Dole snobbery?

LegacyUser

I'm currently on Jobseekers allowance, doing everything in my power to get a job but to much of no avail unfortunately. Yet everyone I meet asks me what am I doing and almost look down their nose at me when I tell them I'm not working thus am on the dole. Just very recently I heard back that someone who is merely an acquaintance of mine talking about my current circumstances and that I obviously wasn't doing enough to get work - believe me I'd much prefer to be in employment than on the dole just like the many others in this country.

Does anyone else experience the same?

dory

I got it today from the woman in the welfare office when I tried to enquire about my 3 day week and how I may get some money for the other days so that I may be able to keep myself in baked beans. I walked out of there with no forms and no closer to get extra remuneration. I just couldn't take her tut tutting and impatient attitude.

People are always going to have that reaction but really in this day and age it is crazy. This is a small nation and a massive amount of people are out of work. If you know you are doing all you can feic these people who are living in dream land.

LegacyUser

Pay no attention.

Our tax money was as good as anyone else's when things were good. I only ever got one snipey comment from one 'friend' about getting 'money for nothing.' Now she's on the dole herself.

Seriously, just pay no attention. Anyway I think people have dropped that attitude of late, what with the almost total devastation of the economy.

mood

These people are living in la la land. Do they really think that nearly 140,000 actually want to be out of work and hardly have money to live on!

I wouldn't wish redundancy on anyone. It's total hell.

draward

I am on de dole meself i think that people who are in good secure jobs dont know how hard it is to get a job. i am tired of looking and getting noware. hold your head up high its not your fault.

Wagon

nonregistered wrote: »

Does anyone else experience the same?

Yep. As soon as i hear someone say something like that i just either ignore them or tell them in no uncertain terms exactly what i think of them. it helps me feel better anyway.

I think some people just don't realise it's not 2003 anymore. Even two years ago, there were plenty of jobs and not having one often meant the person just couldn't be arsed (bar disability and other good reasons). Things have changed a lot in a short time and those who do have jobs don't realise how dire the situation is because they haven't looked for a job in this market.

mikemac

dory wrote: »

I got it today from the woman in the welfare office

Her salary and your entitlements are both coming from the state.
Remind her when you get back working when your tax money will be going towards

OP, you shouldn't be getting this, certainly not nowadays

I struggled for a few weeks to get a job and this was a few years back, appearantly in boom times. Took a few weeks to get sorted.
The system is there to support you and once you play by the rules it'll work for you.
When you get back working you'll pay back this money hundreds of times over from years in your career. I did and you will too

Agent J

You and half the country at this rate are looking for work.
Which means you have an increasing population looking for an ever dwindling job pool.

I do not envy you one bit. For people who are used to working/ doing something being on the dole can be sheer torture.

Just remind anyone who says anything like that they should thank themselves lucky they still have a job.

netwhizkid

as for the OP if people asks you just tell them you are not working and immediately divert the question into a state of the country discussion etc. or tell them you are drawing stamps even if you are not!

mumto3

netwhizkid wrote: »

<SNIP>as for the OP if people asks you just tell them you are not working and immediately divert the question into a state of the country discussion etc. or tell them you are drawing stamps even if you are not!

LOL!!what the op is going tru is the likes of you...complete snobbery!!!Id like to point out that i am none of the above you mentioned,but can you explain how you are not "taring everyone with the same brush"????welcome Tralee to real life,as far as i knew you were introduced,but according to above poster,its a new accurence to see people that need help useing swipe cards in post offices!!!!Are you saying that those who live in council houses are not entitled to the dole if needs be???Or travellers for that matter??In your mind,have none of these people worked in their lifetime???Do you know them all personally?
Next you will be telling me none of your ancesters ever imagrated!!!!snob:)

CDfm

Dont be so sensitive. Be glad the eejit who talked is not in your shoes. The ego may not survive the boot.

