Anti-Social: The Secret Diary of an Anti-Social Behaviour Officer

by Nick Pettigrew

Has your life become unbearable because the person living above you has a fondness for crack cocaine, the company of strangers and dance music? Or maybe you're a social worker, mental health nurse, police officer, firefighter, dog warden or vicar and you've been landed with someone who's a pain in the arse. Who are you going to call? That would be me: an anti-social behaviour officer.

Anti-Social is the diary of a council worker whose job is to keep his community happy, or at least away from each other's throats. That's hard enough at the best of times but when government cuts mean that hospitals, social services and police are all at breaking point, the possibility of complete chaos is never far away.

This is an urgent, timely but, most of all, hysterically funny true story of a life spent working with the people society wants to forget and the problems that nobody else can resolve. This book will make you laugh, cry and boil with rage within a single sentence.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Politics, Mental Health, Crime, True Crime

384 pages, Paperback

First published July 23, 2020

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Nick Pettigrew was an Anti-Social Behaviour Officer for over a decade. From bothersome neighbours with a fondness for crack cocaine and loud dance music to those being racially abused every day, Nick’s job involved keeping the community happy. Or at least away from each other’s throats.
He has a background in comedy and was was a standup comedian for several years, taking two successful shows to Edinburgh Festival Fringe. His comedy writing has been published by Shortlist and The Telegraph. He was a regular writer for The Daily Mash for over eight years.

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you know that whenever you hear the number 69, you are supposed to say 'nice' thinking of the sex act! And that's the only light thing about this book. It's about rather dreadful people making the lives of their neighbours a misery. Some, are psychotic, most seem to connected to drug-dealing and some, the neighbours are really precious. Like the people who can't stand the toddler upstairs playing with his toys. (Maybe they should carpet their ceiling?) It's full of black humour to leaven the really heavy situations the author has to deal with.

The author, a very compassionate man, is plagued by depression and on fairly heavy medication as well as the alcohol he self-medicates with. Despite a great desire to help, perhaps it was not the best choice of career - working with criminal gangs, teenage extortionists, vandals and those bent on doing what they want despite the effects on other people, or sometimes because of the annoyance and anger they can cause. So it is of no surprise, than when his favourite client dies, it is the straw that breaks the camel's back and he leaves.

I wish him, he did his best to make a difference. I hope he's looked after himself and is happy.

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rage inducing memoir from anti-social behaviour (ASB) officer, Nick Pettigrew, related with sarcasm and black humour, a prerequisite I imagine is needed to survive the chaotic messed up world of councils and housing charities that oversee and manage social and low income housing. His job became ever more impossible with austerity policies that dismantled or grossly underfund the network of services that previously held together some notion of a decent society, particularly with regard to the lack of drug addiction and mental health services. The definition of ASB is given as a) conduct that causes alarm, harassment and distress, b) conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance, c) conduct causing housing related nuisance and annoyance.

A diagnosed depressive of over 20 years, Nick relates with humour, the heartbreaking nature of his role that stretches the limits of his patience and compassion, in the form of diary that documents his growing reliance on anti-depressants and alcohol to survive the non-stop rising stress levels in his daily life, and the final nail in the coffin, the fate of Clara, that has him quitting his job for the sake of his sanity. Clara has an inoperable brain tumour, has psychiatric and medical issues, has her baby taken away because of her inability to cope and it's her situation and death that proves to be too much for him. Mental health issues are pretty much a given with almost all of Nick's cases, the cause of why so many lash out without the awareness of the impact of their actions on others, that so often has Nick go to court in his cheap black Primark suit for injunctions, the breach of injunctions, and eviction notices.

The numerous tales of poverty, overcrowding, deprivation, depravity, heartbreak and misery were enough to make me so distressed that I wanted to bang my head on the wall, I found I desperately needed the humour to carry on reading. There are corpses dripping bodily fluids, alcoholics, drug dealers, repeat complainers, police drug raids, domestic and physical violence, crack dens, knife crime, nazi sex offenders, dead tenants, harassment, the insane and untold other horrors. Aside from Carla, there is the hard to help Emma, and the psychotic Candice, a schizophrenic who refuses to take her medication. There are the heart rending stories of Phoebe who has to be removed from her home, she is being abused by a young couple seeing her as their meal ticket, taking over Phoebe's home, and Anne, a mother being terrorised and abused in her home by her drug addicted son, Alex.

