go shopping!!! And that's exactly what I did today.
I got to the West Philadelphia County Assistance Office at 10:30 this morning. I took a number to wait to be seen by "the man behind the curtain" who would or would not be able to fix the mess with my Food Stamps account. My magic number was 100. They were currently on 60. I sat and waited patiently for one hour, then decided that my life was too valuable to be wasted by sitting on my butt, waiting with no end or solution in sight. Number 67 was being served when I left to go to the mall to find a dress to wear to my brother's wedding next week (not an easy task, considering it had to be modest AND maternity AND within my budget). But with the help of a deeply devoted friend and a few small purchases from the candy store to keep 3 toddlers happy, we succeeded! [If you really want to know, it's a cute, black v-neck dress. You'll see pics after my bro's wedding.] :)
I got home at 2:30 pm- 3 hours after leaving the CAO and 4 hours after I first arrived there. Out of shear curiosity, I went back to the office to see what number they were on. To my surprise (or maybe it was to be expected), they were on 101- only 1 past my assigned number of 100. I dug my crumpled number out of my purse, showed it to the front desk receptionist/security guard and she said, "Honey, they just called your number. Where were you? Stay right here and someone will see you next."
I never told her where I had been, but five minutes later it was finally my turn. I can't believe that I could've sat there for four hours waiting to be seen. What I can't believe even more is that I actually left for several hours and was still able to come back in time. What a system . . .
**Note: I don't want this post to make it sound like I'm ungrateful for the County Assistance Office, any of the people who work there, or the Food Stamps program. I'm very thankful for all of them and the tremendous help they give to me and my family. I'm just amazed with how inefficient and short-staffed the office was (largely due to the fact that the entire state of PA has been running without a budget for the past few weeks, but that's an entirely different story). Anyways, I'm very thankful for this country and the many welfare assistance opportunities it provides to families like ours who need it temporarily.**
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2 comments:
Out of curiosity, how much of the benefit would you give up to shave one hour off the wait?
[This is just an economic thought experiment, assuming that the agency overseeing the program can freely allocate money between administration and foodstamps.]
so, to be clear, you are using food stamps but decided to bring another child into the world?
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