The reality of life for many MANY people.
Discussion
I'd consider myself to be a relatively stereotypical pistonheader.
Powerfully built, company director, opinionated and into cars, property, watches and food.
I'm right of centre, a capitalist, a striver who wants to improve their lot.
Recently I sold a business and am moving house so in the interim I was delighted to secure a short term work contract managing the relocation of a business to new premises 17 miles away. I'm dealing with the planning, implementation, logistics, IT, utility and fixtures and fitting installations to make sure it's a seamless move and business continues.
D day is looming and so far so good.
I'm working with the directors, managers, supervisors but also hands on with the front line warehouse people. There are packers and sweepers and pickers etc and in talking with them I've really had my eyes opened to a society I knew little about.
The company employs a lot of agency workers, they work for minimum wage and have no contract.
They can and are told to go home at any time and contacted by text when they are needed again.
I know a lot of people are employed like this on zero hours contracts but to see it in its rawest form is quite enlightening.
I thought the people working like this would be wasters. Scruffy, unreliable, disinterested. COUNCIL!
The sort you wouldn't trust to tie a shoelace.
Far from it!
I'm going to generalise and I've only had limited dealings but the people doing this work aren't like that at all.
They live in the same towns as you and I but they don't talk about house prices and loft conversions, there lives couldn't be further from this.
Without exception they want to work and they work hard, the wages supplement their benefits and they live day to day, they are all ages, not many immigrants at all, mostly British.
While we on PH talk about Brexit, Heathrow expansion and the merits of DSG gearboxes, they know absolutely nothing about those things or craft beer, costa coffee, Holland and Barrett or waitrose.
It's not that they aren't interested, it's simply that all they care about is earning £50 a day as many days as they can to buy fags, a pint or pay off a pay day loan which they all have.
They all have rubbish phones, most don't have a car, they ride an old bone shaker or walk 2 or 3 miles to work. They aren't looking for a carbon fibre frame, if they get a puncture they are sunk.
If you ask how the weekend was there is no talk of a restaurant they went to or a nice walk or a show they enjoyed. They don't watch much TV surprisingly. No X factor and reality shows, they are on their play station, a lot of gaming.
None have any plans other than hoping they win the lottery (they all buy tickets) they don't scour the web for holidays or right move and they don't go shopping for clothes.
They wear what they have and eat rubbish. Fizzy drinks, crisps, chocolate just stuff that we might have as a snack is their staple food. No croissants, no pasta, no aged steak.
It's quite remarkable to me that there are so many like this in this one firm so I guess there are thousands in the UK.
They aren't scum, they aren't work shy, they are just people trying to keep their head above water.
When their day is done they put on an old jacket and walk home.
It's made me look at people differently, I don't know if it's good or bad but I didn't think about it much.
I don't know if it makes me feel better about myself or worse but it is interesting.
Politicians are always on about trying to help people back to work, these people are at work, they don't seem to have dreams, goals of much hope beyond what they're doing.
I'm not drawing any conclusions just writing my thought.
Powerfully built, company director, opinionated and into cars, property, watches and food.
I'm right of centre, a capitalist, a striver who wants to improve their lot.
Recently I sold a business and am moving house so in the interim I was delighted to secure a short term work contract managing the relocation of a business to new premises 17 miles away. I'm dealing with the planning, implementation, logistics, IT, utility and fixtures and fitting installations to make sure it's a seamless move and business continues.
D day is looming and so far so good.
I'm working with the directors, managers, supervisors but also hands on with the front line warehouse people. There are packers and sweepers and pickers etc and in talking with them I've really had my eyes opened to a society I knew little about.
The company employs a lot of agency workers, they work for minimum wage and have no contract.
They can and are told to go home at any time and contacted by text when they are needed again.
I know a lot of people are employed like this on zero hours contracts but to see it in its rawest form is quite enlightening.
I thought the people working like this would be wasters. Scruffy, unreliable, disinterested. COUNCIL!
The sort you wouldn't trust to tie a shoelace.
Far from it!
I'm going to generalise and I've only had limited dealings but the people doing this work aren't like that at all.
They live in the same towns as you and I but they don't talk about house prices and loft conversions, there lives couldn't be further from this.
Without exception they want to work and they work hard, the wages supplement their benefits and they live day to day, they are all ages, not many immigrants at all, mostly British.
While we on PH talk about Brexit, Heathrow expansion and the merits of DSG gearboxes, they know absolutely nothing about those things or craft beer, costa coffee, Holland and Barrett or waitrose.
It's not that they aren't interested, it's simply that all they care about is earning £50 a day as many days as they can to buy fags, a pint or pay off a pay day loan which they all have.
They all have rubbish phones, most don't have a car, they ride an old bone shaker or walk 2 or 3 miles to work. They aren't looking for a carbon fibre frame, if they get a puncture they are sunk.
