Fund-Raising And Other Occasions To Lie By Omission

 Monday, three days after the meeting with shelter director Rachel.

Having forked over the $250, I'm now back in the Journey program, lying on my lower bunk on the back wall and jamming out to the Eagles' "I Can't Tell You Why" on my laptop with headphones.  I hear the dorm door screech open...

Apparently, to give a better understanding to donors about what they do here, there's a tour of the facilities today, because one of the staff has led a man into the room, discussing the upgrades to the plumbing facilities.  I remove my headphones and listen. 

He can't really see all of me from the doorway, but apparently can see my feet encased in purple socks, and asks about people being in the dorm during the day.  The staff member tells him that they "allow" people with jobs or who work at night to remain inside so they can rest.  She says NOTHING about charging us for that 'privilege', making it sound so very "Christian" of them.  (To tell you the truth:  I'm sorta surprised they don't charge for access to the wifi here, as well.)

That lie-by-omission speech regarding the shelter's 'great charity' is quickly followed by a lament about their grant writer having abandoned them for a better-paying job and how hard it is to run a shelter on  meagre government grants.

They then start speaking of the COVID pandemic and he remarks on hearing about the sickness running rampant through the shelter at the time.  She replies that, yes, there were many people affected back then but, NOW, people rarely get ill here.

My mouth falls open in shock.  Saaay wha?  Does he not see the oxygen machine and tanks at the foot of the bed opposite mine?  The woman those belong to DID NOT come in with them.  She acquired a serious lung infection due to the extremely cold temperatures of the women's dormitory every day, and had to eventually be hospitalized for a few days.. then returned with her mechanical companions.

LOTS of women, including myself, came down with respiratory issues. I actually had COVID, but I only know that now because I still haven't recovered my senses of taste and smell weeks later.  I heard the illnesses were passed on to some of the men, too, but can't speak to direct knowledge of it.  Heard lots of coughing and sneezing from the guys, too, though.

The thing is:  LOTS of women complained (and still do) about how cold it is in the dorm, and still become ill.  But all staff will say is "The AC controls are locked. We can't do anything about it."  Nobody EVER directs us to whom we SHOULD speak to about it, or who holds they keys to said lock.

I ended up writing about it on their Facebook page.  They tried stating that "staff isn't reporting any complaints".  I told them that maybe they should talk to the RESIDENTS or, even better, one of said staff could stay a day or two in the dorm and experience it for themselves.  Complete and total silence after that.

The day after that laughably, inaccurately-presented 'tour', I found out that Rachel overheard one of the women telling her counselor she was going to get her hair colored, and admonished her for spending money unnecessarily when she should be saving to get a place of her own.  I laughed and told her about the comments made on the tour and the fact that they had no problem charging me and others to stay in the dorm and the cost of the one motel night.. which Rachel did NOT offer to subtract from this month's 'rent', of course.

We also discussed the fact that neither Rachel nor Elise cared to discuss the issue regarding the offensive behavior of "Caren", a member of the kitchen staff, and the large amount of money I was forced to pay daily for months because of her behavior.

Oh... I didn't tell you about that yet, did I?  (chuckle)  Next post.

Meeting With The Head Honcho

 Here we are on Friday, my third official meeting with Meagan.  Only, this time, she's not alone.  "Rachel", the director of the shelter, has opted to sit in for this one.  Apparently, my request for written documentation of decisions made is not something normally done by the regular, destitute and desperate residents of the shelter.

Rachel starts off by apologizing for all the miscommunications from her subordinates.  I tell her I don't blame Meagan in the slightest, but DO have issues with the way I was treated by Elise. 

Rachel starts off nice enough, but eventually becomes visibly irritated when I don't seem to be cowed by her awesome presence and position, not simply "letting it go and starting over" as she insists we now do.  She starts talking about "all the other shelters around the country" I could go to.  Like Elise, subtly telling me I could leave if being treated this way wasn't to my liking.  Pretty much telling me I had no choice but to accept what had happened and be grateful I'm not being further punished for THEIR mistakes.

She tells me the story of some other resident who recently spent $1K on a gaming system instead of saving his money... but never touches on the fact that it was their fault I had to pay for a motel earlier in the week.

SO-- just to get it over with, I acquiesce to the tacit threat of eviction and agree to "start over" (i.e. stop talking about it), and am allowed to re-enter the Journey program for $250/month.  I am offered a semi-private room for $350/month (only 3 other roommates instead of up to 15) but I decline.

And that brings me to the following Monday.

Adventures In A Small-Town Homeless Shelter- The Next Day...

