Work First Meeting

Today was the big day, the showdown with the worker who has been harassing us for weeks, threatening to sanction us. We left as soon as possible, dropping the kids off at school at 7:30 for breakfast and hitting the road immediately. I didn't go the way I should have, and driving was difficult in a downpour during morning rush. We made it there just in the nick of time, and when we finally saw the woman I was disarmed by how VERY pleasant she was. It was insane. We had had such a hard time with her by email and phone. She gave us all the info we needed and I was happy to discover that if I complete the program, which amounts to a full year of funds in the form of cash and food stamps now, dwindling as I work more and earn more, and then work for four consecutive months after, I will be eligible for a $4000 grant for school. It can't be used to pay off school debt, but on future schooling. It seems very likely that I will be able to finish at least a two year degree mostly free of cost to me, if not completely. I'm thrilled about that. I need to get moving on it.
The funny thing is the worker actually seemed to be discouraging me from going to school at first. She said she thought it was, and I quote, 'noble of me to want to try it' but that I had to be very careful not to lose my focus, which was working so that I could keep my benefits. Then she tested me. She was a compulsive talker and at the mathematical section of the test she was so blown away watching me test that she couldn't keep from talking to me while I was testing, telling me she couldn't believe how fast I was completing the test. I was doing two and three column multiplication and division without scrap paper at times, and I don't think she'd ever seen something like that before. I scored perfectly, 100%, which she said she had never seen anyone do before, let alone in that time. The test only went up to a ninth grade proficiency, so I wasn't doing rocket science or nuclear physics, just basic math. It helped that I had just tested for a Chase Personal Banker position, which consisted of many fairly difficult math problems, and I feel I did very well on that test, so I was already warmed up and feeling sharp. Rar.
So at any rate, the work first is taken care of for a while. I don't think we'll hear from her again for a while, and she says as long as I keep faxing her my pay stubs, she'll keep sending me checks for transportation expenses, six bucks a day. I have a check for $72 coming already. I like that!
I did get a hold of another apartment today and it sounds promising, but by the time Carrie came in today to discuss the grant I had to leave for work. I'm going to try to get her tomorrow, and then see the new apartment on Thursday at three o'clock. I hope we get some calls back from some more of these people. I'd like more choices than two.
The situation in the shelter has degenerated quickly. We have gotten two new families, one a young woman named Sarah and a baby that I have yet to see. She says the baby is with her aunt. Then there is a family with a two year old boy. Today the four adults other than John and I spent all day sitting at the kitchen table, bullshitting and talking. I ate standing up, because we aren't allowed to eat anywhere else but the kitchen, and no one offered to move. Then after the girls came home from school, the conversation turned to shop lifting, and how to do it, and how it's gotten more and more difficult to steal, and such. I went into Carrie's office, whose door they were sitting outside of, talking loudly, and pointed out that I didn't find it appropriate conversation for my kids to be hearing. I should have mentioned that the kids usually do their homework and have a snack there, but there was no room for them today. After she told them to change the subject, they all went outside to smoke. It's time to get out of here, regardless of how small the place is we go to, or how much it costs me to keep it up. I can't stay here much longer. It's gotten to be an unsavory atmosphere, which I had anticipated, and have been grateful hasn't been the case all along.