Apparently recent graduates can't get decent jobs. Duh.
I'm a recent graduate. Here are the highlights of my day today in my job that I was 'lucky' to get in this economic climate. (For this I am paid minimum wage.)
4pm
8 year old comes in swearing its tits off and winding up other kids. It is asked to go outside for ten minutes to calm down. It refuses and throws a wobbly, which includes:
- pulling most books off the shelves in non fiction, general fiction and some of the kids section
- setting spinners going so books fly off in every direction
- crawling under the tables where adult PCs are and annoying service users
- stealing book trolley and running round the library with it
- punching a ten year old girl in the face
- kicking various kids and staff
- once it has finally been removed from the building, kicking the front door till it smashes the glass - then it continues to kick in an effort to get the glass to fall out of the frame.
Emergency contact for kid does not appear, so we end up getting polis out.
This excitement makes all the other childs very hyper, and nobody will settle to anything for the rest of the afternoon.
6.30ish
- Teenagers steal team leader's keys and hide them in a hedge
- Seven year old (with whom we have a history - he isn't allowed in) appears, chucks draughts around, runs about building, jumps on table, kicks anyone who gets near him, incites other kids to general sofa dive-bombing and annoying-ness
- All refuse to leave, despite being threatened by their 'supervisor' (mum's useless mate, who has inadvertently become some kind of pied piper figure, followed round by malnourished children refusing to go home)
As Captain Tact said, would it really matter if any of these people died?
It certainly can make a person wonder why they wracked up 4 years worth of SAAS debt. My one and only reason for going to uni was that I wasn't getting anywhere with journalism in the year after school. I'm still not.
Yesterday's plan stands.
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
A Blog Post
Today I had probably the nicest rejection I've ever had, for that job I mentioned a few posts back.
It said things like, "I know you'll be disappointed," which has never been acknowledged in my experience and is very true - this afternoon a child threw a can of irn bru at my head and I am a little disappointed that for the forseeable future that will continue to be part of my daily life.
I am also disappointed that it's going to be a while before I can put all the time and energy I would like into quirky features like A Week In The Life of Greyfriars Bobby or On the Trail of Mr Uibe; or highlight the problems faced by the Moredun Community Centre, or publicise any of the new music, art and poetry I keep coming across every day along with the backing of a national paper rather than on a small blog.
However, that doesn't mean I'm going to take a strop and stop blogging Edinburgh-centric articles. And I take comfort from phrases like, "we would encourage you to stay in touch" and "as the Guardian local blog project moves on, I'm hopeful there could be ways we could work together in the future." So, I'll be following the project with interest and may yet be actively involved, p'raps on a voluntary basis. Better experience than nothing, after all.
I do think, though, that I need to look at getting a job that will allow me to focus more on comics and writing, and less on social work issues that I am not professionally or emotionally equipped to deal with. So I guess that is the plan for now.
It said things like, "I know you'll be disappointed," which has never been acknowledged in my experience and is very true - this afternoon a child threw a can of irn bru at my head and I am a little disappointed that for the forseeable future that will continue to be part of my daily life.
I am also disappointed that it's going to be a while before I can put all the time and energy I would like into quirky features like A Week In The Life of Greyfriars Bobby or On the Trail of Mr Uibe; or highlight the problems faced by the Moredun Community Centre, or publicise any of the new music, art and poetry I keep coming across every day along with the backing of a national paper rather than on a small blog.
However, that doesn't mean I'm going to take a strop and stop blogging Edinburgh-centric articles. And I take comfort from phrases like, "we would encourage you to stay in touch" and "as the Guardian local blog project moves on, I'm hopeful there could be ways we could work together in the future." So, I'll be following the project with interest and may yet be actively involved, p'raps on a voluntary basis. Better experience than nothing, after all.
I do think, though, that I need to look at getting a job that will allow me to focus more on comics and writing, and less on social work issues that I am not professionally or emotionally equipped to deal with. So I guess that is the plan for now.
Fish
I'm not saying Robson Green's Wild Swimming Adventure is a bad show. What's not to love about a small geordie swimming across things he shouldn't swim across, then crying about it afterwards? It's just that when the title flashes up on STV without the trailer, it sounds... well, crap. Unless you're a massive Robson fan, I suppose. But somehow hearing his name doesn't have the same connotations as Bear Grylls, or that other chap who fannies about in the wilderness whose name I have temporarily mislaid.
An aquatic adventure I would not hesitate to recommend, on the other hand, is Shark Swarm. There are sharks, and boy do they swarm. Thank you, Sky 3.
An aquatic adventure I would not hesitate to recommend, on the other hand, is Shark Swarm. There are sharks, and boy do they swarm. Thank you, Sky 3.
