J: Hello, lovely people! And welcome to Gem's house!
G: Hiiii! J: And my channel.
J: This is the first in--we're doing a little collab, so they're all going to be about work and disability.
J: This is going to be a kind of spilling the tea/gossiping about -
"spilling the tea"
(it's not actually something I say, but I saw it on the internet)
- gossiping all about the bad working situations we've found ourselves in before.
J: And then part two will be on Gem's channel,
which will have some actual good advice
about working with a disability.
J: So, let's begin with a little explanation -
a tiny explanation; a brief explanation -
about what our disabilities are.
G: OK, mine, I can really wrap up in a little nutshell. J: Ooo, go.
J: Always impressed when people can do that.
G: So, when I was nine, I had major heart surgery that went just a little bit wrong.
J: Just a bit.
G: I suffered major internal bleeding,
and as a result of the internal bleeding and lack of oxygen,
I suffered a T10 incomplete spinal cord injury.
G: So, I use a wheelchair to get about.
J: That was neat.
J: I have a genetic--I have two genetic disabilities, one which affects my nerves
and the other which affects my muscles
and they have various symptoms,
including I dislocate constantly;
chronic pain; chronic fatigue,
and...I'm deaf.
J: What was your first ever job?
G: OK, so, my first ever job: I have actually worked from the age of sixteen
and I worked at my local news agents.
Just down the road.
G: EVERY Sunday.
J: You said that like it was so bad!
G: Because it was.
G: Yeah, it was really tiny and pokey, but I just about managed,
and I couldn't go to the toilet.
G: I only did four hours there, so I was like...
G: [Mimics straining to control bladder] J: Holding it in!
G: When I turned seventeen,
G: I also had a job on a check-out. J: Mmhm.
G: And that was every Saturday!
J: How dare they make you work on a Saturday?
G: But, on the Tuesday it was Student Night,
(J: Oh, no!) G: so every Wednesday I had to work, so I was hung-over.
G: And then every Friday was Rock Night,
and then I'd have to go to work on the Saturday, hung-over.
J: So you always went to work hung-over? G: Yep!
G: And then every Saturday was another Rock Night at another club,
so I wold have to go to my other job hung-over.
J: I feel like any working problems you had in that moment is nothing to do with disability;
more to do with alcohol!
G: Yes.
G: So, those were those jobs.
And it was all--it was not too bad.
G: Then I got more of an office role. J: Mmhm.
G: I sort of grew up a bit.
G: And they were...fantastic
for quite a long period of time.
G: I found the hours got too much at one point. J: Mmhm.
G: So they offered to reduce the hours.
G: Which was really nice of them.
G: They changed the hours, as well, so that they were more manageable,
so I didn't have to be in at like 07:30 in the morning.
G: I could be in like at nine.
G: Guys from the loading bay would come and help me in and out of the building
because there would be fire doors
There wasn't a proper lift; it was a goods lift.
J: My sixth form had a - I was in a wheelchair at the time
for about a year, I think - and they had a lift
'cause they legally had to have a lift
but they didn't legally have to turn the lift on.
J: And it was an energy drain, so they never turned it on.
J: And I had classes upstairs!
So they just had to get the strongest people from my class to lift my wheelchair up the stairs, with me in it.
G: So they were really, really good in some senses of the word.
J: Mmhm!
J: Now, now get to the bad stuff. Come on.
G: Let's get to the c--I'm sorry. J: It's all we're here for.
G: One day--I had the most amazing manager.
Most amazing manager.
And he was obviously head-hunted and had to go off.
G: Then we had...
[whispering] not such a good manager.
G: We were all having water at our desks;
water at our work stations
and then a thing came in where it all had to be labelled with your name and it had to be labelled "water,"
G: in case anybody drank something and it was... J: Vodka?
J: Who was keeping like a bottle of straight vodka at their desk? Like..
G: That was that, and then, all of a sudden, there was this big sort of rule that came in
that, unless you had a note from your doctor, saying that you needed water...
and you couldn't wait for your break,
you weren't allowed water.
J: Whaaat?
