Edifying story that was told to me this week… Far removed from the effects of our leaders on television sets. A day at Pôle Emploi for a young unemployed woman with a project quickly turned into an obstacle course.

Here is Natalie. She is 37 years old. For ten years, she worked as an executive assistant in the same company. This small company of less than five people is experiencing difficulties and has to part with part of its staff. The leaders agreed to reduce their emoluments for months in order to keep their team, but nothing helped. Taxation and the evolution of the market do not allow them to keep their staff. Only the two partners continue the adventure as employees. This small company specializes in time management and offers training — in addition to other IT services — to its customers. Nathalie has an idea and talks about it with her leaders: she would like, she wishes, to train in sophrology. She attended sessions. She thinks it suits her. She found a school that offers one year training. She is very motivated. Its leaders are interested in its project and push it in this direction. They even think that it will be possible, in the future, to use his talents and offer these sophrologist services to their clients. Together, managers and employees prepare a file to present to Pôle emploi.

Nathalie calls the Pôle Emploi and receives a very favorable reception by telephone. The counselor talking to her thinks it's great that she has a plan and is so motivated to make it happen. Nathalie will receive an appointment notice…

Nathalie, her file under her arm, arrives at the appointment.
She reread her file late in the evening. She knows exactly what she's going to say. Not that she wants to show a false image of herself, but she has only one wish: that her will and her motivation emanate from her. She sits opposite a counselor who is not the one who spoke to her on the phone. She is confident and eager to explain her project to him. The counselor listens. She takes a lot of notes. Nathalie is happy to have this ear. She is delighted that her project is heard. After a moment spent talking, the counselor raises her head and summarizes: “You are looking for a job as an executive assistant and you have the project to practice the profession of sophrologist according to the following criteria; for a minimum gross hourly wage of x euros; for a one-way journey of up to 45 minutes from your home; full-time on a permanent contract…”

The counselor raises her head and looks at Nathalie: “That's right, yes? Nathalie answers in the affirmative, that's right, but she adds that she wants to adopt the status of self-employed entrepreneur after her training.

The counselor continues:
“Currently, you benefit from personalized assistance and you are involved with Pôle Emploi in active job search procedures.
Your objective is:
— TO BE SUPPORTED IN DEVELOPING YOUR PROJECT
You have started to think about your professional project.
You have taken steps related to the profession of sophrologist. To better understand this profession, you have taken sophrology sessions yourself. I invite you to continue your reflection by meeting other people. You have found a school, but it costs 3500 euros that you are ready to finance. To help you in this project, project support. We remind you that to help you in your research, we provide you with:
— job and training offers
— free access tools (telephone, photocopier, internet terminal, etc.)
— documentation on research techniques jobs
— job search workshops
— labor market information…”

Where we realize that our current President of the Republic would have been a wonderful adviser to Pôle emploi! Some sentences have neither head nor tail! Technocratic Newspeak in action. Nathalie does not want to be accompanied to develop her project, she wants to know if Pôle Emploi supports her training or not! Otherwise, she takes out a loan to do her training. She wants concrete answers and the answer is a compound of ready-made sentences just trying to comfort her by confusing her, to explain to her that she is totally taken care of from now on, that she has nothing to fear… But Nathalie fears nothing but not being able to do her training! While she is offered to consult multiple free documents for information, we refuse to give her the information she needs! Kafka, get out of this story! Nathalie even specified that she agreed to finance her training on her unemployment benefit or by taking out a loan! The world is crazy, said the song…

The counselor will take strong action.
She looks at Nathalie with the air of someone who has understood the problem, of someone who sympathizes, who even has empathy, it's normal nothing is done in the modern world anymore without empathy. She says to him and writes to him: “I confirm your registration for the service: Confirm your professional project.
You have an appointment on Monday, December 1, 2014 with the service provider ALTEDIA at the following address ... , in accordance with Articles L. 5412-1 and R. 5412-1 to R.5412-8 of the Labor Code, to remove you from the list of job seekers.
Please accept, Madame, our best regards… The Director »

This “Confirm your professional project” service lasts 12 hours spread over 42 days from December 1, 2014. Nathalie is distraught! She must take training with a private organization to confirm her professional project. A training that will last 12 hours! Training offered by Pôle emploi with a private organization. Taxes well used and a gold mine for this company, no doubt. Even if it is beyond my purpose to decry the qualities of this company that I do not know, I wonder about this obligatory course for someone who knows exactly what he wants to do.

So here is in the France of 2014, how a young woman with some experience finds herself oriented in spite of herself. Nathalie will of course finance her training as a sophrologist herself. She will do everything to remain unemployed for as short a time as possible. She wants to regain her autonomy and not depend on a system that will always seek to deaden her enthusiasm and her motivation under a jumble of administrative rules. This system, like the world in which it exercises its power, has a name: totalitarianism. A soft totalitarianism, of course. A comfortable totalitarianism even. A totalitarianism all the same, because a negation of the person. A denial of what makes the person, where he lets himself be put to sleep by a soft voice, lets himself be tucked in comfortably, only to realize, after a while, that the sheets and blankets of his bed are a straitjacket.

Update Note: The “technique” of immediately placing someone on skills assessment training may cost taxpayers money, but more importantly it takes the job seeker out of it quite a statistical one. It is therefore obvious that the figures given each month are false, that everyone knows it, from politicians to the media, that no one really cares, and that the situation can only get worse.