judecorp: (gargamel)
[personal profile] judecorp
Work is thoroughly irritating me today.

It started off fine enough - my first appointment showed up (he always shows up), and then my second didn't but I wasn't really expecting him to. Then I ate lunch and headed downtown for open hours. They were busy, but not too terrible. Then I came up here for open hours, but no one wanted a case manager except for one guy. So that was quick. But then my other appointments didn't show! GRR! So, like, from 4:30-6:30 I will be sitting here with nothing to do because I did all of my busy work during my open hours, and I have no evening appointments.

At least I have "Chinese Fortune." Mmm.

But I had the most obnoxious, pass-the-buck thing said to me today at my open hours downtown. You see, Faith Mission policy is that if you have a night out unexplained (as in, you didn't clear it ahead of time and you weren't in the hospital), you lose your bed and can't come back for 30 days. (In the business, we call this a "30 day out.") Anyway, apparently a resident lost his bed last night because he was using substances and never made it back.

He came to me to ask for his bed back. I told him that I couldn't arrange that, and he'd have to do 30 days out. At this point, his situation became all my fault. Now, I'm the first person to take responsibility for stuff that I have no control over, but this was too much. Apparently, it was my fault this man used drugs and was out all night and lost his bed - it's my fault because I wasn't at work yesterday or Sunday or Saturday, and so I couldn't "get him into a treatment program," and so he lost his bed. I apologized for the lack of CM services over the long weekend, but reminded him that he could have, at any time, looked in the phone book and called a treatment program if he was struggling with his addiction. At this point, he said that I had to give him his bed back because I wasn't here to do my job.

Me: I'm sorry you feel that way. If you'd like, I can give you the phone number to the Health Department. I can even write you a referral to another shelter.

Him: I need my bed back.

Me: I am unable to do that, sir. You will need to do 30 days out. Would you like the phone number to the Health Department?

Him: I can't believe this place. I lost my bed because you didn't do your fucking job. What kind of place is this? What kind of a counselor are you? You won't even do your job.

At that point, there was nothing else to say but, "Good luck, sir. Have a good day."

Date: 2003-01-22 06:36 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] judecorp.livejournal.com
If there's one thing I've learned from individuals in recovery from drugs and alcohol, it's that there's something about these substances (especially crack, it would seem) that really grip people and take over them. Yes, people need to take some responsbility for their actions (you can't always expect that someone will be there to pick you up when you've fallen), but I /do/ believe that all people, regardless of their circumstances, deserve respect because they are human beings, and along with respect, they deserve compassion, a warm place to sleep, food to eat, and medical care.

These people are survivors. If you have to fake a stomach pain to get a place to stay, by all means - I would do it, too.

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