The Hooker, The Thief, Goldilocks and the lost money

The title sounds like a dirty computer game or something.

About four and a half years ago, within the space of four months, I lost two jobs. My day and evening job. I was working in two places. Hard work, lots of hours but I had done that for a long time. (9am-5pm and then around 6:30pm-11pm). Now I can't even get one job, nevermind two.

Anyway, the first job I lost was at a gig venue where I had worked for over 6 years. For the first 5 years, I loved it, I was a supervisor, running my own little bar in the venue next to the stage. It was amazing. A lot of the time, it didn't even feel like work even though some nights it was so busy I almost collapsed through sheer exhaustion.

The last 16 months or so of my time there, we got a new bar manager. I have mentioned her before in my blog. "The Hooker":-

http://muksblogaboutstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/idiots-with-authority-part-2.html

That was my 17th post written two years ago. This is now my 71st post.

The Hooker got rid of a lot of people that she didn't like. Me and her didn't get on from the start. I knew my time was coming soon and she did eventually get rid of me. Unfairly. That was after demoting me from my supervisor position and making her boyfriend (who had a nose bigger then Pinocchios' on a bad day) a supervisor instead. Also trying to humiliate me as much as she could.

Not because we didn't get along but I voiced my concerns to a lot of members of staff, some who were my friends, some who were other supervisors and managers of how I thought she was stealing. In fact, I was CONVINCED that she was doing something dodgy. I didn't have any proof but had such a strong feeling. And it wasn't as if I accused others of stealing all the time. I knew a few people did. But this was to another whole new level.

Nobody took me seriously. Not one person believed me. Not even my own friends there. They all thought I was being ridiculous. I kind of assumed that someone told her that I thought this. That along with the fact that we never got along and we didn't like each other made her get rid of me. In some ways, it was a good thing because the hairy bitch had really made working there awful and so I was kind of glad to not be there anymore. But of course, that didn't stop the whole injustice of it all.

A few months ago, just after 4 years of my last day there, one of my former work colleagues there (note I didn't say friend) told me that The Hooker HAD in fact been stealing. She had been doing so for ages and it had amounted up to tens of thousands of pounds. The former work colleague didn't call me as soon as it was found out. Nothing like "Mukesh, you were right about The Hooker all along-she's been stealing money for years." But I got told when I bumped into this former work colleague. I couldn't believe it. Not the fact that she had been stealing as I had known that all along, but for the fact that after 4 and a half years, the truth FINALLY came out.

It's crazy to think that nobody believed me. I even stopped believing myself at the time which is the worst thing you can do. But sometimes not just with things like this but with ANYTHING, all you need is one person who believes in you and you can do anything. But this story is just an occurrence which is a lead up to how I unfairly lost my other job 4 months later....

It was just after the busy Christmas period. The day after Boxing day when the sales starts and for some reason in retail stores, people still somehow have a lot of money to spend. Though saying that, most of it may have been credit anyway...

ANYWAY, I was the only staff member who had worked Christmas eve, Boxing day and was also due in the day Boxing day. The dreaded sales day where customers not only go crazy, but also have a ton of returns where they "don't have a receipt as it was a Christmas present." Yep, the joy of retail.

The day before on Boxing day was also a day when people bought back Christmas presents. It was so busy and we took an amazing amount of money regardless of that. We still had money from Christmas Eve in the shop. All in a small safe. At the end of a really busy crazy hardworking day, the shop floor looked like a bomb had exploded in it. People in charge that day were our manager Goldilocks (he had long blonde hair), Jupiter (a really big fat lazy girl) and myself. When all the customers had left the store, Goldilocks asked me if I and the rest of the staff could "take care of the shop floor" whilst he and Jupiter counted all the money. I reluctantly agreed, even though I could have done with a sit down and would have been happy to count the tens of thousands of pounds, it was a wise move as Jupiter would not physically be able to actually do anything apart from sitting down (which was always the case with her). So for practicality, it was a good move. Although in saying that, I was the only person who was in the next morning. Two hours earlier than normal to set all the sale things up. 7am. Some idiot staff member would be starting at 8am to help me. Not that he would be much help anyway. Let's call him the turnip.

