Every day when I sign on the chap across the desk pulls up a screen full of job vacancies within my chosen criteria. You do tend to get a mixed bag, some of them distinctly undesirable or impossible for various reasons, but by and large the range becomes familiar. Well it should do really, I've been applying for those sort of jobs for a couple of years now.

Now that my letter of complaint has been handed in, I must face the music. The Job Centre hate nothing more than a claimant who doesn't shrink from their power. They dredged up every possible onerous, menial, and degrading vacancy they could find. The young claims advisor looked uncomfortable and pointed at the only one that fell within the sphere of warehousing. General Assistant. Yep, that's about as low as you can get in warehousing. Go on, print it off. Let's get this nonsense over and done with.

As chance would have it, they forgot to remove the printed list of the latest vacancies, and being the sharp eyed jobseeker I always was, I immediately spotted a somewhat more rewarding vacancy. Woo hoo!

"Uhhh..." The advisor winced, "That doesn't seem to have shown up in the computor search."

No kidding. Go and print it off. Meanwhile I'll sit here safe in the knowledge that I've another vacancy waiting to apply for by email later. If the government want their representatives to play silly games, I've got better things to do. Like look for a job, maybe?

Less Benefits, More Support

Our new government have decided in their ultimate wisdom that benefits need to be simplified and more supportive. I wish I could claim credit for having woken them up to the reality of living on welfare, but a - I haven't, and b - They're still snoring.

It's a nice idea. Give people enough financial support to make getting a low paid job actually financially worthwhile. The truth is that the government are more interested in paying their own bills than mine. On the one hand, you can't blame them for that. On the other hand, you might might be somewhat dependent on their handouts and believe me this sort of messing around with payments makes me very nervous.

No Pain, No Gain

Just to underline the seriousness of my jobsearch, I have to point out that not only did I walk a total of twenty miles in connection with my recent job interview, I also have the blisters to show for it. Perhaps that's a good thing. There's probably a government requirement that all jobseekers must suffer at least one a week. It must be said I've had long experience of blisters on my feet. Big ones, small ones, harmless ones, or blisters with enough fluid to keep me alive for three days in desert conditions. You'd think by now I'd figured out how to avoid actually suffering more of them, but no, occaisionally I still get to feel their squidgy presence.

As a result of my long trek to the industrial estate on the edge of the known world, I suffered two, at the same time. One was a white harmless one. Easily dealt with and no painful rehabilitation required. The other was a nasty, grey-green, gruesome blister that was causing considerable discomfort on the ball of my left foot. Easily dealt with, but painless?

Now that it's a few days on and I'm done cursing very loudly, the nasty blister is healing nicely. Still a little tender but not debilitating. Just as well. I've got a daily signing session to attend and that means walking there. Somehow I doubt they'll be impressed with my tales of woe.