Decaying society

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Fluffypenguin

I agree with this completely. It’s sad to me that people actually think this way.

I grew up with both parents having alcohol dependency issues and mental health issues. I also have a brother who is schizophrenic. My mum worked for sixty hours a week for over twenty years and then had a huge breakdown and had to stop working completely. She isn’t lazy, she’s just broken because of trauma she went through.

It breaks my heart to think that when my brother was going through his psychotic break that people could look him in such a negative way, but they probably did and I know some people do still give him dirty looks because he has Tourette’s, they assume he’s on drugs.

I had a traumatic start to life and I’ve had issues with mental health myself and sometimes I’ve found hitting the bottle very tempting. Things could all go very differently for me one day and I could break like my parents did. Just because I haven’t so far that doesn’t mean I’m any better than anyone else. I hold down full time work now but that doesn’t mean I don’t find it hard getting up some mornings.

Stay humble always, no one is immune from hardships and their own mind.

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I can’t add much to this, as you are so right. It’s very easy to blame ‘druggies and alcoholics’ but we need to look at why they are in this state. Mental health care is non existent is most of the UK, people are waiting for months if not years to get assessed and then even longer for treatment. Homeless people are not helped enough, so drugs are their only relief from the hardship they face on a daily basis. Work pressure and stress cause so many people to turn to alcohol to cope and to function on a day to day basis as they feel there’s no alternative to the pressure they face.

These are the things that needs addressing and far more understanding of people struggling with mental health issues. Only then can we start to comprehend the hardships people face. Hardships, mental/physical health issues, change of circumstances, grief etc can change someone’s life in a blink, we all should be aware of this and put ourselves in others shoes sometimes

[Cosworth]

Originally Posted by muffa2308

On a daily basis I see the decay of common decency. At a work meeting and popped to Greggs for lunch. 3 street drinkers walk in a bold as brass and opened a bag and filled it with the contents of the shelves. The server said we are told to let them walk out and not to challenge them. Society is broken 😞

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It is happening all the time, not just street drinkers, we saw a group of men in Sainsburys emptying packets of tablets into their pockets and putting the empty boxes back. The staff are fed up with it because they have to check the shelves for empty boxes and remove them. They cannot do anything to stop the thefts, nor should they.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by levtweeney

My daughter manages a Greggs. She tells us daily of the scumbag thieves who come in and laugh in hers and her servers faces as they fill bags of food. She says this is rarely drunk people but more likely gangs of either kids aged from around 10 upwards or older people who have gotten used to seeing the likes of Greggs as a free meal for them and their pals.

She also told us the people who do this are getting more aggressive even when the staff say nothing. What happens, and this can be seen in society as a whole I think, is that when scumbags thieves like these see people doing nothing to stop them they get braver and more aggressive in their actions. Just the other day one lad kicked the stand over with cookies for no other reason than because he could.

I would also just say, my daughter and her staff could not give one rats ass whether these scumbags are drunkards, druggies or just di@kneads doing what di@ckheads do and nor should she. She as a manager of a shop should not have to take on the worries and concerns of how someone was brought up or what problems they have suffered when growing up. She is a young woman trying to raise her child the best she can in a world where people are more concerned with worrying about how someone became a criminal than the staff of the shop these incidents occur in.

I know where my concerns lie and it ain’t with any drunk, drug addict or di@khead.

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I also see this side of it, having worked as shop floor store assistant for many years and faced the daily abuse. It’s not good enough and should be stopped.

[Moorlandman]

The problem that nobody has been able to answer is what do you do with these low level shoplifters?

Prison is now only for those that have been caught 20+ times but does it work? Once they have been in prison they are unlikely to get a job when they come out and have to resort to stealing again unless they have a supportive family.

Maybe shops need to be more secure or have better security. Greggs are easy to steal from - most don't have doors! Petrol stations - why don't they ask for the money upfront to prevent drive offs?

Also shoplifting is on the up because its easy to get rid of stolen goods via online platforms. Have a look at the crime wave in LA/San Francisco/NYC- thieves are stealing and the items are been sold via Amazon!