Apparently over the Christmas period, we had taken £45,000!! That was when the country was supposed to be deep in recession. All this money wasn't banked as all the banks were closed. All this money was put in a small crappy safe in the working stockroom.

A couple of staff went home whilst the shop was being re-made and the money was being counted. They were temps. Why should they care? There were 5 members of staff left.

After what seemed like hours, everything was done. The shop looked amazing, the money had all been counted by Goldilocks and Jupiter and we were all set to go. I was due back in the store in another 12 hours. I was the only one due back in. The other staff would be fresh from a nice day off. We didn't do any searches when we left as all retail stores are supposed to. Where there is so much merchandise and money. searchers were mandatory. What a mistake that was to not do the searches.

We had all just had exited the building when Goldilocks realised that he had left something behind. He wanted to take the cash counter home as he apparently had "lots of copper which we could use for change". As the banks were closed, for a couple more days, this made sense. But Goldilocks wasn't due in work the next day. Would he be dropping the change in work?? He went back in to get the cash counter whilst we all waited outside.

Goldilocks came back and we were all set to go home. My dad had come to pick me up as there was no way I was waiting for a bus in the freezing cold after that nightmare shift when I was having another nightmare shift the day after. I offered Goldilocks a lift as he lived on the way.

The next morning, I was 45 minutes late. I got there at 7:45am instead of 7am. Turnip was due in at 8am and was already stood outside the shop waiting to get in. I didn't apologise to him for being late. He was a turnip. I don't apologise to turnips.

Anyway, me and turnip rushed around...well, I rushed around, turnip was his usual static self and I tried to get as much done as I possibly could. The time went really fast. When you need time, it always seems to go fast. When it came to just before 9am, the turnip wanted to nip to the shop to get cigarettes. I went into the safe to get the tills out and count the floats etc.

I put all the tills out and waited for the turnip to get back from the shop. When he did, a load of customers came pouring into the shop. It got VERY busy with only 2 of us in. None of the sale signs were up and things were a bit out of control. That's what tends to happen when you stay in bed to have a lie-in.

Working with a turnip in a shop full of customers isn't the best way to start any day. It was going to be a very long day. At the time, I didn't realise just how much of an understatement that would be.

At about 10am (when it felt like it should be 3pm), the securicor man came to collect the money. The back doorbell rang. It was still really busy. It rang again. Too busy to leave the shop floor. Again *RING RING* OK OK I am coming. I didn't want to leave the turnip on his own on the shop floor but I had to get the back door. I rushed to it, opened it and was greeted by the usual gormless face of the man who had come to collect all the money we had taken the past few days. Every time that happened, I always wondered why I was being paid so little for all the amount of work I did.

Then came another *RING RING*. This time it was the turnip ringing from behind the tills signalling for help. As well as the gormless one, the turnip had no patience either. *RING RING* as if I hadn't heard it the first time. I told the gormless one to wait as the shop was busy. The gormless one gave me a gormless look.

I came back a minute later and opened the safe. The same safe I had opened before when I took the floats out...and there were no takings.

There were no takings! What the hell??

Were they there before when I took the floats out? I didn't even notice. They must have been? But the safe is pretty small so I would have noticed them surely? And if I didn't notice any money in there before why didn't I do anything?

So I turned to the gormless one. "There's no money."
The gormless one replied "It could have been taken by another security guard".
Yes he was as idiotic as he was gormless. "It is 10am. You are the first security guard here in 4 days."
Again no help whatsoever- "I wonder where it all is then?"

Then there was another "RING RING" from the turnip. The shop was littered with desperate people wanting some cheap bargains and I was needed. The gormless one went. I really didn't have time to think. The assistant manager would be on in an hour and a half. I would have to ask her. She was as useless as the turnip but she was the assistant manager whether I liked it or not. For some reason, she thought she was sex on legs. One time my belt had broke and I said "my pants are falling down" and she replied "is that because you have a huge hard on because I am stood next to you?" She wasn't sex on legs. She looked like a horse and in fact, when I first saw her, I knew her from somewhere and couldn't put my finger on exactly where it was. Then I realised where it was from. She had finished fourth in that years' Grand National. We shall call her horseface.

