We had a visit from the National Office of Statistics this evening to ask some questions about our living arrangements and finances. Specifically, the Financial Resources Survey.
It was essentially about whether each of us are on any benefits, or unemployment money and so forth. The guy who interviewed us (individually; I don’t feel 100% comfortable about revealing all on my finances to my housemates…) was pretty old, but loved to talk. Seriously, you could kiss goodbye to the hind legs of any nearby donkey once he got started.
Thankfully, he was into his football, so once all the questions were done and dusted we talked about that for a while. He had the standard old person’s view of there being “too much money” in the game, and that “it’s a business nowadays”, which I tend to disagree with.
I had to bite my tongue, as I just wanted him out of the house, to be honest. He’d been there nearly 3 hours, just to interview two of us! It could’ve been done in an hour if he didn’t talk so damned much throughout…
It felt a little odd, revealing my financial status and details of my earnings to someone who is essentially a random, even if he did have a shiny photo ID card with his details on. I’m not massively open about my finances, or lack of them. Even my parents aren’t completely au fait with my bank balance and earnings.
Nevertheless, I feel like I’ve helped the nation out; I’ve helped to create that overall picture of British society which determines how much the welfare state gets out of the overall budget. I did my bit.
I should’ve at least got a sticker or a lollipop or something.
