There is so much that has been going on in my life that I
have just now realized that I have been neglecting y’all. I am so very sorry. Well ok only kinda sorry. I have a life too y’all.
So I had a job at a domestic violence shelter and I loved it. I got that job back in November of last year. About the same time I stopped writing y’all. I really needed that job. Don’t know if you all know this about me but I am a survivor of Domestic Violence and this job really hit home. That is another story.
So I had a job at a domestic violence shelter and I loved it. I got that job back in November of last year. About the same time I stopped writing y’all. I really needed that job. Don’t know if you all know this about me but I am a survivor of Domestic Violence and this job really hit home. That is another story.
Now seeing that I was working for a DV shelter I saw a lot
of stuff and most of that is with the staff.
Yes there were times that a woman and her kids came in and I was beside
myself upset about what had happened to them.
I can’t discuss that one; but the things that I am referring to is the
fact that the staff there are horrible.
They don’t know how to treat people in general much less a woman that
was being abused for god knows how long.
At times I wanted to scream at them that they are human too!!! They thought that just because a woman didn’t
do her chore on time she should potentially get a “write up” that might cause
her to have to leave the shelter and possibly live on the street until she
could find somewhere else to go. That
isn’t right, I don’t care who you are or what you are trying to prove. Everyone needs a little sway every now and
then. That’s not to say that if you come
in drunk or high and decide that you want to sit there and cuss me out or
threaten me or my family with harm that I am not going to get you out of there
as soon as I can; but if you come in drunk or high and go to your room to sleep
it off and come to speak with me the next day about it I will let it slid the
first time. Everyone makes a mistake or
two, we are all human. Imagine how
boring life would be if we all followed the rules all the time. With all that said, and all that always
happening, I stayed. I stayed because they
needed me. They needed someone that was
on their side in there, someone that would stand up for them in their time of
need, someone that would stand there and listen when they needed it or give
them advice if they wanted it or maybe just a hug. Sometimes you just need a hug, or to cry, or
scream, or maybe just laugh. I wanted to
know that at least they had someone.
Before then, I had never contacted anyone outside of the
shelter. I was told that it wasn’t
allowed and that I would lose my job.
Then I heard of one of the girls that I worked with inviting one of the clients
to live with her for a while. She still
has her job and doesn’t do a damn thing to keep it. The breaking point of all of it for me was
when I was in Galveston, on September 22nd, and received a call that
one of the ladies and her 3 kids; ages 2, 1, and 4 months; were kicked out
because she had failed to complete her chore on time and was unable to call to
let someone know because she had no phone with her. She was asked to leave on Saturday before,
and had been out since then. That was
it! I asked the girl that had called me
if the client had called since then. No
she had not called and no one has heard anything from her and no one has tried
to call her either. I didn’t bother
asking her why no one has called her I just asked for her number. A couple of minutes after that I called the
client to make sure that she was ok and had a place to stay. That is when she told me that in fact she and
the kids had spent the last 2 nights in her truck and that she was going to be
doing that again tonight, because when she left they had not given her any
numbers for other shelters that she could call.
I was livid!!! Why do they do
this?! How can they knowingly kick out a
woman and her 3 babies and not give her at least a sheet of paper with numbers
to other shelters!!! That is the moment
that I knew that I had to really start doing something actively to help these
women or no one else would. I took it
upon myself to call around to other shelters and look for her another place to
go. I called 9 shelters that night and
spoke to several others that were at the conference with me the next day. It took me 2 days to find her a place to go. That was 2 days that she slept in her car
with her kids. 2 fucking days!!!!! This could have been avoided if the shelter
staff were a little more compassionate!
So on October 7th right after a confidential
staff meeting, I was called into the caseworker’s office. I was then told that on September 29th
I broke confidentiality when I contacted the client, and that I was being let
go. Yep, she told me that another staff
member called her and told her that I had called the shelter to specifically
ask for that clients number and take her food and diapers. Then, as I was about to leave, the Executive
Director, who was also in the room while I was being fired, stopped me and
asked me if I would like to tell them anything or any names that have also
broken the rules. REALLY!!! YOU WANT TO ASK ME THAT QUESTION AFTER YOU
HAVE ALREADY FIRED ME!!!??? I looked her
square in the face and said, “Why in
the fuck would I tell you a fucking thing, it’s not like it is going to get me
my job back! Fuck y’all!” Pfft
like I would tell them any motherfuckin thing!
So now that I have been fired, and don’t have a job, guess I can say whatever
I want, right? So I want someone to
explain to me how one of the staff members that still has a job can have 2 CPS
cases and has had a police report filed on her for “spanking” two kids in the
daycare of the shelter. How many asses
do you have to kiss to keep your job after that one? How about the staff member that verbally
abuses the other staff members on her shift and makes the workplace hostile, or
the one that yells and takes food from the children if they are caught eating
after 9:30 in the morning? I lost my job
for helping a woman and her kids find a safe place to sleep. I have so much more to say on this topic but
it will have to be another day because Mert is looking at me wondering what is
taking me so long…
<3 y’all and would love some feedback on this one.
