Welfare Might as Well be a Full-Time Job

     Welfare is meant to be a help to those who need it. Yes, there are those who take advantage of it, but there are people who genuinely need assistance. What's a real problem is that those who truly need it can feel ashamed of their need as a result of being associated with those who choose welfare over actual work or seeking work. In order to minimize the cheats, the welfare department requires a lot of proof that you are who you say you are and are as poor as you claim. This evidence makes the process of obtaining assistance very difficult and time consuming.
     As a result of the events described in my first post of this year, we are poor. Very poor. We went and applied for Welfare about two weeks ago. They issued us a card same day so we could buy groceries with the intent to return with certain pieces of paperwork. Two pieces we need are a letter from my former employer stating that I am no longer employed by them and a letter from unemployment declaring that I am either receiving benefits or that I have been denied. They can't help us any further until we get those two pieces of paper to them. Here's where it gets silly though. My former employer was being very elusive with the phones. No matter who I called, I got sent to voice mail, and of course the message was never returned. We asked for and received an extension on our claim as a result.
     However, today, I finally get a call back and am told to call the payroll company (I was officially employed by one company and leased to the company I drove for). When I called them, they said they don't send out letters. Ever. Not gonna happen. Seriously? You can't write a letter stating that I am no longer employed by you and send it to me? Isn't that just a little ridiculous? So, I call my former company again and actually get through! But again, I'm given the run around. I tell the lady that I called about needing paperwork and she responds, "I left you a message." "Yes, I got the message, called them, and was told to call you because they don't do letters." She takes down my info and claims to need to run it by the boss. Listen, I'm not asking for a recommendation or an opinion or anything that I might sue over, I'm just asking for a simple letter simply stating the fact that I'm not working there anymore.
     The second half is the need for a letter from Unemployment. I've been calling them everyday and everyday I've gotten the recorded message that they are receiving more calls than they can handle. Well, maybe you need to hire more people. Simple solution, right? Finally, I dig a little deeper and find out that I actually have to apply through Illinois' Unemployment department. This, after I punch in my SSN to California's department four times, only to have them hang up on me. Is it me, or does that strike anyone else as somewhat careless or risky on their part to take people's social security numbers over the phone only to hang up because they still don't have enough people? Anyways, I call Illinois, get a place in line, wait ten minutes or so, and hang up. Gonna have to try that again tomorrow, just ran out of time today.
    Why does this frustrate me so? Because it's very frustrating, duh. But also because the Welfare folk stress the fact that they will be tracking my social security number to make sure I don't have any unreported income. So, basically, it's in their power to get all of this information themselves if they just thought for a moment. Instead, I have to deal with people who have no ability to think for themselves and fight to get one single letter stating that I'm unemployed and wade through the system of another state to get a letter stating that I am not receiving any unemployment benefits. I only worked for a month, so I'm pretty sure that I won't be eligible.