So for the next hour, the shop was so busy with "I've been waiting ages" and "Can you see if you have this in? How about that? Or what about that" and "Is that all my games are worth? I can get more on EBAY" etc etc shut the hell up etc.

At about 11am I rang horseface who had been on her days off (Christmas Eve and Boxing Day-the two busiest days in retail). Now she is one of those people when there is a crisis, she would just make things worse. I didn't understand half of what she said on the phone when I told her. It was just pure panic. When she came in, she first did her make-up. A thing I was used to. I then went in the back and we tried to figure out what could have happened to the money. She didn't even know how much there was and when I told her "£45,000" she nearly fainted. As little help as she always was "Have you checked the safe properly?" The safe was so small, you wouldn't be able to fit more than 5 chickens in. "How many bags were there?" I realised then that I hadn't seen any of the money as the night before I didn't count it and the morning after, I hadn't seen it. So I didn't know the answer to that. We conceded that we would have to call Goldilocks and also the area manager. That day I didn't leave the shop until 8pm.

What ensued after that day for 6 months was constant questioning, re-questioning, sleepless nights, even more questioning. The money was and yet to this day NEVER found. There were no cameras in the whole store which was stupid in itself. The store didn't report it to the police probably because of their own stupidity and not to give the store a bad name. That is the only reason I could think of why they didn't report it to the police which I only found out after I rang them myself to see how it was going. They didn't even know what I was talking about and when I explained to them, they just said "Why didn't you report it at the time?" They were just as useless as the people I worked with.

Could Goldilocks have taken it all the night before? Is that why he wanted me to be in on my own for an hour in the morning? To frame me as I would have no witnesses to back me up? Could Jupiter be in on it? Could the gormless one have taken it when I left him on his own for a minute? But then he would have had to know how to get in the safe. Was it possible for the turnip to have taken it? He wasn't in the night before but was the day after and he did go to the shop before the store opened. But he didn't go near the safe. So it was impossible for him to have taken ALL that money. But the powers that be didn't see it that way and I got made redundant because I didn't do a search on the turnip that morning when he went to the shop. Goldilocks got made redundant because he didn't do a search on the staff the night before. The gormless one made a statement saying that when he came to collect the money, he had never seen me before in his life. He had seen me about 50 times before at least. I didn't understand that. Why lie? Goldilocks and his girlfriend had a baby, went on holiday and bought a LOT of stuff. How the hell could he afford that?

It was an injustice. Somebody, somewhere had this money and I had lost my job because of it. But the point with this second story is that after the whole hooker stealing for years and the truth eventually coming out, I have always said and believed that with this story too-the truth will one day come out. It always does.

Kindle, Nook or Book?

I have been looking for a certain book for about a month now. It is available from some online places but at ridiculous prices as it has to be delivered from Canada and for some reason, it is even more expensive to be delivered from UK sites than it is to be delivered from abroad. Like a lot of things in life, it makes no sense whatsoever. Any sites where I have found it at a reasonable price "don't deliver to my current address".

I went to 5 different bookshops and couldn't find it. One particular big chain of book shops who pride themselves in being "Bookselling company of the year" (this was back in 2008 but they do still go on about it a lot) were particularly unhelpful with one sales assistant telling me. "Oh, I didn't know that author wrote more books then the 3 we have in stock". She then disappeared for a full 20 minutes in the back before coming back out to inform me "We don't have it. But you can get it online at various online stores." I already knew I had that option.

So I gave up on bookstores for that particular book and decided that I may have to pay the ridiculous delivery prices. But I wanted to make my feelings known about this and so I emailed the author. I wasn't expecting a reply, I just needed to vent my annoyance. Surprisingly the author emailed me back after 2 days saying she was "sorry" and that it would cost her "about the same amount to get the book sent to me herself" but she "would send me a book template through email which she would sign". She never did do that.

I still really wanted this book though but am too stubborn to pay delivery prices around 3 times more than the actual book itself! It does not cost THAT MUCH to get a book that is 367 pages long to The UK.