Danniboo

netwhizkid wrote: »

<SNIP>

Oh my god racism, discrimination and snobbery all in the one post. The damn cheek of you. I grew up in a council estate, i'm college educated, have a good job and have never been on the dole in my life. Maybe you should look past the end of your nose once in a while that "cleche" people from poor backgrounds bla bla bla, it's not true in modern society. Plenty of people from council estates go on to do well for themselves. I was friends from people from "well off" backgrounds and stopped being friends with them as they were out every weekend taking drugs and sleeping around. Don't judge when you don't have a clue what you're talking about. You've probably never stepped foot inside a council estate. So by your standards it's okay for so called respectable people to claim the dole and the other groups of people mentioned it is not. Would not be fair to say then that there's people from different backgrounds that are wasters and others are not. It works both ways. Try open that narrow mind of yours seriously.

LegacyUser

I know what you mean. I was recently made unemployed after 20 years working and it is amazing how some people still think that it's your fault even in the current economic situation. I even have so called friends pretending to be all sympathetic but in reality they're looking down their noses at me.

We'll just have to rise above it - It's not our fault and eventually we'll get back on track.

LegacyUser

OP, I'm currently one of the lucky few and I'd like to say that I would be glad to think my taxes were supporting someone like you who is unlucky to be out of a work at a difficult time.

I was out of work for nearly a year at the height of the good times when I left college. It was horrible because there really were jobs everywhere, I just couldn't get one, and it was very frustrating to be accused of not trying (and because I was a new graduate, I couldn't tell myself 'well, I got a job before, I'll get one again. . .' as the only jobs I'd ever had were part-time or summer jobs). I got something in the end, and I got my current job in the middle of a recession, so I came back from it.

Having a job is a combination of luck, timing and skills (and not an equal combination either!). Any one of us could be in your situation in the morning and anyone who is being snobby about it is doing it in the same spirit that people laugh when someone falls - with relief it isn't them. Ignore them, rise above it. You'll get through the bad times and find a new path. They'll be begrudging gits all their lives. Unless they lose their jobs. From where you're sitting, it's win-win

Leslie91

I couldn't get over the attitude of some people in the Social Welfare offices in the beginning. Having said that it appears those who were a problem 'at the front desk' may have been moved into the background?. I've found the people I engage with now much more understanding. Long may this continue because there is nothing more heartbreaking than being unemployed and not getting treated with respect in that place.

To those of you unemployed because of the down turn and the scandal of what our political leaders and bankers did to this country I salute you, keep your heads up.

To those of you who wish to be unemployed and are not interested in working all I ask of you is that you shop in Ireland and don't be a lemming. If you feel something is overpriced (with good reason/proof) tell the person in the shop, ask for the manager, tell them what you will pay for the product (this should be higher than what it is available for in the north/abroad cos it costs u to get there). You can do no more.

LegacyUser

I honestly feel that people who worked for years and paid stamps should NOT have to queue for the dole. Their should be a seperate system in place for peopel who have lost their jobs through redundancies and cut backs and the money should be paid into their account. For gods sakes its not like you want to be out of work and you are only claiming back what you have paid over the years.

It absoloutely sickens me that someone who has worked their ass off for years on end and who hates to be out of work and is due to circumstances beyond their control could now be stood in the same dole queue who have choosen not to work a day in their life.

nesbitt

netwhizkid wrote: »

<SNIP>

as for the OP if people asks you just tell them you are not working and immediately divert the question into a state of the country discussion etc. or tell them you are drawing stamps even if you are not!

I queue in the busiest post office in Ireland and have never felt the need to berate all and sundry for their presence. Jaysus mass, sterilisation, gulags and spongers all in the one post, methinks the facists are on the rise again... May our many Gods help us all....:)

Anyway OP, 'friends' who judge you when you are on a bit of a down turn are not worth being in your company. Really and truly they are not. I have on occasion got the put down comments so you are not on your own here. Rise above it.

cyning

I was really lucky (and god don't I know it) was made unemployed In March and found a job 6 weeks later. But while I was on the dole the level of "oh your on the dole" and "but there are jobs out there" drove me mad. I OBVIOUSLY did not want to be on the dole. Its very easy if you have a job to look down on those that don't. I think its disgusting to be honest that people are so snobby.

As an aside I'm from Tralee. netwhizkids comments are racist but that thing he mentioned with the queuing drives me up the walls and around the bend...

Also if you have to sign on why you can't have dole paid into your acount is beyond me...

