Maybe Im Getting old....

[Maxi]

ofcourse,on any given day,be they staff or clients,the benefit offices will have the odd incident,im sure.staff are human and it can be soul destroying,im sure to get the flack for implementing rules.I dont think theres any excuse for anti social behaviour. comes back to basic respect.
anyone using the job centres should be respectful,i think.

as for security guards,well,they too,ofcourse,differ.some good,some bad.

[Lazydaisy]

Mind you, people who work there sometimes have a lot to cope with. I once had to wait in the office(this was a few years ago now), to see someone,and some young people came in. The language they were using to each other very loudly, was filth,worse than I ever heard in an A and E department on a Saturday night.
Good manners should go both ways.I would have hated having to work in an environment listening to that.Some of those people, if they had come into an A and E at a weekend,and sworn, I bet they would then have apologised for the language.

[NanaNana]

I feel sorry for youngsters like my 25 year old daughter. She left the pub because she was being left to run the place on her own, whilst the owners went out and was put in some very potentially dangerous situations (football crowds, rival gangs in the pub etc etc). Three year old in nursery 2 1/2 days per week. Fiance working in another pub, 6 out of 7 shifts. She is available to actually work over 50 hours each week, just not all at once. Finding it hard to get another job because of this and paying for child minding will make them worse off. With mortgage solely judged on fiance's pay, no help with that either.
Job Centre has found her the Census work, which is fine 'till May.
They look down on her, because she's an unmarried mum (and a bl**dy good one at that) and doesn't have a job (well, she flippin' did until the pub owners messed her about).

She has a heap of qualifications, has worked for West Midlands police and probably has far more sense and intelligence and good nature than the staff there have. It's ok to go there, but most of the staff do look down on her, just because of her circumstances. It's not as if she's not trying to get work either. From May, she will get no money at all, so she's not even scrounging on the State. Just wants a paid job, to reflect her abilities and not to mean they're worse off, if they pay for child care. And child care is another story......

[Nilla]

Fran its awful when someone like your daughter wants to work and they dont get the chance, my lazy no good of a son says he wont work for less than £30,000 a year....I despair I really do

[Maxi]

everyone has em.and if your getting verbal abuse levelled at you,as some jc staff get,its just horrible going to work.so,sadly,i do see,even security staff short on the norms of customer interaction,are needed.

the fact is,some customers ruin it for everyone else,with just nasty conduct.

[Catja]

And some staff ruin in it for some customers. Honestly, even the librarians here are abrupt to the point of rudeness, and make a point of being keen to do anything but their job - even when treated politely.

TBF (to be fair) the Visiting Librarian is civil, friendly, pleasant and competent, but then again I suspect she got the job because of being a people person.

This is first borough in which I've ever felt extremely angry towards council employees. It's not just me - others who have moved into this area (from elsewhere in England, and not always the prosperous parts) make the same comments about it.

[charles47]

What really annoys me is the signs everywhere saying that these people won't accept abuse of their staff.

I've seen some terrible examples of abusive behaviour towards customers who - if they gave back in kind - would be threatened with prosecution. I've been at meetings where social workers have shouted at their clients - and when I remonstrated with them in a reasonable manner (fortunately, witnessed by an independent observer), I was complained against.

The complaint was dropped after the witness gave her account.

I worked in a busy Jobcentre which had the occasional drunk come in. Usually, situations could be resolved quite quickly by being calm and (where needed) firm, but always respectful.

The one time there was a major disturbance, a guy came in and trashed the place. Turns out he thought we were the Tax Office!

[Conned]

I don't mind DEAR, LUV, Madam, or even Lady Lawrence,
I object to DUCK ...
and I am getting old

Loved this Discussion,
Conned.

[rabidrabbit]

[quote]What really annoys me is the signs everywhere saying that these people won't accept abuse of their staff. ]

I know the feeling- I told my postman off for chucking our mail in the coal bucket- his response was to refuse to deliver the mail as I had "abused" him. He was put in his place though and now delivers it as if it was the Crown Jewels

A lot of public servants seem to think thay have hallowed status and even the slightest criticism is viewed as "abuse"

[Maxi]

its,maybe,another myth,but it was once said that people in the north of england were more freindly than those in the south of the country,could be waffle.if true,does it mean,up-north,public servants are nice folks?.