The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
I’m only doing myjob
They may not always be liked or trusted but they are necessary. Jack McKeown meets the people whose work we love to hate
Nurses. Teachers. Pilots. Scientists. All people we trust to make the world a safer and better place.
But spare a thought for the other end of the spectrum. For there lurk the workers put on Earth to do nothing more than make our lives more miserable for their own petty gain.
Or so the numerous surveys would have you believe. When asked to rate the least trusted professions, the public frequently trot out “villains” such as politicians, traffic wardens, used car salesmen, estate agents and trade union officials.
So are these people really doing the devil’s work or are they actually misunderstood, misjudged and seriously underrated?
It’s fair to say parking attendants have never had the best reputation but Stewart Skene insists that’s changing – in Perthshire at least. The senior parking attendant for Perth and Kinross Council hopes he and colleagues are helping to change public perception.
“We always give people 10 minutes leeway when their ticket is up,” he explains. “Legally we don’t have to but we feel it’s the right thing to do. Delays happen. Sometimes you don’t get back on time for a whole range of reasons so we try to cut people some slack.”
Stewart, 32, contrasts his beat with Edinburgh and Glasgow, where parking attendants are employed by an external company. “They’re usually on minimum wage and get commission for issuing tickets. That’s why you get them hiding behind corners and all sorts.
“We don’t have any targets and there’s no pressure to hand out fines.”
Of course, even the nicest parking attendant in the world will get people’s backs up some of the time and Stewart admits abuse is a hazard of the job.
“It’s usually verbal,” he says. “People shouting at you, saying horrible things – I hope your family gets cancer, that kind of nasty stuff. Our staff get training on how to de-escalate these situations. A lot of awful stuff can get said to you but we underline that it’s not directed at the individual, it’s directed at the uniform.”
Sometimes things do take a dangerous turn.
“One of our staff had his toes run over,” Stewart says. “He was putting a ticket on the window and the guy tried to drive away before he could get the ticket on. It’s frustrating if someone drives off while you’re writing a ticket but at least the obstruction is gone from the road – and if these people continue like that eventually they’ll get caught.”
And it’s not all abuse. “We get a lot of calls from members of the public saying people are parking on double yellows in their cul de sac, blocking their driveway, or about problem parking at schools,” adds Stewart. “Sometimes when we’re out people thank us for sorting out a problem in their area.”
Talking of motoring, the used car salesman hasn’t had a great press. And again, those so-called “sharks” will tell you the reputation is unwarranted.
“The car salesmen of even five or 10 years ago simply would not survive in today’s environment,” says Kevin Gordon, 40, sales manager at Autoecosse in Dundee, which specialises in new and used Mitsubishis.
“Five years ago people would visit between eight and 10 showrooms before
A lot of awful stuff can get said to you but we underline that it’s not directed at the individual, it’s directed at the uniform
making a purchase. Now that’s fallen to 1.2.
“Millennials are doing their research online and turn up knowing as much about the car they want as the salesman does.”
A combination of legislation and changes in the market have also forced the profession to up its game.
“When I started nearly 20 years ago nothing was computerised,” says Kevin.
“Finance wasn’t regulated. The internet wasn’t around. Now people can review you on social media and trusted trader sites. They can research prices not just locally but across the whole of the UK.
“When they put their car in to be serviced we video that. It’s all about openness and transparency.
“We still get a lot of people coming in with lots of preconceptions. But then I suppose I’m like that when I go shopping for a new bed or sofa.”
Or how about a new home? From the shiny suits to the overblown property schedules that make poky bedrooms sound like the presidential suite, estate agents are another group whose dark arts tend to attract suspicion.
But times are changing, says Audrey Black. The 34-year-old sales negotiator at Thorntons Property’s Anstruther office has seen big changes in the industry in the last decade and insists she and her colleagues work hard for their money. “When I started properties were going for 10-20% above the asking price really quickly. Now it’s much harder to sell a property,” she says.
“We’re governed by the Law Society of Scotland. Solicitor firms are more trusted because of that backing.
“Ordinary estate agents and onlineonly estate agents don’t give you the same guarantees.”
Almost every survey puts politicians at or near the bottom of the pile and that looks likely to continue in this posttruth world.
A recent IPSOS/Mumsnet survey had three categories – local councillors, government ministers and politicians generally – among its 10 least trusted professions. So pity Ian Borthwick – Scotland’s longest-serving councillor.
The independent member for Dundee’s Strathmartine Ward has been in post for 53 of his 77 years and still believes most of his colleagues are there with the very best intentions.
“Things have got quite different over my time,” he says. “There’s a lot less cross-party co-operation than there once was but the councillors I know are good people who want what’s best for the city. Where there are problems tends to be when the parties get involved. That’s when it gets stultified and progress is impeded.”
Since 2005 councillors in Scotland have been paid a salary – until then it was a voluntary role – and Ian’s not convinced it’s been a turn for the better.
“We were told it would lead to a better class of councillor but I don’t think they’re any different now than they were before,” he says. “When I started in 1956 you got a bus pass to get you to council meetings and that was it. And God help you if you used it for anything other than council business.”
Just as politicians were once held in higher esteem, so has the reputation of trades union officials fallen.
John Park is assistant general secretary for strategy, policy and external relations with Community, which was formed in 2004 as an amalgamation of several much older trade unions including the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation and the Knitwear, Footwear and Apparel Trade Union.
To him trade unionism has been a life choice as much as a career.
“The minute I left school in 1989 I went to Rosyth Docks to become an electrician and joined the union,” John, 43, explains. “There were thousands of workers there and only maybe two or three weren’t in a trade union. Now only around 15% of private employees are union members and 50-60% of those in the public sector.”
He reckons the movement has become a victim of its own success. “It was the unions that stopped people having to work seven days and secured weekends off, along with more holidays and safer work conditions,” he says.
“More recently you’ve got the minimum wage and the working time directive. A lot of the bigger battles have been won and when trade unions are in the news now it’s only ever for negative reasons such as if they’re calling for a strike. That’s when the salaries of top union officials are brought up.
“We also have a problem with blaming other people for how we are characterised. It’s the Tory Party. It’s the right wing press. We need a much stronger voice about all the good we do.”
John is unusual in having had two of the three mistrusted roles on our list – he was Labour MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife from 2007-2012. So which one most deserves a second chance?
“I’d definitely say trade union officials are better liked,” he says. “However, I would strongly caveat that by saying politicians don’t deserve their reputation. The vast majority of them are hardworking individuals who’ve given their lives to public service.”