Nick presents an insightful and eye opening opportunity, warts and all, to see close up a divided Britain's inequalities, the invisible underclass communities, heaving at the seams and growing, broken and worn down by the impact of the criminal negligence of austerity. If I had my way, I would make every Tory politician who voted for those reckless and hugely damaging policies spend at least a year living in these communities to see the consequences of their actions. Nick and all those others who do the same job, are poorly paid and another broken byproduct of austerity, doing an impossible job with a rising workload, not to mention the mental health stresses that require more medication and alcohol. I cannot blame him in the slightest for quitting, the wonder is that he lasted so long, consigned to dealing with the symptoms, never the causes of the problems and challenges that his clients face. Pettigrew gives us a hard hitting and unvarnished picture of Britain today, but he does it with humour and a social commentary that makes it an utterly riveting and a compulsive must read. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Random House Cornerstone for an ARC.

[ReadAlongWithSue recovering from a stroke★⋆. ࿐࿔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an apt book for me. Having gone through and still going through anti social behaviour/hate crime from our neighbors due to our disabilities I could relate so much.

This is about a Council Worker trying his best to reach “solutions” to problems.

No one has to tell me that a Police aren’t interested only in facts because without “proof” they cannot act.
The proof they need is when someone’s injured or worse, dead!

The cut backs aren’t helping these perpetrators BULLIES get their come uppance, oh no, they are helping them get away with it. The nicey nicey approach isn’t working.

For all that said, this poor anti social officer had his work cut out.

There are plenty of amusing things within this book that will lighten anyone’s mood about it all no matter how serous it is.

I’m glad I read it.

[Alex.andthebooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ta książka była ciekawym doświadczeniem - dzięki niej mogłam zagłębić się choć na chwilę w zakres obowiązków ASBO (anti-social behaviour officer). Przez rok towarzyszyłam Nickowi w jego codziennych trudach i zmaganiach z niuansami rządzącymi systemem. Za maską z cynizmu krył się bardzo wrażliwy człowiek i to chyba było najlepszym aspektem tej książki.
Nie uważam „Antyspołecznego” jako absolutny must read, ale to naprawdę ciekawa pozycja i warto się nad nią pochylić. Lubię i cenię książki, które pozwalają mi zajrzeć „za kulisy” jakiegoś zawodu. To pozwala poszerzyć perspektywę.

[Thea | (unapologetic_bibliosmia) · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Anti-Social behaviour is like pornography: hard to define, but you know it once you see it"

Anti-Social: The secret diary of an anti-social behaviour officer is a hilariously put together real-life account of the sad, the bad and the mad by Nick Pettigrew who details a year of his life working as an Anti-Social Behaviour Officer (Not to be confused as an ASBO!)

The book is split into monthly chapters, labelled 'January, February' etc and paints an honest and raw account of Nick's career as an ASB Officer. Each chapter heading is supplemented with the Password for the month, and the current dose of medication Nick is in receipt of to keep him going. For example:
January
Password: Stressed101
Medication: Sertraline 50mg
These medications steadily increase as the book continues through the calendar year, and you can really feel and sympathise with the stress that Nick is placed under as he attempts to try and fulfil his duty of care to his residents and to the community, whilst being placed under enormous and ever increasing workloads.

"I go home and have several very large drinks. The largeness and the severalness of the drinks I need after work have slowly inched up in recent months. The irony of cracking down on substance abusers at work, then drinking myself numb of an evening, is not lost on me."

Nick manages to paint his experiences dealing with all sorts of upsetting, frightening, funny, unbelievable and downright weird experiences with a fantastically dry and sarcastic wit. The tales he relives are comic even when they aren't designed to be funny, and this is just testament to the excellent manner in which the book is written, and of the strength of character of Nick in being able to be self-depreciating and see the optimistic elements of a situation where others may have balled their eyes out.

"My job requires no embellishment. Exaggerating would be like drinking Red Bull to swallow Ketamine or putting go-faster stripes on a lightning bolt. There's no point."

That is not to say there are not sad and anger inducing moments in the book though. Some of the stories of individuals met and cases encountered within the book are simply harrowing. The story about Carla who had carried her baby despite the pregnancy feeding the large tumour within her brain, who then went on to lose her baby to Social Services and who consequently would take her anger out on neighbours by screaming and banging doors, whilst keeping a perfectly made up cot in the flat is heart-breaking. As is the story of Albert, who died alone in his flat writing out Christmas Cards from his cats. You can feel the pain through Nick's eyes, and I honestly give him so much praise for being able to do a job like this without breaking down.