 After spending an expensive night in a motel, I met with (let's call her) Elise, the lead counselor for the shelter, the next morning.  She tells me that there were no notations in my file that I was granted permission for my night out.  I point out that I told TWO staff members, including my new counselor, "Meagan" about it and no one told me I was in error.  There was no way I could have known I was not on solid ground regarding a month's-long plan in place.

Pretty much a bunch of back-and-forth bullshit with her telling me that it wasn't her job to call me yesterday and get it sorted out.  She also tells me that her communication with the front desk was that I was offered a COT on the dining room floor last night as my punishment, but that I chose to leave, instead.  I told her to check the video feed-- NOBODY said a word about "a cot"... just told me I couldn't stay there last night.  She "said" she'd check... I doubt she ever did. 

She could see that I was extremely angry at the massive amount of inconsistencies in what I had been told, and asked me, "If you're so unhappy here, why are you still here?"  I pointed out that that phrase is one white supremacists often utter when confronted with people of color protesting unequal treatment.  She (pretended?) to be offended at the comparison.  

Though she acknowledged that the fault didn't lie with me regarding the many miscommunications, she NEVER apologized... but DID act as if she were doing me a huge favor by not kicking me out of the shelter for "breaking the rules".

At this point, I should divulge that, under my last counselor, I had been enrolled in their "Journey program", which is, simply:  After you've been in the shelter for 30 days, you're allowed to PAY $250-$350 per month to be allowed to stay inside all day rather than leaving at 8am. 

However, since I hadn't met with said last counselor in a month, I had assumed after a time that I was no longer in that program and started leaving the shelter every morning with everyone else.  This ALSO was not something Elise checked before, a day or two later, issuing a decree through Meagan that I was BANNED from EVER participating in the Journey program again because of "late payments", pretty much accusing me of attempting to game the system without payment.  I had no idea I'd still been on the list as being "pay to stay" up to that point.  They REALLY have incredibly bad communication issues between staff here!

By this time, I'd realized that ALL important communication to the shelter's employees should be in writing, so I politely wrote to Meagan, informing her that, again, it wasn't my fault I didn't have a counselor to confer with for 30 days and no way of knowing to whom I was to pay the second month's program fee.  I also requested that Elise revisit her edict and, if she still felt I should be banned from the program, that she should put it and her reasons for doing so in writing, to be given to me at our next meeting later that week.

It only surprised a little, what happened at the next meeting...

Adventures In A Small-City Homeless Shelter

I suppose the REAL reason I'm writing this blog is because I'm thoroughly pissed off.  Like many homeless shelters, the one I'm in is supposed to be "Christian"-created and -supported.  But I've come to learn that, like most of such orgs, it is heavily MONEY-oriented, and the well-being of those who make up the populace of the shelter pretty much get screwed over if they present with any sort of independent thought beyond being good little kennel-dwellers.

It started off nice enough:  "Here are the rules.  Abide by them and you'll find your stay with us to be pleasant and productive."

The rules?

*  NO outside food allowed inside the building.

*  You must meet with an assigned counselor at least once per week.  (An important point for later)

*  Once you are assigned a bed, you cannot NOT be present every night to be counted unless given express permission to be gone by your assigned counselor.  (Another point important for later)

*  You're to perform three chores per week.  There's a list.. just choose one, document it and have it certified by someone on staff.

*  Breakfast is 6am-6:30am, no lunch except on Sundays, dinner is 6pm-6:30pm.

*  All residents must leave the dorms by 7:30am, the premises by 8am, and can only re-enter at 5pm.

There are many other rules, of course, but those are the basics.

SO-- why am I pissed?

I received permission from my counselor a month prior to be out on a certain night.  The shelter doesn't do written confirmations, so it was a verbal contract I "ASS-umed" would be honored.  Ha-ha.

My counselor ended up cancelling two weekly follow-up appointments with me, then suddenly quit.  I'm honestly quite happy for her.  It's not a pleasant environment to work for.

However, according to her higher-ups, she didn't document that last agreement we'd made, and I wasn't aware that she hadn't.  By the time I was assigned another counselor a MONTH later, the day before I was scheduled to be gone all night, everything was in place for a pleasant evening away from the nuthouse.  I had just enough time to inform the new counselor about my plans and that her predecessor had already okayed it.  She only said, "Okay."

I leave and return the next night, ONLY to be told that I'm not allowed to sleep there that night since, according to them, I DIDN'T have permission for the previous night.  I argued to no avail.  Understandably pissed, I ended up having to find a motel room for the night.

The next morning, I return to speak to whatever IDIOT made that snap decision without even trying to contact me to find out what was going on.

That's a whole 'nother conversation I'll document in my next post.