In small towns you always get a few power-hungry people who have to run things and ruin it for everyone else. Our local op shop is run by a woman who loves power but hates the op shop and wouldn't run it if she had a choice, but she'd lose her little fan club if she said what she thinks so she just takes the glory and expects everyone else to do the work. None of them can agree on anything and they won't stand up to the bullies because they're worried they might take their rubbish elsewhere. I did 15 hours a week there for a while and doubled their takings but the woman in charge sat there at their meeting and said in front of everyone how gracious they were to allow me to work for them. I was glad to be out of the place!
The next nearest town has a Men's Shed and while I don't know what they're like, a friend of mine in Qld goes to one and says they have quite a few activities, which you don't have to participate in. Men tend to live and let live so I think that sort of thing would be good for a lot of men, but if they had the same thing for women a few would want to run it and push everyone else around.
My problem is the doctors won't believe there's anything wrong with me. Centrelink pretended to believe me but still said I was capable of 30 hours a week. I might have had a chance of getting better if they hadn't had me running around so much I didn't get a chance to rest and recover. I live on a lot less than what newstart pays but at least I got rid of the stress they caused me and I can work at my own pace.