I then looked at Kindle prices and then discovered Nook. What the hell is Nook? I had no idea. It's like a kindle apparently. But I always found it weird how you can read from one of those electronic book things. But "book" prices are so cheap to get on these things. Both on Kindle AND Nook. And they obviously don't take up any space. You can store thousands of books on these things. All that reading! So why do I find it so difficult to even think about getting one? Saying that, at the minute, I find it difficult buying just about anything as funds are so short but even if I did have the money-could I bring myself to but one of these "e-books"? If I did buy one of these gadgets then I could buy so so so so many books at around a hundredth of the price. Surely this makes perfect sense the to get one of these?? For the long run?? But I just couldn't shake off the feeling that there is something ever so slightly loathsome about having one. I didn't really know the difference between a kindle and a nook so I looked it up and the following I copy and pasted:-

1. The Kindle is from Amazon while the Nook is from Barnes and Noble
2. The Kindle uses a keyboard for input while the Nook uses a touch screen display
3. The Kindle does not have a micro SD slot like the Nook has
4. The Kindle has an integrated battery while that of the Nook is user replaceable
5. The Kindle lacks the "Lend Me" feature of the Nook

Now a few words stick out like a sore thumb. "keyboard", "screen", "micro SD" and "battery".

All these are now part of reading. That is where technology is going.

I know I sound 90 years old rather than a 30 year old but reading something from one of these things is a shape of things to come in the future. A future where technology will completely take over until there won't even be a need for human existence! Far fetched? Maybe. But it's a step in that direction.

I remember a few months ago when I was in work. It was break time. A girl who started the same time as I did had a kindle. She kept constantly taking about it. Apparently, she had downloaded some books of a popular series that was currently on TV and kept whipping out her kindle at every opportunity. "Ooooh I really do like reading" was a thing she would constantly try to put across.

I had a book in my bag. In all honesty, I actually did feel a bit old fashioned and I didn't want to get it out to read. I always wouldn't take my phone out in front of people too as that is pretty old and doesn't have a widescreen TV or a thing where you can download apps or something that tells you what current temperature it is in Zimbabwe. I didn't know anyone around me who I really wanted to talk to so I took my book out and started to read it.

A couple of minutes later, one of my work colleagues asked me what I was reading. I told her. "May I have a look? It sounds amazing. After you've finished may I borrow it?" Someone else comes in "What you reading mate?" Another person "What book is that?"

See where I am going with this?

The girl was clearly getting annoyed having probably had a lot of books on her kindle yet nobody was taking an interest in what she was reading even though she kept dropping in comments such as "oh that bit wasn't on the TV show" and "oooh yeah this book is really compelling". I was getting annoyed because people weren't letting me read my book in peace but was also pleased with the fact that people I didn't know were talking to me about something I was interested in because they could see what I was reading. A conversation starter.

The same thing happened over the next few days. I finished my book and then started to read another. People again asking about it. It still was pleasing and annoying at the same time-more annoying for the girl as she ended up stopping bringing her kindle in and started bringing in books.

There's something about having a book-an actual real book in my hands that is quite romantic, charming and cool. Reading from an electronic gadget just doesn't have the same feel to it. I understand students who may find it useful to store books that they need for their studies but then they will never go to libraries and study the old fashioned way.Even though I am having trouble getting this book that I cannot find anywhere-it is all part of the charm. When I finally do get it, it will be amazing. Much more of an achievement then just being able to download it to a machine. How dull. How boring. Is society really that spoilt now? Unfortunately, yes it is.

They say "never judge a book by it's cover" but at least books have covers and personally I would rather read from something that has a cover then something that has no cover at all.

Underage girls should NOT dress like this!

Some days ago I read an article in the paper. A picture next to the article was of a female hardly wearing any clothes.

Nothing wrong with that right? Every single newspaper has that...right?

Right. But there was something really disturbing about this particular picture and also what was written by the mother. The fact that the female was 14 years old. The article was an interview with her mother letting her dress that way. Even though she said this:-

"I don't want my daughter to dress like this but feel like I have no choice and on this particular occasion she had manipulated a set of circumstances that made it incredibly difficult for me to put my foot down".

I wasn't sure at first if I should put the following picture up on my blog post but it had been in a national newspaper so here it is:-

She isn't even fully grown for crying out loud.

