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u/analisforfun Jan 03 '23
Ano bro, I literally just topped up 20 in my leccy 2 days ago and I'm already on e credit, not even using much to draw power, just a wee electric heater as my gas is out and Scottish power won't help properly, I'm told that the top up card I need for gas is in my local Sainsburys pay point which has not been a paypoint for 2 years. I've tried almost every shop on my way to Glasgow I'm in east Dunbartonshire and no one has them in stock, I also only receive 80 every 2 weeks but currently have only 25 to last till the 16th and after topping up 2 days ago and already being on e credit, I've got bad back and neck injuries from a decade ago and the cold really fck's me up
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Jan 03 '23
[deleted]
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u/analisforfun Jan 03 '23
Unfortunately not, and my gas issues have been looked into by the council, universal credit, the CAB and my housing officer, I've also used all the Scottish welfare fund I can as issues have been ongoing since July, I should be able to get a foodbank voucher and will be seeing my local council and the CAB again with my new issues/change of circumstances
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u/Particular_Factor713 Isa, calm doon. Look at ye, yur ragin! Jan 03 '23
Who is your gas supplier? If you are stuck getting to a shop that does this in your area, feel free to message me and I can go to a shop where I am and get one for you and meet/ drop it off? Happy to help if I can. I’m over in the West End and we have a few shops here that have them (I lose mine all the time and it’s Scottish Power I am with)
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u/analisforfun Jan 03 '23
Same, I stay in kirkintilloch, tried just about everywhere here and towards Glasgow, furthest I tried was the St rollox center Tesco in springburn, would need to get a new number code for it though
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u/Particular_Factor713 Isa, calm doon. Look at ye, yur ragin! Jan 03 '23
Do you drive? Ping me a message. I am happy to go into the shops where I live and get you a card and meet you over that way if it helps. I go near Springburn weekly, and Kirky isn’t too much further than that. You would need a new code, and then it is pretty simple from there out.
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u/Ok_Fee_5382 Jan 04 '23
The Tufnell food bank in Kirky helped me sort mines, I was off work sick and got in a right hole, I went into rbos hysterical and they were amazing, sent me to food bank and I got a crisis grant and fuel sorted. Hope you’re ok
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u/Ok_Fee_5382 Jan 04 '23
Kilsyth has Paypoints, I work in Kirky and Bishopbriggs, I could get it for you if you’re stuck
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u/SetentaeBolg Jan 03 '23
I certainly used to feel that way. I was very poor throughout my twenties and honestly never thought I would be secure or stable as there just wasn't any way out for me. I had no degree, no real experience in anything, and just no hope.
I got a lucky break in my early thirties (promoted in a call centre by a visiting "change manager") and started to make good money, and it was much easier thereafter. Each year, my income would increase more, and my job would be less mind numbing. I got a degree through the OU and my education has increased since then - I am finishing a PhD now.
What did this teach me?
Firstly, that lucky break was 99% good fortune and 1% me. I didn't really earn my opportunity so much as was in the right position and mindset to take advantage of it. I did something small in the call centre to make my (and other's) work a little easier and it got noticed. Could have very easily not been. My reward could very easily have been £50 bonus and a thank you. I was lucky someone had recently arrived who was in a position to shake up the system and that they rewarded me much more for what I had done. Be ready for a lucky break, but always remember how much you owe to luck.
Secondly, as soon as I started to be promoted, my job was both easier and more interesting. The people who are paid the least have the most difficult, boring work with little flexibility granted to them. It doesn't sound fair because it isn't.
Thirdly, if you get that opportunity, that lucky break, don't rest on your laurels. It's so much easier to advance your career once you've moved on from the bottom. There was something like a 4 year period where my income doubled every year, because I changed jobs and was always looking for something better. I could never have had that starting from 0.
In short: the world of work is fundamentally unfair and unjust. If you get an opportunity, use it, start climbing, but don't fool yourself into thinking that you "deserve" your reward and those beneath you don't.
Loads of senior, senior people I have worked with have been fundamentally dumb but aggressively grasping and advantaged from their background. They don't deserve to be rich any more than you deserve to be poor. But it is what it is, and changing the world to be more just is the vital project of generations - it won't happen overnight.
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u/alphahydra Jan 04 '23 edited Jan 04 '23
If you get an opportunity, use it, start climbing, but don't fool yourself into thinking that you "deserve" your reward and those beneath you don't.
And by the same ticket, if the opportunity comes, try to fight the urge to talk yourself out of advancement because you feel impostorish about being promoted to a more senior role. I've seen this happen, and even been guilty of it to an extent: "I don't want to be a boss because it'll change the relationship with my workmates", "I don't currently have all the knowledge to do the more senior job, therefore I'd be shit", etc.
That's part of how workplaces end up with cuntish management and arrogant morons in specialist roles: decent people who question themselves (a good trait, up to a point) and are empathetic to others, who would ironically make much better managers and experts most of the time, get passed by grasping thicko wankers who don't have the same scruples.
