I wanted to update this and thank you all again for your kind words and thoughts. I can't tell you how much the wisdom and encouragement I find here means to me, although I wasn't really looking for sympathy; just a place to vent, I honestly appreciate it.
As expected, with the onset of colder weather, my case-load has grown quite a bit. In addition to the 20 or so appointments I have per day, I'm also taking walk-ins, although those are at my discretion.
I'm alloted 20 minutes per client, but unless they're simple (social security income, same fuel dealer, no changes) my appointments can take up to 40 minutes - usually from new clients and trying to direct them to further assistance. I usually work through lunch, and stay later, and I've started going in earlier to accommodate the paperwork I have to complete...supposedly in "slow periods" (yeah, right).
I'm seeing so many new people - it's really unbelievable. Yesterday, out of the 20 I saw, 10 were new.
Of the repeat clients, I'm seeing a huge trend in children moving back in with older parents, or grandparents taking on their grandchildren so the parents can find jobs.
On a more sinister note, I'm also seeing people attempting to hide income and assets, which is frustrating in the extreme.
For 99% of these people, what they're hiding wouldn't make a bit of difference for them to qualify, yet they feel the need to lie about it - something that really irks me. I take things far too personally, I know, but it's just the way I am. They're not lying to ME, they just feel that the govt. owes them something, and frankly I don't blame them, however, it's MY job security when I don't get straight answers, and a certifier has to dig further and finds something I missed due to fraud.
There was a thread last week about what will happen to the Social Security recipients when TSHTF.... I can answer that in one: Most of them are going to die. Period. They already live so close to the edge, have zero savings, and unless they've got children who can take them in, they're screwed - and I don't mean, "oh this is a minor inconvenience" I mean, done. Over. Finished.
Tuesday, I had a grown man sit in my office and cry.
He said, "two years ago, I was making 80,000 a year. I worked construction, owned my own business, and had enough work to put in 18 hours a day, with 2 helpers. Last year, things got bad and I used my credit cards to stay afloat, this year I have nothing left. I don't know why I didn't save anything. I've never asked for welfare in my life." (I'm not welfare, but I let it roll)
He has a 5 bedroom house, has 2 other properties for which he is entirely underwater, and now can't sell. Both were rentals that he can't rent, because what he would need to get for them is too high for the area to support.
What could I possibly say to this man?
My first thought was, well, had you not been greedy and dumb enough to think the boom would never end, you might have seen this coming - but even if I had, it wouldn't make a bit of difference. What's done is done, and now he has to live with the consequences - and it obviously was killing him.
Our utility company (electricity) has spent the last 2 weeks having a field day in shutting off customers. I field at least six calls a day from people with disconnects - after Nov 15, they are prohibited from doing any shut offs until April (unless they go before the Public Utilities Commission for a hearing, which they rarely do). The emergency fuel/power fund is already gone.
I spoke to one of the outreach workers yesterday and she said, I have enough money left for one emergency fuel delivery (50 gallons) and I have six URGENT notes on my desk, and God knows how many voice mails...who do I give it to?
Things are going to get ugly very quickly, and sometimes I wonder how safe I am at work. All it would take is one unstable person who gets denied to come into my office armed.
Yes, I have an escape plan, I feel foolish to even say that, but I really think it's a valid concern. My son advised taking my baseball bat with me and keeping it under my desk. If I can find a baseball, I just might do it - they'd probably frown on a hand gun
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