Re: Dilemma for Mintball et al : Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:28 pm  

Mintball wrote:

I wasn't suggesting that you were inventing it – just asking what they call such a course and what on Earth they imagine making a tower out of paper is supposed to achieve, because my own imagination hasn't come up with any ideas.

Don't think it has a particular name, just one of the compulsory Work Programme courses.
I honestly think it's basically designed just to try and sicken people off so that they won't attend so they can sanction and possibly knock them off the monthly unemployment figures.
The tower out of paper exercise was some bollox about 'team-work' because there was actually three of us in our group with four sheets of A4 paper, sellotape and a stapler.

Time-management and motivation I believe is on next weeks agenda.

As one of the older gentlemen (late 50's) succinctly expressed to the tutor, verbatim........

''What the fook has this got to do with me finding a job? I could be out looking for some fooking work right now.''

Tutor replies - ''I know'' .

Re: Dilemma for Mintball et al : Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:36 pm  

JerryChicken wrote:

It achieves a full time job for the course tutor and as its probably a contracted-out service it provides some nice government funding to a privately owned organisation who can then proudly boast that they are re-training lots of idle layabouts who were previously scrounging off the taxpayer, not that they themselves are scrounging off the taxpayer, oh no.

I actually asked him where the money was coming from for this bollox.
''All through Hull College'' was his reply.
So yes, all government funded.

Re: Dilemma for Mintball et al : Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:51 pm  

Even in work you get bs courses, I did an NVQ in leadership and management, all I did was gather evidence of all the work I do at work, had someone watch me for an hour and the same person interviewed my boss and an underling for a perspective of people above and below me. I learned the sum total of fk all and I got a qualification for it.

Re: Dilemma for Mintball et al : Fri Feb 21, 2014 1:18 pm  

WIZEB wrote:

Don't think it has a particular name, just one of the compulsory Work Programme courses.
I honestly think it's basically designed just to try and sicken people off so that they won't attend so they can sanction and possibly knock them off the monthly unemployment figures.
The tower out of paper exercise was some bollox about 'team-work' because there was actually three of us in our group with four sheets of A4 paper, sellotape and a stapler.

Time-management and motivation I believe is on next weeks agenda.

As one of the older gentlemen (late 50's) succinctly expressed to the tutor, verbatim........

''What the fook has this got to do with me finding a job? I could be out looking for some fooking work right now.''

Tutor replies - ''I know'' .

As the money advice unit told Mrs D the other day - the benefits sysyem is in disarray because the private companies involved are useless. I assume your tutor works for one?

Re: Dilemma for Mintball et al : Fri Feb 21, 2014 1:21 pm  

I got a Microsoft qualification (certificate signed by Bill gates and everything) in SQL Server 2005 integration and other bollax simply by attending a course for a week, letting them feed me for five days, not understanding anything that was going on around me, then finding all the answers to the exam at the end were on a CD tucked in the back of the course manual - copied off that during the online exam and got full marks & was the only one in the room to do so - a room full of local authority database programmers and geeks.

I didn't join in the debate at the end where one of the questions was revealed to have the wrong answer though, just slipped out the back door with my certificate and my 100% mark with the wrong answer.

Re: Dilemma for Mintball et al : Fri Feb 21, 2014 9:09 pm  

WIZEB wrote:

Steve, ex-army, by the book to the point of pedantry.
I left him under no illuions after the first half hour of the first class!

He was trying to rally the troops (a mixture of young and old, several with obvious substance abuse problems) that the course was nothing to do with the DSS and we were all going to have a bit of fun and a jolly.
I cut his legs off early doors by pointedly informing him that is was opaquely apparent that neither myself or fellow students ( ) wanted to be there and the only reason for our attendance was that our JSA would be automatically sanctioned (basically stopped and left with fook all to live on) if we refused to turn up.

Definitely sounds like Barbara to me. Did any of the substance abuse people want to be firemen?

Re: Dilemma for Mintball et al : Sat Feb 22, 2014 11:01 am  

Ovavoo wrote:

Definitely sounds like Barbara to me. Did any of the substance abuse people want to be firemen?

You'll have to feed me a bit more?

Re: Dilemma for Mintball et al : Sat Feb 22, 2014 12:34 pm  

Dally wrote:

As the money advice unit told Mrs D the other day - the benefits sysyem is in disarray because the private companies involved are useless. I assume your tutor works for one?

and the money advice unit is................a private company more D-b's

Re: Dilemma for Mintball et al : Sat Feb 22, 2014 6:20 pm  

Standee wrote:

and the money advice unit is................a private company more D-b's

The money advice unit is part of the County Council, not private.