President Monson is #1

Wow, I think this is great! A friend of mine sent me an email today saying that in Slate's new list of 80 Most Powerful People in America Over 80, President Thomas S. Monson ranks #1!
Take a look at who else made the list:

http://www.slate.com/id/2232918/?GT1=38001

Are you a Mormon too?

It's been a busy Monday with half of my team out sick today! So long story short, that puts a lot of pressure on me. I was just talking with a man in English and he was telling his wife in Spanish what I was saying (that gives you an idea of how tired I am...too lazy to speak Spanish, my brain was too tired). After a few sentences it got too tedious though so I jumped in and commented in English about what they were saying in Spanish. The lady took one look at me and said (in Spanish), "you speak Spanish?" When I said yes she said "you must be Mormon, everybody is Mormon here and that's how they learn 2 languages. I'm Mormon and I'm trying to learn English." It made me laugh. I started talking in Spanish and told her yes, I learned Spanish on an LDS mission in Argentina. It's a good way to end the day.

Not in the mood for attitude

Today I read an article that the Utah unemployment rate has now passed 6%. It seems like the higher the unemployment rate is the more irritable, ornery people are when they come in the office. I can understand the correlation though because losing a job is a major life change that causes stress. Today has been no exception. It doesn't help that it's fall break for most schools in the area so we've had A LOT of noisy kids running around today. I think I hit my limit when a lady was yelling in line. I asked her to stop and be patient and she told me to take a chill pill (she said other things too but I'll edit them out for my readers.) I replied and told her: "no, you need the chill pill. We're just trying to help you but you come in and hit us with attitude." She didn't like hearing that. Thankfully the security guard stepped in and she left. Usually by the time I hit Thursday at work I'm to tired to deal with much, especially not ornery people with attitude. I guess the 10 hour days do that to me. I can't wait to start my 3 days weekend!

It's just TMI

Just when I thought I'd heard it all customers keep surprising me. It's not just me, co-workers have good stories to tell too. A friend at work was telling me yesterday about a man that called in asking for her to intervene because his wife was being adulterous. He wanted her to help him out. She had to explain that we don't have anything to do with their personal life. He kept insisting that she talk with his wife and convince her she was living in sin. My co-worker had to say, "no, really we don't do that. We just do your medicaid and food stamps, we aren't counselors." She suggested he talk with a family member or ecclesiastical leader. He didn't like that answer. He wanted her to help him right now!
Another co-worker told me she got a phone call yesterday from a customer who was all upset because she just found out she has a STD. She didn't know who to turn to so she called her employment counselor. The worker had to explain to her that we don't get involved in their personal life. She suggested that she talk with a doctor about it.
Too often people think we are a one stop center for everything! It's usually a wake up call when we have to explain we only handle government assistance. We aren't the crisis hotline or therapists but that doesn't slow people down.
These aren't one time occurrences. We hear way too much information at the front desk sometimes. I don't particularly care why people apply for medicaid or why they need to see a doctor. I'm just here to help them apply for services. Below is a sampling of some of the real life reasons people have told me why they need medicaid (truly, it's just TMI) ~

the two kids with me have H1N1 flu!!! (glad they at least had masks on)

a blood clot in the lung

broken arm from a boyfriend beating them

cancer diagnosis

found out they have hepatitis when they tried to donate blood

need to see a therapist to get back on meds

just found out they are pregnant

need help since they just got out of jail

a spider bite is causing the skin to fall off your leg (too often they want to show me)

need to visit their gynecologist

I want my tubes tied

I have a stint, want to see?

I'm impotent

a saw cut my arm in half

I think I have bronchitis again **cough, cough**

The list goes on and on! Seriously people, we don't need to hear all the details! I guess I should be more caring and listen but when I hear things like this every day I can't help but just interrupt them to say, "here's the website, fill out an application." Sometimes it's not a lack of caring, it's just concern for my own health!