I love that! You used your experience in a positive way and gained useful knowledge and insights. The people on welfare in my town (which was tiny so everyone knew everyone else’s business) were the definition of deadbeats. Didn’t work, didn’t want to work, perpetually on the government dole. While do many around them worked really hard and struggled 😕
I love that! You used your experience in a positive way and gained useful knowledge and insights. The people on welfare in my town (which was tiny so everyone knew everyone else’s business) were the definition of deadbeats. Didn’t work, didn’t want to work, perpetually on the government dole. While do many around them worked really hard and struggled 😕
It was that perception that made it embarrassing for me to use food stamps and medicaid for my son while I was in college as a single mom. But I did it to give him and me a better future. Not all ppl were deadbeats...I still worked 16-20hrs a week holding down a 20+ hour curriculum. And I paid my loans all back (only borrowed 30k for pharmacy school). Paid back those food stamps and any medicaid he used via taxes many many times over. My caseworker used to tell me she wished she had a hundred ppl like me instead of what she usually deals with. But yeah. An atypical example for sure. Still was embarrassing tho. And I still went without because my income was such I only qualified for a small stipend. I was a lot skinnier then. 😉
Key word, you were embarrassed! It used to be that people that had to take a handout or up, were ashamed. I don’t see that anymore. I see those taking and scamming at the same time, instead of working. And if you are on assistance, I’m thinking nails and eyelashes and cell phones might be a tad expensive for the likes of those people. But apparently, it’s now a sense of arrogant pride.
Why feel embarrassed when your money comes from a nameless, faceless bureaucracy? It was different when, in the past, charity had to be taken from people you knew, and who may not have had much to give. That's the worst part of it.
Exactly!! When it was neighbors there was a sense of accountability. It helped build ties and also keep people honest to only ask for what they needed.
Back then, you got a coupon book of actual "food stamps" which is where the term came from. It took time to count them all out as they came in various denominations like money but they were glued into a booklet. Everyone around you could see what you were doing, knew what it was, and gave the stank eye as you used them. There were no cell phones to own, no debit cards, just checks, cash and credit cards which I didn't have. Even the cashier would glare. I wasn't even buying steaks believe me as I needed meals for a growing boy I bought fruit, vegetables, hamburger, chicken, eggs and milk.
You are the kind of person I am happy to help! It’s meant to be a temporary help not a way of life. I know the reality of generations on welfare from growing up where I did and seeing it first hand, and that’s my objection. The problem with the system is that it is more designed to enable that than give an incentive to get off the program. As your caseworker seemed to acknowledge 😕
I love that! You used your experience in a positive way and gained useful knowledge and insights. The people on welfare in my town (which was tiny so everyone knew everyone else’s business) were the definition of deadbeats. Didn’t work, didn’t want to work, perpetually on the government dole. While do many around them worked really hard and struggled 😕
It was that perception that made it embarrassing for me to use food stamps and medicaid for my son while I was in college as a single mom. But I did it to give him and me a better future. Not all ppl were deadbeats...I still worked 16-20hrs a week holding down a 20+ hour curriculum. And I paid my loans all back (only borrowed 30k for pharmacy school). Paid back those food stamps and any medicaid he used via taxes many many times over. My caseworker used to tell me she wished she had a hundred ppl like me instead of what she usually deals with. But yeah. An atypical example for sure. Still was embarrassing tho. And I still went without because my income was such I only qualified for a small stipend. I was a lot skinnier then. 😉
Key word, you were embarrassed! It used to be that people that had to take a handout or up, were ashamed. I don’t see that anymore. I see those taking and scamming at the same time, instead of working. And if you are on assistance, I’m thinking nails and eyelashes and cell phones might be a tad expensive for the likes of those people. But apparently, it’s now a sense of arrogant pride.
Why feel embarrassed when your money comes from a nameless, faceless bureaucracy? It was different when, in the past, charity had to be taken from people you knew, and who may not have had much to give. That's the worst part of it.
Exactly!! When it was neighbors there was a sense of accountability. It helped build ties and also keep people honest to only ask for what they needed.
Back then, you got a coupon book of actual "food stamps" which is where the term came from. It took time to count them all out as they came in various denominations like money but they were glued into a booklet. Everyone around you could see what you were doing, knew what it was, and gave the stank eye as you used them. There were no cell phones to own, no debit cards, just checks, cash and credit cards which I didn't have. Even the cashier would glare. I wasn't even buying steaks believe me as I needed meals for a growing boy I bought fruit, vegetables, hamburger, chicken, eggs and milk.
You are the kind of person I am happy to help! It’s meant to be a temporary help not a way of life. I know the reality of generations on welfare from growing up where I did and seeing it first hand, and that’s my objection. The problem with the system is that it is more designed to enable that than give an incentive to get off the program. As your caseworker seemed to acknowledge 😕