"31 October I was late for work today because I spent half an hour sitting on the edge of my bed having a bit of a cry. By the time I get to work this is changed to 'overslept'-the irony being that i haven't had a full night's sleep in months."

Despite the tough stories, there are some actual laugh-out-loud funny ones, which will have you chuckling along - The Nazi Dick story for one, the imagined noise complaints of over-zealous complainers and and the stupidity of his new co-worker who is obsessed with office stationery.

Nick has managed to create a harrowing and raw - yet real account of his life in one of the toughest public sector jobs there is. He paints a picture of budget cuts, over-stretched resources, under-funded departments and services, lack of housing, lack of staffing, lack of community support, lack of drugs counselling and flaws within the legal policy. Despite the tough subject, Nick has kept the book light, and easy to read, with monthly chapters detailing a 'year in the life' and identifying characters who the reader is able to get invested in. I found myself looking forward to updates on Christophe, Mr. Rashid's son and Carla, and laughing along at the simplicity of some drug-users habits. Having grown up hanging around many a communal block of flats staircases myself....I was really able to put myself in the scene and live in Nick's world.

A fantastic account. 5 heroin injected, bass thumping, conspiracy posters in the window Stars.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of #Antisocial received in exchange for an honest review.

[teach_book · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 🌟

Dziennik pracownika do spraw zachowań antyspołecznych napisany z czarnym humorem i dozą ironii. Bez tego ten reportaż nie byłby tak dobry w odbiorze!

Ale miejscami było "mdło" (chociaż nie wiem czy to określenie jest dobre w kontekście opisywanych spraw), bo im dalej w las tym monotonniej.

[Alyssia Cooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't often read memoirs, but this one caught my attention as it looks into some of the problematic aspects of society in Britain in contemporary society. Told in what are essentially journal entries through the course of a year, this is a glimpse into the gritty underworld of anti-social behaviour, whether that be noise complaints, alcoholism, drug dealing, mental health or dead bodies. It's anecdotal, shot through with dark humour and a depressing look at some of the very real problems plaguing our country.

Having lived in a lower class council estate for several years now, many of the issues related here don't overly surprise me. It's a rare week when we don't see a police car or an ambulance outside on the road for one reason or another and I can say with absolute certainty that the local drug dealers clearly saw themselves as essential retailers during lockdown. What did strike me reading this book was the huge impact mental health has on the stories Pettigrew tells. Whether it's depression, psychosis, hoarding or a simple failure to cope with day-to-day life, whilst many of the individuals involved are making very real nuisances of themselves to their neighbours, there are underlying issues surrounding them that simply aren't being dealt with by the struggling and underfunded NHS.

There is humour here; I suppose there has to be and dark humour is as good a coping mechanism as any and better than many. But it's also a stark and poignant look at issues many of us would prefer to ignore. It suffers slightly from being a fairly scattered collection of anecdotes and sometimes I felt that a stronger narrative thread would have improved the book, but then again, isn't that life? And the scattered cases across so many different issues are at the centre of the job. It was difficult to keep track of cases and I often struggled to place what was going on when the same individuals cropped back up several months later for instance.

I found the epilogue particularly thought-provoking as Nick Pettigrew discusses how awareness of mental health isn't enough; it needs the resources and the drive to actually improve the lives of those he works with and they simply aren't there. Despite the humour, this is in reality a depressing read and whilst the epilogue attempts to end things on a hopeful light, it still shines a stark light on just how badly so many people are being let down by the system.

[Katie Sidwell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very badly written in the derivative form of a diary. The hackneyed humour is condescending (god knows why) and not that funny.
A very important social issue, but unreadable.