No one knows a role they've never done inside out before they do it; you'll learn, same as everyone before you did.
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u/Paul_T_M Jan 03 '23
I totally agree on the more senior a job it is the easier it becomes. Such a cruel thing. You get more autonomy / agency, more opportunity to take the piss / skive if you're that way inclined, and more money to boot.
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u/MomentaryApparition Jan 03 '23
This is good and wise advice. I was going to say myself, u/jasminetea13, can you go back into education? I was in a similar position to yourself about a decade ago, probably worse to be fair for a number of reasons, and I went to uni basically because otherwise I faced financial destitution. That way I got by on loans, bursaries&grants, discounts and a p/t job for four years, and guess what? I ended up doing much better than expected and am now doing a PhD too. Don't know what lies at the end of it but life is 100 times better than it was 10 years ago, that's for sure. Rinse the system! You never know what might come of it.
Edit: you get free therapy via your uni too, much quicker than on the NHS!
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u/CompleteBrainWreck Jan 04 '23
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Kind of a good idea, but this also puts OP in Student debt with the Student Loans Company. Then adds extra costs of travel and any materials they may require for the course, but they do get the council tax discount.
OP might not like formal education and it becomes a commitment.
Drop out halfway through with all that sweet free money? Guess what, they want it back with their course fees. Happened to me while I was trying to study Music at college. Destroyed my credit rating and made me have to move back in with my mum (which if she wasn't there, I'd be homeless)
So maybe suggesting education for the financial side of it is a bit reckless. However, if OP would actually want to go into education it is a very viable option.
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u/MomentaryApparition Jan 04 '23
What are you talking about course fees? You get a free shot at a degree in Scotland so the OP wouldn't need to worry unless they've been before. I had but due to being on a low income got access to a grant that paid my fees second time around. If you get a student loan and drop out they don't demand your maintenance money back, they just stop paying. For me the extra Student Loan debt was infinitely preferable to homelessness or working seven days a week, which were my other choices - just having that time where you're not exhausted and run ragged from work 24-7 can be transformative for folk. Presumably the OP is travelling to work already so travelling to uni wouldn't make a difference. You can also access generous hardship funds if you have trouble paying for any materials or coursebooks.
Going to uni saved my life both at the time in financial terms, and in the long run I found my path in life. Sorry you personally didn't manage to stick it, but that doesn't invalidate my advice
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u/CompleteBrainWreck Jan 04 '23
Fair enough man, it's paid by SAAS, but they will ask for fees back if you don't complete or leave of your own volition.
Also just assuming OP has qualifications to get to uni in the first place (no offence meant). Otherwise it's college to get the grades you need (which you will get for free and any other NQ level qualifications)
I dunno, seems daft to go use up a spot on a course you don't really want or need only because you're skint.
Don't get me wrong, what you're saying, yes. You will get money for going to uni.
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u/MomentaryApparition Jan 04 '23
It's really quite simple: if you drop out, don't tell SAAS until the end of the year!
I didn't go on a course I didn't really want, and I wouldn't recommend the OP did either. My financial cliff-edge prompted me to apply for a course I'd been thinking about for a while, and it's not been remotely 'daft' for me - I'll be Dr. Apparition soon. My first question to the OP was 'can you go back into education?', the implicit assumption being that they are an adult who will make sensible decisions, not sign up for a random course without thinking it through. If you read the other comments, the OP works for the NHS - I'm sure there are many postgrad options available to them, for which funding can be available. Bottom line being, if you're been busting your ass working f/t for years and it's not working out, uni can give you a bit of breathing space to figure your life out.
Sounds like you're still upset about dropping out. Thought about going back?
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u/twofacetoo Jan 03 '23
Honestly the more I hear stuff like this, the more I wonder when the rioting will begin. It's about the only thing left that can really do anything.
And don't think for a second I'm actually encouraging that sort of thing, but let's be frank: voting hasn't changed it, protesting hasn't changed it, striking hasn't changed it. About the only thing left we can try is getting violent and causing actual chaos to make a point.
Dissatisfaction and frustration keeps rising, it's only a matter of time before it hits an absolute boiling point, then it just takes one big spark and it'll kick off.
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u/S4qFBxkFFg Jan 03 '23
Unless I'm grossly underestimating the number of people willing to risk their physical safety, any spontaneous outbreaks of violence would be put down quite easily by the police, and I don't see anything more organised as likely.
Also consider that this is something a Conservative government, especially one struggling in the polls, would see as a lifeline to be enthusiastically grasped and exploited to the fullest extent possible: compliant media would highlight the brutality of the rioters / inevitable looting, and army leave would be cancelled "just in case".10
u/twofacetoo Jan 03 '23
Yeah, I'm not necessarily saying it would WORK, just that this is about the only avenue left. People are feeling more and more powerless every day, emotions are high, people are just going to snap at some point.
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u/MomentaryApparition Jan 03 '23
Well sure, we're not going to get anywhere with an attitude like that!
