Subject I is a man of forty six. He is recently
di~orced. He.has been unemployed for one month.
"E!~r since I was divorced things seem to have gone bad.
Ny.wife left me to go with some other man. She took the children with her. It was nice having the children at home they seemed to make things a lot better. We
~ .. '" I j • 1
always used to fight. At first I thought i t ~ould be the best. Dut now I don't know what to do. During the divorce I had to miss \~ork. I had to go to' court. And ai'ter a while ~hey started getting tired of me at work.
They told me that there l<asn't a job for me anymore.
At least I don't have to support the ~hildren. I would like to give them money. But I havc~'t got,any to give them. For a while I got up from bed at the same time as when I \~orked. Dut then. I had nothing to do. Now I just sleep for most of ~he morning. ~hen I get,up I just walk around. There isn't anything that I want to do.
I thought of trying to get another job. But i t just doesn't seem to be worthwhile. I haven't even tried.
I hear that people can't get jobs so what's the good.
I've got to go back to the UIF office next l<eek. Maybe there'll be some money there for me. I hope so because I haven't got very much left. It's expensive to go there, you just sit around all day, just wait in a long queue,
21
everybody else is sitting there around waiting as well, what is the good you ask yourself, then they call your name and say no money this week, you just think to yourself well what's the use. The nice
thing about the UIF is being able to talk to people because when you sit at home all day you don't see very many people
,
at all. Somehow its encouraging to see other people ,in the same situation. You know that they're also having a hard time and that you're not the only one but,what good does that' 'do. n
"It's not that you want everybody to be in the same position as you i t ' s just that i t makes You feel better to know that you aren't the only one. I've made a few friends at the unemployment office. But i t would be nice,to meet other people. You want ,people who are happy. It's not nice being with people who are always sad. Maybe I should look for another job. It just makes me so tired. They're just going to tell me they don ',t want me. .I don't have a good reference from my last job. I don't have experience. I don't have _ education. What is there for me?"
SUBJECT J.
.,
Subject J is a woman of twenty five years old.
".
She has one child. She is not married. She used
1,
to work as a Salesgirl at the O.K. Bazaars. She
I
left because they accused her of stealing.
"I used to enjoy my work at the O.K. Bazaars. It was hard work though i t "as unpacking boxes and packing on
the shelves, and putting on the prices and i t was standing at the t i l l ringing everything up. Over a few months money \Vas disappearing out of the t i l l .
,
They said that it was me. But they couldn't catch the person who i t was. They eventuallY sacked me. I
",asn't stealing the money. I don't know who was though.
I think there ",as something going on which I didn't know
..
about. '''hat ",as nice about \vorking there was all the other girls that worked there too. You had a lot of
-
..
friendA. At lunch time ",e used to go sit on the parade and talk to our friends. It ",as a nice hour to forget about bad things.
-,
No", I never see them. I think they've forgotten about me. I haven't got the money to go in from ~litchells Plain to town every day to go and see them anymore. I haven't been back to another shop to look for a job because I want a different kind of job.
It was tiring work standing on your feet every day but somehow i t was nice. They said when I left they would make sure that I would never get another job.
2)
They put. in my UIF card that I had been sacked because of stealing. Now when you apply for a job people look at that and they don't want to employ you. It is as i f a curse has been put on you. There ·is no way you're going to get another
job with that number C there."
I worry sometimes about when I'm going to be able to work again and when I'm going to have money again but at the· moment things are alrig~t but for how long I don't know. You can't claim UIF when you've been
-.
sacked for stealing so I don't know what I'm going to do. The O.K. is a bad place to work, the bosses treat you really badly. They think they can mess you around. But i t ' s not true they can't. I feel
embarrassed to tell people ,{hy I was sacked from the O.K. Bazaars. Even though i t ' s not true. Somehow
they make you feel you're not as good as you thought you were. They make me think that I'm a thief. But I know that I'm not, somehow you can't help but think these things. Yesterday I thought I would go and try to get a job. I got as far as the manager of the job section, but as a tea girl, for a big factory." But then she looked at my UIF card and what could I say.