[Jenifer Lavery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scarily accurate

If you have ever worked for questions social housing provider either as an ASB or Housing officer or any of the touchy feely politically sensitive names they they to give you, you will read 5 pages of this book and then check to make sure you didn't write it in your sleep. Once you have assured yourself of this fact you will read this whilst occasionally muttering 'its not just me, thank the gods' (whichever deity you prefer). This is a remarkably accurate telling of the life of those of us who choose this path. For those of us who choose to stay in this career 'may the odds be ever in your favour'

[Heather Trevis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book gives a unique insight into the life of an ASB Officer and the bleak prospects of those who have fallen through the cracks of society which the chronically underfunded social care system fails to address. If I’m honest, I couldn’t finish the book as I didn't enjoy the writing style. Although an important topic, personally I would have preferred reading about it in another format. I ordered the book because I find the subject fascinating but the way it was presented wasn’t for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Neil · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a free copy via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

The Author admits that he is mentally depressed and taking treatment.
Unfortunately it shows in his writing with the stories being depressive.
Once you have read one of the stories they start to blend into one being very repetitive.
Not for me.

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d never heard of an Anti-Social Behaviour Officer before seeing this book, but I was intrigued by the existence of such an occupation. It turns out that in the UK, ASB officers are employed by various organisations to help manage and/or curb anti-social behaviour.

Anti-social behaviour is:
(a) conduct that has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to any person 
(b) conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to a person in relation to that person's occupation of residential premises
(c) conduct capable of causing housing-related nuisance or annoyance to any person 

Nick Pettigrew worked for a council managed organisation that provided low-cost housing for those in need for almost twenty years. As an ASB officer, his role was to investigate and take action regarding incidents of anti-social behaviour affecting the tenants in the approximately 3,000 properties he was responsible for.

Such incidents could vary widely, from complaints about noise, to teens hanging out in stairwells, from drug affected persons passed out in doorways, to concerns about domestic violence. Nick would investigate, and then decide on a course of action, which might mean doing nothing; or involving specific agencies like the police, mental health teams, or social workers. He might recommend the installation of CCTV, send a ‘cease and desist’ letter to a tenant, recommend an injunction via court action, or take steps towards eviction. Some incidents could be resolved swiftly, others could take months, or longer.

Presented in a diary format, with heavy use of black humour, Nick relates the events of his days over a period of about a year. The book includes tales of several of his clients that are variously heartbreaking, tragic, absurd, and infuriating, including a vulnerable woman manipulated by strangers into sharing her home with them, a schizophrenic with a crude vocabulary she wielded against her neighbours when she was off her meds, a man who considered carol singers to be an unruly gang, and an elderly Nazi paedophile who disclosed his predilections to his neighbours whenever he wanted to be rehoused.

Nick also writes of the increasing difficulties of his job in the face of UK ‘austerity’ policies that have affected the entire network of social services. With anti-social behaviour on the rise, the already under-funded, under-resourced, and under-valued agencies that serve the disenfranchised, are stretched thinner every year. Nick’s anger at this state of affairs is palpable, and entirely understandable.

It’s no wonder that in the role of an ASB officer, Nick’s own issues with anxiety and depression eventually worsened until he felt he had no choice but to resign. Describing lives plagued by poverty, trauma, mental illness, addiction, racism, loneliness, and family dysfunction, among other issues, Nick laments he grew weary of being able to do nothing but treat some of the symptoms of society’s ills, rather than affect real change.

Raw, honest, funny, and disturbing, Anti-Social is an insightful glimpse into the work of an ASB officer, and the lives of their clients.

[Gillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

If Bridget Jones had been working for the council in the 21st century, I imagine her diary would have looked something like this.

For me, this lacked the slow-motion train-wreck pace of “This is Going to Hurt”, instead trundling through a jumbled collection of anecdotes. Sadly, I didn’t find the stories side-splittingly funny or particularly heart-wrenching, but that’ll be my jaded outlook from working in a similar setting.

I did enjoy the thoughtful (dare I say hopeful?) suggestions in the epilogue, particularly relating to Nick Pettigrew’s frustration at campaigns to “talk about mental health” without the accompanying investment in services. I’d also suggest that these campaigns can have the unintended consequence of creating a two-tier system of “acceptable” and “non-acceptable” mental illnesses leaving the most vulnerable (well represented within the pages of this book) behind. But that’s my own grumpiness spilling out.

I would recommend this book – I’m sure someone working in another profession would be appropriately entertained and horrified.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting and informative book about a profession I really knew nothing about.

I had heard of ASB Officers but I didn't really know what they did.

This book provided lots of interesting accounts and details of what the job actually involved.

I really enjoyed the writing style. It was very easy to read and funny.

I also liked the structure, which made the book easier to read.

I particularly liked his comments about mental health at the end. We need to stop focusing on raising mental health awareness, which doesn't do much when there is not the services in place to support people with their mental health. It was refreshing to see someone else share my thoughts.

