CHAPTER
28
ENGLAND
EARNING
A LIVING
Doing John's washing
We continued to search the internet for jobs.
(There seemed to be so many!) We
registered with agencies and scoured newspapers. Over and over we sent off our CV’s to
companies in the hope of their spotting an eager employee. My husband eventually resorted to writing
letters offering his services for free in the hopes of an eventual job
offer. But we had no replies. Things don’t work that way here. You have to follow the correct channels,
stick to the system. After all, humans
don’t read our applications, and there’s no point in appealing to the
compassionate side of a computer!
Not wanting to bore you too much I have set
out below the incredibly long and intense process of procuring work in this
country.
Finally an Agent phoned John with an
offer. The position had the important
sounding title of Horticultural Team Leader in a large Garden Centre. A large amount of documents were forwarded by
email which needed to be completed before a decision could be reached on
whether an interview would be arranged. Before completing the forms John had to
go on an anonymous visit to the Garden Centre and do some “secret
shopping”. He could then complete the
forms stating how the service was, what he considered to be the negative and positive
points of the staff and what recommendations he had for improving the garden
centre. This together with a string of multiple choice questionnaires was, I
felt, a very clever way to gain free advice via a survey, whether an employment
offer was finally produced or not.
The forms, together with the visit to the
shop, took almost two days and this was followed by two separate thirty minute
interviews with the agent. He was a friendly
man, who John got to know on a first name basis but who remained just a voice
on the telephone. Finally the interview
was set up and John set off dressed in a recommended suit where he spent two
hours being grilled by two people who apparently liked him a lot but told him
that at the end of the day it was up to the “big boys” in Head Office (who
would never actually meet him) and depended on whether he gave the correct
answers in the forms he had completed.
Another long wait of four days, more phone
calls from the friendly agent and finally a job offer! And more forms to complete….. This time a password was given to register
on-line to complete a Health and Safety assessment. This had to be completed before starting work
the following week. It took John and
myself two whole days to finish the assessment.
Watch a video, listen to a talk, and answer multiple choice
questions. Again there is no flexibility
here. You answer is either right or
wrong. If you score less than 80% you
fail and need to start again. Hence the
two days time for completion.
Now all of this was for the job of Horticulture
Team Leader. The salary seemed very low
for such an important sounding role. I
waited impatiently for John to come home after his first day at work to tell me
what the job actually entailed.
What it entailed was a lot of manual
labour. Although he had to look after
the plants it seemed that his main task was moving displays, shelves, trolleys,
sweeping and carrying the customers’ purchases to their cars. Mostly mindless tasks and certainly not in
need of the high qualifications they asked for.
The jobs we gave to Nosisi and Sydney in our nursery in South Africa,
both having only a minimal amount of education and certainly no diplomas. A big step down in life!
This shows what the job situation is actually
like in this country. People are so desperate for work because benefits
supplied by the Government do not equal a liveable income. People from Europe flock to the UK and are
prepared to work longer hours for less money so naturally they’re given the
unskilled jobs first. There are too many
people and not enough jobs and therefore the large corporations can be fussy
and get the best there is for the lowest wage possible. This is how someone with a qualification in
Horticulture and 30 years experience ends up sweeping the floors. And stays there; no hope of a promotion no
matter how hard he works.
Don’t fall ill in the first year of
employment because you won’t get any sick leave, with or without a Doctor’s
certificate. If you need your full
salary you will come to work even if you’re close to death.
They can pay peanuts to over-qualified people
and expect them to work up to 45 hours a week or more if needed without the
necessity to pay overtime. If anyone
complains, there’s always someone else desperate enough to take the job. Don’t expect to stick to the given hours
either. You will arrive early for a
staff meeting before work starts and you will write your reports after your
work finishes. The company will get
every ounce of sweat out of you and then some more.
On the plus side John was given a full and
new uniform including warm jacket and boots. On the down side the uniform was all in lime
green and purple and not really his favourite colours! Even if he had got to keep if when he left
it’s doubtful he’d ever want to wear it again, unless it’s to a fancy dress
party.
Of course, once John found a job and left
each morning at 8am with the car, only to return at 7pm in the evening, I
suddenly discovered that our little piece of paradise became a prison for
me. I could walk through the fields for
miles but the shops were too far away, I could visit the neighbours but being
twice my age we had very little in common.
Paddy became my only companion and I felt extremely isolated and
lonely.
Long walks with Paddy
The Landlords indicated that they were
thinking of selling the house so after a year of comfortable bliss in the
countryside we decided to move back to town.
I felt the move would be beneficial as I could then be more independent
and find work within walking distance. A
year later found us moving house yet again, with our same “Man with a Van” to
help us with our boxes and furniture.
Hard to adjust to living in town after the year we spent in Bosbury and the beautiful house we rented there
Once again we had to make a big adjustment
and get used to living in a terraced house and within arms’ length of our
neighbours front door. No more fields to
look out on now and instead we had pavements and rows of houses. What I did notice though was that although I
was now living in town, I felt more isolated than ever! People in the countryside are friendly and
have time to have a chat. People in town
are busy and keep to themselves. In the year we lived there I never met our
neighbour and his house was joined to ours, we shared a bedroom wall! The
neighbours on the other side were retired and although I did try to pop over
for a chat they definitely weren’t the type of people for receiving “pop-over”
visitors. We saw each other occasionally
when we walked out of our door which faced theirs, but apart from a very formal
“Good Morning” or “Nice weather today” there was no chatting to be had there.
Main street in Ledbury
Market Ledbury
But of course I enjoyed all the advantages of
living in town, such as the short distance to the shops and pub and the work
opportunities which I believed would be abundant……..
After walking the streets, handing in my CV,
making enquiries at the Doctors’ rooms and applying for each and every
advertised job I felt capable of doing, I failed over and over again to be
offered employment. I prepared so carefully for interviews and put my heart and
soul into applications but there was no interest. It’s not surprising my self
confidence began to desert me and depression and homesickness set in.
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