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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the majority of the staff at the Jobcentre are useless, rude, obnoxious a*seholes?

24 replies

LolaTheShowgirl · 05/03/2008 09:33

I was supposed to get paid today as I signed off for a new job last Friday. I have to pay for transport and a new uniform so was relying on this payment today. Just gone to see if the money was in my account and no, it wasn't!!! I marched down to the JC to see it doesn't open til 10am...same time I start work. The manager came out to speak to someone so I had a word with her. Her response to everything "there is nothing we can do"..."what, til you open at 10am you mean?" I said. Her reply "there is nothing we can do". I suppose she felt intimidated by everyone as she asked the secruity to close the doors. I am going back after work and hope to get results. What are the chances of me acheiving this?

OP posts:
batters · 05/03/2008 10:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Cappuccino · 05/03/2008 10:31

I'm with batters

YABU

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 05/03/2008 10:42

I think YABU.

Why can't you call the helpline instead?

Plus I'm sure people who work in job centres must have to put up with a lot of shit day in day out and so become a little hardened.

bigbumhole · 05/03/2008 11:44

I guess maybe you were being a bit U as the JC was shut at the time, however, i am a firm believer that everyone at the JB are total wank stains anyway. ALL OF THEM!

They are the most unprofessional, useless bunch of idiots I've ever come across.

waffletrees · 05/03/2008 11:47

My MIL had a nervous breakdown about 15 years ago working at the job centre which she has really never got over. To get to the manager position you would need to be as hard as nails. Also, there is probably nothing she can do because the problem is most likely your bank - so phone them and see if the payment is somewhere in the system.

YABU

batters · 05/03/2008 12:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 05/03/2008 12:12

I have only ever been to a job centre once in my life, and this was in a grim part of London.
The staff were behind big glass screens and they had three security guards.
People were yelling and screaming at the staff and I felt so sorry for them.

I was sitting next to a couple and the woman was complaining that they would push to speak to a manager. From what I gathered they had tried to take out a loan and claimed their fridge had broken, but they were clearly bullshitting as the bloke said 'so if they say no how the fuck am I supposed to go out tomorrow?'

Some of our society really do expect something for nothing and turn nasty when they are denied that 'right'.

I really agree waffletrees, from that small snapshot, that the staff must be hard as nails to cope with such abuse.

PersephoneSnape · 05/03/2008 12:32

hoorah! I'm a total wank stain!

my morning has been spent attempting to do income calculations for self employed people who treat me like a cheaper version of an accountant and being called a liar by a customer who feels i have to justify my working hours to her, because i leave earlier to collect my children from school.

jobcentres are now exepcted to be run by appointment only. you can't 'march' down there and demand that they open to see to you. This certainly isn't the fault of the manager you saw, It's come from whitehall, so, please, if you wish to refer to the minister of state as a 'wankstain', go right ahead.

PersephoneSnape · 05/03/2008 12:36

sorry, to answer your original question, in a non-wank-stainy way. you'd probably be wasting your time atthe job centre after work. far better to phone the processing centre that deals with your JSA claim and ask them if it's been dealt with. it normally takes 3 - 4 days after processing a claim closure for any payment to reach your account, depending on what bank you use. If the payment has already been issued. it can, in some circumstances be recalled (some areas of the country have internet banking that pays into your bank account same day, but this is basically used to keep people out of jobcentres) I would say phone now and see if your payment has been issued and ask for an internet payment if possible, or an appointment for a counter paymnet if not

bigbumhole · 05/03/2008 12:42

Ok let me re-word that, all the JB people i have come across are wank stains.

And Batters, i did not treat them as wank stains, they just generally are (like i said, all the ones who i've come across).

No offense meant towards nice working JB people, although i am yet to meet one.

PersephoneSnape · 05/03/2008 12:44

'all the JB people i have come across are wank stains'

points. laughs!

;)

(I'm lovely, really... hello! )

bigbumhole · 05/03/2008 12:46

No pun intended eh?

Well, you certainly sound nice, hello!

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 05/03/2008 12:47

pmsl persephone
I hadn't noticed that.

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 05/03/2008 12:48

And it would be even more priceless if she had mistyped and put BJ rather than JB.

Mollymom · 05/03/2008 13:16

Fellow wank stain here too (on mat leave). Jobcentres don't open til 10 on Wednesdays (any of them AFAIK) so us lucky staff can have team meetings to tell us what unachievable targets top brass want us to reach this week.

TBH the person who came out probably wouldn't have had the right level of access to the computer system to answer your query anyway-sounds like she was a manager. You are best calling the contact centre but don't think they start til 10 on Wednesays either. But they are the ones who actually process your final payment so tis them you need to speak to. HTH.