J: What? Oh, my God, Clara's dying! G: Clara's freaking out!
J: Clara's dying in the corner. G: Do you know what, darling?
J: I, yeah...
G: Because they said, "Oh, you can go and get a drink of water...
but you'd have to go and get it, drink it in the canteen, and then come back to your desk."
J: [whispered] No!
G: So I'd have to go through four fire doors on--that's just getting there.
G: So that's [both] eight fire doors!
Then they said, "Oh, well, you can call one of the
members from the loading bay and they'll come and open the doors for you."
G: And I said, "Don't you think they've got something better to do?"
J: Like their jobs. G: "They're short staffed anyway!"
G: So, then they said, "Well, just get a doctor's note."
G: It's the principle!
G: First of all!
J: She's not doing it, OK?!
J: She's not doing it on principle! G: First of all!
G: First of all, I don't want to waste my doctor's time.
G: You can see that it's difficult for me to go and get water.
G: You know, they could just be like, 'This is the rule, but why don't you just keep,' you know...
J: You're the exception, for a suitable, obvious reason
G: But that was one of the final things that made me think that this is not...
working; where I worked sort of just went down and down and down.
J: I see.
J: I have had - prior to the job I currently have,
as a YouTuber
(which always sounds weird) -
J: I'm self-employed;
freelance.
J: I do what I do; I make my own rules - now.
J: Which is lovely.
But my previous two jobs:
one of them, I was thirteen.
G: Thirteen? J: I worked there for thr--yeah!
J: I was a waitress in a cafe when I was thirteen; it was owned by my mother's friend.
I worked there for three days; I got fired at the end of every day.
G: You didn't get the hint?
J: Every day!
J: I trip over when I'm just walking in bare feet around my house.
I'm not a great candidate for people who should be holding plates.
G: Oh, God! J: I don't hold my own plates!
J: My mother had been a waitress when she was a teenager, before she went to university.
J: So, she--she's one of those people who can put all of the plates on her arms. G: Oh, no!
J: Yeah! G: How do they do that?! It's like...
J: Sure, so she thought that magically I would genetically have this skill.
So she said to her friend, like,
"It'll be fine. Jessica will be great with the plates!"
J: So I went, my first day.
I...have quite bad hearing loss.
So I was taking people's orders
...but I wasn't!
J: "Sounded vaguely like, 'Eggs.'"
J: Yep.
J: I'd be like, "By the looks of this guy, he wants soup. He seems cold."
And I tried to get other people to take my stuff out
that I had incorrectly ordered.
So I got fired.
J: My mother phoned her up and was like, "Please just take her back. It's the summer holidays."
"She'll be fine; she'll be better, she promises. She'll ask people SIX times what it is they're saying."
J: Second day, I poured soup down a man.
J: Got fired.
And my mother was like, "This is fucking ridiculous."
But she phoned up her friend again and was like, "She's really sorry."
"She's gonna wear better shoes tomorrow."
J: I guess my mother had something on her.
J: It was probably some form of blackmail, I'm not sure.
But this lady took me back!
J: Why?
J: And then on the third day,
during my break I stood on a bee.
J: And I'm highly allergic to bees.
G: Are you?! J: Yeah, I took my shoes off.
J: My foot swelled up to the size of a football.
And I couldn't really fit it back in my shoe.
J: And I limped over to the lady and I was like, "I can't work the rest of the day 'cause I can't stand."
J: And she was like, "No! You will work! 'Til the end of this day, and then I'm firing you!"
"But I refuse to pay you
for this morning that you've worked unless you work 'til the end of the day."
J: So I-I kept going.
J: Because...I did. And so I hobbled around
all afternoon;
tears streaming 'cause I couldn't stop them because it hurt so much.
J: So I was essentially like hopping.
J: No one got a good-looking plate of food that day.
J: Because I was crying and I looked really sweet - like, I was very blonde, as well.
J: I think that helped.
J: So I had this long blonde hair.
I had like tears trickling down.
I think I was probably dressed in something quite sweet.
And people took a lot of pity on me.
And boy, did I make some good tips.
