I was talking unemployment again at the weekend, and how guilty I feel about still being out of work (9 months and counting). "How long have you worked?" I was asked. "Oh about 25 years," I said. "Well do you not think you're entitled to take some time off, especially with the three kids to mind." he said. And it got me thinking about the whole nature of work.
During the boom did we all start to think that you were a useless human being unless you were in a paid job and an 'economic unit'. So all that talk now that child benefit should be abolished as people should not have children unless they can afford it are basically equating children with pets. Children do not earn, therefore they do not count. Ditto retired people, stay-at-home mothers and the unemployed presumably. The fact that children mostly grow up to be 'economic units' seems to be forgotten.
I've always hated all that talk about the Irish 'economy' and how well or badly it is doing. It is people that are important, not the economy.
Like a lot of other people I'm now doing unpaid work and I really love it! Because it's voluntary, I can say 'no' if I feel like it. The rewards are better - when things go well, the praise is dished out. Out there in the economy, you don't usually get praised for doing a good job, it is just expected. The recession also made clients much more demanding. I remember with distaste my boss saying to me that I had to get a feature for *** in the Irish *********** and she didn't care what I had to do to get it. At that point, I really lost interest in the job, so perhaps it wasn't surprising that I was the first person to be let go. It didn't help that I was a single parent contract worker with three children and so totally inflexible.
But the guilt doesn't go away, I started part time work at 13 and this feels wrong wrong wrong. But it also feels good! I have time to see my friends, talk to my children, think about my future, instead of just fire fighting. And who knows, all this unpaid work may one day lead me to become an 'economic unit' once again.
During the boom did we all start to think that you were a useless human being unless you were in a paid job and an 'economic unit'. So all that talk now that child benefit should be abolished as people should not have children unless they can afford it are basically equating children with pets. Children do not earn, therefore they do not count. Ditto retired people, stay-at-home mothers and the unemployed presumably. The fact that children mostly grow up to be 'economic units' seems to be forgotten.
I've always hated all that talk about the Irish 'economy' and how well or badly it is doing. It is people that are important, not the economy.
Like a lot of other people I'm now doing unpaid work and I really love it! Because it's voluntary, I can say 'no' if I feel like it. The rewards are better - when things go well, the praise is dished out. Out there in the economy, you don't usually get praised for doing a good job, it is just expected. The recession also made clients much more demanding. I remember with distaste my boss saying to me that I had to get a feature for *** in the Irish *********** and she didn't care what I had to do to get it. At that point, I really lost interest in the job, so perhaps it wasn't surprising that I was the first person to be let go. It didn't help that I was a single parent contract worker with three children and so totally inflexible.
But the guilt doesn't go away, I started part time work at 13 and this feels wrong wrong wrong. But it also feels good! I have time to see my friends, talk to my children, think about my future, instead of just fire fighting. And who knows, all this unpaid work may one day lead me to become an 'economic unit' once again.
