, poor recruitment practices, lazy management, poor work culture, etc.

Hit post too soon.

So now we're all high paid workers, how are you going to manage inflation?

What are you going to do to make capitalism start working again?
Because I can assure you that us all simply refusing low paid work & being able to walk instantly into high paid work has just broken capitalism.

Have you never realised it's a pyramid scheme, totally dependent on 90% of people being at the arse end of the pyramid? There's only X amount of that odd construct 'money' to go round. That's why the rich can only get richer if the poor get poorer. That's why capitalism is deliberately constructed to keep wages low.

Now we are all comfortably off, where are the poor people whose poverty ensure that the rich keep getting richer? Gone. So who do you think the pyramid scheme owners are going to come after now? Yeah - the comfortably off. They don't even need guns, though they're not afraid to pay other people to use them - they have inflation. Inflation doesn't bother them, they have enough money to ride it out, & even make more money by playing rigged markets & investing in unholy practices.
But it will now bother the comfortably off, who become the new poor. And are forced to take up the shitjobs, because inflation has caused enough businesses to go bust that it's an employer's market again.

You haven't thought this through have you OP?
This is where you thank me for doing it for you btw. You're welcome.

Good grief, I can only assume that you are not being serious with this post @cocktailclub and this was meant to give everyone a bit of a laugh to take some of the pre-Christmas stress away!

You are correct!

And OP has overlooked one small, yet highly relevant fact - that this utopian society where we are all equal and no one is poor or goes without, has already been tried. It’s called communism! And it doesn’t bloody work! Not when the Russians tried it. Not when the Chinese tried it. Not when the North Koreans tried it. Because there will always be inequality, whatever system is trialled.

Ridiculous post.

Especially your point about blaming social workers for child abuse. So you think we should just allow children to be abused and then assign blame to parents afterwards? The point is to protect children not assign blame.

People should be paid a living wage to work and the NHS and education system shouldn't rely on the god will of nurses and teachers (who often can't afford to heat their homes) to function. People should expect to pay for public services not vote in a government that will deliberately starve them of funding then act surprised when they don't function well anymore.

It's not just about management though. A manager cannot change people's personalities or values. Although the poster who said it's about systems not individuals makes a good point

In a non work context it's so rare to get good customer service and get a job done as per contract or get what you paid for. Standards everywhere seem to have declined

I don't support him. I'm not really a conservative however I also don't think Labour offer a credible alternative and fear they would make things worse.

I wonder what would happen if

• employees could afford to own a home based on their wage
• employees could afford to feed their families based on their wage
• employees could afford childcare so they could work the hours they were supposed to.
• employers were held accountable for their own hours/work load.

Maybe if those things were true ‘mental health’ wouldn’t be such an issue and young people would be more motivated to work.

I’m a very young end millennial (almost 30) and have given 110% to every job I was in since been a teen. I have a very good degree and work very hard, turn up on time an punctual…etc

Every job I ever had offered a £25-35k salary for a 40 hour week but had workloads that required 50+ hours a week just to keep your head above water…and they expected you to be available at all times of day.
Im now a SAHM to 2 toddlers because the childcare costs were more than my ‘decent’ salary.

But that's your opinion

I am saying that everyone turns on social workers when there is a tragic child abuse case. However often there is a parent who has walked away from any responsibility (a dad who separates from the mum whose new boyfriend abuses the child).
Everyone has a role to play in preventing abuse not just social services.

I actually don’t think that’s true any more. It’s generally accepted that the government have cut social service funding so brutally and so relentlessly that there will be children who are missed. Then when those children die, after years of neglect and abuse, everyone just nods and says ‘something must be done’. Then vote the Tories in for another go.

Remember too that we’re now seeing over a decade of SS cuts - so the primary-aged children who lived with abuse are now approaching the age where they will be having their own kids. And we know abuse is cyclical.

I don’t work in social services but for anyone who does: have we seen any changes in policy since the last child was murdered?

@cocktailclub what do you do for a living?
Social services have been asked to explain themselves where children have been killed by neglectful or murderous parents. Usually after the parents have already been tried, that’s usually how the failure to spot the abuse is revealed. What exactly is your problem with that?
Re wages, jobs and effort you want people earning the least to what work themselves to the bone?? People should do what’s required of them to meet the contractual terms set out by their employer. In my experience if they don’t, they get fired.
Finally, you know it’s medical professionals who sign off on sick leave? So it’s their professional opinion as to whether or not someone is fit to return to work? Does your gripe extend to the medical profession or is only reserved for those of a more lowly position?

I could argue with this but I can't be bothered. I'll just say I wouldn't want to work with you. And for the record, I'm 60 and have been managing people for years.

@Eyerollcentral
Don't get me started on GPs....yes I do hold them responsible for signing off sick certificates without even offering a face to face appointment or any treatment.
I think GPs are an example of how employees are playing the system. Of course I'm talking in general terms but they no longer provide an effective service yet get highly paid.
The money would be better spent on allied professionals like physiotherapists, CBT practitioners, dieticians and such who could advise on treatment of minor issues

@luckylavender I wouldn't want to work with you either if you can't be bothered to explain

Christ. Your argument is essentially ‘all of these public services the Tories have cut to the none are no longer fit for purpose!’ Welcome to 2022.

Anyway

This post was tongue in cheek to promote a debate and discussion

It doesn't represent all my true views but things I hear around me

I do think the systems are broken

@cocktailclub ‘tongue in cheek’ to provoke debate? Do you mean what you have typed there? Doesn’t seem tongue in cheek, just goody.

What kind of a/hole comes on here first thing on a December Monday morning when a lot of people are under serious financial pressure and yes off sick (mainly because of over work) and starts winding people up??? The kind that goes by @cocktailclub.

Maybe ask Santa for a life

Cheers @Pumperthepumper. Saved me an angry rant.

OBVIOUSLY it's all those highly-paid GP's fault that the govt has slashed funding, cut auxillary services, deliberately understaffed to the point appointments can't be accommodated, & put obstacles in the way of GP surgeries for over a decade.

Maybe these GP's need to start putting in more than 70 hours a week, the lazy bastards.

I thought you approved of high earners @cocktailclub - wasn't your OP predicated on the notion that you'd be living in glorious nirvana if people would ALL only apply for better paid jobs?

This is a bit of a puzzling U-turn but I'll give it a shot for you. Maybe you'd prefer to be treated by a GP on minimum wage? They'd have no medical training, obvs, because study & resident hours wouldn't be affordable to someone not earning enough to heat & eat, by by jove that should fix it.

Well fuck my old boots I just ranted anyway.

Oh. A goady fucker then.

Because you're sure as hell not Jonathan Swift.