I tried to explain that i t wasn't me and that I didn't know how i t had happened. But she wouldn't listen.
She sa~d that I had a cheek to apply.
very degrading bu't it would have been s~o~ething, someth~ng d~fferent but also ;ometh~ng wh~ch I wouldn't have wanted to do for very long. IO
w~sh I could meet other women who feel the same way as me. And maybe we could work something out
together. You feel really s~ck when you havn't got a job. It's there in the bottom of your stomach. You think that something's eating you.
They have to change sometime. The days are so long. I don't .know what to do with myself anymore.
I have v~sited all my aunt~es. You can't do that for very long. They also want to l<now \~hy you've been sacked ~nd you feel as if you can't tell them because their bearts w~ll break. My parents aren't al~v~
anymore. At least I haven't broken their hearts.
I'm worth nothing."
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SUBJECT K.
Subject K is a man of forty three years old.
He is married and has three children. His children are sixteen, thirteen and ten. He was employed as a fitter. But now he can't find any jobs.
"I used to be a good fitter but now I think I've forgotten how to do i t . I'm sure I would remember -but it'B been so long since last time I did i t .
I've been unemp~oyed for seven months. It seems.
strange that one can't find another job but i t ' s true.
At first you think oh well i t will be easy I ' l l just.'.' ,.
go and speak to so-and-so or to so-and-so or to that factory or to that Company. But that's not the case.
A lot of people are unemployed at the moment. It's a terrible si~uation. When you look at people and they look back at you and you think that they know you're unemployed. People think you're worthless. Any real man can support his family. I used to be a real man now I'm worth less than a loaf of bread. Bread is more use to them than me. My children are not being fed properly. There's very li-ttle money. My father-in-law was very angry and said in times like these I would never get another job. He said I must be a fool to be out of a job. Luckily he gave my ",ife some money for rent. Without him we ",ould be dead.
,.
He has been helping ever since I was unemployed.
For how long he can do that, I don't know. He
I ,
doesn't want to talk to me anymore. He, says that I should get something at least. But i t ' s difficult.
There is just no work: My children look at me and cry. They say they want' someone who goes to \~ork.
All their friends' fathers are working. They give them presents for their birthdays."
"It's coming up'for Christmas and I know i t ' s not going to be a very nice Christmas. Where wili we get money to buy'them a small present? They know that ) ! ~ "l.
,
something is wrong. They ,know there are problems because 'I become very cross wi th them:
,
They make me irr,itated. All their little games I used to be able to cope with now they just drive me mad they've started avoiding me which is terrible. I really don't care and I don't know what to do. My wife she's just bitter.
She takes i t out on me and accuses me of not wanting to support h~r and the children. She says I'm a hopeless person. How can I make, her believe that's not true.
I think the only way will be to get another job but where, where? Yesterday a friend o'f mine told me about a job and I went immediately to try and get i t . But there was a queue of seven people \vaiting to speak about the job. The white manager came out and looked up and
27
down the line. He asked us all questions. How long have you been working? Where did you work before? 11hat do you want? How much money do you want? Five of us had been unemployed for a while.
He said that we ~ere lazy. That we should be able to get jobs. He looked at the youngest and strongest man. I think somehow that the only people who will be alright at this stage are young people. They still have a lot of lLfe in them they s t i l l want to work hard. It·'s not that I don't want to work hard. But when people look at me they look at me and think he can't work very hard and i t ' s tru~ I look bad. 1 look as i f no j;hing goes ~igh t for me. When I lYalk pas t the
shop~ I just think how nice i t would be to buy something.
But I've never got any money in my pocket. My wife gives me none of the money that her father gives her. I some- times th.ink that I'm never ever going to be able to have money again."
