I have a vague memory of being a child, possibly in some sort of tacky tourist shop whilst on holiday, and at the back of the store there was an "Adults Only" section, partitioned off from the rest of the store, that naturally made me and every other child that ever saw it desperately curious. What I have recently discovered is that within that Adults Only section of life lies misery, stress, and exploitation. I wish I'd never crossed over.
My job has, to some extent fallen through. I can still work for them, provided I'm willing to be exploited at a wage that is £10K p.a. less than I was originally offered and realistically not enough to live on (let alone pay extortionate BVC fees from). Unhelpfully, people keep pointing out to me that there is a recession, high levels of unemployment, blah blah blah. They shut up when I mention that none of the men that do the same job that I do have had their pay cut. Oh, and I'm still homeless as the wage they have offered me is too low for me to commit to the rent that I had initially been lined up to pay. And what do my parents say? "Welcome to the Adult World".
BVC starts on Thursday, completely and utterly not ready for this stage of my life to begin, and yet it is happening anyway. I don't like this Adult thing... is there a reverse gear?
Sounds possibly like indirect sex-discrimination to me. Would it be possible to question why the men haven't had their wages cut? Then again maybe they've been there longer than you? Why couldn't they just cut everyone's wages (to spread that £10K loss)... i.e. if theres ten of you working at the same level, why not reduce wages of all employees by £1K?
ReplyDeleteI hate the adult world too, it sucks: dishonesty, pain, politics, suffering... BUT on the upside theres shopping, some really nice guys out there one of whom may be a companion, and a world we can discover (provided of course we can save up enough to see it)!
Goodluck with starting the BVC! x
I am quite sure they don't intend to discriminate on the basis of sex, however I have pointed out to them the fact that I am the only women, and I am the only one with the pay cut. Its partly a last in first out situation and partly a complete lack of organisation and coherence. Budget wise they basically messed up, and are behaving irrationally to try and fix it. I am however trying to negotiate, and it may be that they see sense some time soon.
ReplyDeleteHow easy life would be if everyone would consent to share the burden and consent to a £1K pay cut!
Thanks for the good luck wishes, I just wish I could focus on the course rather than worrying about everything else. As for the guys... A rich husband would probably solve everything, shame I'm such a handful!
sounds like a bit of a nightmare - such a nasty and unfair pay cut. I've also found adult world not so great since finishing LPC. Current job pays, but not enough. Getting to work alone eats up a large slice of my wage.
ReplyDeleteHaving had a glass of wine with fellow ex-students last night we found everyone was in the same situation kind of made me feel a bit better.
Best of luck with the course, don't spend too much time worrying about the money and job stuff that you forget to enjoy the course and work hard.
Bad luck re. the paycut, CLC. Just keep focussed on the BVC and I'm sure the rest will sort itself out. :-)
ReplyDelete