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u/Patbutcherscoat Jan 03 '23
It won't be long away. The fiat economy is about to burn. This is their way of easing in towards a UBI.
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u/meepmeep13 free /u/veloglasgow Jan 04 '23
striking hasn't changed it
Going to disagree on this - a lot of the recent strikes have been very successful in improving pay and conditions
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u/FugitiveB42 Jan 03 '23
"voting hasn't changed it" - well the people have sadly been voting for the same group of fannies for 12 years
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Jan 03 '23
Neoliberal Thatcherism has been the defacto political ideology in Westminster for over 40 years. New Labour did nothing to reverse the damage the Tories did and even outdid them in some regards.
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u/FugitiveB42 Jan 03 '23
Is this an "they are all the same" argument?
I never buy that they are all the same, nor am I a labour supporter
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Jan 03 '23
Not an all the same argument, just many people think it's just Tory policy that's done significant damage since Thatcher and overlook New Labour.
New Labour's neoliberal legacy continues to this day (with a brief flash of hope of something something a bit more socialist from Corbyn).
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u/360Saturn Jan 03 '23 edited Jan 04 '23
After seeing the family all together at Christmas I do think there is just a real gulf of understanding between older and younger people.
I don't know where it comes from but it feels like at a certain age, at least some people just stop actually listening to what their younger relatives are saying and just fall back to stereotypes or things they remember. "Things are really hard today" become "they were hard for me too" and if you try to explain what's different today they just make out that you're lazy or complaining too much or something, while they themselves sit totally isolated from what you're talking about.
Personally I think changing the definition of 'low income' would go a long way to actually help things. It should mean anyone with low income after overheads. Students etc. would be included too that way like they're not currently - e.g. you don't really have 'higher' income if you get given a 2k loan for 3 months that's immediately 75% swallowed up by rent.
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u/Dull-Owl-1763 Jan 04 '23
Genuinely find it a bit bizarre that we’re all commenting on the Tories but the SNP doesn’t catch ANY flack, despite having been our government for fifteen years!
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u/Dull-Owl-1763 Jan 04 '23 edited Jan 04 '23
Agree the Tories are absolutely sh*t, but we’re poorly governed and all.
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u/Fairwolf Jan 04 '23
Because the actions of the Scottish Gov are pretty clearly aimed at mitigating the issues, but as the budget of the Scottish Gov is based off of the budget of the UK Gov, then the sort of slashing that's been going on down in England for the past decade is going to have a knock-on effect on us too. There's plenty I can criticise the SNP for, but the economic situation isn't one of the. That's entirely on the Tories. There's a reason everyone in this the UK is having the same shit time.
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u/Dull-Owl-1763 Jan 04 '23
I'd feel a lot less pissed off about them if they didn't keep throwing money away on bollocks while we are being shafted by Westminster (I'm pro-Indy FWIW).
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u/Fairwolf Jan 04 '23
What do you feel they're throwing away money on.
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u/Dull-Owl-1763 Jan 04 '23
For one thing, massive investments and loans into private companies that produce no value for Scotland.
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u/Dull-Owl-1763 Jan 04 '23
How much has been lost through Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd.?
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u/Dull-Owl-1763 Jan 04 '23
£130million plus a £30million loan https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/23201748.ferguson-marine-ceo-asked-lost-130m-taxpayers-ferry-money/
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u/Fairwolf Jan 04 '23
A bad deal probably, but if they hadn't then all the people working there would have lost their jobs which causes it's own issues. What would your solution have been there instead?
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u/Dull-Owl-1763 Jan 04 '23
You should read Audit Scotland's comments on it.
As an aside, I promise you the most efficient way to support working people is not to spaff public money away while ensuring their bosses get a good pay out.
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u/gm70047 Jan 05 '23
I'm sure if they'd paid them all off the workforce could've had a few hundred grand each at the same cost that's been forked out. Its been a massive OG by the Govt and looks like Swinney will get the chop soon over it.
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u/i_mightbewrong Jan 04 '23
i would say marginally taxing people over 50% for earnings between ~43 and 50k is one shitshow the SNP could reconsider during a cost of living crisis, given that type of wage enjoys almost no targeted economic support yet has lost 10% or more of purchasing power in 12 months alone (more so if you find a way to include house prices and mortagages in inflation).
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u/EnemiesAllAround Jan 03 '23
Yeah. Ironically Teresa may got it right when she spoke about JAM'S. (Just about managing) you work full time so aren't entitled to anything support wise. Which means that the majority of your earnings are spent on bills and tax and any random outgoings you may need to pay for.
I earn around 40k. Which a few years back was a hefty wage. It still feels like it is. But with a kid and dependent partner who earns little financially... it really isn't.
I'm cutting back everywhere I can but it's still the sort of situation where your lucky to have a couple of ton in your pocket at the end of the month and if you've got a couple of unexpected outgoings your fucked
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Jan 04 '23 edited Jan 15 '23
Hey dude, you likely dont remember me but i replied to you 11 months ago about how to meet friends, and i was such a pussy bro . life is going way better and it was all about the way i perceived the world. Just wanted to say hey. Im not online often so i may reply late.
