Fifty five years a slave

Beyond wrong

A quick thought experiment:

Scene One:

A painter has just finished decorating a room. The owner comes home. “Oh” he says, “I told you the wrong colour”.

“What do you want to do?” the painter says.

“Could you paint it again, at no additional cost?”

Is that reasonable, or is it absolutely unreasonable and lacking any humanity?

Scene Two:

A greengrocer puts up a sign. Apple's (this is a greengrocer, after all) 1p each. A customer comes by.

“Are these apples really one penny each?”

“Yes, they are.”

“Are you sure, that seems awfully cheap.”

“Yes, it is, but that's what they are, one penny each. Would you like some?”

“There must be a catch.”

“Nope. No catch. How many would you like?”

“Six please.”

That'll be 6p. Thanks.”

Months later, the customer receives a demand from the greengrocer. It says: 'About those apple's (it is from the greengrocer, after all), they actually were priced up wrongly, and you owe me £2.37. Unless you make immediate payment I'm sending bailiffs to your house.'

Is that reasonable from the greengrocer, about the apple's he sold?

When government departments behave like the greengrocer or the home owner above, they expect us to say “ah, well, they're a government department, after all, never mind, we'll gladly fund them through the taxes we pay, and then do their work for them, because they're so rubbish, on our own time, and then, when they make further mistakes and behave in an incompetent manner, we'll do it again. Repeatedly. Bless them.”

Scene Three:

A man works long, and hard, all the working week. Early starts, late finishes. He pays his taxes, at source and on all purchases. An immense, heartbreakingly and soul-destroyingly massive amount of tax. He works a good part of the weekend too, in order to keep up with the demands of his job.

Then the DWP, through their admitted maladministration and errors, want him to work a bit more, doing their job for them, despite the fact that he pays their wages already, and for nothing. Even slaves got board and food in return for their labour, so what the DWP are after is beyond even slavery.

Scene Three. That'd be me.