poverty = time spent in lines

this blog is a recap of my day's experience.
i had the day off and decided i'd make the most of it and go apply for EBT (food stamps).
this will be a rewrite of the notes i took through out the day.

8:15am -- hooray! finally a day for food stamps! i have all my paperwork and have directions to the building. it doesn't look bad. i think a few blocks away. honestly though i do have some mixed opinions about applying for public assistance. i am technically living in poverty (i will be making roughly 13,000 this year with my Ameri Corps service) and part of the program is to "experience" poverty and be able to "relate" to the community i'll be working in. with about 1000 a month and my rent 700 a month plus bills... a little help would be nice. ok. wish me luck.

9:00 am -- hmmm. so i thought i'd get there right at 8:30 when the building opened. no luck. the directions were deceiving and i don't know this neighborhood that well. i went way out of my way and when i finally stopped to ask for directions, I couldn't find anyone who spoke english. but i have found the building now. i was greeted at the front door by a security guard who motioned to the end of a line without asking me what i needed. so now i am in the back of a line--with 40 other people ahead of me.

9:42 am -- i just got through the first line. the man behind the reception counter handed me a packet of papers and a piece of green paper. he told me to go to the 4th floor. when i got off the elevator another security guard motioned to an already filled to the brim waiting room. Children are crying, people are dozing in chairs, or staring at CNN blaring from a TV on the far wall. There are 5 workers behind glass yelling out numbers and helping the next person. i've settled in and am now going to fill out my 10 page application.

10:10 am -- application filled out, but i think i did some wrong. i need to listen for my number. i am FA35. they just yelled for FA14.

10:42 am -- FA18

10:57 am -- i've just bonded with an older, latino man sitting next to me. we both feel like we have been here forever and the waiting room is so loud. i wish i would of ate something for breakfast and not just drank that cup of coffee.

11:12 am -- my new friend just got called into the magical doors they bring you in when your number is called. he was FA24. 11 more numbers to go for me!

11:52 am --a little 4 year old girl sitting next to me is coughing so hard she just threw up on herself. her mom is talking on the phone and doesn't notice. i feel like i should say something. it is so loud in here. there are so many people. i can't believe i'm still waiting. i've been here for almost 3 hours.

11:55 am -- i'm in.

12:18 pm -- ok. i met with my caseworker, Miss. Halloway. she was kind, but very business. she looked tired. she tells me that i need to get a receipt to verify my SSN (because I do not have the original card)--she gives me instructions on where to go for that. she says i need to go do that today and bring it back to her. i want to cry thinking about going back in a line. i get my finger print and picture taken.

12:38 pm -- i found the Social Security Administration building. i got a number and am standing in another line. my feet hurt. i am in another room full of people. i am the only white person i have seen today. this "experience" is unreal.

12:49 pm -- i got my receipt. the woman worked quick and didn't make any small talk. i am about to start walking back to the first building i was at. i am hot, exhausted, so hungry, and getting crabby.

1:10 pm -- i am back at the first building. i need to give my receipt to Miss. Halloway so i called her direct dial. She said she would come down and grab it (thank you so much!!)!! I think i'll get my card now! thank goodness! i want to go home and eat lunch!!!!!!!!

1:13 pm -- Miss. Halloway just gave my another sheet of paper with another address on it. I have to go to to this place in downtown Brooklyn to get the card. seriously? seriously? now i am getting angry! i want to go home.

2:30 pm -- i'm standing outside another government building in downtown brooklyn. it took me 45 minutes on the subway to get here and guess what.. THE LINE IS SO LONG IT IS OUT THE BUILDING AND AROUND THE BLOCK! i'm here, might as well get in line.

3:28 pm -- ok. i have checked in finally!! now i have to wait again for my name to be called to get my card. this waiting room is the smallest i have been in yet and there are people crawling everywhere. a mother just told her toddler son next to me to "shut the fuck up before i smack you upside the head." i am so tired and i want to say something, but what do i say? this whole day has been overwhelming. we talk about poverty in the classroom, at VISTA, in Social Work workshops--but until you go through this experience you can not know. i still do not know and here i have been all day. i want to go home.

4:00 pm -- done. card in hand. pin punched in. i am going home. i want a nap.