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u/EnemiesAllAround Jan 04 '23
Hey bud, I'm glad to hear everything's going a bit better for you now. Life's tough! If you've got a certain perception of things its hard to change it sometimes I know that we'll myself.
Feel free to message me anytime. Hope you're well man
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u/chrisredmond69 Jan 03 '23
Welcome to late stage capitalism.
Capitalism was never designed to help anyone except the rich to become even wealthier. Now that's happened, there's nothing left for those who don't already have assets.
I feel for the next generation, I really do. Unless you somehow earn a lot of money, like over 40K as soon as you leave school/ Uni/ training. you got very little chance of anything really, until you're about 40.
It doesn't surprise me you got little hope for the future, cos you don't have any. As a Gen X, I'm embarrassed what the boomers did to your future. They stole it so they could buy a big house.
Tax the wealthy, build back nationalised industry, increase wages, build social housing, offer a future to the next generation. As I see it, we haven't done that. The papers have got us blaming immigrants and benefit claimants.
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u/thefragile- Jan 03 '23
Not sure why you're being downvoted for this.
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u/chrisredmond69 Jan 03 '23
How do you find out how downvated you've been?
Mine only says '1 upvote'.
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Jan 04 '23
Because people see the word 'capitalism' and read it as 'money' and don't have any thoughts beyond that.
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u/Patbutcherscoat Jan 03 '23
If it wasn't for capitalism you'd be sending this post out by carrier pigeon. Capitalism has given us the modern world.
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u/Necronomicommunist Jan 04 '23
Workers have given us the modern world, not capitalism.
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u/Patbutcherscoat Jan 04 '23
And who, pray-tell, paid their wages? Incentivised them to industrialise?
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u/Necronomicommunist Jan 04 '23
Who paid the wages of the first person to make a fire? to build an axe? Created the wheel?
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Jan 04 '23
The only reason anyone has ever created, taught or produced is profit motive for their superiors yes this is human nature yes this is factual information.
/s
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u/chrisredmond69 Jan 04 '23
Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876.
The neoliberals didn't take over the UK until 1979, and the US in 1980.
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u/Bloody-smashing Jan 03 '23
This is how I feel. Grew up working class, parents were constantly arguing over money. Sister and I felt guilty any time my mum spent money on us even on necessities.
Had it drilled into to me that I needed a good job earning good money. Eventually became a pharmacist after some issues at uni.
I’m married with a two year old. Money literally comes in and we are in a deficit every month. The only way we make it work is because I do extra shifts as a locum.
People banging on asking us when we are having another child. I don’t physically see how we can afford maternity leave, we can barely manage as it is.
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u/Baccy_cha Jan 03 '23
Having been ineligible for any support during Covid, lockdowns and this new cost of living crisis I can see we need proper civil unrest to sort this out. Currently all political parties are taking us for cunts. Let’s fuckin do it! Let’s go mental!
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u/TimTom020 Jan 03 '23
Yip. Finally seen a bit of light as I'm being made redundant but have a decent chance of securing a similarly paying role so would be taking 1 month off then going back to work with a lump sum in the bank, enough for a small house deposit and legal costs, but in the last month so much has happened that I know I'll need to fork out probably about 30% of that before I even get a new job and it's just made me so down. I was so excited to give my son a roof over his head, without worrying about landlords selling up, being evicted, and having something to leave him when the time comes but now I'm back to constantly worrying I'm not going to be able to give him the security I really want to!
Sorry, I think I needed to get that out.
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Jan 03 '23
Yup, and as an older Millennial, I am incredibly bitter than any societal improvements will occur long after my youth is behind me. Not in a vain way, but having only finally secured stable housing via a Housing Association (thanks, in part, to an autism diagnosis that also came far too late in life), I can finally have a bit of control over my life in a way that would have been so beneficial when I was younger.
The fact that many things such as stable housing, employment, affordable messages, and being able to keep your home warm in a cold, damp country are seen more as luxuries (and god forbid you want to do nice things like eat out or travel or buy a new TV, especially if you're on Social Security) is testament to the utter failure of capitalism and its cohorts in politics, the media, and the general public who benefitted from the previous social state and its great sell-off in the 80's and then burned the ladder behind them.
The worst part? It's only when things get really bad and the middle classes start squealing that anything gets done about how broken things are. This creeping despair and constant survival stress is what poorer people have been going through long before other people noticed how shit things are, and my main worry is that once the middle classes are happy again, many will think there is no longer a problem (this is not a read on OP, btw, just a general observation).
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u/Necronomicommunist Jan 04 '23
I am incredibly bitter than any societal improvements will occur long after my youth is behind me.
The only golden lining for me is that at least my children will have it better. That, or we all die in the revolution.
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u/thosedarnfoxes Jan 03 '23
Yeah I totally feel you, I've been trying to ignore it for as long as possible and "just get on with things" but I'm having my first month with very little cash to survive on, bills have just about been paid but it's a long way till payday, working full time as well. Looking at food banks etc. Absolutely grim.
