OH JUST SHU' UUUUUUUP!

OH SHU’ UUUUP!

In my job I take calls from ‘vulnerable’ people.  Some are actually vulnerable and need help, advice and guidance.  I think I’m good at my job and I try to help these people and if I can’t, I harass others who possibly can.

Some customers, a majority I think, are ignorant and have bred before they have grown up and learnt anything themselves.  These ones seem to have no social skills, just like their parents, who became parents too young as well, as learnt from their parents.  It’s a nasty cycle, fed by housing benefit, red tape and social services.  This is just my opinion.

I answer the phone and they shout.  They don’t introduce themselves, or inform me of their address.  They don’t even acknowledge me by starting the conversation with, “Hello”.

It is a real drain, talking day in, day out to these people.  They are energy sappers.  It’s true that being around negativity has a detrimental affect. If I have a few days off, I can really appreciate having decent conversations, with decent human beings. Then it’s back to work and back to the imbeciles.

For example; If a light bulb blew in your living room, what would you do?  I am hoping that you’d remain calm, turn it off at the switch and change it, wouldn’t you?  Well, more than once, I have had calls from angry people, who seem inconvenienced by this event.  They sound like they are p*ssed off with us for making the light bulb blow and want to know what we are going to do about it.  When I inform them that they just need to change their light bulb and that I am not going to pay for a new one, they often swear and hang up.

I don’t know if you heard about the ‘hilarious’ call made to 999 emergency services during the bad weather spell? A lady rang in a state of panic, shouting  because ‘someone has nicked my snowman’?  While the rest of the listeners laughed, I just thought yeah, it could be one of my customers.

There are loads of them out there. 

Sometimes they ring and shout because they’ve not paid their rent for weeks and they have been inconvenienced with a reminder letter.  They shout that they, ‘have been on holiday’, and so, ‘only just got the letter’ and find the contents, ‘out of order’. 

I am holding back from the rant that I have in me, ready to shout from the biggest soap box I can find in Hyde Park one day.  I don’t know why I am holding back because when you discuss this with 99.9% of people, they agree and often have examples to share with you.  Maybe it’s because jobs are like gold dust at the moment and people are so desperate not to offend, or appear politically incorrect. 

I was discussing it with S and we likened the customers to children.  Our two kids, both under 5 years old, constantly need us, “Mummy, Daddy, Mummy, Daddy, can I have a drink please”….”mummy, mummy, daddy, DADDY can I have something”? and get distraught over tiny things.  Like when we were all feeling jovial, about to leave the house for a walk on the beach and our son burst in to tears because he couldn’t find his plastic sword.  Well, because they are lucky enough to have no responsibilities yet, they get bored and have a messed up idea of importance.  My kids have the perfect excuse that they are just that, kids.

I think it is a very dangerous thing to play God but there is also an argument for sterilisation. 

As a punishment….a precaution, if someone has committed a crime, including something like cruelty to animals, or repeated anti social behaviour with violence, would it be such a bad idea for them to not be allowed to bring more mini- them’s into the world?.  Unless you’d be comfortable allowing this person to baby sit your own children, then how on earth can you sit there and deem them ok to be put back into society, or add to it?  Just as an example, poor Baby P.  Remember him? That photo of him in the blue jumper is etched into my memory and will remain there for ever.  Now, would it have been better if he had never existed?  If the monster who gave birth to him had not been able to conceive in the first place?  I definitely think so.

I feel that Judges and Governments, law makers, are completely detached and have no idea of what real life is like, so they should not be allowed to make decisions, if unaided by Police, Housing Officers, Teachers etc.  Normal, everyday people on the front line who have to walk on egg shells around the people causing all the trouble.
These repeat offenders will come out of prison and live next door to some poor sod who’s worked for a living, looks after his little castle, struggles like mad to pay his bills and has no one to turn to when the new neighbour keys his car.

I think the problem is lack of education.  I’d love to put my kids in a really good school that nurtures their skills, builds confidence and encourages individuality.   I work full time, so does S, therefore, we could never afford it.  I watched a little bit of Jamie Oliver’s programme about the perfect school. Nice idea but detached again.  Unless you have pots of cash, you have no option than to put your kids in nomal schools and hope that the teachers can be bothered to teach them basic skills. 

Another example for you; a family member was shocked to read through her daughters exercise book and notice spelling mistakes that had been overlooked by the teacher.  When questioned, the teacher said, “as long as the child is writing the words and recognising phonetics, we don’t mind too much”.  What the fcuk??? Talk about dumbing down ! We should be taught to aim high, not low. 

Anyway, the outcome of that conversation was that they skinted themselves for a few weeks and bought their daughter private evening lessons.  Her spelling improved ten fold in such a short space of time, (young minds are such sponges, absorbing everything around them – therefore must be protected and given direction) and the school took it upon themselves to hold on to her exercise book, as Ofsted were due for an inspection and they wanted to use it as an example of how brilliant their school is!!! YES I WILL OVERUSE EXCLAMATION MARKS !!!!!

The amount of kids who according to their parents, suffer from learning difficulties and behavioural problems is astonishing.  I doubt this is a true diagnosis as it’d be verging on an epidemic. If you’ve never been read to, your parents can’t read or write and you are sworn and shouted at and possibly exposed to media aimed at adults, then yeah, you might come across as troubled.  I don’t believe for a second that these very kids wouldn’t improve if they were given the chance to be kids and shown fantastic, magical, interesting things. 

My friend Linda says , “children are the flowers that grow in what ever soil we put down for them”…or words to that affect.   

So I have run out of rant.  You get my point though right?  Well, as I said, it is just my opinion.   I don’t know what the answer is.  Do you?

On a lighter note, I recommend Russell Howard’s Good News on BBC3 (or you tube) – it’s nice to read the fun news and hear about random acts of kindness occasionally.