A few weeks ago I got a letter from the Georgia DHR stating that I needed to bring check stubs to their office so I could reapply for assistance. I was hoping that by now I could fore go assistance but decided that I needed it for a while longer. I debated the issue...I HATE having to use that EBT card and am humiliated even when swiping the card in the self check out lane. I keep it out of view until the last minute, swipe it quickly and return it to my pocket before all the people I think are staring at me (who probably aren't) start talking about me behind my back. I went to the DHR office and had them make copies of our pay stubs and asked if there was anything else I needed to do. Their reply was "NO."
I got a letter back from the state saying I had been approved but the amount had been modified since Tim has started working as well as me starting to make money again. I was fine with modification...it only means we are getting closer to getting back on our feet.
I was supposed to get the credit yesterday but when I checked online in the early morning it wasn't there. Then the phone rang and "State Gov" popped up on the caller ID.
I answered and my crappy day began.
Number one: the case worker had me on speaker phone and I could barely hear her. Number two: she wasn't very friendly.
She told me she was calling because they were going to close my case because I hadn't supplied check stubs. I told her I had taken them by over three weeks ago and she quickly said "I have one, we told you that a month's worth were needed." I told her I HAD brought a month's worth and had the lady at the window make copies of all of them. She acted like I was lying to her and asked if I could fax them again? I told her I was headed out the door to go to Scottish Rite to visit a friend who's baby had just had a brain tumor removed and I didn't have a fax machine. She replied "There are fax machines at hospitals...there are fax machines at banks and there are fax machines at grocery stores." Then she proceeded to tell me the women at the front desk didn't know what was needed and weren't responsible for telling me what I needed to do. She asked if I had told them to mark it to HER attention? I told her I didn't even know HER name until five minutes ago and had never been informed that I NEEDED to mark it to any specific person's attention. She said that I was going to lose my benefits by the end of the day. I told her I had received a letter stating I had been approved and that the amount had been modified so I thought it was all taken care of. She said in fact it was my fault for not providing documentation that I hadn't received last month's payment and she didn't know if THIS month's payment would come through.
I was getting ticked by this point and my hot flash wasn't coming from my pre-menopausal state.
I told her I was a fifty year old woman who has never in her life had to apply for government assistance and when I DID apply was never told how to reapply or who my case worker was much less that the women in the front office were obviously clueless as to how the red tape system works even though they are paid by it. As I made my last comment she immediately took me off speaker phone.
"Now we were getting somewhere."
I continued with my 'forced' rant and said I realize millions of people are sponging off the government but I wasn't one of them. I told her it had been humiliating to even walk in their office to apply and was humiliating every time I had to use the card they had approved me for... but have been working since I was 14 years old and paying into the system. She did the quickest 180 I have ever heard screeching through the ear piece of a phone.
I realize they deal with deadbeats and lazy people along with the people that truly need assistance, but don't treat me like a deadbeat until you are certain I AM one. No one hates me being on government assistance more than ME...
I have called my "Case Worker" four times since , only to be sent to voicemail every time. I left a message every time to see if she had received the paperwork I took by the office after our initial 'chat' and wanted to ask if there was anything else I needed to do?
Finally got a voicemail back today while I was at work saying she had received my paperwork from the (obviously incomp's in the front window) who I bet all hate her now after our "Speakerphone Squabble" and maybe my case worker has realized sometimes Speakerphone isn't the best route to go until you are sure it is a deadbeat you are talking to.
She said the system is three weeks back logged. I guess that means it will be three more weeks until I get my credit from last month and my credit for this month.
I know some people "Work" the system...but obviously they have a LOT more spare time than me. I have jumped through hoops with Massey and her knee via the Peach Care system and seem to continue jumping for my empathy challenged "case worker."
You do what you have to do when your family is in need. I for one, will be so elated when I am able to come off of assistance that I may even buy my ole biddy (oops, I meant buddy) of a case worker a vase of flowers from the grocery store...but it will be the kind that look real pretty but don't smell so great. Kind of like the whole way this assistance has made me feel...it stinks but it helps brighten my day.
On a lighter note I just picked Massey up (at midnight) from the high school. They had an away game and after working my double shift went to pick her up with "Ham" my Boxer in tow. He was so excited about the car ride that I realized even dogs suffer when you do. Sometimes they have to wait an extra day to get fed but they know it will come...eventually, and love me even when they have to wait. The car ride was like a field trip to him and he was shaking with excitement the whole way there and the whole way back. Sometimes in life you have to take a step back and realize how truly blessed you are for even the small things. If it wasn't for small things...how would you even know what "Big" things are?
Til next time...going to bed and getting up to do it all again. Massey has to be at the school at 9:00... I have to be at work at 10:30 AM and work til 10:30 PM when I pick her up from her first competition.
At least MY big competition is behind me and I am just letting the chips fall where they may. I am going so gray and losing more weight along the way but it is always nice to be skinny when you are a woman. It is time for me to take a step back, count my blessings instead of my gray hairs and focus on tomorrow. It gets better every day ...sometimes it is just hard to remind yourself of that.
I just need to shake my head to wake up that little hamster in the wheel of my brain. I think I'll name him "CAN DO."
WHEW!! It will all work out and I am almost convinced that it will.
I truly believe God has given me the ultimate Final Exam and I am almost through with it. How much ya wanna bet I "ACE" it?
Call me the "Teacher's Pet" because I feel like I am!
COTTON
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