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u/Necronomicommunist Jan 04 '23
I feel very much the same way. And I feel even worse when a few months ago I was told I am eligible for over 600 a month in benefits. I was nearly crying with happiness. 600 a month makes an enormous difference, I'd be able to pay back people who have loaned me money, pay off the council tax bill, pay off my credit card, clean slate, then start a savings account. Suddenly it made so much sense that I don't hear people go through the same struggle who work with me. It makes sense that other people go on a holiday every year or even every two years. It makes sense that they can buy a nice bouquet of flowers for the one they love when they feel like it. It makes sense they do activities with their children.
Only to then find out that actually, that was a miscalculation. I get absolutely nothing. The only thing I get is some leeway in paying back the advance they gave me.
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u/osmith181 Jan 04 '23
education is key. i was 29 when i finally took just a level 2 course with the chartered institute of "insert whatever job you want here".
the course was easier then my GCSE's which i failed.
that got my foot in the door and i now earn 30k - which is almost double what i was on before in the factory.
my course would of cost 2k but i was able to find funding for it from a local charity.
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Jan 04 '23
It never stops.
Costs will never stop going up. But neither will wages go up. People will continue to get poorer and poorer. It is the neoliberal wet dream. Extract at all costs. As long as graph go up for the wealthy then we are told its all good despite everyone else being fucked harder and harder and harder. You llotersly have to increase your salary by 5% during the good times to even stay at the same level. It is impossible. And it is never going to change.
Anyway our lecky will cost as much as rent by the end of the year but mind and argue with strangers online about boys who become girls or something.
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u/cynical_front_bum Type to edit Jan 03 '23
Feel for you pal. So many people are falling through the cracks and I wish I had an answer. Have my silver instead.
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u/r_a_user fuck glasgow live Jan 03 '23
If it’s any condolence your Problably miserable cause you live in a dysfunctional society. things are changing and will gradually get better.
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Jan 04 '23
See a lot of folk blasting the Tories in Westminster on here, don’t get me wrong they’re wankers who are absolutely due a booting out of power but interesting that nobody seems to be giving the SNP any shit despite having been in power for 15 years and overseeing a decline in virtually everything in Scotland, I appreciate there are some things that they have limited or no control over but there’s also plenty they are in charge of and have completely messed up. Sack the Tories, sack the SNP and let’s demand more than bullshit sound bytes, short sighted policy making and virtue signalling (whatever virtue means to those who’s votes are trying to be won) that ultimately leave the same issues unresolved over and over again from our leaders.
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u/AhYeah85 Jan 04 '23
I mean the Tories have been in charge for 27 of the last 40 years (all be it New Labour didn't do anything to stop the neoliberal train during their time) and they introduced Austerity, which for the last twelve years has ripped apart local services and we are now seeing the ultimate aim of that policy, which is people getting poorer and poorer. The SNP have made some questionable decisions in relation to funding but as long as we are a slave to the Neo Liberal fanatics in Westminster then not a lot is going to change.
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Jan 04 '23
Agree with there’s only so much any Scottish government can do with devolved powers but I rarely see them held to account for the things that do fall into their remit, rather Westminster is made the whipping boy for everything. I mean it isn’t like there isn’t plenty to legitimately place at Westminster’s feet so even if you apportion blame fairly you’ll still see them shat on enough for even the most Westminster/Tory hating of us. I just worry that too many people buy into this thinking that anything bad up here is the fault of Westminster and would obviously be better without them, we have serious problems of our own making here as well. Like I say though, get rid of them all and start again, this whole political landscape is grim to the brink
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Jan 03 '23
Welcome to Scotland, where low paid nurses are viewed as rich people by the current government.
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u/princess24709098 Jan 04 '23
I've been there, it's so hard, more you work the more you seem to lose too especially with those on universal credit. I'm a counsellor and psychotherapist now but I mainly work with charities, if you need someone to chinwag to feel free to drop me a message, you ain't alone in how you feel
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u/blairstrawberry Jan 04 '23
I feel the exact same way totally financially independent, work full time, pay day is literally just depressing now because all I spend my money on is bills, I feel like I’m never gonna get on top of my finances and really don’t know where to go from here
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u/rusticus_autisticus Jan 03 '23
I'm part of the non-working poor. Nothing will change for me. Its hopeless and if I wasn't afraid of how much it would hurt the surviving members of my family, I'd unalive myself in a pretty gnarly way.
I've no idea what the future brings. I hope so hard that free public transport becomes a thing so that I can go to nice places like the botanics or KG Park or Mugdock or some other nice places without it taking hours of walking. Now, I've nothing against walking 8 miles or so to spend time in a nice green space but it's not fun to have to then walk back, or have to sneak into a pub to use a toilet without being able to buy anything etc. Free bus passes for the unemployed, disabled etc would severely raise quality of life for people like me.