If you ask how the weekend was there is no talk of a restaurant they went to or a nice walk or a show they enjoyed. They don't watch much TV surprisingly. No X factor and reality shows, they are on their play station, a lot of gaming.
None have any plans other than hoping they win the lottery (they all buy tickets) they don't scour the web for holidays or right move and they don't go shopping for clothes.
They wear what they have and eat rubbish. Fizzy drinks, crisps, chocolate just stuff that we might have as a snack is their staple food. No croissants, no pasta, no aged steak.
It's quite remarkable to me that there are so many like this in this one firm so I guess there are thousands in the UK.
They aren't scum, they aren't work shy, they are just people trying to keep their head above water.
When their day is done they put on an old jacket and walk home.
It's made me look at people differently, I don't know if it's good or bad but I didn't think about it much.
I don't know if it makes me feel better about myself or worse but it is interesting.
Politicians are always on about trying to help people back to work, these people are at work, they don't seem to have dreams, goals of much hope beyond what they're doing.
I'm not drawing any conclusions just writing my thought.
Edited by Thankyou4calling on Wednesday 19th October 14:56
Edited by Thankyou4calling on Thursday 20th October 21:34
PurpleMoonlight said:
I find that comment very disconcerting.
Fundamentally, it should be the other way around and benefits supplement their income.
Apologies. I'd imagine their wages are more than their benefits so the mix I referred to is wrong but it seemed they all received some benefits as at every break they had to call some government office.Fundamentally, it should be the other way around and benefits supplement their income.
In that sense the benefits are allowing employers to pay low wages as they are topped up by tax payer money.
As someone said about living in a bubble, that's true in so many ways.
A lot of products, goods and services which are marketed on TV etc are simply lost on great swathes of the population as they simply aren't in that market, or really any market at all.
On PH we laugh at the council thread but the posts on there refer largely to people who consume things we think are council.
The workers I saw are barely consumers of anything. PAYG phones, lottery tickets, gaming, fags and monster energy drink is about it.
superkartracer said:
Maybe get out a bit? , i travelled on holiday to Barbados about 20 years ago ( aged 19 ) , walking around bridgetown gave me some insight into how the other half live .
This is more the reality of life .
I can assure you that walking around Bridgetown is nothing compared to the time I've spent in Trenchtown Jamaica or the government yards in Mombasa.This is more the reality of life .
So I know hardship believe me.
I'm not referring to drop outs I was referring to regular people.
And yes, I accept I didn't realise the reality for many and I'd wager a lot on here think the decision between Costa or Starbucks Is as tough as it gets.
Of course they COULD stop smoking but they often have so few pleasures and yes they could make a packed lunch but some people really don't think like that. They are just getting convenient things, they don't even buy stuff from discount stores but often from the corner shop they pass while walking.
It's easy to say they can buy a sack of potatoes for £4 but how do they carry them home? How do they cook them when they live in a single room.
Look I know we might have answers and see a solution but there are a hell of a lot who only focus on now, and a bit of cash.
What's the point in stopping smoking. They'll save £20 a week for what? Grated Parmesan and a copy of the economist? No chance, they are simply different.
I'm even talking about people as if they are separate from me and I really don't mean that.
It's easy to say they can buy a sack of potatoes for £4 but how do they carry them home? How do they cook them when they live in a single room.
Look I know we might have answers and see a solution but there are a hell of a lot who only focus on now, and a bit of cash.
What's the point in stopping smoking. They'll save £20 a week for what? Grated Parmesan and a copy of the economist? No chance, they are simply different.
I'm even talking about people as if they are separate from me and I really don't mean that.
okgo said:
Unless OP lives in Belgravia and has a driver then I do find it hard to see how its taken him this long to notice the rest of the UK population.
Perhaps this is one of the unfortunate (or fortunate depending on your view) parts of social media, such as Facebook, you're constantly reminded of just how people you worked with, went to school with, or whatever live, and while many will be like you, there's plenty who consider a Beefeater an acceptable place to take your family of a weekend, 4 generations that all look under 50.
I certainly don't live in Belgravia. I live in Richmond (Surrey)Perhaps this is one of the unfortunate (or fortunate depending on your view) parts of social media, such as Facebook, you're constantly reminded of just how people you worked with, went to school with, or whatever live, and while many will be like you, there's plenty who consider a Beefeater an acceptable place to take your family of a weekend, 4 generations that all look under 50.
Anyway I've always been well aware of there being lots of people on low wages, I've been one of them, but what surprised me was that they weren't wasters, they were workers and in many cases that appeared to be as good as it could get and they weren't apparently striving for better but content to get a days work and £50.
I just thought that many people are either working hard and doing ok or scrounging benefits so for me, yes, it was eye opening.
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