It was a day like all the other days. Unemployment and cappuccinos stalked my reality. I believe I am now recovered from my psychotic break, or should that be the drugs ‘do’ work, and I am a semblance of normality. I am now searching for employment.

It is one thing to recover yourself from a mental illness and another to get yourself back to work. I am caught between not doing technology for many years, and no longer being able to take the pressure of teaching. This means I am working my way through low-paid menial jobs until I find a job of substance.

So far, I have worked in a call centre at 16k a year, dealing with numerous complaints from the public about a certain brand’s wellington boots not arriving on time. It was kind of soul-destroying but even more so when you realize you don’t earn enough to rent your own place. The second attempt was as a job coach. A well-meaning and soulful job helping young people with SEN difficulties back into employment. The only catch being, you don’t get paid if the young person is off sick, so again back to being unemployed.

Searching for employment

Next up is a care work job. At least this role guarantees hours, so many hours you just can’t lose, and the pitfall is, the environment might be too depressing with only 30 minutes to 45 minutes to complete each task. It’s another strange new world I am walking into. This world of low-paid but meaningful employment. The living wage should be made law at this point, and take it further, a minimum wage of £15 per hour for the hardest working roles.

All is not lost as I head to a job centre fair to see a host of companies offering real work in city-type jobs with very good wages to not just barely enough to live on, but also breathe. The jobs might be a bit corporate and stale, but you just have to do it to make ends meet. The meaningful jobs just don’t pay enough even though they are the most hardworking and important.

That’s life, or is that capitalism. It makes the case for socialism and distributing wealth more equally. Let’s take a little more from the wealthy and ensure that all jobs pay a meaningful wage. And what we mean by meaningful wage is the right to work and enjoy your life, as much as the rich, within reason. A forty hour week. A meal out once a week. The occasional trip to the cinema. Four holidays a year. And to clothe and feed yourself.