I'm not a parent. I may never be a parent. I don't know whether I would be a good father if that time ever did come. But I really could not believe what I was reading. This is a 14 year old girl with hardly any clothes on. I'm not saying it is easy to be a good parent and I am not saying I would know what the right thing to say or do would be if my 14 year old daughter dressed like this. But one thing I do know is that there is no way I would actually let my 14 year old daughter go out dressed like that EVER. I would not care about wanting to be cool, I would not feel any pressure and I definitely wouldn't feel like I was manipulated where I couldn't put my foot down. Also I wouldn't care about her thinking I was "prude" and "out of touch with fashion" which is what this mother thought her daughter might feel about her. I would like to think that I would raise my daughter to not want to dress like a slut. Which brings me onto the next bit of the article.

The mother looked on her daughters' social networking accounts after the daughter had "accidentally" left her computer on. Apparently the mother was "horrified" to learn that her daughter was being "slut-shamed". Now I hadn't even heard of the term "slut-shamed" until I carried on reading.

Apparently, it's a "new thing" where anonymous people can go onto some sort of page or website and condemn you for how you look. Yeah I know-fucking crazy. And you won't be surprised to hear that 2 girls have already committed suicide after being "cyber bullied" from this. As stated somewhere on this blog before, I find cyber bullying absolutely unbelievable. If you are the victim of cyber bullying, all you have to do is not look/not care at whatever it is that is written about you. Don't log on and read! Use the internet for the million of other things it's there for.

Anyway, some comments that this 14 year old received that her mother read were "Are you dressing yourself like that so boys will want to sleep with you?", "You think you're sexy but you're just a cheap slut". The girl replied "You don't know me so you can't judge me".

I'm not saying people should be commenting like this-of course they shouldn't. In fact, these kinds of sites should not even exist but the problem is that they do exist. And for a 14 year old girl to dress like this-it's bound to attract negative comments. Only an absolute idiot would say something positive about this dress sense. An idiot or a paedophile. And that's a whole other problem with dressing like this-it will attract paedophiles. One of the reasons I was very wary about posting the picture of her. But as I said, it has been in a national newspaper and I wanted to point out the horror of it, NOT do what the mother is doing and try to understand it.

Understanding it isn't going to repel the sick people that are out there.

Unfortunately with so many disgusting sites that anyone can get access to on the internet, a paedophile can easily get access to her picture and remain anonymous and you would never know who that was unless he attacked her. There was some guy I used to know who went to my college. He used to "joke" about rape and paedophilia quite freely which I found disgusting. He only ever seemed to do it when a couple of his male friends were around. Obviously never when females were around. He was actually a nice guy when females were around. I don't speak to him or look at him ever because of these disgusting remarks that he continually made in the absence of females. Ironically this man went on to become a teacher. At a high school. Even more ironically, this man is now seeing a woman who was a victim herself when she was 14 years old. I wonder if the people who employed this man to be a teacher for children would have employed him if they knew what he used to say? Of course they wouldn't. I wonder if the girl would be with him if she knew some of the utterly sick, disgusting and disturbing things he talked about? Of course she wouldn't. My point with this is that there are an awful lot of things like this not just being said, but actually being done and it's so horrific as things like this ARE happening everywhere. Several cases are on the news right now. And there are so many disgusting people out there-people who you wouldn't expect to be dangerous. But are.

Yes it's difficult for young girls if all their friends dress like this too. It's not easy when pop stars who I have mentioned in my blog before also dress like this and little girls look up to them as their role models. But it does not mean a parent should put up with or let their underage daughter dress like this. It is wrong. This particular girl and her mother apparently both agree that it is a "current teenage phenomenon" to dress like this.

Well if that is the case, then start a new phenomenon and start that by wearing clothes. Make others follow and respect you. You can do this with wearing clothes. And any parent who lets her underage daughter dress like this should be ashamed no matter what the circumstances.




 

Recent quotes from famous people part 2

I just wanted to do another light hearted post before I do one of those serious ones again so here we go. Quotes that I have heard the last month or so-oh and my thoughts on some of them:-

Sir Alex Ferguson talking about how he wanted to sign Steven Gerrard when he was younger and being asked if he felt sorry for him for never having won a title in his career:-

"I don't think it's a pity he hasn't won the league. Are you joking?"

