You see that old man in the picture? That's how I was made to feel by my former "work coach". No. I do not think that my former work coach is deaf. I had an idea that she might be deaf simply because she does not have any listening skills. NONE! And the reason why she has no listening skills is down to the fact that she wants to impose her will upon me - no matter how absurd her reasonings are! If she were to listen she'd have to use her brain for something else other than to have her clientele's benefits sanctioned. I must have been quite a challenge for her as I question her logic or lack thereof. Again, she knows that I am a Graphic & Multimedia Designer by trade yet she can't explain as to why I am prohibited from creating an online portfolio. That is just plain crazy! However, craziness aside, I agreed that I would extend my work remit to include looking for Vegan Chef/Cook positions. I am a Vegan and I love cooking; it would be a great experience to work in a wonderful environment that I imagine being in a Vegan restaurant would be. I have worked as a Salad Chef many, many Moons ago and that was my only experience as a Vegan Cook employee. So, creating a CV oriented towards being a Vegan Chef/Cook is not going to be easy. Still, as a Graphic & Multimedia Designer, I know how to present myself and I wouldn't send a substandard CV to a prospective employer. I have tried telling my former work coach what it is I want to achieve and it just goes in one ear and out the other. You see, I am not trusted. Anything I say to my former work coach is taken as an attempt to avoid work when the truth is very much the opposite. You would have thought that my former work coach would have been happy that I am considering other positions that aren't IT based but, no. She insisted upon getting in my way as per usual by hijacking my initiatives to take them as her own. She's not content to steal my own initiatives. Uh-uh! No! She gives me a timeframe to complete my initiatives. Now, that in itself is not a bad thing. But knowing that I am trying to prevent a 28-day sanction that has now gone through shows any of the following:- Zero intelligence! She is useless at reasoning as demonstrated by not allowing me to create an online portfolio. Absolutely no empathy! Do you know what a 28-day sanction means? No? I will tell you... A 28-day sanction means that I don't any Universal Credit Personal Allowance. Next to zero! And these goddamned fools expect me to continue to look for work when the gas, electric and broadband is cut off! So, I think to put me on a time limitation knowing that a 28-day sanction was impending is a piss poor sense of judgment. More so because it is down to her other piss poor judgment is why I have gotten the unjustified 28-day sanction. INTERCOURSE? I recently completed a course in Hospitality that included Food Safety and Hygiene. I need the Food Safety and Hygiene certificate in order to look for work as a Vegan Chef/Cook. But I knew that the course had the dual purpose of getting me to think of expanding my job remit even further i.e. to extend to Customer Services, etc. Still, a two-week course in Hospitality was never going to be enough for someone who has never worked in that area before. The course just scratched the surface; it would have been a good course for someone who has worked in that industry before to get a refresher. The only useful part of that course for me was just the Food Hygiene and Safety part. That said, I did manage to use my Graphic & Multimedia Design skills in some of the project work to critical acclaim. The Food Hygiene and Safety part of the course just took less than a day to complete - examination included! I am still awaiting the results of the exam! Those two weeks should have gone towards my online portfolio; my online portfolio is a continual project. It's about updating the portfolio with relative, and recent work. But you can't tell my former work coach that. Once any online portfolio structure is complete it has to be continually nurtured. My former work coach was trying to force me into an area of work that I have no experience in solely for the purpose that she thinks that work of that nature is easier to get. She thinks that two weeks of being on a Hospitality course equates to over 15 years of being a Graphic & Multimedia Designer. That is just plain stupid! I am very confident that I will find work as a designer should I be allowed to present my online portfolio. And let's say that I wasn't able to find an employer quickly - if at all - the name of the game is to get a job in the shortest time possible - then surely one possibility is to go self-employed. Alas, no... My former work coach is too dimwitted to even think of self-employment as a solution. CARDS ON THE TABLE It is clear that my former work coach has it in mind that IT is a young man or woman's game and that is not true. What is true is that IT can be difficult to get into at any age but it is not an impossibility. If you have the skills that employers are looking for then the chances are very good that you will get a job. One has to be persistent. Again, I understand the emphasis is to get a job in a short space as possible but age is going to affect just about every industry that I apply to due to employers wishing to keep their costs low. Is this fair? Is the government doing anything about this factor, Age Discrimination? Therefore, my former work coach has broken the law on Age Discrimination and I would like to sue her and JCP Enfield. I am deadly serious on that front. Nobody working for the Department of Work and Pensions calling his or herself a "work coach" should be using someone's age against them. If you are going to use Age Discrimination then why not play the... ...that's right: THE DREADED RACE CARD? Let me tell you a true story... About 8 years ago I called a job advert for a company specialising in CD/DVD Duplication. The person on the other end of the line happened to be Greek of origin, and I could tell from the timbre of his voice that he could sense that I am "black". Anyway, he told me that the vacancy was filled. I knew it was bs. So, I called him again and this time I pretended to be a Greek-American (I do an American and Greek accent quite well) and I was asked to come in for an interview. Yes, racism is still a factor whether we wish to acknowledge it or not. But I just get on with applying for work regardless. The issue of race is a factor wherever you go. I have worked in Germany and Holland; it was pretty easy to find a job in those countries upon arrival. Easier than here in cosmopolitan multicultural London! After a 13-week course in Multimedia that included Graphics and Web Design, I decided to go to Holland, Amsterdam to look for work as I couldn't find anything in London. God's honest truth! Within two weeks upon arrival, I spotted a job in a newspaper, found the address on a map, took the bus, arrived at the office building and asked to see the boss. I must have waited for about an hour outside in the foyer.... When the boss turned up he was surprised to see me as he wasn't expecting anybody but he made time for me. I showed him my portfolio (it's outdated now) and I got the job! Sadly, I am unable to replicate that experience here in London. I think I have made my point in that it is bloody hard to get a job in this country for a myriad of reasons that includes age, race, sex, sexual orientation, disability, etc. And the reason why I know this is because there are laws that employers aren't adhering to in order to prevent discrimination. Don't get me wrong, I experienced race discrimination in Germany and Holland but I was still able to get interviews, unlike cosmopolitan multicultural London. In any event, I put my best foot forward only to have these incredibly dimwitted work coaches stamp on that foot! It bloody hurts and I wish that they would stop!