the menopausal librarian

An experience with a librarian at a public library caused Verity to question why people employed in any public service capacity at taxpayer's expense are called 'servants' when their behavior is more often an affectation of royalty than servility.

"This woman - presumably a librarian - behaved more like a Lewis Carroll 'off with their heads' queen than the public servant she was," laughs Verity, "and I'm still shaking from the shock she gave me."

"I visited the library to pick up some books for the subject my daughter was studying," explains Verity, "and when I had found what I wanted I was heading for the counter to check out the books when this large and very irate middle-aged lady descended upon me."

"She must have been hiding around the corner watching me," says Verity, "as she knew exactly what books I had taken out."

"She grabbed the books from me and said I can't take them all -- I must choose one and leave the others."

"As I was only taking out three books -- and I believe the limit was seven -- I queried her right to dictate to me," says Verity, "and then she went berserk."

"She claimed that if I took out the only three books on the subject other library patrons would be deprived."

"I then queried why the books were on the shelf -- rather than in some restricted area -- if they were so rare," adds Verity, "at which the woman then threw one of the books at me and stomped off with the other two."

"I was absolutely stunned," sighs Verity. "I thought about demanding to see the chief librarian but then decided against it on the basis that the woman may have been the chief librarian for all I knew, or her best friend!"

"I just walked out and visited another public library where I didn't have any trouble at all picking up the books I wanted."

I have no idea why that woman behaved so crazily," muses Verity. "Either she was itching to exert some authority and I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or she didn't want people borrowing her precious books, or she was just menopausal (which is a scary thought because I'm coming up to that age soon)."

"Anyway, the incident served to remind me of the many crazy stories that come to light about citizens trying to get the 'service' their hard-earned tax dollars pay for from these so-called servants of the public," says Verity.

"I've only a few bad experiences myself," admits Verity, "but the generally accepted view is that public servants are a law unto themselves and you can't beat City Hall."

"When you compare the excellent service we get from private companies -- eager to get our business and keep it -- with the so-so service we get from public authorities I get to wonder why we don't get rid of all government departments and let the private companies take over running the country."

"They can start off by privatizing a non-essential public service like the libraries!"

"I only visit public libraries irregularly -- when my daughter needs some special book that's not at her school library -- and my husband doesn't ever visit a library." says Verity, "When you consider that the whole notion of free public libraries is a 19th century thing it makes sense to privatize them and let users pay for them directly rather than everyone paying for them indirectly via taxation and levies."

"If I were guaranteed excellent service every time I visited a library -- as well as access to the most recently published books," says Verity, "then I sure wouldn't mind paying a couple of dollars to borrow books -- it would still be cheaper than buying them."

"The privatization of public services would effectively get rid of the lousy public servants," adds Verity. "Only those who truly believed in giving good service and treating patrons with respect would survive in their jobs."

"The old saying 'you can't beat City Hall' would die the horrible death it deserves," laughs Verity. "The Mafia type mentality that closes ranks against any complaint from a citizen would get run out of town."

"Privatization encourages competition between companies providing the same service -- and competition encourages excellent service to patrons. They'll be bending over backwards to give satisfaction and resolve complaints."

"When the real workers -- those who aren't public servants -- put in a hard day's work for a private company that has the very reasonable right to sack them if they're not performing satisfactorily," says Verity, "it makes me puke to think that my tax dollars go towards paying the salary -- and perks -- of a public servant like that librarian who can't be sacked no matter how rude she is to the public she has sworn to serve."

"I say cut taxes, privatize all but essential public services and put 'public servants' on a tenure similar to that of our politicians," laughs Verity. "Make them work for their living -- with a smile -- like real workers do!"

"And please God make my menopause nice!"

menopausal and washed up

Davina is single, 50, on disability payments and has been going through a really bad menopause for several years. She considers herself 'washed up' and gets very angry when people quote improved unemployment figures and suggest it's about time she gets a job.