Alan Shearer on Frank Lampard:-

"He's 34, but that doesn't matter."

Why the hell mention his age in the first place if it "doesn't matter" then Alan??

Megan Fox on reality after the birth of her child. (Just note before the birth of her child she had said she wasn't going to show off her body anymore for respect of her child. The following picture is one of her posing in a magazine AFTER giving birth. I have cut out the title of the magazine):-

"What distracts me from my reality is Bigfoot."

What the fuck? You're as stupid as you look.

Heidi Klum on men:-

"I don't want anyone younger."

That rules me out! I actually prefer her to the beast above:-

Jenny Frost on being pregnant:-

"I feel sexy."

Jenny who?? And what?? I probably should put a picture of her up too but what's the point? Seeing gross Megan Fox is bad enough. 

Christine Bleakley on getting married to Frank Lampard this year:-

"We'll definitely marry at some stage this year."

Bet they divorce within 5 years.

Dita Von Teese on her music video:-

"Uh, I can't sing"

You really think that ANYONE IN THE WORLD is going to be focusing on your singing when in the video you are being felt up by 2 men and then there are a sea of naked bodies (which are supposed to represent the inside of her mind apparently). Well if there was someone like that then all the electro bollocks will make your "singing" voice better anyway.

Anna Kendrick (Who?? Fuck knows) on masturbating (Yep, that's right) over Ryan Gosling (Who?? Again, fuck knows):-

"Ugh, never going to a Ryan Gosling movie in a theatre (cinema) again. Apparently masturbating in the back row is still considered as 'inappropriate'."

Rumours are that these 2 apparently "famous" people who I have never even heard of are going to be in a soon to be made movie adaptation of 50 shades of bollocks.

Gemma Arteton (remember her? http://muksblogaboutstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/gorgeous-idiot.html) who after saying she has a nice house, nice car, never has to worry about food and stayed in a hotel recently where the hotel was so nice she nearly cried:-

"That sort of thing is never going to become the norm for me. I see my working class background as a gift."

Most of us won't ever be able to 'live in a nice house' or 'drive a nice car' or stay in hotels that 'nearly make you cry'. That IS the norm for you. Some people will never ever experience that and will struggle for the rest of their lives. That is the norm to them. Well done for being blessed with good looks though so you never have to struggle in life.

Jennifer Lopez to her boyfriend who is 18 years younger:-

"Why don't you find a young girlfriend and get out of here? What do you want with me?"

He is probably with you for your money and at the minute, your bum still looks nice-give it time and he'll be gone.

Ian Holloway (The football manager who said he would NEVER leave Blackpool football club...only to leave when they offered him more money at Crystal Palace and then claiming "it was time to move even though I said I never would. It definitely wasn't for financial reason.") on Luis Suarez:-

"He can be the new Eric Cantona for Liverpool."

Ian Holloway, you are a stupid jackass.  

Lance Armstrong on a famous TV show after being found guilty of the fact that he used drugs to win 7 Tour de France races:-

"I've lost all future income. You could look at that day and a half when people (his sponsors) left. That was a $75 million day. Gone. Gone. And probably never coming back."
 
He was never my sporting hero. But it would be pretty bad if one of my favourite sports stars a few years down the line were found out to have done drugs. Sometimes I guess Karma does come back and bite you in the backside. he never would have had that much money in the first place if he didn't cheat.
  
And that's it for now. I will maybe do another one. Part 3.

The best sporting moments of 2012

2012 was the best sporting year in my lifetime and there were some incredible moments and I have put a few videos and pictures up. 

Even though I am a Manchester United fan, the drama that happened on the last day of the season where they lost the title to the blue side of Manchester with the last kick of the game was something that we will never see again. I can't believe I am going to put this on but I have to. Apparently it builds character and all that:-
 

Spain absolutely dominating in the final of Euro 2012:-

LeBron James finally gets his championship ring:-

A move never done before in Netball:-

The Ryder Cup with an amazing message:-

The tour de France:-

The Australian open:-

The womens:-

The mens:-

The US open:-

The womens:-

The mens (I love the "Well we've waited 76 years, we can wait a few seconds longer"):-

And the small matter of The Olympic Games but you can read my blog post on it if you haven't already:-

http://muksblogaboutstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/olympic-games-2012.html

I guess if there is one thing that keeps me going in life-apart from music! It is sport. What a year. Absolutely amazing. Thank you for reading and if you watched the videos, hope the quality and everything was OK.

