Are you working? Great! Do you think that because you are working the unemployed should suffer? Do you think you are immune to suddenly becoming unemployed and having to sign up to Universal Credit? Read on... You can become unemployed for a myriad of reasons. The most popular reason is business closure. Empty shops are becoming a sight in Greater London. Do you think that the JCP "work coaches" are going to give you an easy time because you are newly unemployed? Wake the hell up! The name of the game is to a) get you back to work asap and, if your work coach can't help to get you back to work within a certain time, 13 weeks, then you will be b) targeted for sanctions. Do you think that these people are interested in logic when it comes to dispensing sanctions? Hell, no! Just about any excuse will do. And when you receive a sanction notification through the post, and you take the time to read it, the first thing you will notice is that it makes not one iota of sense. You try calling up the Service Centre and if you are unlucky and get some stroppy woman or man - even when you are being very polite - he or she is in a race to take the next call. Service Centre operators are of little or no help whatsoever. Be warned: Service Centre operators can be very nasty and uncaring folk. Trying to get a sanction overturned is one heck of a drawn out process. You have to send in a Mandatory Reconsideration Notice; this goes to a "decision maker" and can take up to 28 days for a decision to be made. Can you imagine these "decision makers" deciding if they want a coffee or tea? 'Uhm...' 3 hours later... 'Uhm...' Basically, these nasty, evil wretches will draw things out for as long as possible. Usually, the decision comes back with "the decision is final" or some crap like that. But all is not lost! You can then instigate a tribunal and the chances of you winning the tribunal are high because the decision to sanction your benefit has no logic or reason to it. So, when you are faced with a sociopath "work coach" you must remain cool at all times. Yes, they will get another work coach or line manager to act as a witness... This is to intimidate. Don't fall for it. Keep making cogent arguments and they will buckle. Try recording such meetings on a hidden video camera and posting the results on YouTube. That's my next step... I am going to see if I can get hold of a hidden camera and record the nonsense for you to see for yourself. You might think I am exaggerating but I am not. I am going to find a sanction notification, scan it and post it up here just so that you can see the inane language used to write it up to make it appear as official. The wording is quite bluntly stupid! I see we are near to 500 signatures and counting! Not bad for a few days... Keep it up! Keep sharing this petition! Again, do not fall for the media's depiction of the unemployed. I would say that a majority of us want to work. I know I do! Thanks for reading!