Happy Now?

By HipPriest

Thu, 28 Mar 2013
  • 1964 reads
10 comments
 

A little bell tinkled as the door to the charity shop opened.

‘Go and look at the c.d.’s Kevin, I’ll just be a minute talking to the lady, okay my love.’ said Lynn.

‘Go and look at the c.d.’s Kevin.’ he repeated, in the small voice of a child.

Lynn placed two bags on the counter. The woman behind smiled. ‘Hello my dearest. Got a donation for us, have you?’

‘Well, I’m not sure what you’ll make of it all, but we’ve been having a bit of a clear out and...’

‘Oh, it’s all much appreciated.’ The woman placed the bags by her feet. ‘I’ll sort through those later. It’ll give me something to do,’ she said, ‘we get awfully quiet in here sometimes.’

Lynn’s attention was with Kevin. ‘Sorry, you were saying?’

The woman smiled. ‘Is that your boy?’

‘Oh, er, no. I’m, erm, one of Kevin’s carers. He’s not my son; no,’ she sighed, ‘no he’s a bit old for that.’ Lynn looked over again at Kevin.

‘Oh, bless.’ said the woman. ‘I really admire people like you. It must be a very rewarding job.’

‘Well, er, yes it is, and thank you, it’s very nice of you to say that.’

Lynn walked over to Kevin. ‘Come on then, let’s crack on.’ She put her hand on his elbow.

‘I want it.’ he waved a c.d.

‘What you got there, eh? NOW 47. That’s old, I’m sure you must have it already.’ She turned to the woman and shrugged, ‘He collects all the NOW c.d.’s.’

‘Don’t you, eh? You collect them all,’ she said to Kevin, ‘and I’m pretty sure that this is one you’ve got already, so there’s a good man and put it back.’

‘I want it.’

‘Kevin’

‘I want it.’

‘Come on now Kevin, Maggie’s been going on at us about you bringing all this rubbish home, you won’t be able to move in your room for c.d.’s soon.’ She got hold of the disc.

His voice dropped an octave. ‘Don’t. I’ll shout’

Lynn looked round to the woman again.

‘Are you okay, my dear?’ asked the woman.

‘Fine, thank you, we’re fine.’ She pulled on the c.d. box. ‘Kevin, please.’

Kevin pulled back. ‘I’ll shout.’

Lynn snatched the c.d. from his hands.

‘NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’

He fell, his body twitching and jerking as he went into a seizure. Lynn placed her hand underneath his head.

The woman rushed from behind the counter. ‘Oh, my goodness, that poor man. Is there nothing you can do?’

‘Just what I’m doing.’ said Lynn.

***

Lynn stood with her colleague Tracy. ‘You will not believe the day I’ve had with Mister, there.’

Tracy nodded, ‘Had a fit?’

‘Shouting the bloody house down he was, over a daft c.d. Oh, which reminds me.’

She walked to Kevin’s room. She took a c.d. out of her handbag. ‘There you go, Mister. Happy now?’

Kevin took the c.d. and placed it between NOW 46 and NOW 48. ‘Happy now,’ he said, ‘Happy now.’

Certificate U
Drama

Comments

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on
Poignant and beautiful. Tina

 

Submitted by HipPriest on
Thanks Tina, from reading your poetry you know all about poignancy and beauty so that is high praise indeed. Cheers :)

M. Dugdale

Submitted by HipPriest on
Yeah. That's my job, I'm a support worker for adults with a learning difficulty. The 'Lynn' character is a kind of amalgamation of people i've worked with over the years. People who seemingly think that they are really good at their jobs and how can anyone question them anyway when they are such good people for doing the job they do in the first place. It's all about power really, who has the control.

M. Dugdale

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on
And I'll second that, with knobs on. Tina

 

Submitted by HipPriest on
That word 'profession' is really important. I think that the job is a profession, the responsibility that you have, the importance of the job. You're dealing with people's lives, I don't see what could be more imprtant than that really. Yet a support worker gets paid about the same or less as someone who works in a shop or a McDonalds. It's minimum wage pay and you don't need any qualifications, you can get a job with little or no experience, and then it can be a very stressfull, emotionally and physically draining job. Some people I have worked with and work with today just shouldn't be doing the job, they have no empathy. They feel sympathy but that is missing the point. They (the powers that be) should raise the profile, demand higher standards of the job and pay the workers a decent wage. Unfortunately social services just seem more concerned with cutting hours for people these days.

M. Dugdale

Submitted by HipPriest on
One of my first jobs in care (after a spell of volunteering in an awesome youth project) was at a day care centre in North London. It was a council ran establishment though the majority of the staff were agency (myself included). It was exactly like you describe above, the majority of the people who worked there were only doing the job because they couldn't get any other kind of work. But what really compounded matters were the long term experienced staff members, who just didn't give a shit, then you get new staff who learn from them. aaarrgh, I feel myself getting all negative now, it's not all bad, not all carers are bad, the majority of them do a bloody good job and genuinely do care. I work with more good people than bad. I think I'm going to try and write a positive care-based story, to provide balance. I'm a naturally positive and optimistic guy and it gets me down to think too negatively, but it is hard to stay positive sometimes when you work in care. I've had a particularly tough couple of years these last two years with all the government cuts. The local council in Plymouth seemingly don't know their arse from their elbow, its all about the money, people are just figures on a sheet. They bang on about being person centred but its a joke really. AAAAARRRGGHH negative again!!!

M. Dugdale

Submitted by celticman on
the first thing a local authortiy asks is who can do it cheapest. The 'caring agencies' make profit from the difference between the minimum wage and the cost of care per hour. The sandwhich bit in the middle is called the client. I thought this story had that ring of truth about it.

 

Submitted by HipPriest on
A very sad but true statement celtic. People are just pound signs to social services and the care agencies that support them. I work for a non-profit organisation; it's not perfect, some if the staff are maybe in the wrong job, but they genuinely do care (the staff and the organisation as a whole). I think I would feel very uncomfortable if I worked for a profit making organisation. Thanks for reading my story, glad you could see the truth in it :)

M. Dugdale

Submitted by HipPriest on
To be frank, that is fucking disgusting. Hopefully, like you say, things aren't as bad now. Money shouldn't come into it really, at the end of the day the money being spent on things like food belongs to the people who are being supported. It is their money, the government provide this money for them to be supported in their life, not for some dick to make a little bundle of cash from. You mentioned a novel, is that available anywhere?

M. Dugdale

Submitted by HipPriest on
That's class mate, I'll look forward to it :)

M. Dugdale