Being poor sucks! There, it's said, it's true, it's sad but it is never deserved. I often ponder how and why Americans believe people who are poor contribute to their own poverty. Let me start at the beginning.I have never been rich but I have been rather comfortable. Divorce took care of that. Prior to being comfortable, I grew up in poverty...yes...food stamps, welfare, projects, all of that...shopping trips to the Goodwill. I have been there. I witnessed my mother working hard to pull us up and out. Education was always stressed in my household. I witnessed my mother working to earn a college diploma and I now have two. But, education is a way to do better, it is not a promise of personal riches.
Like the man in the photo, I have a long work history. I am willing to believe this man has a good work history too. When I got the job I have now, I was in a training class seated between two men -- one has a PhD in education, the other is a member of MENSA. I have 2 B.A. degrees and a long work history as a journalist and experience in the dot-com industry. When dot-coms went belly-up, companies closed, good, educated workers became unemployed. People lost their homes. People had to receive social services. Suddenly needing help does not take away a person's education and appearances do not tell you how much intelligence an unemployed person has. This history is why I was so powerfully insulted during my experiences at the unemployment office.
From the beginning...I have a job but it is seasonal. While laid off, I receive unemployment benefits. To receive these benefits, I have to jump through the proper hoops, which includes a monthly visit to the unemployment office to job hunt...as if job hunting on my home computer isn't sufficient. The trip to their "career center" is made even more moot by the fact that there is no software in place to prove I have applied for any positions. They can only determine if I signed in or not on one of their terminals. By this logic, I could send a friend to the office with my information but that's a different rant.
When I arrived at the unemployment office at 8:15 am, I was informed I had to jump through some new hoops -- assessment tests to measure my skills before I could do a job search. So, I am ushered to a seat and told to wait, the tests would begin in a classroom in about 10 minutes. Twenty-five minutes later I am taken to the classroom with another man...a class of two of us, both with questions about why we had to jump this hoop. The man questioned why did he have to job hunt since he was disabled. I questioned if food stamps and unemployment were somehow connected. In previous years, I have qualified for both with more than double the income I have now. This year, I do not qualify for food stamps. The teacher, and I use the term VERY loosely, decided this was her opportunity to get on a "soap box" about her perception of poor people's behavior.
This woman, who never gave her name, decided to explain to us how we had to do this, do that, or would be denied because so many people have been on food stamps or unemployment for years, doing nothing. Because of "those people," we will probably be denied. She went on to say the state has no money so people who got benefits already are being kicked off so that others who need it can get help. She continued to prattle on about how "those people" sat around just "expecting" the money to come. Then she took a political turn and said things would get worse because "those people" don't vote.
I am proud to say that I only stepped a toe on my soap box. I told her I did not care about all those other people, which I'm certain she took incorrectly. The point I continued to make is, food stamps is a federal program and states can change eligibility requirements to disallow or allow people to qualify. Guess which path Missouri took. Unlike Hawaii and many other states, Missouri has done nothing to help the increasing numbers of people hit with unemployment or poverty.
Unemployment payments are provided in part by the former employer and through insurance the worker has paid. The "teacher's" comments about the state being broke do not apply to either program, at least not in the manner she implied. This woman was working for a position that the disabled man and the fat black woman were too ignorant to know these facts. Then I began talking. She ignored my comments and continued with her rants...speaking while I spoke so I knew she was not listening to me. This is a pet-peeve of mine. If you have no intentions of listening to anything I say, just say that, don't talk louder and louder to drown my voice. She added to the rant by announcing that "those people" also don't vote, which is why this country will see more problems.
This teacher's comments seemed to work on the disabled man. He quietly commented to me that he "felt sorry" for our instructor. The same instructor who was now instructing us using her own brand of sign language while she spoke to another person on her cell phone. After turning my internal editor on high to prevent myself from saying, "Feel sorry??? Why? She has a job and she's not doing it well!" I instead chose silence, turned my seat and did the assessment tests. I was not told what these tests assessed or how they would be used. I only know they were hoops I needed to jump through to get an unemployment check...reminding you again I have a job, I'm simply in non-pay status until January.
My major point is, jumping through a hoop should not include listening to a judgmental lecture with the theme of "sucks to be you if you are unemployed."
So...who do I complain to...besides the whole world on my blog? I am searching for a way but as with most social agencies, trying to make any complaint -- legitimate or not -- is next to impossible. Why do social workers seem to be the least social of all people?
