PURGATORY LACED WITH FEAR

When the ultimate, ultimate client is Government, if we don’t play fair with each-other, where will it end?


I’m a pretty honest person, as you might have gathered by the header, I was raised a good Catholic girl with Irish grandparents. I was taught never to tell lies, be honest and, if the full truth be known, I’m probably too honest for my own good.


Why then, the more honest I am, the more representatives of large organisations and government departments tend to assume I’m dishonest? Has everyone in this country gone to such a level that they’re lying to the taxman and trying to wriggle out of payments that should be made for services rendered? It seems to be the default position for large organisations and has been for some time. I’m even coming across it in my personal life – the mobile phone company, the gas/electricity supplier, the insurance provider – there doesn’t seem to be an organisation providing a genuine service or listening to honest reasoning these days.


It’s as if small companies and individuals don’t have any rights to control their own income any more. The threats are clear: pay up or we’ll make your life difficult – in these recessional times, no-one wants to be rubber stamped “lacking liquidity” or “a bad payer” - the fear, nine times out of ten, will push companies or individuals into paying and time constraints stop them complaining or taking action against the company.


This country is in purgatory [in Roman Catholic doctrine, the place where souls remain until they have expiated their sins and can go to heaven] until we witness the real outcome of Government spending cuts and, in fact, that is likely to mark the next phase of it! Why then are organisations ignoring external factors and not paying the most needy of their suppliers and taking a ‘me first’ attitude no matter what the cost to their supply chain? There have been some well documented cases where excellent companies in the property industry have gone under due to the dishonest or incompetent dealings of the ultimate client and we were all shocked. Was that the trigger that’s now turned the majority of companies (even the smaller ones) into elbow pushing, me-firsters?


I can’t stand this air of greed and competition when no-one knows how things are going to pan out - all we know is that it’s going to be difficult for everyone and particularly small businesses. Surely purgatory can be peaceful, especially when most of us have not committed any wrongdoings to atone for!?