Since last October I have been waiting for an appointment with the Neurosurgeon to get my back fixed, and since December I have been walking - when I can walk that is - with a walking frame/trolley thing. I haven't been able to work since July 2007 because of the pain in my back and the effect that the pain medication has on me (makes me sleepy). But according to Centrelink, I can still work up to 15 hours a week!!
I would like to see the idiot that came up with that idea put up with this pain and to see them try to just do the everyday stuff !!!!!!!!!!
Also in December, I had to go to Centrelink and see someone about getting on a disability support pension - at least until I can get the surgery done. I was given all the forms and dutifully filled them in and had my GP do his bit as well. Took the forms back and was politely told by the interviewing officer that I didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting it because I wasn't "fully treated"?????????????
What sort of idiots are they?? If I was fully treated, I wouldn't need the stupid pension, I would be able to go back to work - it is while I can't do anything that I need it!! "I will process your application anyway, madam, and make an appointment for you to see a job capacity assessor who will determine whether or not you can do any work" was the sum total of the rest of the conversation I had with the fellow - That was back in December and until Thursday, I was still waiting for them to make the appointment for me.
In the meantime, I have had the Job Network guy on the phone telling me I had to come and see him for some intensive training in how to get a job!! Be buggered I do!!! I could probably teach him how to get a job - I ran the first Job Club in the whole of Australia for ex-offenders in the 90's with an 80% success rate! I don't need their "intensive assistance" - what I do need is for them to open their stupid eyes and see that I can barely walk without the trolley and I spend most of my time asleep - and until I get my back done, nothing is going to change that!!!
So, off I went on Thursday to see this bloke at Atec. If you could have seen the look on his face when he came out and called my name.... priceless is the only way I can describe it. I am sure he thought I was bullshitting him when I told him on the phone that I walked very slowly with a trolley - when I could move at all. To cut a long story short - I snail walked out of his office with a referal to a Job Capacity Assessor on Monday coming - and a recommendation that I be put on the DSP until my surgery and recovery are complete.
What amazed me about this whole thing was that this bloke took about 1 minute to make the appointment using the same networked software/computer system that the idiot at Centrelink uses, and the Centrelink dude couldn't even do it in over 2 months!!!!
They wonder why people get pissed off with them at Centrelink. Quite simply it is because of their complete lack of thought or respect or anything else for their clients. As long as they are getting their pay cheques at the end of each week, it's all good. Too bad about what the client needs or wants. Is it any wonder that they have to have security guards in their offices now to "protect" them from undesirables. The bloody clients wouldn't become undesireable or angry, or pissed off or anything else if the morons behind the counters actually did what we the tax payers are paying them to do - their jobs properly!!!
The frustration of not being able to get any sense out of Centrelink, the lack of support from them when it comes to appointments being made for my, the constant waiting for an appointment to see the surgeon (because I don't have private medical cover), and the constant pain and inability to do the everyday things that everyone else does and takes for granted, weigh heavily on my sanity.
There are days when I could quite cheefully chuck in the towel because of the constant pain and frustration. But where would that leave my family? Not that they give two shits most of the time either, but it's the grandies that I worry about - they wouldn't have their Nan if I chucked it in and I can't be that cruel to them, as most of them only have me as a grandmother anyway.
I have to stop writing this now - my back is hurting like mad, and I am depressing myself futher by thinking about it all..... more tomorrow.
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