Daily Archives: December 29, 2003

One (male) c.16 year-old to another (female), in Borders, on seeing Germaine Greer’s book, The Boy:

Germaine Greer, ooh, I love her.

And he did actually know who she was. The girl didn’t though.

I signed on again this morning. My usual Pauline was absent, so I spoke to another. This one more or less told me off for not having rung the Jobseeker Direct phone line (looks like they put notes in your file when you do). I told her I was looking for jobs online, but I don’t think she was satisfied by that answer. She also seemed miffed when I told her there were no suitable jobs on their “Jobcentre Plus” in-office touchscreen system.

(I thought it best not to suggest that the DWP‘s online, phone and touchscreen services probably all used the same job database, so I shouldn’t need to use more than one service. Of course, this is all cobbled together by EDS so who knows?)

After the grilling I mentioned that I wouldn’t be able to attend the next appointment in two weeks, as I’m away all that week. She asked where. Switzerland, I said. In that case, she said, I’d have to sign off, and sign on again when I return from holiday.

I’d been told when I first signed on that a week’s absence can be finessed within the system with a “quickie” sign-off/sign-on without the complete form-filling palaver. This Pauline, however, didn’t seem to think so. So I signed off, grumbling that this was all designed to make it hard for people to stay on the system. She tended to agree. (And I’m tempted not to bother signing back on again after the holilday.)