Who Knew?

The past few weeks have been quite an experience for me.
I've learned quite a lot really. And all of it's stuff I would prefer not to know.

For one thing, boys really are just after sex in life and cannot be trusted.
I really am as naive as people think. Possibly more so.
MSN is pure garbage.
And people who work for PA Mentor have no soul.

The first three of those issues to bother me, but right now, I'm very fired up about that fourth little lesson I've learned. My beloved job was taken from me in the blink of an eye on Tuesday. I had just finished my lunch, and was sitting at a picnic table outside when I got a phone call from my supervisor informing me that PA Mentor has cut our funding for the Respite program starting the day before. Nothing like giving people some advanced warning, huh? PA Mentor didn't have the decency to give anyone any warning at all, not the agencies they fund (like Pennsylvania Counseling Services), not their employees who lost their job at a moments notice (like me and Jessica), nor was any warning provided for the clients, for my clients who count on me in order for them to actually have lives outside of their homes and away from the burden of caring for a child who needs constant 24/7 supervision. That's just flat out heartless. Roy Smith, the president of PCS, showed compassion for his employees and their clients by allowing services to continue through PCS through Sunday, giving me one last weekend to see my little guys. Of course, these services won't be funded by PA Mentor, meaning that PCS will be losing a ton of money. Giving the clients an extra week to find alternate means of child care, and giving us respite workers a week to find new employment. In fact, they are going to try to place us in other jobs if they can. Mostly administrative jobs, to keep us there until me graduate and can get jobs working with people (as opposed to filing) again.

I understand PA Mentor's reasons for temporarily stopping the Respite program. And yes, it is only temporary. However, we still don't know what type of time frame we are looking at, and most likely, I'll have graduated before it starts up again. As it stands right now, anyone who qualifies for BHRS services is eligible for Respite. However, just because a person is eligible, doesn't mean that they actually need it. In my experience it's about 50/50. Half of the cases I've had were of people abusing the system. They did not need my services and basically used me as a free and very over qualified babysitter, which was always very frustrating for me. However, in the other half of my cases, the services were needed very badly, and the family never took advantage of the arrangement, making my job totally worthwhile. This is why the program is being brought to a halt. PA Mentor wants to make the qualifications more strict, and they want to make sure that only the people who need the service, are getting it. As it is right now, funds are low, there aren't many respite workers, and there is a huge waiting list of people signed up for the service, but don't have an available worker assigned to them. If the qualifications are made more strict the funds, and the workers will be put to better use, and the waiting list won't be nearly as long. It really is a positive thing. But why couldn't they let us know what was happening a few weeks ago, instead of waiting until Tuesday?

Now for those of you who might be getting concerned, don't worry. I'm not at all concerned about finding another job. I took the administrative test for PCS this morning, and I do believe I did quite well on it. Hopefully, when I was told that the company would try to find us another position, they were being serious and not trying to blow me off. Also, I grabbed an application for the cafe I used to work at on campus and I know they'll hire me back in a heartbeat. And to make sure that I'm taken care of, I also applied to work as a nanny for a family that lives near my school. Since I have actual, formal, paid experience working with children, I have a bit of an edge with that last application. So, when I get rather down and depressed, like I am at this very moment, over losing this job, most people get a little frustrated with me. They remind me that it could be worse, and that it was "only a job" and to perk up, get another one, and get over it. This is the curse of the average college aged, working student. The majority of us get stuck in low-level, meaning-less jobs that we are over qualified for, and don't give a hoot about. For the past year, I had broken free of that curse. I had a job that challenged me, was in my field of study, paid me decently, and I actually was rather passionate about it. I loved my job and I loved my clients, even when the kids bit me or called me a "witch." I had never gotten so sick of my job that I had nightmares about it, or needed to take a "mental health day" every so often, like I have with every other job I've ever held. I was doing a job that was meaningful, and really helped the families that my clients came from. So I'm sorry, I just can't "get over it" and look forward to returning to food service, filing, or even getting paid to watch over some rich family's kids since their parents don't have the time to raise them on their own.