I'm now approaching the end of my third official week of full time
work after my more than six months off. I say official because although I
started working half days, I often stayed on as m'Julie works at the same hospital and I give
her a lift home.
However, before I was able to return I had to go through the farce of being seen by the
Occupational Health doctor. I say farce because when I actually did see him, it
was obvious that his experience of people who had suffered cardiac problems was
slightly less than a first year medical student on day one of his course.
I did laugh at him when he informed me that I could return to
work, but that he did not want me to attend any emergency situations. Using
words of one syllable I explained my job to him, it being constantly attending
emergency situations, so he could forget that. He did counter with the fact
that it said in his textbook (I think it may have been called Occupational
Health Medicine for Dummies) that anybody who has had an MI is at risk of
further but seemed to completely miss the point that I had undergone corrective
surgery since my MIs. I asked him what it said in his book about that, and in
fact insisted that he look it up, and wasn't completely surprised that there
was no mention of people who are post-CABG.
So now I'm back at work, doing exactly what I was doing before I
had the MI (apart from going out for smoke breaks) and I haven't died, so I
must be doing something right.
Although it is nice to be back, there are times that I feel as
though I've not been away at all. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing,
I'm not sure. Sadly, the areas that were unsafe are still unsafe, and happily,
the areas that were fine are still fine. I even sacrificed watching the
Scotland v Wales rugby match on Sunday (although with the result, it wasn't
that much of a sacrifice) to teach on an Advanced Life Support course.
The advantage to that is that I ended up with a time-owing day
which I am taking at the end of this week, meaning that I'm able to extend the
annual leave that I'm taking next week, as its half-term week and the kids are
staying for the latter half.
Annual leave is also proving quite lucrative. During the time that
I was off last year, I wasn't able to use up any of my annual leave.
Consequently, I now have 25 days to take. I'm taking 5 days next week, carrying
5 days over and the Department has agreed to pay me for the other 15 days.
But it may not be that lucrative. In the UK there is a remarkable
body called the Child Support Agency. This was set up by the Government to
ensure that absent parents paid for their children in an attempt to reduce the
burden that these children are to the state. They even have the power (now) to
confiscate driving licences and passports from those who do not comply with
their orders.
Sadly, although it seems like a good idea in theory, the practice
was somewhat different. It was clearly being run by people from another of the
Government's schemes, in which they aimed to get the terminally stupid back
into employment, the criteria apparently being the more retarded a person is,
the more senior the position that they fill. As a result, there have been acres
of newsprint documenting the ineptitude of this agency. Unfortunately, my
dealings with these people have been going on for nearly three years, and have
also proved that there are very many idiots in Government service.
Although it is a long story, in summary my ex-wife claimed for the
children that were living with her, I claimed for the son who was living with
me. Within two months I was paying for my kids, whereas my ex-wife refused to
pay. As a result, I also stopped paying. She was not pursued for payment, I
was. This went on for several months with no solution. I wrote to and met with
my local MP. Nothing. So I then wrote to the Chief Executive of the Child
Support Agency, my local MP and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Again nothing. Finally, I wrote to the Chief Executive of the Child Support
Agency, my local MP and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions informing
them that unless a solution was found within one week of my letter, I would be
going to the press to publicise the incompetence of all of those involved, both
at the CSA and at Government level, and also
taking legal action for the discrimination that I had suffered as they were
pursuing me but not my ex-wife.
Less than a week later, everything was sorted (possibly because
the Secretary of State was new to post and wanted to stay in post), my ex-wife
commenced payments and I recommenced payments direct from my wages every month.
I believed that this was the last of it, and it seemed to be the case, or at
least has been, for the last two years.
And then, yesterday evening, I received a call from Darren at the
Department of Work and Pensions. Unfortunately, as I was in the middle of a
supermarket, I was unable to speak to him. I tried to call him back when I got
home, but no luck. So I tried again this morning. Although I didn't get through
to Darren, I did speak to one of his colleagues in the ominous sounding 'Debt
Enforcement' department.
From talking to this person, it appears that the department has
recently had an audit and they wanted to know why I had reduced my payments. It
appears that, although for the last two years there has been an order in place
to take the money from my wages monthly, there records show that I pay monthly
by sending them a cheque.
It also appears that either the Child Support Agency or my work
Salaries and Wages department has screwed up (no surprise in either case), but
I have no doubt that there will be some attempt to claim that it is all my
fault.
Must look up who the new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
is............
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