I work in a religious setting as a receptionist. We get calls everyday- so and so is in the hospital, so and so just had a baby, do you have youth league sports, etc etc etc… But the majority of calls we get every day are calling about our utility assistance program.
Where I work (and live) is sort of a socio-economic oasis amidst a dried up dessert. Our little corner of the universe is one of the richest areas in the state, but if you get on one of the many highways that run through our town and drive in any direction long enough (as short of time as 10-15 minutes in some directions), and you can stumble upon some of the poorest.
Naturally this is a concern of ours, so our financial assistance ministries are some of the most active in our entire church… Which means we get a few hundred calls about utility/rent/grocery/gas assistance a week. On top of our usual numbers, unless you live under a rock you know what the country’s economic state has been in the past few months. If you take a wealthy community who have mostly made their money in the stock exchange and banking and compound it with the current crisis going on in Wall Street, and you have a whole new crop of people who need assistance.
I am NOT complaining about this, and I’m very concerned!
What I am trying to do, however, is give you an idea of what is going on before I tell you what *is* grinding my gears today.
To make a 6-year-long story short, there is a guy that has been calling our office for a long time. He doesn’t work, he just sits on his behind day and night and makes babies who he can’t afford to feed. He’s not on disability, he’s able-bodied and -minded (I think- ha), he just doesn’t want to work. The best part is, he wants us to support him.
Among the list of things he has asked for assistance on, he has asked for:
1) cash to go down to my state’s big SEC team’s college town during the weekend of the biggest game of the season (oooold seated rivalry game) so he can “work”
2) a car
3) a trailer
4) uniforms for his 12 kids and 4 grandkids for school
5) food
6) tools so he can work
and Lord knows how much else. We’ve helped him more than once on every point but the first one, and now he is on our do-not-help list. Since then, he has changed his phone number 4 times, disguised his voice to sound like a white guy (I honestly thought it was Dave Chapelle doing his whole white anchor man shtick), a red neck, and a slightly-less-ghetto version of himself to “trick” us into giving him assistance.
I always know it’s him when he calls -even when he’s at his girlfriend’s house and his name doesn’t appear on the caller ID- he always asks for my boss, as if it’s going to make a difference. When I came to work here, the first thing my boss told me was “when ______ calls, put it straight to voicemail. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well as soon as he calls the first time, you will definately understand!”
Lord knows I did.
Well, almost a year and a half later, he has begun treating me like he treats the rest of the staff on the phone. He has chewed me out, called me every name in the book, accused me of being a racist (I was one of the only white kids on my block growing up, thankyouverymuch), accused me of being heartless, you name it.
Today was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
This afternoon he called asking for my boss. Very politely I said “Oh, hey ______! [my boss] isn’t in right now, but I can send you to his voicemail!” Just like that. Literally. Just like I speak to everyone else. When he responded, he spewed forth such a venom that I have never seen in all of my years working Black Friday in retail, customer service, and waiting tables. Never in my life have I been spoken to that way by a virtual stranger. He told me that I am rude and disrespectful and he just might be calling my boss to ‘talk’ and that every time he calls isn’t “just for help”. He then told me that basically I was prejudiced against him because he is “on the other end of the economic spectrum” from me (uhhh. no.), and that he is 40 (with 12 kids and 4 grandkids!!) and I should respect my elders.
Umm. Ok? Where did I go wrong? Never once did I make a comment about his economic state or his age. I never even took a tone with him… Until the very end when he started making assumptions about my age and economic status.
The worst part is, I told my office manager about it and that it was probably about the 100th time he’s treated me that way, and all he did was shrug his shoulders. If I’m being harrassed here at work, isn’t there something he should/could/would do? Why is he sitting back on his haunches when nothing I say or do will get this monkey off my back?
Utility assistance is one of my favorite parts of my job. Community outreach has always been a huge deal to me from childhood until now, but some of the people that come in (like the offending caller) have really started to chip away at my compassion. It is so hard for me to feel compassionate and loving towards these people when they’re talking down to me, lying to me about who they are or what they need, or abusing the system.
It’s a constant effort for me to be kind and warm to the people who seem to be biting the hands that feed them at every turn.
