SAGELYLIFE - DAY 1

I'm a 'virgin' when it comes to blogging, but as my life has changed almost completely in recent weeks, I really had to blog about it - its a parallel universe, I suppose I'll get used to it, but for now its bizarre, and I'd like to share this with you.


Surprise, surprise I was a public sector worker and I'm now redundant.  I decided several months ago that I wanted to be made redundant having worked solidly since finishing college over 25 years ago...  The process was grim for so many of my workmates with family commitments, but for me it was simple, sell my home, move to the seaside and start from scratch debt free (perhaps the only person in the UK who is debt free currently!).  So here I am with some savings to see me through the next 18 months or so, and the need to engage with the gamekeeper now I've turned 'poacher'!  


On my first official day of being unemployed I felt joyous, I said to myself I should be feeling awful......oh f*%k it I feel joyous! And I've felt that way pretty much ever since.  I'm only slightly niggled by the vague feeling that I should be worried about my new circumstances, but I'm not.  I keep checking how I'm feeling and its definitely joyous!


So a few weeks ago I take the momentous leap and google job centre plus......oh the direct gov website is so well meaning, but really not set up with the customer in mind.  So I have a lovely conversation with a woman in a call centre somewhere nebulous and giggle when she says - 'sensitive question coming up' then asked me if I'm pregnant - which I'm not.  Is it me or is it just too tempting to try and get the woman to go off script - naughty I know but it does add a bit of humanity to the day - more so for her than for me, well that just my view.  


All the questions answered, and its the last part of the phone questionnaire, an appointment to have my first face to face interview at my local job centre plus.  This is where I start to laugh out loud, not at the employee who was a lovely woman with a warm northern accent, but at the IT systems she has to wrestle with to get her job done....She has to wait while the other IT programme gets up a head of steam, to be able to make the appointment.  Of-course the questionnaire programme and appointments programme don't talk to each other - this is public sector at its all too familiar 'best'.  


She tells me a date and time for the interview that I know I cannot do.  I ask if I can have an appointment the following day?  Her reply was classic, I'm still reeling.... she can't offer me another appointment, the system won't let her - the computer that really does say NO!   She advises me to 'give it a couple of hours' and phone my local job centre plus to rearrange the appointment.  You know where I'm going with this don't you?  Of course I should have known better, I've been a public sector worker for so long why on earth would I expect anything to be straight forward, customer focussed and done in one go!


We finish our phone call wishing each other well - I think I've made someone in a really dire and potentially depressing job smile - so I'm happy.