G: Hiiii! J: And my channel.

J: This is the first in--we're doing a little collab, so they're all going to be about work and disability.

J: This is going to be a kind of spilling the tea/gossiping about -

"spilling the tea"

(it's not actually something I say, but I saw it on the internet)

- gossiping all about the bad working situations we've found ourselves in before.

J: And then part two will be on Gem's channel,

which will have some actual good advice

about working with a disability.

J: So, let's begin with a little explanation -

a tiny explanation; a brief explanation -

about what our disabilities are.

G: OK, mine, I can really wrap up in a little nutshell. J: Ooo, go.

J: Always impressed when people can do that.

G: So, when I was nine, I had major heart surgery that went just a little bit wrong.

J: Just a bit.

G: I suffered major internal bleeding,

and as a result of the internal bleeding and lack of oxygen,

I suffered a T10 incomplete spinal cord injury.

G: So, I use a wheelchair to get about.

J: That was neat.

J: I have a genetic--I have two genetic disabilities, one which affects my nerves

and the other which affects my muscles

and they have various symptoms,

including I dislocate constantly;

chronic pain; chronic fatigue,

and...I'm deaf.

J: What was your first ever job?

G: OK, so, my first ever job: I have actually worked from the age of sixteen

and I worked at my local news agents.

Just down the road.

G: EVERY Sunday.

J: You said that like it was so bad!

G: Because it was.

G: Yeah, it was really tiny and pokey, but I just about managed,

and I couldn't go to the toilet.

G: I only did four hours there, so I was like...

G: [Mimics straining to control bladder] J: Holding it in!

G: When I turned seventeen,

G: I also had a job on a check-out. J: Mmhm.

G: And that was every Saturday!

J: How dare they make you work on a Saturday?

G: But, on the Tuesday it was Student Night,

(J: Oh, no!) G: so every Wednesday I had to work, so I was hung-over.

G: And then every Friday was Rock Night,

and then I'd have to go to work on the Saturday, hung-over.

J: So you always went to work hung-over? G: Yep!

G: And then every Saturday was another Rock Night at another club,

so I wold have to go to my other job hung-over.

J: I feel like any working problems you had in that moment is nothing to do with disability;

more to do with alcohol!

G: Yes.

G: So, those were those jobs.

And it was all--it was not too bad.

G: Then I got more of an office role. J: Mmhm.

G: I sort of grew up a bit.

G: And they were...fantastic

for quite a long period of time.

G: I found the hours got too much at one point. J: Mmhm.

G: So they offered to reduce the hours.

G: Which was really nice of them.

G: They changed the hours, as well, so that they were more manageable,

so I didn't have to be in at like 07:30 in the morning.

G: I could be in like at nine.

G: Guys from the loading bay would come and help me in and out of the building

because there would be fire doors

There wasn't a proper lift; it was a goods lift.

J: My sixth form had a - I was in a wheelchair at the time

for about a year, I think - and they had a lift

'cause they legally had to have a lift

but they didn't legally have to turn the lift on.

J: And it was an energy drain, so they never turned it on.

J: And I had classes upstairs!

So they just had to get the strongest people from my class to lift my wheelchair up the stairs, with me in it.

G: So they were really, really good in some senses of the word.

J: Mmhm!

J: Now, now get to the bad stuff. Come on.

G: Let's get to the c--I'm sorry. J: It's all we're here for.

G: One day--I had the most amazing manager.

Most amazing manager.

And he was obviously head-hunted and had to go off.

G: Then we had...

[whispering] not such a good manager.

G: We were all having water at our desks;

water at our work stations

and then a thing came in where it all had to be labelled with your name and it had to be labelled "water,"

G: in case anybody drank something and it was... J: Vodka?

J: Who was keeping like a bottle of straight vodka at their desk? Like..

G: That was that, and then, all of a sudden, there was this big sort of rule that came in

that, unless you had a note from your doctor, saying that you needed water...

and you couldn't wait for your break,

you weren't allowed water.

J: Whaaat?

J: What? Oh, my God, Clara's dying! G: Clara's freaking out!

J: Clara's dying in the corner. G: Do you know what, darling?

J: I, yeah...

G: Because they said, "Oh, you can go and get a drink of water...

but you'd have to go and get it, drink it in the canteen, and then come back to your desk."

J: [whispered] No!

G: So I'd have to go through four fire doors on--that's just getting there.

G: So that's [both] eight fire doors!

Then they said, "Oh, well, you can call one of the

members from the loading bay and they'll come and open the doors for you."

G: And I said, "Don't you think they've got something better to do?"

J: Like their jobs. G: "They're short staffed anyway!"

G: So, then they said, "Well, just get a doctor's note."

G: It's the principle!

G: First of all!

J: She's not doing it, OK?!

J: She's not doing it on principle! G: First of all!

G: First of all, I don't want to waste my doctor's time.

G: You can see that it's difficult for me to go and get water.

