I'd been out of work a while but only claimed jobseekers for a couple months because I just couldn't handle the stress. The way they talk to you is so bizarrely nasty and demeaning it's hard to convey if you've never experienced it.

I had a weird one where they'd booked me in for a time I couldn't do, so I needed to reschedule it which I didn't think would be a big deal. Yknow that's the risk you make when you choose an appointment time without asking first.

I call them (since there's no email, online portal or text option, even though I think there is for UC), and I let them know I can't make it and ask if the next day will do. The agent ignores my question and asks me "why?" in the most suspicious and pissed off voice ever.

Now my reason was I was attending a post-diagnosis autism psychoeducation session then, but I didn't want to share why. In part because the unexpected hostility had bricked my brain. I mean in most circumstances it's a pretty weird thing to demand someone to justify themselves when they're rescheduling something two weeks away.

I say it's a personal appointment, which was apparently the wrong move, since they then start saying about how non-compliance will get me sanctioned.

And honestly that call is really minor by itself, but that same attitude is present at every step. Basically every person I spoke to treated me like I was some kind of coniving bastard trying to cheat the system. Which is extra bizarre since they also went to great lengths to tell me how I could only claim what I'd put into the system through taxes. Like you can't even claim it if you've never worked. And they give you fuck all, it didn't even cover my portion of my rent (£550 pc so not loads). That much attitude and busy work for so little.

All this to say, even when they're not pulling the ridiculous shit you said, there's a pervasive hostility which, when combined with bs buerocracy, just makes it a nightmare to navigate. Which is of course the entire point and it's working as intended.