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Michaela
People claim ownership of strange things.Mind you, if this was entered for the Turner Prize under a title like Immutable Reflections on Onirism (Tippex on a Bin in C Major) it'd probably win.
When I Am 64
I went to a Neighbourhood Partnership meeting today. It was themed around older people's services, on account of 99.9% of the population of the South of Edinburgh being over 65. They migrate there because it's higher up and they are afraid of climate change. Or something.
Anyway, there I met an eighty year old woman who was supremely chirpy - chirpier than I find it physically possible to be now even when I'm in a great mood, so I doubt I'll be there by 80 - and another older person who was phenomenally pissed off with the fact that despite her 54 years in a local community centre and her MBE, her organisation keeps being roundly ignored by everyone (including all the speechifiers at the meeting). I'm more likely to be her in the future, bar the MBE, not least because one of her defining features was the tableful of knitting she was attempting to sell to raise funds for her project. A particular highlight was a truly awful salmon-coloured cushion cover with lace trim. Sadly I didn't have a camera on me, but rest assured I'll be firing off hundreds of those bad boys when I retire.
Anyway, there I met an eighty year old woman who was supremely chirpy - chirpier than I find it physically possible to be now even when I'm in a great mood, so I doubt I'll be there by 80 - and another older person who was phenomenally pissed off with the fact that despite her 54 years in a local community centre and her MBE, her organisation keeps being roundly ignored by everyone (including all the speechifiers at the meeting). I'm more likely to be her in the future, bar the MBE, not least because one of her defining features was the tableful of knitting she was attempting to sell to raise funds for her project. A particular highlight was a truly awful salmon-coloured cushion cover with lace trim. Sadly I didn't have a camera on me, but rest assured I'll be firing off hundreds of those bad boys when I retire.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
We Fear Change
I have discovered why people are so pissed off about the tram works on Princes Street.
It's not because it's ugly and loud, or because the diversions slow everything down, or because all the fencing and scaffold make you feel very claustrophobic when attempting to get to any shops at all. No, people prefer Princes Street open so that they can THROW THEMSELVES IN THE PATH OF ONCOMING TRAFFIC, for no reason at all. Seriously. Stand there for a minute or two and you will be able to observe men, women and children staring glaikitly at the oncoming 33, 29, 47, 3A and a rank of taxis, think about it for half a second, go 'nah, sod it,' and leap onto the road.
Personally I have no idea what the bus routes are supposed to be, on account of everything having been going down George Street for at least a year, so now that everything is back to 'normal' I am somewhat screwed commute-wise. And to add insult to injury, the Evening News reported today that there are no plans to close Princes Street to public transport again till they put in the overhead lines, which is like a year away. So presumably I'll get used to that, and then it'll change again. Ridiculous.
It's not because it's ugly and loud, or because the diversions slow everything down, or because all the fencing and scaffold make you feel very claustrophobic when attempting to get to any shops at all. No, people prefer Princes Street open so that they can THROW THEMSELVES IN THE PATH OF ONCOMING TRAFFIC, for no reason at all. Seriously. Stand there for a minute or two and you will be able to observe men, women and children staring glaikitly at the oncoming 33, 29, 47, 3A and a rank of taxis, think about it for half a second, go 'nah, sod it,' and leap onto the road.
Personally I have no idea what the bus routes are supposed to be, on account of everything having been going down George Street for at least a year, so now that everything is back to 'normal' I am somewhat screwed commute-wise. And to add insult to injury, the Evening News reported today that there are no plans to close Princes Street to public transport again till they put in the overhead lines, which is like a year away. So presumably I'll get used to that, and then it'll change again. Ridiculous.
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Happy December
It is properly cold likes. Just check out this frosty bus shelter if you think I'm lying, which I am not.
Other than that, a free stuff to do in Edinburgh is occurring near you tonight (if you consider Hanover Street to be near, or merely just accessible).
It is an indie club night of sorts held downstairs in Jekyll and Hyde, where you will be dazzled by the mad DJing skillz of Marcus Forealius (who has been on that Eggheads programme) and DJ Very Friendly (who hasn't). Free food, free music, free entry - what's not to check out at least this one time and see what you reckon? Make yours a Club Sandwich from 8-12. You might enjoy yourself.
Other than that, a free stuff to do in Edinburgh is occurring near you tonight (if you consider Hanover Street to be near, or merely just accessible).It is an indie club night of sorts held downstairs in Jekyll and Hyde, where you will be dazzled by the mad DJing skillz of Marcus Forealius (who has been on that Eggheads programme) and DJ Very Friendly (who hasn't). Free food, free music, free entry - what's not to check out at least this one time and see what you reckon? Make yours a Club Sandwich from 8-12. You might enjoy yourself.
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