"May~e I should try and geJ;. ~nother kind of job.
"
I've .been.trying to get a job as ~ fitter maybe I should just try something else. I rea~ly think i t would be better than nothing."
SUBJECT L.
Subject L is a man of twenty eight. He was a salesman at a furniture shop. He used to work wi th six ,other men. They all sold together. But now the company has closed down and they have all lost their jobs.
"When I lost my job I thought, ag this is not too serious I ' l l be able to find another one. I've ,always been able to find jobs. I know I can't do very much but I've always been able to talk myself into something.
I've been selling for ~bout fpur years, i t ' s a good life i t gives you something to do, i t ' s exciting.
You al\,ays when someone walks into your shop you think
to
yourself, will I be able to sell them something?The more I sell them the more I will get for myself and i t works. You get excited, you are able to 'talk, you are able to sell, you are able to convince them that this is what they need. But now my enthusiasm is going. I can't seem to think about what I'm going to do, I miss my connections from work. They live in other areas and i t ' s expensive to go and visit. We were a good team those boys and me, we,used to sell a lot. I don't know why the the company was doing so badly, that they had to close. We were told that we'd lost our jobs without any warning. Just one day we were at work and the next day we weren't at work. The
29
manager seems to be alright though, he's been transferred to another branch but us they could afford to get
rid of us. '''hat are we suppose.d to do now? I've saved a bit of money but how long will i t last?
That's what I ask myself all the time. I can't afford to spend too much,money •. because I don't know where the next piece of bread is going to Come from.
My girlfriend, she's s t i l l ~orking. She's been giving me. a bit of money but I don't li.ke to take from a woman. It makes them, think that they're more powerful than they.are. It makes them think that they can control you, and I don't want that. ·1 don't want to be in debt to her. Because then she'll make me marry her and I don't want that, I don't want that yet. I'm so young I need to live my life but now I can't •. I need to do things that I. want to do things but what's the po.int, there is no way that I can do what
I want. I used to be exciting and active but now I find i t difficult to do even small things. I don't want to make my bed, I don't "ant to make food, I don't want to do any of that. I just sit around reading the newspaper pages through but I know things can't go on like this forever. Somehow something has to happen, somehow someone has to give me a job, somehow I ' l l manage.
About two weeks ago there was a big fight outside my house and someone was killed and I thought to myself never, I won't do that, I will survive. I will get
another job and will be able to do something with my life. I don't want to live in that kind of world for the rest of my life. I want to move somewhere else, I want to get a b.etter house, I want to d·o lots of
things and I can only do those things "him I find another job. Sometimes I get the enthusiasm to tOry, so·metimes that· makes me get out of bed in the morning·
and go and ask at another -shop i f they need
a
salesman,·but I don't know how long that'll last". There has to be something. If there is I will find i t . I know that well."
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SUBJECT M.
Subject M is a married man of thirty six. He has three children. "i~ wife is working at the moment.
"Losing a job is like losing one's breath. You think you're never going to get i t back again but of course i t comes back again. And then you start to wonder , .. hat you're going to do. Things are alright at first.
But then they just seem to get worse. I t ' s a tragedy not being able to find work. You just think why can't I get a job? There's very little around. The day's so long. I feel tired ~t night but for very little reason. I don't even want to go to the bar anymore.
I don't have the money, but my pals buy me the odd drink. Twice a week I must go to the UIF office.
I've been going for two months. I s t i l l don't have any money from them. They always say next , .. eek.
I wonder whether i t ' s even worth trying there. again.
When I go to bed I wish I wouldn't wake up again
'{
because then i t would be over. I never was a lazy man, now I think there's something wrong. I don't even want to do the little things. My wife is very
\
patient. She encourages me and says of course you'll get another job. I sometimes wonder though. She bares the brunt of i t at the moment. I stay at home and try and look after the children. But I'm not much good.