I highly recommend this book if you like professional memoirs, I certainly learnt a lot.

TW: domestic abuse, violence, child abuse, mental illness, suicide, self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse

[Helen Woodman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty appalling. Supercilious, and painfully unfunny.
Bought it partly on the basis of the blurb 'reviews'. Schoolgirl error, cover blurbs aren't reviews, they're advertisements. Wish I could get my 17 quid back.

[Rebecca Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining, upsetting, witty, funny yet poignant. A nice read albeit repetitive and at times mundane - likely a perfect metaphor for the job.
Would recommend as a good insight to the council's of Britain and those that work behind the scenes.

[Lisa - *OwlBeSatReading* · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and amusing account of life as an anti social behaviour officer. Darkly funny and saddening in one hit. Written with wit and honesty, I settled into listening to Nicks story and read it quickly.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was at once depressing and hilarious. How anyone stays in these kinds of jobs that are so necessary and yet criminally underfunded amazes me. I would last an hour, tops.

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 🌟

[Alan M · Rating 3 out of 5]

The success of Adam Kay’s “This Is Going To Hurt” (more than a year topping most book charts, TV series etc) has had publishers eagerly looking out for a successor, and the 14 way auction for the rights to “Anti-Social” suggests they thought they had found one.

You can see why. Author Nick Pettigrew was a 15 year veteran Anti-Social Behaviour Officer, a stand-up comedian with two Edinburgh Festival shows behind him and published in the Daily Telegraphy the Daily Mash. Ker-ching.

Pettigrew tries to tread a tightrope between looking for laughs in the absurdity of his day to day case load, and the innate misery and anguish that he and so many of his clients face. Unfortunately for my money he mostly falls off. So often, it just feels he’s trying too hard to milk laughs out of something that in so many respects just isn’t funny, relying on metaphors that feel strained and a distraction.

Which is a shame, because when not crowbarring in gags, Pettigrew offers up some erudite and powerful analysis of just how miserable life for some of the most disadvantaged in the UK has become. His explanations of why drug selling is such a compelling proposition (one he almost took up) stripped of the usual media rhetoric is highly illuminating. The monumental dysfunctionality of some peoples lives and the absence of the necessary joined up, multi-agency solutions is well evidenced, but not that rib tickling. There’s minimal insight given to others in Pettigrew’s professional orbit. There’s a brief but well penned tribute to a colleague whose knowledge and insight is much missed, but beyond that there’s nothing other than a rather vapid stationery loving new recruit who adds little to proceedings.

Pettigrew charts his own mental health issues throughout the book, and in a manner very similar to “Going To Hurt” closes on a case that finally gave him the resolve to quit. Without seeking to diminish the impact the case had on him, there seems to have been some dramatic license in use. The Bookseller website reported that publisher Century signed him whilst he was still working as an ASB Officer with the manuscript attributed to “Anonymous” for his protection. The license seemingly taken around such a pivotal element of the book makes you wonder just how much of the rest has been “polished”.

Ultimately, it’s a valuable read, educational even. But it’s likely to disappoint anyone looking for a Kay like laugh.

[Paulisbored · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book covers the day to day activities of an anti-social behaviour officer, a role that is no doubt challenging, important and ultimately thankless task. I suspect there’s a really good book in here somewhere, but this isn’t it.

Pettigrew seems to think the entire world is getting in his way. Despite decrying what he perceives to be “a general decline in tolerance” he frequently claims that he is surrounded by idiots, consistently blaming things that go wrong on other people - the police, the government, the courts, colleagues, priests, even the tenants themselves - while apparently believing in his own professional perfection. At one point, he self-righteously proclaims that the only people who could do his job are people who are already doing the same job elsewhere.

His attempts at humour are an endless repetition of the same joke, built around the formula “they call it [formal terminology] but it’s really [crude vernacular].” The one-eyed political bias is also irritating. For example, he finishes one paragraph explaining that a tenant has refused offers of help, and in the next paragraph accuses the government of having done nothing to help the exact same tenant.

A complete waste of material that is full of potential. Don’t bother with it.

