Category Archives: Work and Studying

Jun 14 2013
16 Comments
Work and Studying

Job Hunting Just Got Uglier…

ugly bagOh marvelous. As if job hunting with a disability in a recession isn’t hard enough, beautifulpeople.com launched their own recruitment service last month, an offshoot of their dating agency for people who are beautiful and (boy, do they) know it. Really.

40,000 members have already signed up and last week 60 employers posted vacancies in a single 48-hour period. What hope is there for the rest of us? I may as well rip up my CV, stick a paper bag over my head and find a job peeling sacks of potatoes in my local chip shop.

There is an interesting interview with the Beautiful Fran, a member who claims ‘a slick of tinted moisturiser and some light eye make-up are all the products I need to ensure I look beautiful.’ Well, I’ve had a look at her photo and I’ve seen less make-up on a drag queen, but who am I to judge?

Fran boldly states that ‘looks now play a part in every profession.’ A sweeping, untrue comment, but then this is the same woman who also says that ‘it’s a fact that women judge each other on their appearance.’ Oh really? You might do that, love, but in the real world, it’s a fact that most of us quite simply don’t.

What really annoys me though is when she says, ‘…women were obviously jealous of me (in an office) and they would say nasty things behind my back – and even sometimes to my face.’ In my humble opinion, I would say this happened more because of her arrogant attitude and the way she interacts with other women rather than her perceived beauty. If she thinks that’s discrimination, what on earth is she doing joining a website that proudly and blatantly discriminates? Workplace bullying is a serious problem and having been through it myself for a year, I find it insulting that she even mentions this.

I don’t think I’ve been hit too badly with the ugly stick, but when I go for job interviews I hope I can convey a passion and knowledge for the role rather than worrying if I’ve got hair on my lip gloss. Looks fade but insight and wisdom only grow over the years. Fran’s got an answer to this though. She’s considering Botox…

Tagged , , , ,
Jun 02 2013
7 Comments
Work and Studying

Pause. Press Play.

Pause. Press Play.After more than three weeks off work with a lumpy haematoma on my leg, I am finally off my sofa and raring to go.

When I tell people I work for my builder friend, they raise an eyebrow, look me up and down and say, ‘Oh, really?’ They might have visions of me driving a large white van, chucking plasterboard around and fitting worktops in my spare time.

Years ago when I helped my friend set up his company, this was probably true. He taught me how to use a drill and I became an excellent tiler. Those days are long gone, although I can still tile if I sit on a bench and the boss applies the adhesive for me first. It’s a bit like mosaic craft work. Until the tiles fall off.

My boss is the Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes and reluctantly agreed to let me work with him after I was sacked from my job. I begged, cajoled and consented to listening to commercial radio all day long. Obviously MS has put paid to most of the things I used to do, so we have ‘adapted and overcome’. Well, I have. The boss may well disagree.

So now, my duties consist of – making tea and coffee, putting the radio on, tidying up the boss’s toolbox (not very well, as you can see from my picture), sweeping things in to little piles everywhere, gossiping, yelling out a countdown to lunchtime, making more tea and coffee and spending hours nattering to the owners of whichever house we are working on (or ‘skiving’, as the boss calls it). I call it good PR. If there’s a job where my presence is more of a hindrance, I work from home, writing up quotes, sourcing materials and helping him with his website, so I’m not completely useless.

When I asked the boss if he had missed me when I was off, he looked bemused and paused mid-way through drilling. ‘Missed what?’ I flounced (limped and stumbled) off, but he has a point, I suppose. He rattled off the facts – ‘you keep dropping the nails, you trip over everything, I find you dozing off in quiet corners, you can’t lift anything heavier than a hammer, and you talk non-stop. What’s to miss?’

Tagged , , , ,
May 20 2013
15 Comments
Work and Studying

Speaking Out…

Working With MS

Four out of five people with MS become unemployed within 10 years of diagnosis.

One in four people with MS of working age are employed, compared to three out of four of the wider UK population. 

Shocking facts, considering MS is the most common neurological disorder among young adults and is most often diagnosed between the ages of 20  and 40.

With this in mind, and my experience of having been sacked after my own diagnosis, I attended the ‘Working With MS’ conference organised by the Multiple Sclerosis Society Cymru in Cardiff on Saturday. My leg was still excruciatingly painful so I took a walking stick, dosed myself up on painkillers and put a brave face on.

