After my initial comments on Thursday regarding my meeting with Sue Hayes at Tenovus  I have thought about the events of the last week and realise that I was really badly treated by Tenovus and Learn About.  After reading the following facts does anyone feel the same as I do.

On Monday night after completing six hours of workfare at Tenovus in Whitchurch Road I was on my way home around 5pm and decided to pop into Cathays library to update this website.   I made a few comments regarding the silly behaviour of Lloyd regarding making me waste  over an hour clearing a tiny space in the bric a brac room and then walked home.  When I got home I turned on my phone and noticed that  a voice mail had been sent to me timed at 11.59am.  It was from Learn About and it informed me that I had to attend a meeting with Sue Hayes at the Tenovus head office in Llanishen on Thursday and that it would also be attended by Jason from Learn About and Katie who is an assistant to Sue Hayes.  At the meeting on Thursday Sue Hayes gave us all a copy of my comments on this website and said that they were the reason she was ending my placement at Tenovus.  The main comment was regarding my statement regarding my complaint against Lloyd.  It doesn’t make sense that she arranged the meeting to end my placement more than five hours before I typed out those comments that she used to end the placement.  On Wednesday, the day before the meeting Sue Hayes was at the Whitchurch Road shop all afternoon where I was also in attendance to do six hours of workfare.  She said hello to everyone and politely asked how I was and made a few comments more in a polite and friendly manner but didn’t mention the meeting the next day.  She let me complete six hours of workfare and made friendly comments even though she knew full well that she was going to end my placement the very next day.  How nasty and two faced was that?  During that same afternoon, Charlotte who is the regular manager of the shop who I must say has been polite and fair to me throughout the twelve weeks  decided to ask about working over Christmas although it was a good seven weeks away.  She asked me specifically, would I work alongside Lloyd on a certain day when he would be alone in the shop and I said yes.  She then said that I didn’t have to if I didn’t want to but I again said I would.  Looking back, I wonder if Sue Hayes put her up to it hoping that I would say no and use it against me the next day.

Now let's go back to Jason from Learn About.  He was indeed waiting at the Tenovus Whitchurch Road shop when I arrived on thursday and the first thing he did was put two forms on the table for me to sign.  He said they were just to confirm the hours I was doing.  I signed them in good faith as I was unaware of any deceit that was planned against me.  The forms included all the start and end dates for all the twelve weeks that I had completed at Tenovus and looking back it was getting me to sign a form that showed my complete placement at Tenovus if my placement ended that day.  In the car he told me that he had no idea what the meeting was about.  At the meeting Sue Hayes handed us all a copy of my comments made on monday on this site.  She then said that Jason knew what the meeting was about.  I immediately said to her face that Jason wasn't aware as he told me that in the car and as I quickly looked around to Jason for confirmation. He started reading the copy of my comments and sided with Sue Hayes.  Clearly she had let it slip and Jason clearly was misleading me.  I could use the word lie and maybe I should.  Jason then went on to say that he remembered at the previous meeting that I said that I wouldn't post any more comments regarding my accusation and I had to interrupt him on two occasions to make it clear that he was wrong.  I said that I would make no more comments until the investigation into my complaint had been completed and as Sue Hayes had concluded her investigation I was free to continue making comments.  It really was a case of Jason from Learn About supporting Sue Hayes at every opportunity.  He was supposed to be impartial and at least show some fairness but as he was prepared to lie to me in the first place clearly while I will continue to be polite to him in any future meetings with him obviously I won't be putting any trust in him.

Then we have young Katie, the assistant to Sue Hayes at Tenovus.  She basically repeated the comments made by Sue Hayes and while I did respond a little to her I wasn't keen on laying into her verbally as I could have ridiculed the things she said so easily but she is young and wants to impress Sue Hayes and I didn't want to put her down.   I held myself back until she stated how bad it was to name Lloyd as people may be able to identify him as I gave the shop where the incident happened.  She was showing sympathy for the bully but not a care in the world for the victim of the bullying.  How ridiculous is that from someone representing a charity that is supposed to care.

Then we come to the most idiotic statement of them all,  Sue Hayes stated that she wants everyone to be happy being at Tenovus and if they are not happy then they didn't want them as volunteers.  I did respond that most people on workfare are not happy but they do it to make sure they don't lose benefits which is quite an obvious statement but it was lost on them.  Most people on the minimum wage are not happy working for peanuts but they do it as a way of putting food on the table.  In my case I accept that I have to do my six months on workfare and I will get along with people and do my best during that time.  Sue Hayes stated that some people are so happy doing workfare at Tenovus that they volunteer after they complete their time.  Of course that is true as they know that the Jobcentre will treat them better if they volunteer and do a couple of days a week at a charity.  It isn't because they really want to work for nothing.

After realising how nasty they have treated me I will go to the press and from monday I will contact as many newspaper sites as I can and offer a story of my treatment from Tenovus and the lack of support from Learn About.  I might even try and contact Andrew Cooksley, the managing director of ACT in Cardiff who own Learn About.  It's one thing making money from workfare but having your employees deliberately lying to the participants on workfare is a disgusting way to treat people.  I completed twelve weeks of twenty eight hours of workfare without taking any breaks and my only crime was reporting a case of bullying at Tenovus.

I would even consider having my photo taken outside a Tenovus shop for a newspaper. That should put a smile on the face of Sue Hayes, a false smile of course.

I will report on here any future developments.