Darthhoob

there are jobs out there...sadly atm there ate about 100 times more people than there are jobs

my OH has been out of work for a while now. he looks really hard to find work..especially in the beginning but never got a job. the only work he could get was the occasional 1-7 days work here and there (less than once a month!) which he would have to sign off from and then back on again! when you have rent and kids to consider that is MORE than a bloody headache...esp when the work was horrid and really badly paid!

atm he is taking the time to better himself, courses and volunteering for my son's old school. he wants to work with kids and/or help people so arming himself with experience and quals. but the people at the jobcentre tell him he is too old and shouldn't bother??!?! i believe their attitude is what is causing so many people to stop believing in themselves (which my OH did for a while before talking to a friend on a counselling course who is in his 50s)

stuff the snobs, they soon will have to eat their words if it ever happens to them...or to a loved one. i remember a friend of mine was quite snobby (not horrible as such but generalised alot)..she has now been on benefits for 3 months....just after she bought her own house too..as she was made redundant from her very well paid job....and a it is specialised finding it very hard to find another.

i'm really hoping things get better soon but dunno how or when

Emme

netwhizkid wrote: »

<SNIP>

This guy can't be for real, it has to be Alf Garnett's Irish cousin!!!:eek::eek::eek:

The Recliner

Seriously people don't feed the trolls

And please use the report post button, it makes everyones lives easier

Lollipops23

I've been on the dole since June after finishing college. I hate it, and try to avoid telling people I'm on it (I get some hours in my part time job so I just say that's where I work).

The queueing thing drives me nuts too, like when I take out my passport and dole cheque there's usually some middle-aged cow in the queue with me giving me dirty looks and throwing their eyes up to heaven.:mad:

I don't care though, I paid my stamps for the last 6 years and nobody is going to tell me I'm not entitled.

mood

Lollipops23 wrote: »

I've been on the dole since June after finishing college. I hate it, and try to avoid telling people I'm on it (I get some hours in my part time job so I just say that's where I work).

The queueing thing drives me nuts too, like when I take out my passport and dole cheque there's usually some middle-aged cow in the queue with me giving me dirty looks and throwing their eyes up to heaven.:mad:

I don't care though, I paid my stamps for the last 6 years and nobody is going to tell me I'm not entitled.

You would think middle aged people would understand after going through the 80s!!!

Wagon

Lollipops23 wrote: »

The queueing thing drives me nuts too, like when I take out my passport and dole cheque there's usually some middle-aged cow in the queue with me giving me dirty looks and throwing their eyes up to heaven.:mad:

Stick up your middle finger and point it at her. who gives a crap what she thinks?

I don't care though, I paid my stamps for the last 6 years and nobody is going to tell me I'm not entitled.

Remind people of that because they seem to forget that to claim dole you have to have worked for a certain time. It's your money, you paid the stamps so you'd have back up in this situation. you paid tax too.

mood wrote: »

You would think middle aged people would understand after going through the 80s!!!

Welcome to ireland. People seemed to forget very fast.

Greyfox

The problem is befor the resession hit the majority of people that were on the dole were lazy wasters and the general public were 100% right to look down on people on the dole, lots of people preferred to get €200 for free rather then to actually get a job and lots of employed people deeply resented this! As I didn't earn that much more then the minimum wage I passionately hated people getting €200 for doing nothing as well as rent allowance.

These days though it's now the complete opposite and employed people should no longer be looking down on people on the dole as the vast majority are fighting very hard to get a job, it's just that now for every job theirs loads and loads of people looking for this one position, us employed people know this, the problem is it takes a long time for peoples attitudes to change, mine is changing and I think a lot of other peoples attitudes are changing too as theirs so many unemployed people out their with lots of experience and qualifications.

Although theirs still a very small number of people out their that aren't making that much of an effort to get off the dole!

Skinfull

I just signed on yesterday. Its so strange. Been in full time employment since I left college in 1999 and now...its surreal!
Its also gut wrenching. Though most of my friends have been supportive and I have to say everyone I dealt with in the Social Welfare office and the FAS office were grand and understanding, especially the officer at the FAS office, she was very helpful.
Ignore the snobs, they arent worth getting worried about.