G: Did you?! J: I think I made--yeah!
J: Yeah, I was getting paid two pounds an hour(!)
by this lady.
But I made £30 in tips that afternoon.
J: So...
J: Yeah, I got fired.
J: When I was in university, I set up the university's like first television...
station, but it was online.
J: It was about three people,
doing all the work, and it needed probably FIFTY people.
J: But then a local TV station
kind of saw what we were attempting to do,
thought it was great and offered me a job.
J: Yaay! A job!
J: So for my last year at university, I worked
with them.
J: "Worked." I didn't get paid.
J: And then after university,
I just walked straight into the job that I'd already been doing with them, but they paid me.
J: A tiny, tiny amount.
J: Not the best. Not the best job
that I could possibly have.
J: I only ended up working with them for a year and a half, I think?
For a number...of reasons.
But they weren't top on accessibility
...which is great.
J: The amount of time that I spend on crutches;
in a wheelchair, blah blah blah.
And their only toilet was upstairs.
J: They also only had--there was no ramp onto the stage.
J: There was a ramp to get into the building,
but it was such a kerfuffle that they had to go and get it from somewhere; they had to pull it out.
J: They also weren't brilliant when it came to accessibility
in terms of deafness.
Because everyone who was on stage was supposed to wear this ear piece
so that we could hear what was going on
in the TriCaster where they'd be controlling all the different cameras.
J: Normally, you would have a floor manager,
but they were very cheap and they didn't want to hire a floor manager
J: And--it was just a hot mess.
J: And I got very confused
by all of these different...
J: things going on. G: Oh, my gosh.
J: So that wasn't great.
J: I think the main thing, actually, that made me think, "This is just not for me"
is that they had a really strict schedule time.
J: And I got a slot every week.
And I had to film like five different programmes.
Because I was doing five programmes for them.
J: And if I couldn't make that slot, that was it.
J: So, my condition's really episodic, and some mornings I wake up and I just vomit for 24 hours.
So, if I'm--yeah, if that happened
that morning - boom!
Done.
That was it.
J: It was like, "But, what?" "What--why are you even giving me a slot in the morning?!"
"When I told you that I can only do the afternoon."
J: Generally better in the afternoon than I am first thing in the morning.
J: They were like, "Nope, this is the only slot."
G: Did you ever find that sometimes they would do things to suit themselves?
J: Oh, yeah.
G: Like one day it might be all right for you to come in at two o'clock if... J: Yeah!
G: And then, but...
G: I always found that with my last employer. They would change some things
G: to suit themselves. J: Yeah!
J: I always just had this feeling that I was this massive annoyance.
J: But I think also the problem is that as disabled people,
we are so grateful for jobs.
J: And then you're just like, "Please, I don't wanna lose this job!"
J: "You don't understand, being disabled is really expensive."
J: "I'm just so thankful that you have taken me despite my disabilities"
- which is so bad and we're gonna talk about it in the other video.
J: Being too grateful is just not a good idea. G: Yeah...
J: We are excellent! And they should be grateful they have us.
G: Yes.
J: Well, obviously we both have physical disabilities.
J: So we would love to know in the comments down below whether you have a physical disability;
a mental health problem,
or any other kind of thing that's holding you back from work.
J: Please let us know down below: what is your worst experience of work?
J: I ruddy love stories.
J: I do get really angry.
G: So do I. Mmm. J: But like inside. It's tiny angry flame.
J: We're about to make another video that will be on Gem's channel.
G: Yes! J: The link will be in the description down below
J: where you can go and find out actual tips
G: Mmhm. Yep. J: Actual helpful tips
J: that we have put together, all about finding a job; keeping a job
while you're being in work
with a disability.
J: Gem is lovely. You should go and follow her channel. She has loads of stuff all about life with a disability.
G: Yes. J: Kind of--you do hacks as well.
G: I do--yeah, we've got a lot of fashion going on over there.
I'm really excited; I've got my autumn fashion video coming up.
J: Thank you very much for joining us. See you very soon on Gem's channel.
G: Bye! J: Boom!