Tuesday 4 October 2011

Neglected Victim? Or Drama Queen?

Anthony Rivers of Whinchat Road, Thamesmead, woke up to find the offensive graffiti when his partner was leaving for work.

But he had to wait four days for his housing association, Gallions, to remove it, despite the graffiti being flagged up as high priority.
Because of a simple error, which has now been apologised for, and rectified. But is Mr Rivers satisfied?

Oh, no, he isn’t:
Mr Rivers, who works as a youth support worker, called Gallions and asked the housing association to clean his door.

He said: “I was told someone would be round to clean the door in 24 hours but no-one came.

“It should have been done straight away.

“Instead I had to come home to see the door in that state.

“I was stuck with the haunting of what happened.”
I suppose you couldn’t have removed it yourself? Or covered it up?
Waking up to the graffiti on September 8, Mr Rivers said: “I was horrified someone could do this.

“Loads of questions went through my head and then I realised people would walk past my door and see it.

I was embarrassed more than anything else.”
So embarrassed you….went to the local paper.

So now everyone in the area – rather than just the immediate visitors to your flat – knows you’re getting hate mail and vandalism, and since this is on the Internet, potentially the whole world
“I just feel so neglected. I hate coming home now.

“I want to move. There is such a lack of support.
Now, before anyone accuses me of being unsympathetic, no, he shouldn’t have to suffer hate mail and graffiti, and nor should anyone else. And yes, it is the responsibility of the housing association, and they did drop the ball initially.

But for god’s sake, if it was that ‘traumatising’, could he not have got the paint and sandpaper out himself? Then sent a bill for the materials to the housing company with a stiffly-worded letter?

Or does everything have to be a public crisis now? Truly, we live in a 'Tricia' and 'Jeremy Kyle' nation.

14 comments:

Captain Haddock said...

So, let me get this right .. someone sprayed the word "Sinner" on his door and he's "haunted" ?

Christ on a bike, when I think of all the names I've been called down the years (and I've been insulted by experts) .. I should be a nervous wreck by now .. and well overdue for mega-compo payout ..

Don't know about "Drama Queen" .. more like Pathetic Wuss ..

Grow a pair pal ! ...

bilbaoboy said...

See Steve Hughes on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pjrVohm2nE

Grow up. Live with it.

Logic Bomb said...

It is, the result of a constant stream of wrapping our citizens in cotton wool. State sponsored cotton wool. It sadly, will never get better.

Pavlov's Cat said...

I had a client in a similar situation in the same area. Repeatedly abused and threatened by neighbours over his lifestyle choice, said neighbours being newly arrived West African 'Christians'.
The HA's answer was to move him.

Sadly in the game of victimhood poker Gay White Male is no longer a hand worth playing.

SBC said...

If i were Mr.Butthurt then I'd be walking around with the picture on a pink tshirt...whatever happened to Gay Pride?

Lynne said...

Ain'tcha just sick of those traumatised Rivers of Blub speeches?

Robert Edwards said...

Off topic, (V. sorry) but what has happened to the Liberty site?

Dulux Dog said...

Reminds me of an old rhyme:

Whenever I see the names of sinners,
I get out the paintbrush and the thinners.

(No, sorry, not old at all. I made that up. Thankyou, I will be here all week.)

Budvar said...

Ah "Gay man", that's all I needed to know.

My mate Dave and his then missis (her idea) went on the "Tricia" show about 8 years ago. A month or two back he was in Newcastle with the lads rugby team (Nowhere near where we live).

This Geordie bloke came up to him and said "I know you don't I?" Dave said "Don't think so, we're not from round here". After a bit of small talk this guy said "You're that bloke from the Tricia show", Dave said "FFS that was 8 years ago", and the guy said "I remember it because I'm normally at work and throwing a sicky that day".

Relaying the story, he asked "I'm never going to live this down am I?". He only went on because they paid him £500 and he got to kick the arse out of room service at the hotel...

Bill Sticker said...

As well as 'Sinner' someone should also have added; 'Wuss'. Did he not even think of getting out the brillo pads (Surprisingly effective for removing unwanted paint off smoothish surfaces), and cleaning the offending marks off himself?

Or would that have simply ruined his manicure dahlings?

Ancient + Tattered Airman said...

It said he was a gay man. Gay means care-free and light hearted doesn't it? He didn't sound very gay to me. Shall we leave the politically correct surreal world and return to using our language properly? He is a homosexual, not gay!

Eddie Willers said...

As our American cousins might say, "Goddamn pantywaist!"

JuliaM said...

"...the result of a constant stream of wrapping our citizens in cotton wool. State sponsored cotton wool. "

Sadly, I suspect you've hit the nail on the head.

"Sadly in the game of victimhood poker Gay White Male is no longer a hand worth playing."

Ahhh, all those new and vibrant victim groups we've been importing!

"Ain'tcha just sick of those traumatised Rivers of Blub speeches?"

It seems the local newspapers aren't!

"As our American cousins might say, "Goddamn pantywaist!""

Indeed. Just roll up your sleeves, man!

Anonymous said...

Four days to get some graffiti cleaned up? Thats very fast, whats he complaining about