I had been invited to sit on a four-person panel of people with varying experiences in the workplace and we would each talk about how MS had affected our work. I’m not a public speaker by any stretch of the imagination and I was panicking. I used to hate standing up in school to talk about ‘What I Did On Holiday.’ I go bright red in the face, completely forget what I’m talking about and start gibbering nonsense.

I needn’t have worried, it went well (I hope). I am passionate about encouraging people not to accept bullying or discrimination at work. I was bullied for over a year, a sustained campaign to force me to resign. When I didn’t, I was sacked. I was coping with this alongside going through the whole MS diagnostic process and the combination of the two nearly drove me over the edge.

It was without a doubt the most difficult and soul-destroying time in my life and I don’t want anyone to go through what I did. With incredible support I started tribunal proceedings and won my case.

The conference was an excellent source of information, but we still have a long way to go to encourage people with MS to stay in work, to ask for adaptations and to educate employers. We have a lot of talent between us and it would be a travesty to let that go to waste…

Tagged , , , , , ,
Apr 02 2013
4 Comments
Work and Studying

Backing The Bullies

This Summer, The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill will be introduced with Vince Cable, the business secretary, stating that ‘people who work hard and do the right thing (will be) rewarded.’

Sounds fair? Dig a little deeper.

Staff who feel they’ve been unfairly sacked will find it much more difficult to raise a case – there will be a cap on compensation for unfair dismissal and new charges for bringing a claim.

This is on top of the time employees have to work for their company before they can file an unfair dismissal claim – a shocking rise from one to two years.

As many of you will know, I was unfairly dismissed from my job last Autumn for having MS. Thankfully, I had worked for just over two years and recently the case was settled in my favour. However I know of people in low-paid jobs who are routinely ‘dismissed’ from their jobs right before the two-year cut off, only to see those same jobs quickly re-advertised.

Until now, taking a case to a tribunal has been free. Once the bill is passed, the proposed new fees will be £250 for lodging a standard claim and a further £950 if it goes to a hearing. How many people who are sacked can even contemplate these charges? And with legal aid being drastically scaled back, few will be able to fight back.

Even more Orwellian is the introduction of ‘protected conversations’, where an employer can take you aside out of the blue, offer to pay you to leave and you won’t be able to use anything said in the discussion as evidence in an unfair dismissal claim (discrimination cases are exempt from this). This protects your employer, not you. Presently, employers only have this protection once a formal dispute has already been raised regarding your performance.

For people already fighting to keep their jobs in the midst of a recession, especially for those with a disability, this is devastating news. Bullying bosses have been handed even more power, and this time it comes government-backed.

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Mar 19 2013
6 Comments
Work and Studying

It’s Not Working….

When The Teenager was six, his class had to present a short talk about what their parents worked as.

According to reports, he proudly announced to the class that ‘My mummy studied for four years to become a psychopath and she has her own clinic where she sees people.’ A quick call from the school later, and I had reassured them that I was actually a homeopath.

Some would say they’re not dissimilar. Telling people you’re a homeopath is akin to confessing you boil up frog skins and sulphur under a full moon, whilst chanting naked, trusted cat by your side. According to the media, we are a bunch of charlatans and confidence-tricksters who prey on the vulnerable and disenfranchised.

The recession and ill-health forced me to take a sabbatical from my clinic and I miss it. Homeopathy never felt like work, it was a passion and for me, it was always complementary, never an alternative to orthodox medicine.

I am currently in the middle of looking for a new job. The builder can’t employ me forever and much as I like stomping around in my Caterpillar boots, eating bacon sarnies, slurping tea and reading The Sun, it’ll be time to move on soon.

Hours and hours of scrolling through countless job sites has left me shell-shocked and disheartened though. After putting in my location, the hours I want to work and my skill-set, I’m left with chambermaid, cleaner, carer and security guard jobs. I know there’s a recession on, but c’mon guys.

So a little idea is slowly taking shape in my mind. I finish my degree in October, my head will be clear(ish) and I could possibly re-open my clinic. MS has altered my planned career-path, so why not combine the homeopathy with the knowledge gleaned from this degree in health and social care? Hmm. If I had a brain, I’d be dangerous.

I’d like to have a job where I could make a difference, however small. Not just working for the sake of it.  Anyway, it’s just a thought for now. Who knows, my dream job may be just around the corner. Now excuse me while I light some incense sticks and pluck snails from my garden…

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
← Older posts
Newer posts →