[Princess Ariel]

Okay I try very hard not to comment on threads like this, especially when I have personal experience but I feel I need to.
I had an awful childhood. I was physically & emotionally abused by my Mum. I was neglected, bullied & isolated as a child. I went through significant trauma, both from the abuse and an incident which resulted in me recieving 3rd degree burns from the waist down at age 8. Whilst in hospital for weeks going through horrendous pain, procedures & operations, I went through this mostly alone. As an adult I made the choice to work through my trauma, alone. I never received counselling or therapy. I have processed & acknowledged my childhood. It has been the hardest & longest challenge of my life. I am in a good place. I have a good job, family, friends etc. I am happy. I am extremely grateful for all that I have.
My brother was also abused but to a lesser degree. My Mum had him placed in children's homes from the age of about 7 because she 'couldn't cope with his behaviour' (he would run away and not come home).
It came out years later that he was abused in the children's homes.
He became addicted to drugs by age 11. He then started stealing, this led to muggings & burglaries.
He is now 43 years old. He remains addicted to drugs & crime. He has spent most of his life in prison. He has never been able to process or acknowledge his trauma or abuse. He has never been strong enough to do this. His coping mechanism from such a young age was drugs. That's all he's ever known & has been able to rely on.
His quality of life is poor, he is not happy & has never been able to find any peace. He made a bad choice at age 11 which has destroyed his life & many others. I don't think my brother has ever learnt how to make a positive choice & feel comfortable with it & I feel incredibly sad for him in that respect, however I am mindful that as an adult he should be held accountable for his choices as an adult.
Please, before making sweeping statements think about the people & families that more often than not have tragic stories to tell.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Princess Ariel

Okay I try very hard not to comment on threads like this, especially when I have personal experience but I feel I need to.
I had an awful childhood. I was physically & emotionally abused by my Mum. I was neglected, bullied & isolated as a child. I went through significant trauma, both from the abuse and an incident which resulted in me recieving 3rd degree burns from the waist down at age 8. Whilst in hospital for weeks going through horrendous pain, procedures & operations, I went through this mostly alone. As an adult I made the choice to work through my trauma, alone. I never received counselling or therapy. I have processed & acknowledged my childhood. It has been the hardest & longest challenge of my life. I am in a good place. I have a good job, family, friends etc. I am happy. I am extremely grateful for all that I have.
My brother was also abused but to a lesser degree. My Mum had him placed in children's homes from the age of about 7 because she 'couldn't cope with his behaviour' (he would run away and not come home).
It came out years later that he was abused in the children's homes.
He became addicted to drugs by age 11. He then started stealing, this led to muggings & burglaries.
He is now 43 years old. He remains addicted to drugs & crime. He has spent most of his life in prison. He has never been able to process or acknowledge his trauma or abuse. He has never been strong enough to do this. His coping mechanism from such a young age was drugs. That's all he's ever known & has been able to rely on.
His quality of life is poor, he is not happy & has never been able to find any peace. He made a bad choice at age 11 which has destroyed his life & many others. I don't think my brother has ever learnt how to make a positive choice & feel comfortable with it & I feel incredibly sad for him in that respect, however I am mindful that as an adult he should be held accountable for his choices as an adult.
Please, before making sweeping statements think about the people & families that more often than not have tragic stories to tell.

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You are an incredible woman to have gone through such a traumatic childhood and made a good life for yourself. Your brother, sadly, hasn’t been able to get through his trauma as well and he cannot help that. He’s not alone in finding life too difficult and not being able to act as a responsible adult should. Of course he can’t get away with breaking the law and has faced the consequences of his actions and spent years in prison to keep others safe and to try to rehabilitate him. It’s still heartbreaking to think that his life has been so sad and to see the effects it has had on you, other family members and the people affected by his crimes.

[CarolynU]

It’s actually just the mindless vandalism that I can’t get my head around. Spoiling things for the many by the few.
Things like putting broken glass on a children’s slide in a park.
Taking the poppies attached to a fence for Remembrance Sunday .
Taking the woolly tops of post boxes that a knitting group had decorated them with. Tearing down fences and vandalising equipment in children’s parks. The list is endless and none of it has any monetary value whatsoever. All of this and more has been occurring during the year.

[lizzie145]

Perhaps greggs should put all the food behind the counter so you have to ask for each item?

[inky1]

There but for the grace of God go lots of us.

[Fluffypenguin]

I’m not sure why the phrase “do gooders” is being brought into it when no one on here has commented anything related to “do gooding”. Being a compassionate human being who has empathy is nothing to do with “do gooding” and to be clear, the comments defending those with addictions and mental health problems were in response to the comments that those people are weak and lazy. No one was defending criminal behaviour or mindless vandalism.

I used to work in customer service, I did so for many years and in that time I received plenty of abuse, but it wasn’t just from those less fortunate, it was also from those more affluent and often the latter could be the most ignorant and obnoxious.

I don’t agree with shoplifting, some do it because they are starving, others do it to make money to feed a habit, I’m not saying either is right but we can’t condemn every single person with addictions and mental health problems because of the actions of some.