"The unemployment figures are doctored," say Davina. "They don't give the real picture and they hide many washed up men and women of all ages - not just the over 50s - with or without health problems."

"When you include mature-aged students, working aged people on various welfare allowances and pensions, the underemployed and those who are out of the system being supported by their families," adds Davina, "the true unemployment figure is closer to 30% of the workforce and is nowhere near the 5% or under that the government figures say."

"I'm not a deadbeat," says Davina. "I'm just washed up - considered unemployable by employers. Drop in to your local welfare office and you'll see for yourself who the washed up are. Most are well-dressed and well-educated men and women just like you and I, but they're older people generally, of course, and most are suffering some crisis or other at home or having health problems."

"It angers me why the government is deliberately hiding the true facts about unemployment and causing so many decent people to become unfairly marginalized and victimized."

"There are not enough jobs available for everyone of working age and many of those who are working are underemployed in part-time jobs or working on short-term contracts that land them back on welfare."

"Also, the vast majority of advertised positions are churned jobs," says Davina. "They go to people already in jobs."

"Without influential and supportive friends and families, many people who find themselves suddenly unemployed really have no hope of secure re-employment - especially if they are over 50," says Davina, "and the picture is worse for anyone with a disability."

"I'm really upset when people sneer at me and say that my health problem shouldn't stop me from working," says Davina. "Sure, there are jobs out there that don't require standing or running around - but they don't go to people like me. They go to people without mobility problems."

"I'm not on disability for nothing," snaps Davina. "I spent nearly two years looking for suitable work before giving up. What with terrible menopausal symptoms on top of a mobility problem I just couldn't cope any more. Thousands of women go mental at menopause, and there's good reason they do. It's a terrible time for a woman."

"If people can't offer the washed up a job, starting Monday at 8am," says Davina, "then it's useless and cruel to tell them to go out and find a job."

"Does it ever occur to these smart asses that people become washed up as a result of having already spent a year or more tramping the streets looking for a job?"

"When I was working I never begrudged my tax dollars going towards supporting people on welfare," says Davina, "and if people get shitty because I've got cable and they don't - and I'm home all day and they're not - then they should think again."

"I'd rather have a job and the government welfare officers can change places with me any day - but when I ask them whether they're prepared to give up their job and give it to me they won't do it. Why? If it's so easy to get a job then they wouldn't have any trouble finding another one, would they? They won't give up their job to the washed up because they are scared like hell of being washed up themselves."

"What I spend my welfare check on is my business - and the few luxuries I have merely make my miserable existence more bearable."

"If the government can't provide full employment for everybody then I believe it has a duty of care towards the washed up," says Davina. "I would even go so far as to say that it should provide gratis some sort of soma for them in the form of a drug or entertainment."

"Because none of us know when our number is up work wise," says Davina, "it makes more sense to give our tax dollar to the washed up than have it end up in some political slush fund or be given to some corporate welfare grabber or be spent in some alien country."

"When the government not only deliberately fudges the true state of unemployment but also encourages the general population to vilify anyone not in gainful employment," says Davina, "it is trying to take the heat off the true state of the economy and where the tax dollars are really going."

"If all the mature-aged students, working aged people on various non-unemployment welfare allowances and pensions and those who are out of the system being supported by their families were included in the next unemployment figure," says Davina, "the nation would have a wake-up call worse than an earthquake!"

"The government doesn't want that happening, so the bureaucrats fudge the figures and pretend there are plenty of jobs out there and by implication that means that anyone not working is a lazy layabout or a deadbeat."

"If we didn't have welfare," says Davina, "half our nation would be begging on the streets."

"Maybe that's what we need to happen in order for the rest of the nation - those in jobs - to understand that the unemployment figure is a hell of a lot more than what the government tells us."

"Leave me alone will ya," shouts Davina, "I'm menopausal and mad as hell!"


(Davina's story first appeared as fudged unemployment figures and is reprinted with permission.)