|
 |
|
|
The right to social security including social insurance. Welfare is Bad for Your Teeth I had a baby. My Ul ran out and then the man I had been living with for six years left me and the province. Now the welfare people own me and it seems they always will. My baby and I lived without money for a month. I was too afraid and ashamed to go on welfare. But my parents said there was nothing else I could do. I was right to be afraid. The welfare people steal your privacy. They make you fill out forms in the hall. Everyone who walks by knows what you are doing. You have to give them your bank account number. You have to get notes from people you have worked for. They can see your taxes - everything. After they have looked into every comer of your life they take out their little calculators and decide how much money you need to live. Welfare workers act like you are bothering them. They sigh a lot. They stare off into space. They roll their eyes at the things you say. Only once did a worker treat me like a client. He was in a wheelchair, which is probably why he was so kind and so professional. He had had trouble in his life, too. He told me it was my right to get welfare for myself and my baby. I only saw him once. He was laid off. Welfare gives you just enough money so you can choose between feeding yourself or your child. My parents buy my daughter her shoes and clothes. If they didn't she wouldn't have any because after I pay the rent and buy diapers and the bit of food, the money is gone. People on welfare are supposed to depend on others for everything. You are not supposed to have a car. I know, because I asked if welfare could help me get a car seat for my daughter and they said no. Welfare people are supposed to take taxis. It's not a good idea to work if you are on welfare. I got a six-week contract. I hoped I was finished with welfare. I went to their office and gave them their last welfare check back. They were amazed that I didn't try to find a way to keep the money. "You'll be back," they said. They were right. My contract wasn't renewed. When I went back I owed the welfare department money. I was supposed to save the extra I made at my job in case I had to go on welfare again. Welfare workers won't tell you what they can do for you. You have to beg. I went in and cried when I needed a bed for my daughter. They just let me go on and on about why she needed a bed. I found out later I should have been given a bed right away. Their job seems to be to give you as little as possible. And to make you feel bad about everything you do get. Only people who have been on welfare for a long time know how it all works. A lot of people think welfare people cheat. Some probably do, but I don't blame them.
If you stay on welfare for more than a year or two you're screwed. Everything you get on welfare is the cheapest possible - like the bed for my daughter. It's already falling apart. And everything you buy yourself is the cheapest possible because that's all the money you have. People on welfare can get really fat from eating cheap food all the time. People on welfare are not allowed to have fillings in their teeth. Welfare only pays to have teeth pulled. I couldn't even afford a haircut while I was on welfare. So after a year or two, even if you got a job interview, you'd have to go there in a taxi with a bad haircut, a front tooth missing, cheap clothing and run-down shoes. Who would hire you then? Who would even want to know you then? Everything you had would be falling apart, including yourself. I was lucky. I got a good job again doing the work I went to college for — before it was too late. My parents gave me enough money to live between my last welfare cheque and my first paycheque. I don't make a lot of money, but a little more than I did on welfare.I should be free of them now. But your welfare records follow you around. Everyone feels like they can treat you with contempt. No one takes you seriously. When I went to court for custody of my daughter, the clerk looked my papers over and tossed them to her assistant. "Oh, it's another one of those social services cases," she said. She didn't even look at me. Questions for Discussion
|