What shit can I do this year?

This was last year. Copy and paste please:-

http://muksblogaboutstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/getting-ready-for-new-year.html

I find it weird how I am never happy. I think this year I am not going to look for things that make me happy. Maybe I subconsciously already do that. I don't know. I am not and have told people to not go on about how it's " going to be a good year. a new year and a new start". I hate that kind of thing.

I truly do believe that if anyone wanted to make their lives better, they would do it the next day. Or that day. Some people actually WAIT til New Years day "to change their lives for the better". Idiots.

In sport, it was the best year ever. Even though being a Manchester United fan, losing the title on the last kick of the season wasn't nice but the whole drama of it was amazing. In fact-I'm going to write a new post just on the sport.

I feel really empty as I write this. I said the same thing last year. I think it's all in the mind where a bit of me is maybe thinking "Shit, another year Mukesh and what the fuck have you done with it? Nothing as always."

Will this feeling ever end?

Gambling advertisements + Payday loan advertisements = Credit crunch + High suicide rates

First of all if there are people who need someone who understands and is impartial to talk to then my email address is somewhere on my blog as a post. Feel free to write.

I was watching a game of football the other day on TV. They weren't really teams that I cared about but football is football. About 20 minutes in I noticed that both the teams had gambling websites sponsoring them. They do that now? Online gambling sites can sponsor football teams? Yes, it has been the case for a few years now.

During half-time I actually for once (not subconsciously) paid attention to the advertisements purely because the first one was a bet in-play for what the score will end up being for the football match. The next advertisement after that was one for another online casino offering a free welcome bonus (stating in small writing at the bottom that "terms and conditions apply" but doesn't state the likely fact that if you accept the welcome bonus you would have to gamble it an estimated average worth of 2000 times that amount before you will be able to withdraw anything INCLUDING your own money). The advertisement after that was one for a payday loan. "If you're short of a bit of money then a payday loan could be just what you need" (not stating that if you take one out, it could lead to financial catastrophe and ruin your life with it's 2000% interest). Only a few days ago in the newspaper there was a story of a man in hospital. He had attempted to commit suicide after he had become involved with payday loan companies. He ended up doing what a lot of people do and that was to take a 2nd payday loan to help pay towards the 1st one and then a 3rd one to help pay towards the 2nd one and then on and on and on..... The man had a wife and 2 kids. One payday loan company kept trying to ring him whilst he was in hospital and even took all the money from his account whilst he was in there. That is what they do. They are legal and there are more and more payday loan companies emerging just as there are more and more bookmakers and more and more online casinos. There was an actual suicide not so long ago of an 18 year old man who got addicted to gambling on his phone. He took out payday loans to fund his habit and then got into a load of debt but couldn't handle it anymore when it all spiraled out of control. Just 18 years old.

People say things like "The credit crunch has made a lot of people go out of business as less people can afford to buy things."

But that is a load of nonsense. Where did the credit crunch come from? Why are so many people becoming more broke? Why are so many people all of a sudden struggling more than they were a few years ago?

The answer to me is so simple. It's because of gambling.

In the town I live there used to be 3 betting establishments in the town centre. Now there are 6. Each 30 seconds (if that) walk away from each other. Shops are closing down in place of more betting shops. Within a 10 mile radius from my house there are over 100 betting establishments! They are becoming so common that you can't go down the street without one being near by.

With all the advertising, sponsoring of betting shops, online gambling and payday loans that are so easily available that a lot of them now boast how fast they can get money into your account (some as little as 10 minutes), is it any wonder that this country is seriously getting fucked? Anyone can get addicted and once you are, it is very hard to get out of. You'll constantly be trying to chase your money back to no avail. If you would be lucky enough to win your money back, you won't stop. It is a downward spiral. And it's happening to more and more people. Now there are so many easy ways to get money from payday loan companies when it should be more difficult to get loans if there are more people out of work then there used to be. A gambler if he had a job, could lose his wage the very day he got it, take out a payday loan, lose that too and then take out another and another. I write "COULD" lose his wage and take out payday loans but I don't know if that is the right word because people ARE doing just that. Hundreds everyday.

