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Do you REALLY wanna see your tax dollars at work?

Used to work for the State Of Pennsylvania. What a trip.

The application for energy assistance one year had questions 1-6 and 8-15. I, and no doubt others, who 'raged against the dying of the light' pointed it out.

The following year, the application HAD enough questions. Question 7, mind you, 7, was 'do you understand English? If not, what language do you understand?'

On the food stamp application: 'are you, or is anyone in your household, a fleeing felon?' (What made that particularly delightful is that if anyone ever answered yes to that, we were not allowed to tell law enforcement about it).

In my email inbox:

Blah, blah, please disregard the attachment.

This memo is for dissemination to all Dept of Welfare employees. If you do not receive this memo, notify your supervisor immediately.
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A couple of hundreds and hundreds of client statements/remarks that made life bearable.

Me: are you employed?
Them: uh, yes
Me: I'll have to see proof of income.
Them: I can't! I'm working under the table.

Me: Ms. DimBulb, we received your energy application.
Them: great! How much do I get?
Me: well, you only sent one paystub for both you and boyfriend DimBulb and...
Them: paystub for me? I ain't workin''! I ain't NEVER worked.
Me: but you sent me a currently dated paystub.
Them: I ain't...Bobby! Have I ever worked?
Voice from background: hell, no!
Them: just wait. I keep the pay stubs in the pickup glove box. Hold on, now, I'm taking you out with me. (Sound of vehicle door and then glovebox opening) okay, here they are. Let's see now... his paycheck, his paycheck..(long pause) well, fuck me....

Me: I need to see your proof of income.
Them: they pay me cash
Me: I'm sorry, I need proof of income.
Them (several days later): here
Me: looking at Xerox copies of twenty dollar bills

Them: hi! I got a job. Wanted to tell you
Me: great! Good for you. How many hours are you working?
Them: 20
Me: and how much will you be paid per hour?
Them: $8.00
Me: and that's gross?
Them: that's what I thought, but that's all they'll pay me.

A man brought in his son, just turned 18. 'I wanna set Forrest up with his own food stamp card.'
Me: is he still living at home with you?
Father: yes
Me: I'm sorry, but if he's under 21 and living at home, he is included in your food stamp household.
Father (disgusted): how am I ever gonna teach the boy to stand on his own two feet?
katielass · F
@Mamapolo2016 OMG I bet you have hundreds of stories.
Yep
i do. And I just typed a text message into this box and almost sent it to you.
katielass · F
@Mamapolo2016 feel free to send it to me. I was a nurse who worked on the Texas mexico border for 17 years. We had an office in the hospital who got patients"approved" for Medicaid. all they had to do was tell us an address in the US, no one checked. YOu could sit at the window and watch the foreigners walk across the bridge and come for their free healthcare in our ER. it was nauseating. And if that's not bad enough, they came across to vote too because the hospital was one of the voting places. it's a different world down there.
I hate to tell you this, but it's a different world everywhere now.
katielass · F
@Mamapolo2016 I suppose it is. I came home and now live in a bubble but it will likely be penetrated.
Have you heard of even a small town that doesn't have a drug problem? Sure, we have homegrown bad guys, but where there's a drug problem bigger bad guys are at least driving through, and it's been happening for a long time. And I'm not referring to marijuana, the kinder, gentler drug.