The New Deal appointment I had today didn’t go terribly well, really. The person I saw seemed intent on using the word ‘mandatory’ every other sentence and underlining every single point with the clear threat of benefit cessation.
Who trains these people? Are they given any hints whatsoever about basic psychology? Or are they so used to dealing with half-witted, apathetic zombots that someone with an individual point of view is an alien concept? What is the purpose of emphasising all the negative aspects of this wretched system instead of trying to create the impression that something positive can come out of it? I might actually respond to positivity—I certainly won’t respond to browbeating, implicit threats or horribly negative words like ‘mandatory.’
So I ended up talking to the manager for a while. In all fairness, she does actually treat you like a human being, which is more than can be said for most of her colleagues. The upshot is, my complaints about the other person’s ‘interview technique’ have been noted, and I have another appointment next Monday.
My interest in Web design has also been noted, and in the meantime I have the option of trying to find addresses of local companies I might like to try a work placement with. A pretty simple outcome that could have taken ten minutes, but I was there for two hours. Entirely my fault, of course… I never will get the hang of saying ‘How high?’ when someone tells me to jump…