There are addicted gamblers who if there were no betting shops would spend their money on other things. Things in normal retail shops maybe, thus funding their business and keeping it afloat. With people having no money to buy things that they would normally buy if they hadn't lost their money, that is the reason shops (apart from betting shops) are losing money and going out of business.

In 2004 the then Prime Minister, the absolutely idiotic Tony Blair said that "Super Casinos would regenerate run-down areas of Britain." How he thought that would be possible I really don't know.

The fixed odds betting terminals or what most people just refer to as "roulette machines" in betting shops apparently take in just under half of the betting shops' profit. Which I think is very surprising as I really thought it would be more. They are dubbed as "The crack cocaine of the betting industry".

Apparently in 2011, in the UK, more than £1 Billion was lost on these machines.

According to research done by a channel 4 documentary, the target areas are mostly poorer areas that have high unemployment.

A couple of months ago, the Labour deputy party leader Harriet Harman said that they made a "mistake" over the gambling laws and that it had ruined peoples' lives. She said the following:-

"I got the most heartrending letters and emails and calls that I've ever had in 30 years of being an MP, just saying 'Please do something about this. It's ruined my life, it's ruined my family, it's really dangerous and the problem is it's getting worse and that's why we need the law to be changed so that something can be done about it'.

Yet nothing does get done about it. It was 4 months ago when she said this, yet things are getting worse! Now there are payday loans available everywhere too! You can download casinos and betting apps on your phone! You can't walk down the street without coming across a bookmakers. The only people that would notice this would be a gambler or someone that knows a gambler. The only people who first hand really notice how damaging gambling already is, again is the people who gamble and maybe the people who know that they gamble and maybe the staff in the betting shops.

It is curious how some people think that if you were a gambling addict, it's not as bad or as serious as being an alcoholic or as a drug addict. Why is this the case? Why do people think this? How many more suicides will it take for this shit government to finally open their eyes and do something? Stop the advertisements, stop the growth of the betting shops. Close them down.

But another huge problem with gambling is how secretive it can be kept. There are no physical signs unlike an alcoholic or a drug addict. A gambling addict can easily just lose all his/her money, then go back to work or back home without anyone knowing at all. Gambling is often referred to as "The hidden addiction".

Worldwide, suicide rates because of gambling are very high. Higher than cocaine or alcohol or any other substance. The reason for this? It's because there is only so much cocaine your body can take. There is only so much alcohol your body could take before you end up in hospital or dead. But in gambling there are no limits. You could lose £100,000 in a day. If you could get access to more, you would lose that too. A very scary fact that I read 3 months ago is that worldwide 1 in 5 problem gamblers attempt to kill themselves. About 80% of problem gamblers think about killing themselves. Only 5% of problem gamblers attempt to get treatment.

The simple fact is that gambling kills you because it doesn't kill you.

The shame, the frustration, the loss of faith, the realisation after it is over can all make a problem gambler want to end their lives. Dealing with the lies you have to tell people. The pathetic excuses why you can't go out, or buy anything and being to ashamed to tell anyone the truth is not easy.

With alcohol, drugs or substance abuse if a person was strong enough to quit that, then their lives can get better. With a gambler, more often than not, they are in debt. If the debt is substantially higher than what they earn, the high of gambling is gone but the desperation to get out of debt isn't. It only takes one big win to get life back on track. Even if you're not in debt, the thought of all he money you have lost is always in the back of your mind. That would only go if you happened to have a big win. And that is why it is just a bottomless pit which more and more people are getting into.

Talking of pits, a few months ago a gambling addict was being hounded by creditors. He ended up digging a hole under his kitchen and hid their for 2 months. Talk about symbolism. People end up alone. They are that ashamed, they do things like this.

One thing I do want to point out is that being addicted to gambling ISN'T a moral failure. People need to realise that you can be addicted to a behaviour and it really needs to be addressed because there are more and more people, some who are genuine good people who are becoming trapped in this sick vicious cycle. Unfortunately it looks like things are going to get a lot worse.