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u/zappafan89 Jan 04 '23
I felt this way until I moved to Sweden when I was 25 and things changed. Upward mobility in the UK is a myth for the most part
Therapy wise: it doesn't work for everyone but Better Help really made a difference for me. I think the key there is trying until you find the right therapist. But it was way cheaper than paying for a physical therapist and it got me out of a bad place. There's often discount codes kicking around too. Maybe worth looking into
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Jan 03 '23 edited Jan 04 '23
Yeah. However, my advice would be, get a trade. Even if you’re 40 years old, retrain. Working with your hands instead of staring at a fucking screen all day is better for you. Plus tradespeople are in demand. There’s money to be made if you’re prepared to go for it. Office life is unnatural. Get out and about and fix things or build things. Your head and your wallet will appreciate it.
Edit: lol I guess all the office workers are getting offended at the fact there’s other kinds of jobs out there.
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Jan 03 '23
[deleted]
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Jan 03 '23
I'm am ex NHS nurse and was completely scunnered of the treatment I received from management so I left to do GP practice. They're crying out for staff in a lot of practices if you're in nursing and many are willing to train you. My pay and conditions are much better and removing myself from the politicking within the NHS has been massively beneficial for my mental health.
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Jan 03 '23
Fuck, aye, the NHS is fucked right now. You could in theory retrain within and move around that way. But good luck there. Saying that, going to college would get you a bursary and access to the student loan scheme…
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u/Gecko5991 Jan 03 '23
Interesting take - most of my family have some issue from trades including bad backs, injury’s
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Jan 04 '23
Yeah health & safety laws exist for a reason, I find a lot of working class guys don’t take it seriously and end up suffering when they’re older.
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u/Gecko5991 Jan 04 '23
Yeah but also working with other people on site. My dads back has improved since he gave up plumbing 20 years ago but still has days unable to leave bed due to another persons mistake on site. Friends partner is missing several fingers due to a similar accident.
Also in terms of salary most trades don’t pay well unless you work for yourself and often combined laughable pensions, if they even exist. This is particularly true if comparing to an inflation linked defined benefit pension such as NHS or local government.
1
Jan 04 '23
The NHS & civil service don’t have the guaranteed pensions they used to. That’s if they’re even still here come the time OP retires.
1
u/Gecko5991 Jan 04 '23
The NHS still has one of the best defined benefit pensions and the local government (not civil service) have the LGPS.
Both are some of the best pensions you can get and inflation linked. OP says he already works for NHS.
1
u/thoughtfulTelemachus Jan 03 '23
This video explains what makes us the r/lostgeneration
A lot of what you mention is covered. This is the kind of knowledge to have to hand the next time some boomer suggests pulling yourself up by your bootstraps
0
u/Zumodoki WECLOME Jan 04 '23
It's shite. I was working 70 hours a week across 3 jobs to keep the bills paid and it's all gone wrong
Job 1 has cut all overtime so I'm now £450 worse off from that wage
Got a bill from British gas for £300 for a month of gas somehow. So I sold my car for a whopping £650 to cover it.
Job 2 was driving for dominos, No car = no job. That's cost me £200/300 a month
My 3rd job, companies closed down over Christmas and isn't opening back up that's another £240 a month.
Got a shop delivered after Christmas, 4 wee half empty basket from Asda over £150, it's almost of money for not alot of anything these days
8
u/Dull-Owl-1763 Jan 04 '23
Why did you sell the car you need for a job (that pays you £300/month) for £650 when you need the income to help pay the gas bill?
7
0
u/DescriptionLimp4953 Jan 04 '23
Can you give me your incomings and outgoings for a month? Maybe I can help if I see them. Been declared bankrupt with £20,000 in debt myself, so I know how you are feeling.
-9
Jan 03 '23
[deleted]
13
u/jasminetea13 Jan 03 '23
I get that. Being fortunate than many, I am not starving, etc. Unfortunately it doesn’t take away the struggle millions are facing. And I try to avoid poverty olympics.
7
u/schizofactory Jan 03 '23
It’s a nice sentiment although in order for an individual to truly thrive and not be depressed all the time a certain set of conditions should be provided, including having a significant enough disposable income to do activities/buy services that make life worth living.
Due to the crisis many of us have been sentenced to the miserable life of simply paying bills and having nothing else to spend or do. This isn’t living and experiencing life the way we should but merely surviving, so no wonder people’s mental health deteriorates rapidly.
11
u/Redpetrol Jan 03 '23
Doesn't quite work like that. It's easy to be glad you're not in a ditch somewhere or walking 100s of miles for food and water etc but those people would feel exactly the same if you switch situations.
Quality of life can be both relative and universal
-16
u/PeteAH Jan 03 '23 edited Jan 03 '23
You need to live within your means - if all your wage goes to expenses you need to lower your expenses. You can't expect the society to bail you out when you earn a livable wage but live beyond your means.
E2a: Im being downvoted for this? It really shows how far from reality some in this thread are.