[Katie Rush · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was intrigued when I saw this as I have enjoyed other honest, behind the scenes books recently (This is Going to Hurt, The Prison Doctor).
Nick Pettigrew presents his day to day involvement as an Anti Social Behaviour Officer with some of the most vulnerable and difficult members of society in the style of a diary. It’s an easy to read, page turner because us human beings are nosey and the sheer amount of insight allows us to indulge in observing other people’s lives.
Pettigrew writes with sarcasm and dark humour bordering condescension. He is extremely honest which I admired, especially around his own mental health which must be knocked about doing this job. When you are enjoying an amusing entry, you then get hit in the face with the harsh reality of the situations some people are in.
My reason for 3 rather than 4 stars was because of how long it took me to connect to the author, it took a while to understand him and his humour and initially I felt he was coming across as patronising.
Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to read ahead of general release in exchange for a review.

[Caroline Kerdouci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am intrigued and fascinated by books written by those at the grassroots of occupations governed by social policy. From junior doctors to teachers to barristers and prison officers these anecdotal insights into some of the most stressful, underpaid and undervalued jobs are always thought provoking and entertaining.
Antisocial by Nick Pettigrew is no exception.
In recollecting his own experiences as an ASB officer over the course of a year (although with a decade worth of experience to his credit)the reader is given the opportunity to understand the kind of work involved.

Any occupation that deals with the general public, particularly the disadvantaged, powerless sections of society is going to provide a wealth of material for this type of memoir. As I expected, this is a frank and often brutally honest account of the day to day life of ASB officer, an occupation I’d never given much thought to given that I’m one of those annoying (but not smug) middle class readers sat on my sofa whilst turning these pages.

Told in a very informal diary like format, my initial thoughts were that books of this nature have one thing in common; humour. Every anecdote is injected with a wry humour that makes the unpalatable actually very funny to hear second hand. I suspect that this sardonic detached humour is a coping mechanism to deal with the daily horrors he witnesses on the estates on his patch, something that struck me within the first few pages.

So many thoughts were whirling through my mind as I discovered exactly what this job entails. It requires the skills of so many other occupations from police officer, social worker, mental health worker, solicitor, fire safety officer to name but a few. The list felt endless and inexhaustible yet I sensed it takes a certain type of person to be able to manage this level of responsibility without going completely insane. You need to be empathetic up to a point whilst remaining detached and professional which would rule me out from the start! The caseload for one person is extraordinary but hardly surprising in yet another public service that is underfunded and understaffed and as the year progresses you can feel the burden of responsibility weighing and wearing him down. If that doesn’t consume him then the ridiculous amounts of paperwork that go hand in hand with his job just might!! This isn’t any normal 9 to 5 job where you can forget your responsibilities the moment you leave the office and this man’s dedication is obvious and admirable. It also made me feel incredibly grateful to be working in a job where interaction with the general public is limited!

Drugs, drug dealers, noise disturbances ( real or imagined) neighbourly disputes, grievances big or small it’s all here in this melting pot of antisocial behaviour. For people like Nick dealing with these disputes its akin to being on an eternal treadmill where you never ever get to the end, with a mound of unresolved cases growing higher by the day. At least that’s how I understood life as an ASB officer, constantly troubleshooting and fighting fires, drowning in all the futile petty and often ridiculous problems. Doesn’t sound like you’d get much job satisfaction does it? Still the author manages to entertain and amuse with countless tales that defy belief if you happen not to be slap bang centre in the middle of it.

Whilst this does mostly read as a cycle of drugs, noise, drug dealing, noise, breaches of injunctions, more noise, evictions, more drugs there are some standout anecdotes that really touched my heart. Arthur and his cats is a heartbreaking glimpse of what life can be for some, isolated and forgotten whilst I found Mr Hewitt’s story of loneliness and imagined grievances equally upsetting. For me the most poignant of all is the tale of Anne and her son Alex although every single case where poor mental health is an issue is sobering.

It’s impossible not to be struck by the impact life as an ASB officer has on the author’s own mental health. The titles of chapters detailing his current dose of antidepressant and units of alcohol imbibed may be tongue in cheek but my heart went out to Nick as he struggles alongside recognising and managing his residents own issues with mental health.

In what is a funny yet at the same time depressing read I was full of nothing but admiration for this man. Trying to help those that are unable to help themselves within all those complex and arcane rules and regulations is an impossible and thankless task. Reading between the lines the author is just an ordinary man tasked with an extraordinary caseload and it was hardly surprising that by the end of the year he quit. He convinced me totally that his role of an ASB officer was demanding to the point of impacting heavily on his own mental health and whilst all that experience built up over years disappears in an instant he really has no other choice than to throw in the towel. His own recognition that instead of feeling empathetic towards an individual’s circumstances all he could think of was the never ending paperwork validated his decision to call time on this profession. Whilst without doubt the right thing to do I couldn’t help wondering if the residents he came into contact with over the years valued his help and intervention. Probably not!!

