I was recently visiting some permanent recipients of welfare, when the conversation turned to an upcoming school trip that their daughter was able to attend if the necessary finance was able to be obtained.

The trip was a school band trip to Hawaii in the USA and the required fare for each child was $2800.00.  The parents of this child DO NOT WORK.   He has completed more fucking training courses than you or I could dream of attending, the end result still being NO JOB. I think it because they do not want to work; and the following conversation is the reason I can justify my thoughts.

These people earn $40 extra on top of their welfare payments by once a week sweeping the carpark of the local supermarket. Since they have now had the added burden of find funding for their offspring to go on this trip they have enlisted her to help on this one day a week so she earns the money to attend.

This child, a horrible, whiney, fat, sour, mean spirited and sulky girl of 13 attends this work as though attending her own execution.

Now I will be the first to admit that going to work can be a tedium that is hard to overcome, but at the end of the day we all know it is a necessary evil that in the end rewards us with the one thing that we all need to survive in this society.....MONEY.

If this future welfare recipient and single mother is not taught now that she has to work and earn what she wants in life, and that it will not be handed to her on a silver platter; the cycle continues. ( for the record my money is on the latter.)

But how is she to learn this fundamental trait. Not from her parents. OH no! Cletus now joins the conversation. He ‘recon's that if she don't wanna go she shouldn't have to go.

Cletus didn't like my attitude. His attitude remained one of if she wants to go the money would be taken care of. He was quite certain of that.I grew a bit nervous..... who were they thinking of asking?  I was however curious, where was the money coming from. Working for it was right out!

Maybe they were thinking that since his wife had worked on the fundraising committee it was her entitlement to be paid... nothing is beyond this kind of person.

I decided I needed a clearer idea of what he was thinking.

"Now Cletus I don't want to get bogged down in actual figures so I will just round the figures off, but; I posed a hypothetical for him, "If 'blimpgirl' needs $2000 for the trip and altogether she only has $1000 after her share of the fundraising has been allocated, will she go on the trip or will she stay?

But Cletus wants to get bogged down in actual figures <sigh> "No Mon the actual figures are important", and then starts to rattle off the individual costs comprising the total cost.

"No Cletus forget the actual costs" I am talking figures in general. If the total trip costs $2000 and M'stake only has $1000 will she be able to attend?" I presumed the answer was no. I wanted to know what the other,other plan was going to be.

Cletus is still adding up total costs!

(Under my breath)"FUCK" "Ok if I am selling a car for $2000 and you offer me $1000 and I say NO. Will you be driving away with the car?"

"No!"

"Right will Hellspawn be going on the trip if she doesn't have enough money?

Jemima interrupts.... No, No she wont be going.

I sunk back in the chair racking my fingers frustratedly through my hair. Secure in the knowledge that she wouldn't know what I was talking about I extolled loudly to no one in particular..... my god its like talking to Lenny Dare.

Thoroughly exhausted after the conversation, I asked for another coffee, and Cletus retired to the living room to watch TV.

In the conversation that followed after the band discussion I have honestly never heard so many excuses from a person as to why

they could not work, nor how much work would interfere with their daily routine. (Is their anyone who works who doesn't feel this way)?

A couple of people from my last job had gotten jobs where they work from home. The work was piss easy and all that was required was you phone people who are currently using one telephone company (lets use Optus as an example) and get them to convert to another company, (lets use Telstra as another example)

It involves selling and informing the customer (lying) about the disadvantages of where they are compared to the advantages waiting for them at the company you work for.

The earnings for this type of work can be phenomenal upwards of $40 dollars a churn.

Of course in return you would be expected to meet certain targets and maintain certain hours daily to achieve the targets set for you . (This doesn't really differ from any other selling job except you have the luxury of working from home.

Well ...... you try and tell them that! Earnings are limitless I extolled. The harder you work the more you can earn.

This woman sits at home drinking coffee and smoking cones most of the day, entertaining the rabble that arrive in droves at her door. Well the welfare allows for her to do this.

"Oh I couldn't, I have things to do during the day that require me to leave the house" (You mean go out and score more cones)?

"Well the kids have to be picked up from school" (The school is less than a kilometre away......surely they can walk home)?

"I mean I have all my stuff that I do at the house"!

(Well it certainly isn't house work, so limit the cones like the rest of us have to, to a time when we are sitting down relaxing with no other commitments...... Oh that is your whole day.... right I see)!!!!!

"I have to cook dinner" (well when did you start doing that ? Throwing all the ingredients in a pot and boiling it for an hour then thickening with flour cant take that long, surely)?

"I have to spend time with the kids when they get home from school" (You spend time with the kids... yelling at them to clean the house that you haven't cleaned all day because you have been sitting around having cones. These ferals are growing up wild because they are totally undisciplined and lacking guidance or parental control. If you were able to motivate yourself to a disciplined regime of work and accomplishment your frankenspawn MAY actually learn something, and lets face it they could do with a break from the physical violence inflicted on them. Not that I am against the odd physical lesson....’spare the rod and spoil the child’ but ‘punches’ ‘elbows to the head’ and ‘kicking’ is hardly discipline..... its more like street brawling)!

"I am on all these committees to raise money for the trip" (Yes and these committees meet at night! You can still work during the day, prepare a meal, spend time with the kids and head off to committee meetings in the evening).

"I like to spend time watching TV at night having cones with my husband" (Presumably the committee meetings don't go all night, if its that vital, go to the meeting stoned, lets face it no one will know the difference)!

"It sounds great I like the idea of working from home" (Yes liking the idea isn't quite enough... you actually have to get off your stoned arse and do something about it).

"OH! what's the point we are never going to get anywhere" (WHAT DO YOU DO, TO GET ANYWHERE? Life isn't handed out on a platter. You have to work to achieve over and above the regular grind..... and even then it is a grind to achieve the basics. Work is tedious, you are very lucky if you enjoy your job. Whining about how much others have and then harbouring ridiculous notions that they should share with you so you too may benefit from their hard work is a crap notion. Hard work, luck and a little bit of wheeling and dealingthat's how you get by..... well in my opinion.