Why I hated being Unemployed [kQUj6mZJEF8]

I've been unemployed for most of my adult

life, and the worst thing about being

unemployed is having to go to this stupid

job center. If you don't know what the job

center is, it's basically a place that you

go to and they give you money if you don't

have a job, which kind of makes you think

to yourself, what's the point in getting a

job if they're going to give me money

anyway? The first time I went to the job

center was 11 years ago when I was 18,

and my mum dropped me off there. I had

this conversation with this lady called

Carol, who was this slim middle-aged woman

who had short blonde hair, and she was

very nice and friendly. She talked to me

about what kind of job I would like to do,

and I said I wouldn't mind doing anything.

So she went onto her computer and she

quickly found me a job as a kitchen

assistant in this pub. She phoned them up,

said that she had this guy, me, who's

looking for a job, and she set up an

interview. And I went to the interview and

I got the job. I worked there for nearly 2

years as a kitchen assistant, and that's,

that's mainly where I learned most of my

cooking skills. After working there for

about 2 years, I finally quit that job and

I changed jobs and I started working at my

dad's company, my dad's office, for a few

months before going to Japan for the first

time. After I came back from Japan for the

first time, I found it very difficult to

find another job because I lived in the

countryside and I didn't have any

qualifications. I couldn't drive, I didn't

have any skills, and it's very difficult

to find a job if you don't have any of

those things. As soon as a new job opens

up, a new job vacancy opens up somewhere,

hundreds of people apply for that same

job. And if you can't drive and you don't

have experience or qualifications, then

it's very difficult to actually find a

job. So when I came back from Japan for

the first time, I signed back onto the

Jobcentre for unemployment benefits

straight away, and they tried to find me a

job. They sent me to a few interviews,

which I went to, but I didn't get the jobs

at any of those places, and they couldn't

find me anything, and I couldn't find

myself anything. And after a few months,

they started to treat me differently.

When you first start going to the job

center, they're really friendly and nice,

and then after a few months pass, they

start to treat you like you're a naughty

schoolkid. They start talking to you in

this condescending, patronizing way, and I

couldn't take it anymore. So I went back

to Japan for a second time, and I managed

to find a job in Japan in a convenience

store. I went to Japan on the working

holiday visa. That was how I was able to

work in Japan, and I was supposed to stay

in Japan for a whole year, but I couldn't

take working at the convenience store

anymore. It was driving me crazy. And I

didn't want to teach English, so after

about 5 months I left Japan and I went to

Korea for the first time. And then when I

came back home to England, I couldn't find

a job again, so I had to go back to the

job center and sign up for unemployment

benefits. From 2012 until 2016,

I was unemployed and I couldn't find a

job, and I was stuck in this cycle of

going to Japan, coming back home, going to

the job center, and then going back to

Japan, then coming back home, and then

going to the job center. And this repeated

itself year after year. They made me go on

all of these stupid courses where I had to

learn how to write a CV or learn how to do

interviews. And they sent me to one course

which lasted for about 12 weeks. I had to

go to this college and it was 5 days a

week, 9 o'clock in the morning until 3

o'clock in the afternoon. And every single

day we had to learn how to write our CVs

and do job searches. And it was so boring.

I had this personal advisor at the job

center called Pauline, and I hated her so

much. She kept complaining about

everything. She kept whinging about my CV.

She kept nitpicking tiny details saying,

why is this like this? Why is this

underlined? Why is this in capital

letters? This should be here, this should

be there. And then she accused me of not

looking for a job properly because I kept

going to Japan. She said, why do you keep

going to Japan every year when you're

supposed to be looking for a job? What is

she, my mother? And then she tried to put

me on this work trial where I had to work

at McDonald's for 40 hours a week without

pay. And I said, how come I don't get

paid? And she said, you are getting paid,

you're getting your unemployment benefits,

which is like $500 a month. I'm not

working 40 hours a week. For $500 a month?

People in third-world countries get paid

better than that. So I refused to go, and

I went back to Japan for a third time.

And when I came back home, I had to go to

the job center again, and guess who was

waiting there for me? Bloody Pauline. She

said, hey Daniel, how was Japan this time?

And I said, yeah, it was pretty good. And

straight away she put me on this stupid

6-week course where I had to learn how to

write CVs, and I had to learn interview

techniques, and I had to learn how to do

job searches. It was so boring. The

instructor was just spouting out all this

rubbish that I've heard 100 times before

when I went to another course, which was

just like this. And I didn't even listen

to what he was saying. I just sat there in

the classroom drawing pictures on pieces

of paper, doodling. And the instructor saw

me drawing and not paying any attention,

and he got kind of upset. He said,

Daniel, can I talk to you outside for a

bit? And he took me to another classroom

and we had a private chat, and he said,

Don't you think it's kind of rude that I'm

trying to teach you something and you're

not paying any attention? You're just

doodling the whole time. I said, yeah, I

guess that is pretty rude. And then he

said, Daniel, would you like to go home?

And I said, yes, I would like to go home.

So he sent me home. And then the next week

I went back to the job center and bloody

Pauline started whinging again. She said,

she said, Daniel, I got a phone call from

the instructor and he said you weren't

paying attention during class. And I said,

I know, that's because he wasn't saying

anything. That I didn't know already, and

I refused to go back to the course, back

to the class. So bloody Pauline decided to

put sanctions on my unemployment benefits,

which means I don't get any money for a

few months. So I decided to go back to

Japan. I did manage to finally find a job

in 2016, which is when I got the petrol

station job, and I worked there for nearly

a year. I just hated the whole job centre

experience so much. They treated you like

you were scum. They were hopeless at

helping you find a job. They couldn't even

set up interviews apart from that first

time with Carol. They kept sending me on

these stupid courses which were just a

waste of time and didn't help me in any

way. And they kept trying to send me on

these work trials where they wouldn't

actually pay you money apart from the

unemployment benefits. And you couldn't

refuse the work trial because if you

refused, they would put sanctions on your

benefits. So you had no choice. It was

like being forced to do slave labor at

some place like McDonald's or KFC or Pizza

Hut. And they wouldn't even pay you a wage

or anything. You would just get your

unemployment benefits, which you were

getting anyway.

Look up, look at me.

Airfumitai.

We're in a shopping, shopping mall now

Uh, we're going to do some more shopping

when she comes out of the toilet. We just

had some juice and snacks over there,

and now we're going to do more shopping.

It's been 5 minutes, she still hasn't come

out of the toilet.

That's not her.

We're going to buy a tiny plate and we're

also going to buy shampoo.

I think that's it. It's a Coca-Cola shop.

Coca-Cola Museum.

Lots of

Coca-Cola.

Hey, and welcome back to Cooking with

Daniel. Today we're going to be making a

simple pork and green pepper stir-fry.

We have some rock salt that we're going to

sprinkle in for seasoning.

And it's a very easy dish to make. You

just cut up some pork, some green peppers,

and you fry it in the frying pan. And we

also have some black pepper, and then

we're going to stir it around in the

frying pan. Just wait until it goes golden

brown, then you know it's cooked.