I loved the epilogue which cannot fail to be political and controversial and scathing. You might not agree with all the points the author is voicing but it’s people like Nick at the grassroots that are best placed to guide future social policy making rather than the privileged Eton educated bureaucrats that are currently responsible. He makes a valid and reasoned argument for changes in drug policy that is hard to ignore as too are his comments on housing policy. It’s the mental health discussion that I found myself agreeing with more than anything. Raising awareness and talking openly about mental health issues may be all well and good but if the services are not there and/or patchy and underfunded in the first place then it’s a pointless discussion.

If you enjoy a thought provoking insightful read that also satisfies your natural curiosity about an occupation dealing with the less salubrious aspects of society then this is one for you. Definitely worth your while. Plus you might just appreciate your neighbours aren’t so bad after all!! My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read.

[John H · Rating 1 out of 5]

Truly abysmal. The worst book I’ve read all year. I. Only stuck with it because I wanted to understand why I despised the author so much - like coming across a
a road crash where you can’t help but look at the carnage. The author tries to be funny but fails miserably. The writing style didn’t agree with me. I could say a lot more but in a world and an era where we’re told to ‘be kind’, I’ll stick to that old adage ‘if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all’ and I’ll leave it here, I’ve clearly already said too much.

[jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read in which I feel the author was trying to listen to "the howl of the powerless" - a phrase he uses in the epilogue. However I did feel at times it was difficult to know whether the book was about him needing sympathy and a pat on the back for doing a hard job or about his clients and their struggles. I also found his humour quite patronising at times
Thank you to netgalley and random house for an advance copy of this book

[Steph Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I received a free ARC of this novel, with thanks to the author, Cornerstone / Penguin Random House and NetGalley. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*

Anti-Social is the light-hearted documentation of a slow, year-long breakdown.

Nick Pettigrew exposes the life of an anti-social behaviour officer, with all its highs and lows (both the illegal and the legal and medically induced). Each section starts with a month, a jokey password and the dose of medication – or self-medication – that the author was on, like a hardcore Bridget Jones.

The anecdotes are self-contained snippets that give little snapshots of the day-to-day job of an ASBO. Certain ‘characters’ do pop up more than once, but for others their stories are left as fleeting and unfinished vignettes. This pattern reflects the nature of the work, as the officer’s involvement in each person’s life lasts only as long as their case requires, and also reality, as not every real-life story has a neat and tidy conclusion.

Throughout the book, the tone remains upbeat and full of black humour, but also quietly desperate. It actually becomes quite painful to read towards the end, as you follow the author’s inevitable spiral downwards as he deals with the daily small tragedies, indignities and cruelties that proliferate around the borders of illegal and anti-social behaviours.

Anti-Social provides a deeply interesting insight into a difficult job that is well-known but not widely understood and, tangentially, also insight into heaps of human nature as well… the good the bad, and the very, very stupid. An utterly entertaining, but not an easy read, this book left me with a huge sense of respect for Nick Pettigrew and his fellow ASBOs, and the underappreciated work they do.



'All of what follows is true. All of it has either happened directly to me or has been relayed to me by a colleague. My job requires no embellishment. Exaggerating would be like drinking Red Bull to swallow ketamine or putting go-faster stripes on a lightning bolt. There’s no point. Identifying details have been changed to protect the innocent and guilty, as well as those who swear they’re not guilty but obviously are.'

– Nick Pettigrew, Anti-Social


Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpres...

[Wiedźma · Rating 4 out of 5]

„Antyspołeczny” Nicka Pettigrew to dziennik, w którym autor opisuje rok ze swojego życia zawodowego. Pokazuje, jak wygląda praca antyspołecznego, czyli człowieka zajmującego się antyspołecznymi działaniami w danej wspólnocie. Czasem jest to zwykłe zakłócanie porządku wynikające ze zbyt głośnego słuchania muzyki, a innym razem handel narkotykami. Do wyboru do koloru.

