Do I Really Want To Work With These People?

Well, yes, I do. I currently get payed less than peanuts... broken sunflower seeds more like... and I need the medical and dental benefits, plus some sort of retirement. That will be nice. But something about the office either draws a certain kind of bureaucratic snot, or does something to good people to turn them into jackasses. I'm on the list for the job, but in the meantime, well, I need the people there to do something for me. What is it, you ask? Eligibility Worker. Yep, I applied for the job and to receive aid right around the same time. I'm currently closer to getting the job than I am to receiving benefits. I can't believe what jerks I may soon be calling "coworker." It fills me with dread.

What happened?!?! We went in on the 5th to apply for MediCal and Food Stamps. We weren't (and still aren't) sure if we qualify for either. We might actually be working too hard. But the real problem is their communication methods. We were asked for our pays stubs for that week, and so we brought them in. Nearly a month later, we get a letter telling us we need to bring in all of our January pay stubs. Only it doesn't say "all January pay stubs." It says "1-05" pay stubs. We take this to mean 01-05-05 , the 05 standing for the day, not the year, and hence we are completely baffled, because that is what we already turned in. This mayseem like a silly misunderstanding on our part, but it still made no sense, even if it had been phrased clearly. Generally, for important dates, you write the information out ("we need all your January, 2005 paystubs,' not "we need your 1-05 stubs, you only gave us your 1-5 paystubs" ...it only makes sense if you already know what they are talking about, as different people abbreviate dates differently). The letter also says it is the second request for this (apparently this was requested once, on the day we went in to apply).

Anyway, we work every day (I work six days a week, tragically still part time, but it eats my entire day anyhow), making it very hard to come at the beck and call of the eligibility office, or whatever the hell you call this place (I suppose I should find out the official name of it if I want the job). Well, this morning, our worker calls, irate that we have not jumped when she said "jump," literally chewing us out for not understanding her poorly written request, threatening to deny all benefits if we don't come in right away, and so on. I look again at the letter, and it gives us until February 7th, so her tirade makes little sense. We have the weekend. She also claims she could have cut us off on January 18th, but we did not receive the letter until January 28th, and we did not get some of our pay checks until the 20th and the 21st anyway. Plus, we were told in our initital interview that we just had to bring in the pay stubs for up until the time we came in. As the republicanly titled "Rights and Responsibilities" video we watched informed us, benefits are based on the previous month's income. So it's a little senseless and contradictory to ask for wage proof for dates after you apply. I feel bad for really poor people who have to deal with this all the time.

Maybe this will all make more sense after I go to Jerk School.