Good Afternoon;
So, yesterday was another ridiculously hot day, 100 degrees at the freakin' airport, which means that it was 103 at the Customs House which is the official measurement site for Baltimore City, and there are pockets in the city that get hotter than that. Then in the evening some serious thunderstorm action kicked in.
But first.....
I left the shed to go to S.S.A. at 1o:00 am. to find out the status of my claim and to get a statement to take to D.S.S. informing them of the still active status I thought I had. Well silly me, there I go thinking again! The case WAS inactive due to s denial in October of 2010!!!! When I asked about all the things I thought were done, such as the "request for reconsideration", the "..'good cause' filing deadline extension", and the "request for a hearing by an administrative law judge".....imagine my "surprise", which is putting it mildly, when I was informed that no records existed of any such filings. So the past 8 months have been a total waste of time and I, AGAIN!, am starting over from scratch.
Not A Happy Camper!
One bright spot rising above an ocean of sh*t was the S.S.A. worker who interviewed me and restarted the process, Ms. Brown. Some of you 'loyal readers' who have read the earliest posts may remember that one of the reasons I started this blog was in attempt to say thank you to and bring notice to both the known and unknown souls out there who reach out to help or go that extra mile to find a solution or an answer to a seemingly insurmountable obstacle or bureaucratic roadblock. So many in positions designed to assist or guide people through the maze of rules, regulations and paperwork required to get assistance obtaining the basic services needed to subsist are often deliberately obtuse or obstructionist that when encountering someone who not only does their job, but does it cheerfully and empathetically and even above and beyond their official duties. Sometimes by offering other options or possible avenues, sometimes by simply listening and allowing one to vent the built up frustrations at redundant or repetitive processes they are forced to go through. The worker at D.S.S., Mr. Saunders, was another who streamlined the process by the simple act of pulling a complete file and looking at it, where another would have requested more copies of things already filled out.
After leaving S.S.A. I went to Jenn's and dropped off my bags and walked down to D.S.S. with the the requested forms from S.S.A. I would have taken the bus but by the time one arrived I was almost there. I then had the pleasure of dealing with one of the aforementioned idiots in the previous paragraph. The woman at he desk told me I had to take a number when I asked if I needed to see the caseworker or could I just leave the papers at customer service and get a receipt. Well, after waiting an hour for 20 numbers to be called I finally made it to the desk......where the (deep breath.....calm.......calmmm.....), ahem, 'woman' told me, after barely glancing at the papers, that I need to leave them with customer service. When I confronted her and asked why the hell couldn't I have done that an hour ago when I first showed her the papers, she said that customer service was closed then.......which it was not!........at this point all the other people behind the desk looked at her very strangely and moved as far away as they could as the supervisor said to her,"No it wasn't, and you know that"........! I just stared at her for a loooooonnngggggg minute without saying a word, (though I may possibly have 'sotto voce' let slip the phrase 'lying c*nt'.........yeah well, I'm not perfect), as about 8 other people came up to the desk clamoring for the supervisor's attention with similar issues. At customer service I was in and out, over and done with in 5 minutes...with a receipt of acceptance.
I walked back to Jenn's house, and even though the heat was 100 degrees it did not feel as bad as 90 did today. I think it is more humid out there, especially after the damn rain last night and just now soaked the ground. I showered at Jenn's and ended up crashing on the couch because it was raining THAT hard everytime I needed to meet the bus. I ended up watching "Shark Boy And Lava Girl" for the umpteenth time with the grandmonsters. This morning I showered and gave Jenn some things to put in her wash load for me, and rolled out about Noon, using my next to last $1.20 for bus fare. After eating breakfast at Jenn's I have a couple bagels from Wednesday left and a few scrapings of peanut butter in the jar left for dinner. Tomorrow I'll stop by Jenn's at some point, when it is least congested in competition for the shower...lol, and pick up my clean undies and grab a bite to eat. The rest of the weekend is still an exciting game of 'Catch As Catch Can' or the "Leftover Lottery" regarding food. If it's not TOO hot, and I catch it on the way out the door, there is always the 'Dunkin' Dumpster'.....yummmmm donuts............LOL!
Anyway...........I'm done for now....and on the way back to the shed to see if the sauna has become a steam bath.
Later....................Dave
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