i say if it wasnt for people like us...they wouldnt have a job.....
debbie :)

regardless of your work load i feel that people deserve to be treated with dignity.

I had this problem last week. I went to the SSO to check on 1 of My cases and the worker kept saying something about a case I had with My Dad and I was like I do not have a case with my Dad. I do not even know him and she was like yes you do and it has been denied and you can not have a case of your own and I said well you get this guy on the phone who has been working on my case cause you do not know what you are talking about and she did and turns out that she was wrong and was not allowed into my case file.

People do deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

Also keep in mind, the public assistance workers (food stamps, cash and medical assistance) in the county I live in have 900 cases in their workload.

There are a lot of really great caseworkers. There are a lot of a-holes. It doesn't seem to click with them that a few things could put them right in the very situation as their clients. We're not all that different.

no comment (luv that name)
I could not agree with u more.
the case workers must really have to find ways to deal with the stress

I did meet one woman who was indeed cruella deville
she was consistent and her whole attitude was one of condensation,

on the other hand I was speaking with one case worker and she did not hide her anger and resentment, i did not get mad i just asked what is wrong like maybe somethin like why are u so mad or upset (she was mean too, and I mean mean.)

her whole demeanor changed, turned out she couldn't stand NOT being able to help these people, she told me that even if they (the dhs) gave all they legally could to these clients she saw no way they could make it (survive)

our son is getting a bachelors with a 3.9 and all kinds of awards recommendations etc,, and no job in sight. and a load of debt/

anyway, I happen to know the dhs near us is hiring and I mentioned it to him. I personally could never keep 4 cases and all that paperwork organized let alone 900 cases. Even if i was not sick i could not do it. i live in a very bad hit state, pretty soon the only jobs will be state jobs and walmart,

When I was working and they were all private companies. No matter how swamped I was and at times it was unbearable. I always kept it professional and never had an attitude. There were times when I was sick and swamped and people (clients) yelling and complaining to me and I still kept my self respect and was professional, so I don't give a crap about how nasty those government workers are. They can always be replaced by someone who needs a job and can keep it nice and professional. When they are nasty to you, go to the highest and complain about them. Get their first name and the date and time you spoke to them.

Actually the SSO caseworker I have for my son drives me more nuts than the Social Service workers here in my part of NC. She can't seem to understand that you can't go two weeks without calling someone back, unless of course you are dealing with something like a death in the family or serious illness. And will tell me one thing, and then a week later tell me something else. I've been dealing with her for over a month now getting my son's SSI reinstated, after making sure she had all the information she needed to do the review on his case. She blamed it on another SSO thing that "supposedly" started a review that did not need to be done, but the letter I got said we had failed to show up for an appointment, which we NEVER received ANY notification about. I think she just screwed up and don't want to admit it. Nothing wrong with say..Sorry, my bad. I'd be a happy gal if she could just do that one thing.
Now I do know that my Medicaid caseworker is a bit of a snot, but my foodstamp case worker is just awesome.
I know it has to be hard to handle the case loads some of these folks have put before them.

I think that working as a social worker for the government actually turns a well meaning, caring, thoughtful person into an a-hole, because they are overworked to an obscene degree and deal with people, many of which have mental illnesses (because the mentally ill have been given little other option in this society than to become a burden upon it), and all of which have reached a degree of desperation or they would not be applying for assistance in the first place. Desperate people can be unpredictable and are not necessarily easy to deal with, then they have to go to these unhappy, overworked people who started out with the idea to help people and ended up shuffling paper and trying to weed out the liers and cheaters from the needy.

While I don't envy these people their lot in life, I have never met one that was easy to deal with, or one that seemed to retain any sense of courtesy or allowed any of us to retain any sense of dignity.

You are so right.
1 place i lived somebody shot a caseworker bc their check was late.
that person probably never got a check again.

i understand poor ppl not happy , but they're mad at the wrong ppl.

also life is how you take it.
your attitude is what can make it harder.

i've been homeless and starving a few times many yrs ago,with my wife and 3 kids a few times.
we knew it wasn't the caseworkers fault.

alot of caseworkers are a problem too.

they could be like cops are in a way,
after so many yrs of bs on the job it gets to them.

so they are not who they were the first few yrs.

I applied for SSDI back in 2003. Whenever I go to the doctor, I pick up a copy of my medical records so that I can have easy access to it if I need it. I have three huge 5 inch files filled with medical records going back to 1997. So when I applied for benefits in 03 I carried all three files along with my application into the local Social Security Office. The young woman behind the desk was not at all happy to see me. She went on about how I didn't need to bring my files with me but I stood my ground. Finally after speaking to her boss, she took my files and said that she would mail them back to me. Three days later I received a phone call from a Social Security case worker. I had been approved. I was in shock! He informed me that it was the medical files that did the trick. So I receive my first check about a week later. Social Security has been notified that I am also on Worker's Comp. Well there is a law that making it illegal to collect the full amount of both payments so usually SSDI will deduct a certain amount from each check because of the dual payments. However in WA State, where I reside, the State deducts the Social Security from my W/C payments instead. So I'm receiving $947 from SSDI and $500 from Worker's Comp in 2003. In 2009, I receive a letter from Social Security informing me that they were unaware that I was collecting Worker's Comp payments so my monthly benefit was being reduced to $150 a month and I now owe the Government $120,000.00. I immediately went into panic mode and tried to get the mess straightened out. It seems that President Bush had put forth a plan to run computer lines from each of the different sections of Social Security in 2005. Apparently none of the computers in the different Departments can speak to one another. But the Democratic controlled Congress nixed the plan and it didn't happen. So when one of my Doctors' offices sent in a bill to Medicare instead of Worker's Comp. the Dept that handles those billings assumed that I was double dipping and notified the payment dept. The payment dept couldn't communicate with the Medical Dept Computers so they didn't know that Medical knew of my situation and that the deductions were being made. Confused? Me too. Well after many phone calls with mostly professional workers we got the mess straightened out in 5 months.

Now I said that the workers were professional. Even though I was angry and about to lose my home, I never once yelled at a case worker who was trying to help me. I was polite, I let them know that I was panicky but I never blamed them for what had happened. In fact I heard over and over again about how much the workers appreciated my attitude. They would tell me that it was so frustrating to work with patients who were rude, angry, foul mouthed , impatient and just plain mean. Yes sometimes they let it all out over the phone. But those of us who call in bring it on ourselves when they do.