The SC that wasn't

[Slave to the Phone]

bg: I'm a food stamp worker. Part of my job is to finish "pending" cases when the applicant provides the missing information. I'm the one who approves the case, so of course I take a fast look at what the worker before me did, because its my name on the case.

An applicant came in today with part of the missing information and I was able to get the rest of it with a couple of phone calls. I was going to be able to approve her case and I told her so, but I also had to tell her about ABAWD (Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents).

More bg: The federal government has decided that ABAWDs are only eligible to receive food stamps for 3 months in a 3 year period if they don't meet exemptions. There are exemptions.

Back to the story, so I was explaining ABAWD to her and trying to tell her that if she wanted to get food stamps for longer than 3 months she would have to comply with the job program. She got upset, starting crying, yelled "I don't care anymore, I'll just fucking starve!" and left.

I followed her, but she wasn't listening, so saddened, I went back to my cube did my notes that said that I wasn't able to finish telling her about ABAWD, approved her food stamps, sent an emergency request to have them loaded to her card the same day and moved on.

I didn't see her again, but I learned later from coworkers that she had come back and wanted to finish the process because she really did need the food. When she learned that all she had to do was get her card and that there would be food stamps loaded today, she started crying again.

She asked to see me, but they told her that I was with someone else, so she asked them to apologize for her. She had a lot of things going on in her life and wasn't understanding that I had approved her case and wanted to explain how to keep it open.

She also went to the jobs training lady who told me the same thing and said that she really wanted a job was and was very grateful to learn about that resource.

I'm really glad that this story has such a good ending. I really do wish I had stopped all the drama from happening in the first place. Words I could have used, things I could have said. I was there to help, not make her run out crying.

[Shyla]

I'm sure you did the best you could. It must be very difficult to not even have food.

[taxguykarl]

Like one of the meltdowns I witnessed, this could well have been the last straw for her.

[notalwaysright]

It's nice when things work out. I think I mentioned it, but the lady who finished up my application the second time I got food stamps was pretty awesome. We both didn't think I averaged enough hours to qualify. As far as I can tell our county has had the ABAWD rule before it went into affect for everyone, so I always had to work to get benefits. Anyway, she also figured out a small bit of confusion and was able to verify my employment on the computer.

Random. I wasn't brought to a cubicle. There were some... booths lining the outside of the seating area. So if you were sitting close, you could hear everything. I would have liked to go away from the general seating area. I wonder if it was because I didn't need to do the whole interview?

[laborcat]

I wish there were thousands of you. From what I understand, the local dept of jobs and family services is utter horse hockey. Many many complaints of poor service.

[Slave to the Phone]

Thank you for your kind words, laborcat. My job is to help people. I really don't want to see any of my customers in my cube again, so I do everything I can to be able to approve their case that day. If I can't complete the case, I am very clear to my customer about what is needed so they only have to come back one more time.

taxguy, I'm sure you are right about it being the last straw for her. (her husband left her a month ago, she was laid off from her well paying job 2 weeks ago and just learned that her landlord was selling her home and she had a month to move.) That's why I felt so badly about communicating poorly to her. She had been hearing so many no's that she thought I was telling her no again. I hope things get better for her.

edited: a lot of benefit offices are moving to interview kiosks, even for the initial interview. Our office has phone kiosks where customers sit for their interview while us workers are safely locked behind security doors. We are actually considered to be likely targets for a mass shooting incident, security is being tightened all the time.

I don't usually see people in my cube, but she was a brand new customer so I took her back because I knew that I had a LOT of information to give her.