G: You know, they could just be like, 'This is the rule, but why don't you just keep,' you know...

J: You're the exception, for a suitable, obvious reason

G: But that was one of the final things that made me think that this is not...

working; where I worked sort of just went down and down and down.

J: I see.

J: I have had - prior to the job I currently have,

as a YouTuber

(which always sounds weird) -

J: I'm self-employed;

freelance.

J: I do what I do; I make my own rules - now.

J: Which is lovely.

But my previous two jobs:

one of them, I was thirteen.

G: Thirteen? J: I worked there for thr--yeah!

J: I was a waitress in a cafe when I was thirteen; it was owned by my mother's friend.

I worked there for three days; I got fired at the end of every day.

G: You didn't get the hint?

J: Every day!

J: I trip over when I'm just walking in bare feet around my house.

I'm not a great candidate for people who should be holding plates.

G: Oh, God! J: I don't hold my own plates!

J: My mother had been a waitress when she was a teenager, before she went to university.

J: So, she--she's one of those people who can put all of the plates on her arms. G: Oh, no!

J: Yeah! G: How do they do that?! It's like...

J: Sure, so she thought that magically I would genetically have this skill.

So she said to her friend, like,

"It'll be fine. Jessica will be great with the plates!"

J: So I went, my first day.

I...have quite bad hearing loss.

So I was taking people's orders

...but I wasn't!

J: "Sounded vaguely like, 'Eggs.'"

J: Yep.

J: I'd be like, "By the looks of this guy, he wants soup. He seems cold."

And I tried to get other people to take my stuff out

that I had incorrectly ordered.

So I got fired.

J: My mother phoned her up and was like, "Please just take her back. It's the summer holidays."

"She'll be fine; she'll be better, she promises. She'll ask people SIX times what it is they're saying."

J: Second day, I poured soup down a man.

J: Got fired.

And my mother was like, "This is fucking ridiculous."

But she phoned up her friend again and was like, "She's really sorry."

"She's gonna wear better shoes tomorrow."

J: I guess my mother had something on her.

J: It was probably some form of blackmail, I'm not sure.

But this lady took me back!

J: Why?

J: And then on the third day,

during my break I stood on a bee.

J: And I'm highly allergic to bees.

G: Are you?! J: Yeah, I took my shoes off.

J: My foot swelled up to the size of a football.

And I couldn't really fit it back in my shoe.

J: And I limped over to the lady and I was like, "I can't work the rest of the day 'cause I can't stand."

J: And she was like, "No! You will work! 'Til the end of this day, and then I'm firing you!"

"But I refuse to pay you

for this morning that you've worked unless you work 'til the end of the day."

J: So I-I kept going.

J: Because...I did. And so I hobbled around

all afternoon;

tears streaming 'cause I couldn't stop them because it hurt so much.

J: So I was essentially like hopping.

J: No one got a good-looking plate of food that day.

J: Because I was crying and I looked really sweet - like, I was very blonde, as well.

J: I think that helped.

J: So I had this long blonde hair.

I had like tears trickling down.

I think I was probably dressed in something quite sweet.

And people took a lot of pity on me.

And boy, did I make some good tips.

G: Did you?! J: I think I made--yeah!

J: Yeah, I was getting paid two pounds an hour(!)

by this lady.

But I made £30 in tips that afternoon.

J: So...

J: Yeah, I got fired.

J: When I was in university, I set up the university's like first television...

station, but it was online.

J: It was about three people,

doing all the work, and it needed probably FIFTY people.

J: But then a local TV station

kind of saw what we were attempting to do,

thought it was great and offered me a job.

J: Yaay! A job!

J: So for my last year at university, I worked

with them.

J: "Worked." I didn't get paid.

J: And then after university,

I just walked straight into the job that I'd already been doing with them, but they paid me.

J: A tiny, tiny amount.

J: Not the best. Not the best job

that I could possibly have.

J: I only ended up working with them for a year and a half, I think?

For a number...of reasons.

But they weren't top on accessibility

...which is great.

J: The amount of time that I spend on crutches;

in a wheelchair, blah blah blah.

And their only toilet was upstairs.

J: They also only had--there was no ramp onto the stage.

J: There was a ramp to get into the building,

but it was such a kerfuffle that they had to go and get it from somewhere; they had to pull it out.

J: They also weren't brilliant when it came to accessibility

in terms of deafness.

Because everyone who was on stage was supposed to wear this ear piece

so that we could hear what was going on

in the TriCaster where they'd be controlling all the different cameras.

J: Normally, you would have a floor manager,

but they were very cheap and they didn't want to hire a floor manager

J: And--it was just a hot mess.

J: And I got very confused

by all of these different...

J: things going on. G: Oh, my gosh.

J: So that wasn't great.

J: I think the main thing, actually, that made me think, "This is just not for me"

is that they had a really strict schedule time.

J: And I got a slot every week.