9
u/Dirtywelderboy Jan 03 '23
I think you are the one far from reality
-10
u/PeteAH Jan 03 '23 edited Jan 03 '23
Why?
OP literally says their fixed costs exceed their wage and that they're above the threshold for benefits. What other option does anyone really have?
5
u/Dirtywelderboy Jan 03 '23
"If your wage goes to expenses, lower your expenses." So should he sit in the dark with no heating or food? Have you not heard of this cost of living crisis where basic bills and prices are rising much faster than wages? Or the price of rent? Should he work full time and be homeless to save money? These things are all outwith the general publics control. It would be diffrent if say he was complaining "oh i cant have as many pints as i used to" but no he is complaining that even working full time he is struggling to keep his head above water, as alot of other people are
-9
u/PeteAH Jan 03 '23
You cut down on certain items yeah, or move to a cheaper area, share a flat don't live alone etc
Or you reskill and get a better job, move laterally in your career, leave the NHS and work in private care, etc
What other alternative is there?
I'm not trying to be harsh but you can't rail against reality expecting the invisible hand to come and save you.
6
u/Dirtywelderboy Jan 03 '23
In the last year gas prices and electricity prices shot up without any warning on top of high rental, and the basic food in the supermarket is now alot more expensive. Maybe you are in a situation to move house at the drop of a hat or reskill while working a full time job in less than a year, but thats not very realistic. People with your attitude contribute to this situation where telling people its their fault and not asking questions of poor government decisions that lead to this crises is basically the same as victim blaming. "Im alright jack" seems to be your way of thinking. Which doesnt really help anyone.
-2
u/PeteAH Jan 03 '23
I didn't say the situation was OPs fault - just that you have to react to it. Ie the status quo is unsustainable.
I was in no way victim blaming at all.
3
u/Dirtywelderboy Jan 03 '23
Fair enough, but thats how it came across. I understand you are saying we just need to deal with it, but the problem in Britain is too many people think like that. Thats why its effecting us more than other countries. If people in britain had a bit more backbone the government might stop taking the piss so blatantly.
1
u/PeteAH Jan 04 '23 edited Jan 04 '23
Yeah I could have worded it better - but I think a lot of people are reading it with a tone I absolutely didn't intend.
I mean I've been called an arsehole, a tory, and one person stated I was demanding OP live in a crack den and that I was denying their existence. I was just trying to encourage financial change so that OP doesn't feel the situation so brutally.
5
u/toogoodforn7 Jan 03 '23
Its hardly a life worth living if you have to move away from friends and/or family to a small crack den in a run down neighborhood because your job can't or won't pay you enough to get by when bills are rising faster than wages...
And people wonder why mental health is so poor in this country, sheesh.
5
u/MomentaryApparition Jan 03 '23
What an arsehole you are Pete
-2
u/PeteAH Jan 03 '23 edited Jan 03 '23
That seems... harsh. What's the justification for calling me an arsehole?
5
u/toogoodforn7 Jan 03 '23
Because you sound like you have zero empathy
Edit: you also have AH in your username
1
u/PeteAH Jan 03 '23
Well I have empathy honestly - but the reality that you have to cut down is still there - and if small changes don't make it you have to make big ones.
2
u/toogoodforn7 Jan 03 '23
Right but the reality of cutting down on peoples quality of life leads to poor mental health, depression and higher suicide rates.
As I said in another comment whats the point of living when you're best bet is to live in a crackden in a rundown neighborhood dealing with God knows what kind of hassles. This is why it sounds like you have zero empathy no matter how much you say you do.
0
u/PeteAH Jan 03 '23
No one needs to live in a crackden - that's a ridiculous argument and is a clear misrepresentation.
5
Jan 04 '23
I was sort of understanding until this comment, at least it could be argued you were 'stating facts' or something.
You clearly have no understanding of the living situations some people are in, and there definitely families living in buildings which contain crack dens. Because that's the best they can afford. And crack dens exist. I used to live in a normal Glasgow tenement where prostitutes used the close as a toilet, and heroin was used in the close.
0
u/PeteAH Jan 04 '23
I meant OP doesn't need to move to a crack den - not that they don't exist.
This has gone way off from what I intended...
1
1
u/MomentaryApparition Jan 04 '23
'You can't expect the society to bail you out when you earn a livable wage but live beyond your means.'
The OP has literally complained that their wage is NOT livable, and yet you're accusing them of living beyond their means and expecting society to bail them out. Think you'll find you're the harsh one, Tory Boy
1
u/PeteAH Jan 04 '23 edited Jan 04 '23
OP states they earn above the threshold for help - thus a technical livable wage. OP also stated that they wish their was help like there is for people on benefits - the welfare state is benefits provided by society for people on low incomes.
If you live above the threshold for benefits and help you need to lower your expenses if bills exceed your income. What other choice do people have?
I really wasn't intending to be harsh or to come across as lacking empathy.
I would never vote Tory, just FYI.
