She

Clasping the door handle, breathe. She walks into the room with an air of calm and confidence. She can do this. An open planned office with three desks, three women, a conversation between a young man and one of the women, two offices in semi-darkness. “Hi, I’m Clare.” She sits across from Clare, her back only two metres from the door.

Clare informs her, “I’ve only been in this job for three weeks. It’s only my second initial appointment. I’m not very organised. My manager is new too, that makes me feel better. The other woman here knows everything, she has been here for three years.” Clare fumbles with papers trying to get them in order, while She waits with her neat pile of paperwork in front of her. 

She tries to explain, “I received the letter about my appointment for yesterday morning, yesterday afternoon.” Clare announces, “Australia Post is hopeless.”

Smiling, although she would rather grimace She remembers the difficult conversation she had yesterday. It all started on Sunday with a reminder text for a meeting 10.00am Monday morning. She had no idea why or where. Early Monday She makes a phone call and speaks with Clare. The response, “Can’t you come anyway?”  “No sorry.” “What about this afternoon?” “I have an appointment.” Clare feels uncomfortable not knowing what to do. She only wants to help this person, “Tomorrow at one?” “Sure, what is the address?” “I don’t know, I’ll look it up.” 

She knows and understands the importance of mutual obligation. The government pays a measly sum of money for people on Job Seeker, and in return everything that is asked must be done  without delay or payment is stopped. She is always fearful she will make a mistake. This is new to her. She spends hours of her life she will never get back on the phone to Centrelink. Her recent phone call to Centrelink surprised her, “Your medical certificate wasn’t accepted.” “No one has informed me and then I got a reminder for a meeting with a job provider.” The woman on the phone is helpful, shows empathy and tries to sort this out. Her managers, yes she has checked with two of them, both state that the medical certificate has been deemed invalid. It is no different to the last one provided a month ago or ones previously provided but something has changed and no one seems to know what. The woman on the phone says, “Go to the meeting tomorrow. You need to meet your mutual obligation.” There they are, those two words yet again – mutual obligation. 

Clare brings her back to the here and now, “There’s lots of paperwork and you need to sign all of the forms. But they’re not really important.” Clare wants to make it easy. The first one is a review of the meeting. She, asks for an explanation of what she doesn’t understand. With reluctance Clare responds she doesn’t know, that we’ll get to it later or ask the woman who knows everything. “Shouldn’t I do this review at the end?” “Maybe, let’s do it now though.” She, carefully circles only what she understands. Clare wants to be kind and not make things difficult so signs the uncompleted form. 

Clare begins the job plan. She is curious, “What does this involve?” “I have to set the form up. Although I’m not sure what to do and the other woman is busy, we’ll have to wait for her to finish. I can’t ask my manager because she is new and doesn’t know what to do either.” Amanda, the new manager, walks over to assist Clare to find the electronic form. 

She wants to know, with impatience she hopes isn’t showing, “What are you putting in the form?” “The usual, the type of help we can give like finding the right clothes for you to wear to a job interview.” She thinks, “Do I look like I need help with clothes?” Clare has a conversation in her head – Why is She here? She has a beautiful leather bag, doesn’t look unwell, why doesn’t She want to work. I’m doing my best.

She states, “I have a resume.” “Great.” With a quick glance Clare sees the name of a primary school, “You’re a teacher.” “I was a long time ago then a bureaucrat.” “Which school?” “Not in a school, I worked in central office in the city.” “I don’t even know what a bureaucrat is.” Clare returns her attention to the computer and job plan. 

“Doing a job plan is easy, I was unemployed but because I wanted to work I found this job.” With as much patience as She can find, “It’s not that I don’t want to work I’m unable to because of my health.” Clare wanting to be helpful, “Finding jobs to apply for is easy. Then you’ll meet your mutual obligation. Like go to your local cafe and leave your resume.” She states, “I can’t do this type of work.” “That doesn’t matter.” She makes this point, “But I signed a form stating if I get a job offer and don’t take it then I lose government support.” “Let me give you another example. You could apply for a job at Coles filling shelves.” “I can’t do this type of work either.” “I found a job because I really wanted to work.” Again, “It isn’t that I don’t want to work. I can’t because of my health.” And then another round of I wanted to work from Clare and I can’t work from her. 

The door opens, someone standing behind her is here for his appointment with Clare. “We have to finish up I have another appointment.” “I thought it was for an hour.” “Yes if you had come yesterday.” Thoughts, never spoken – you made the appointment, you have been disorganised from the start and now, only now you tell me the appointment is only for half an hour. 

“I’ll make copies of your paper work for your electronic file and give you a copy.” Clare asks her manager, “Do I need to scan these in sections or all in one go?” “Sections.” “Do you have a stapler?” “There’s one on your desk.” All done She receives her copies, “Thanks.” “You will have to come back to complete your job plan showing you have applied for jobs.” 

Clare desperate to give something positive, “It’s easy to do a job plan and you can do it in about half an hour a day. If you really want to work then you will find something. And maybe as I learn more I might be able to be more helpful to you.” Feeling pressured to leave She asks, “Clare can we make the next appointment? I need to meet my mutual obligation.” “Oh, I would have remembered I needed to do that after you left.”

Clare turns to her next client thinking – I hope this one is easier than the last and I hope I can help him more. She leaves thinking fuck this mutual obligation.   

She read this story to her writing group. It is based on a true experience. This piece began in her daily journal and She then wrote it in the third person, wanting to give Clare a voice and to share her thoughts. The response from her writing group was to laugh, see it as a comedy skit. Who’d have thought! Not her at first, although now She can see the humour.

Copyright She December 2024. All rights reserved; this intellectual property belongs solely to She.