Back to DOL for the Third Time

Tonight we’re going back to the shelter, just because. So far I’ve taken you to two of my DOL appointments and tonight I’m going to take you to third. This one was at the end of January and I didn’t feel like going alone so my friend Joe went with me to keep me company. It was great that he went with me because we had a lot of laughs while I waited to be called back for my appointment. People watching can be a great source of entertainment; just a little FYI.

My appointment was supposed to be at 10:00 but we waited almost two hours before I got called into the back. The waiting room was packed so I thought I’d be called in with a group again but I was wrong, it was just me. A nice lady walked me back to her desk and started going over the same information that everyone went over any time I visited a state office. It was redundant and I was bored within five minutes, and annoyed that I’d had to wait so long.

Lady explained to me that they’d all gotten called into a staff meeting first thing that morning, “When the boss wants us in a meeting, we go.” Apparently the time of those of us waiting wasn’t as important to the boss as his meeting. So be it. She went on to explain that they were also short some office staff because a couple had gone home sick and a couple more were out on vacations. I guess calling a few people to reschedule them when they had more staff would have been too logical for them; better to make us all wait for hours.

Regardless, I was in the chair so I just listened to what she had to say; and I wasn’t happy with it. My only choices were to either get a job – which I didn’t mind doing – or to go to a DOL work site. If I got a job my cash assistance would be taken away but I wouldn’t qualify for childcare services; if I went to a work site it would be from 9:00-5:00 every weekday and I would qualify for childcare services. There were problems with both of those choices.

If I got a job I’d have to pay for child care which would take most of my pay and I wouldn’t have any cash assistance to live on when we needed anything. If I went to a work site I wouldn’t be getting paid – it would be my contribution for living at the shelter; even though I never asked to be there, I was told I HAD to be there – but I wouldn’t be picking up my kids until 6:00 or later every night depending upon where the work site was located.

With either option the kids and I wouldn’t get back to the shelter until after our dinner hour so we’d have to eat out or get special permission to eat after the last dinner hour which would be at 9:00. That wasn’t going to happen. My kids would have to spend all their time, once we got back to PRD, doing homework, taking showers, and eating dinner, then rushing to bed. Our time to relax and be a family, or just for the kids to have time to play, would be gone.

I decided to tell Lady that my friend had offered me a job, which was true, and that I’d be working about 20-25 hours a week. Working with Ursula was great because she allowed me to work around the kids’ schedule. I didn’t have to get to her house until 9:00, after the kids got on the bus; and I left at 2:30 to make it back in time to meet the buses. Lady was happy to hear that and said it would probably work since Dolly was only five at the time so I wasn’t required to work more than 25 hours. If that was the case, why were they going to put me at a work site for eight hours every day? Hmmm…

She got my job approved by her supervisor, gave me some forms that I’d have to have my boss complete before my next visit, and told me I would have my next appointment with DOL at the end of February. She said I could have Ursula fill out the form and I could fax it the day before my appointment; I’d have to call to see if it was approved and I’d be able to skip going there in person. Sounded good to me so I took what she gave me and I left.

I still wasn’t happy knowing they were going to be taking my cash assistance since Paul had just begun working again and my child support hadn’t yet been reinstated. I was already behind on my car payment and didn’t want to fall further behind but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I did know that it would take a couple of months for DSS to actually process my job and decide to stop the cash so I was safe for a month or two. I decided not to stress over what would happen when it got to that point; I just decided to do the best I could with what I had and take the rest as it came to me. And that’s exactly what I did.

Until next time…peace to all.