KatieScarlett2833 · 05/03/2008 15:30

Another wank stain who had to sit through a tedious hour long meeting this morning till 10. Would far rather have dealt with your payment query (even though we are constantly being told NOT to, and to fob you off with the processing centre number....).

Some of us stains are actually decent people who work very hard.

Original poster
LolaTheShowgirl · 05/03/2008 16:12

Hi, thanks for all the replies. Actually feel bad now that I was so short tempered this morning (although I was one of the calm ones waiting to go in). I went back in the afternoon and the woman who spoke to me didn't dare smile even a teeny tiny bit. She was a miserable fecker. I was given the contact centre number and the lady on the line was so helpful. I should get my payment tomorrow but only £13 . I thought JSA was paid a fortnight in hand but obviously not! Just enough for my next weeks bus fare anyway Not everyone in that JC are miserable feckers. My advisor was lovely but seeing as I don't sign on anymore, I can no longer see his wonderful smile, which was a rarity in there, believe me!

OP posts:
Original poster
LolaTheShowgirl · 05/03/2008 16:15

Also, in my JC, a few of the assistants seem to tarr us all with the same brush - that we are lazy scum who won't get off our backsides and that really pisses me off. My JC is a scary place with all the scallies and the 5 beefy security guards lined up in the foyer, but there are some lovely, decent people who walk through the doors too!

OP posts:
PersephoneSnape · 05/03/2008 16:37

JSa is paid in arrears - so if you normally sign on a monday, you get paid to that monday - then if you start work on the wednesday, you'd only be due a further payment for the Tuesday IFYSWIM.

sorry it was so crappy for you lola - they try to give everyone appointments to stop young lads hanging around the job centre/drinking/taking drugs/intimidating customers and staff alike etc. I'm actually pretty impresesd that you were seen at all. I had a colleague the other day who did a 'better off' calculation for a customer - when she told her that she would be £21 a week better off working. The woman spat in her face and told her that she knew where she lived. I do try to be lovely to everyone - i don't see the point in giving someone a hard time just for the hell of it -and like i still believe the majority of customers need help, courtesy and as much professionalism we can squeeze out given targets targets targets, you get occasional fckers as punters, just like you get fckers as staff. the trick is to treat people as you want to be treated yourself, until they proove otherwise.

good luck with your job btw! must be very exciting for you! are you elligible for a job grant or any other help?

Original poster
LolaTheShowgirl · 05/03/2008 20:55

Thanks persephone! I spoke to another lovely lady at my JC tonight who reassured me I would get my late payment tomorrow. Better late than never I say! I think the one in the contact centre may have been new or something as she took ages to find information, then told me I would only be getting £13 tomorrow . When I queried it with a lady directly in the JC, she was wonderful and told me infact it will be my fortnights worth of JSA from 15th feb and then Sat and Sun, 1st and 2nd March so i'm pleased so long as it is in my account tomorrow. Otherwise, i'm sure they will write me a giro? They did last time it was late in anyway. I was on my second week of New Deal so I believe I may be recieving a work start-up grant? Do you have any idea how much this is? It is very exciting being in work. I feel alive again and have all my pride back. It's fab! I still feel verrrrry bad at calling JC staff ar*eholes. Out of mine, there are only a handful really who deserve a kick up the butt and out of the 4 or so advisors I've had, all of them were incredibly lovely and sent me jobs through the post all the time. My New Deal advisor was even more excited at me getting my job than I was! So I take it back and must state that the majority of JC staff are indeed hardworking, nice people

OP posts:
millmoo · 05/03/2008 20:58

Another wank stain here !!!

Agree completly with fellow wank stains !!

I am a manager at my local jc and i suppose compared to other people i am has hard as nails??? as i have taken loads of shit .imagine going to work everyday and knowing that at least 5 people are going to call you useless or swear at you !

im my time ive been spat at in the office and in the street,been shouted at in the doctors when i had my dd whos 10 with me .
had a shitty nappy thrown at my screen and been called a c88unt on numerous occasions !!!
also been given the guilt trip that they were going to drop there children off at social services because i wont give them any money !!

Chuffinnora · 05/03/2008 21:12

I think Lola you will get treated with respect if you treat JC staff with respect. I don't know much about JCs but after 8 years in the coal face of the Probation Service I know the people who are nice and polite and don't expect the entire world to revolve around them will get a great service. Those that are rude demanding and unreasonable will get the bare minimum from their workers.

Chequers · 05/03/2008 21:12

Message withdrawn

expatinscotland · 05/03/2008 21:14

I've used JC just as a job-seeker - wasn't on JSA - and never had a problem with the staff.

I did see them get a lot of abuse from customers, though.

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