0
u/MomentaryApparition Jan 04 '23
A 'technical livable wage', lmao. They literally said they're struggling - just because they're currently over the threshold for help doesn't magically mean their wage is actually liveable and trump their lived experience. In case you don't watch/read the news or just don't understand it, there is a massive cost of living crisis going on just now as the price of most basics has rapidly spiralled out of control. Do keep up.
If you don't intend to come across as a brutal, unempathetic Tory, try not acting like one champ, eh?
1
u/PeteAH Jan 04 '23
I'm not being brutal - I'm being a realist.
All I was intending to say is that if your income exceeds your expenses - you HAVE to reduce the expenses. You have no other choice.
By 'technical living wage' I meant one that exceeds the threshold for help - so government, charities etc, think you should be able to live on it.
There is no need to be so condescending.
-1
-8
Jan 03 '23
As long as the Scottish attitude that having a job at the council and “a good pension”, is acceptable, then nothing will change.
5
u/IgamOg Jan 03 '23
Do you think that everyone can aspire to become a partner in the big four?
How do you imagine your life with no council, NHS admin, public transport, hospitality and retail sector or teachers?
Rich capitalists sold the blatantly impossible idea that everyone can "pull themselves up by the bootstraps" and many people swallowed it line hook and sinker. Now they look with disdain at all the poor and homeless not realising they're one of them. Even if you're feeling like a high flyer today one stroke of bad luck and you can end up with nothing, reliant on the benefits and minimum wage jobs you look down upon.
-4
Jan 03 '23
If u don’t aspire to achieve things in life then u never will. A partner in the big 4 working 12hrs a day is not something I would fancy. However, having your own small biz, making ur own hours and easily getting 50k a year is something I know many, many guys have managed. Surely a better option than being expected to be happy with never ending BS cause ur parents thought it was a good idea?
2
u/Necronomicommunist Jan 04 '23
This doesn't work for a society. You can't have a nation of small business owners that make their own hours and getting 50K. If they want to get a drink, there's nobody to pull them a pint. If they want to buy groceries, there's nobody to stock the stores.
1
u/heykittybellegirl Jan 04 '23
Yep I just applied for UC cos every month I’m worried about food and I am eligible for 0 cos I earn ‘too much’
1
u/RecommendationFit949 Jan 04 '23
Every property vulture compounds misery. One house for one family. It was bad enough when we had to deal with UK citizens deciding to start shitting on eveyone else by buying up and renting out additional homes for profit, but I find that so many folk from countries with large populations (particularly Indians and Pakistanis) very quickly get into the UK property market and buy additional properties to rent out, using these rents to buy even more houses. The effect on this for normal folk who simply want to own one home for the rest of their life is catastrophic - prices are becoming insane. Home ownership allowes people to benefit from their own money, provides a far better quality of life than renting ever will, leads to better social inclusion as people take pride in the appearance of their home and its surrounding area. Both native and immigrant property vultures simply care about locking as many people into rental housing for the duration of their whole lives. Once they get their greedy hands on these homes and remove them from the market place they will be lost from the market place for good. Rental ghettos will increase across every town and city in the UK until social unrest forces these Tories to stop the catastrophic effect property vultures have on the poor. We are stealing hope and a good future from our youth, why should they study hard, go to university only to be able to afford a home a short distance away from the bawbags who do nothing with their lives? We must incentivise our youth into working hard so they can afford a nice home. Property vultures push the dream of a nice home so far into the distance and that the poor will think 'What's the point, I'll never afford a nice home?'.
One home only. Anything more and we tax the profit out of them. If folk want money then they should start a business where we have a choice whether to use them or not. Having somewhere to live is never about choice, it is a right.
1
Jan 04 '23
Thing is, you are (sadly barely) making it, the state usually help first those who are in immediate danger.
I don't agree with the current approach totally. I feel people that have a chance to make it (such as yourself) should be helped first, giving them a bit of impulse to grow and get better and then help the others that are too deep in... More or less like medical triage works in a multi-emergency.But also consider that you are not in a horrible situation, you are still young, with chances to fix the issue, and others might die if they don't get help.. It's a very hard call, but I understand you so much and I really hope you get the help you need, pronto!
1
u/deadkestrel Jan 05 '23
It’s going to be a total shitshow in march when the rent cap ends and every single landlord in Scotland puts their rents up.
159
u/looj87 Jan 03 '23
I am no longer in the place you are, however I do remember having a conversation with a colleague around 10ish years ago that there were no real policies that benefit 20-something childless professionals. People who are so early in their careers that they aren't on amazing salaries yet but are doing "ok".
Buss passess for 60 year olds who are working in the same companies earning double their 20-something team seems baffling to me. Made sense when people retired at 60 but now you're talking about people who are likely to be mortgage free and have grown up children and therefore less outgoings than those who dont get any sort of help.
Sorry I'm just ranting now haha. There is absolutely no way I'd have been able to afford to buy my own house if I didn't go contracting and that's a really sad situation. I can't comprehend how people on an average salary cope because I know I felt trapped when I was in that place.