Nick Pettigrew ma cięty język i specyficzne poczucie humoru, a jego komentarze wielokrotnie wywoływały u mnie parsknięcie śmiechu. Uważam, że dzięki temu tak trudny temat dało się przedstawić w tak lekki sposób. Gdyby nie to, całość byłaby ciężka i zbyt przytłaczająca. Oczywiście temat jest trudny i nie chodzi o to, aby go bagatelizować, i żeby było jasne – Nick tego nie robi. Po prostu pokazuje, jak sam radzi sobie z codziennymi problemami, z którymi spotyka się w pracy.

Jako że w pewnym sensie temat tej książki pokrywa się z moim wykształceniem, to jestem przerażona tym, jak nisko ceni się tak ważny zawód. Z zapisków Nicka wynika, że nie ma żadnego wsparcia, biurokracja go przytłacza, a pozostałe służby zamiast współpracować, najchętniej odcięłyby się od problemów. To przygnębiające, zwłaszcza jeśli weźmie się pod uwagę codzienny stres, jakiemu poddawani są „antyspołeczni”.

Fascynuje mnie też liczba absurdów, z którymi Nick spotyka się w swojej pracy i które musi rozwiązać „w profesjonalny sposób”. Smród, który czuje jedynie jeden z lokatorów? Skarga na fajerwerki jako zakłócanie porządku? Wszystko trzeba sprawdzić, wprowadzić do systemu i zająć się sprawą „jak należy”. Przez to wszystko brakuje czasu na naprawdę ważne sprawy. A najgorsze w tym wszystkim jest to, że coś, co my traktujemy jako żart, dla kogoś innego może być poważną sprawą. I jak tu zdecydować o priorytetach?

Mimo to nie spodziewałam się, że „Antyspołeczny” aż tak bardzo mi się spodoba. Książka jest przerażająca, fascynująca i niesamowicie zabawna w tym samym czasie. Wielokrotnie czytałam pozostałym członkom rodziny całe fragmenty, ponieważ chciałam podzielić się tym, co tak mnie rozśmieszyło, chociaż tak naprawdę całość jest przerażająca, jeśli pomyśli się o tym przez pryzmat pracy. Polecam :)

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This could have been a really dark memoir, showcasing as it does the people who live life on the sidelines - either in poverty or dancing close to it's borders; drug sellers, drug users, alcoholics, and a good dose of mental health issues thrown into the mix.

But Nick, an ASB officer (ASB stand for anti-social behaviour) has a great sense of humour and injects that into his diary regularly. I would guess that to do this job for any length of time (he did it for 10 years) you'd need a good sense of humour, as well as an abundance of empathy, compassion and common sense, and the ability to hold your temper at times when you're faced with tenants (or customers, or clients, whatever's the current buzzword the council has decided on) who refuse to help themselves even when a helping hand is offered.

There are plenty of people in this book that you'll help feel sorry for - they haven't been dealt a good hand by life, facing challenges that many of us have never had to consider let alone deal with. And there's a good sprinking of nasty. lazy and feckless characters - although even then, many of them have a backstory that rarely failes to elicit a modicum of sympathy for their plight.

At times amusing; at other times an uncomfortable read that will have you questioning why the systems in place don't help (and often hinder), and what we can do as a society and as individuals to "level the playing field" which is what Prime Minister Johnson said he wants to do.

[Bernadette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was such an eye opening representation into the life of an Anti Social Behaviour Officer. Disturbing at times with lots of dark humour thrown in for lighter moments.

Nick Pettigrew describes all the hard work and heartache that goes into the preperation and support of the numerous people that call on them for help and advice.

Even though this book is quite lighthearted in parts it also explains the toll it actually takes on Nick, the level of emotional turmoil, myriad of expertise from himself and his collects as he reflects on the fact that maybe being an ASBO is not all it's cracked up to be

Overall a very enjoyable and insiteful book that covers both the light and dark parks of our British support system

[Rhiannon Williams-Pike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite an interesting look into the world of anti-social behaviour, jumping on the This Is Going to Hurt band-wagon of attempting to be witty exposès of under-funded public-sector work. I really struggled with the tone that the narrator took, which was at best, just not very funny despite trying really hard to be, and at worst, mean-spirited towards the people he was dealing with, almost asking the reader to mock them, which made him seem quite unlikeable too. The epilogue was worth hanging around for, however. I also didn't enjoy the diary entry format, which, given the writer quits his job at the end, thus giving the book something of a climax, I can't help but wonder about the actual truth of some of the stories.