DocCec <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
In a message dated 98-03-11 06:17:02 EST, you write:
<< But the students learned what it
was like to try to access the "helping?" organizations, to wonder where they
would
sleep or eat that night, and feel the contempt that others directed toward
them. >>
One thng I learned from experience during my "food stamps and Medicaid" days
-- those helping organizations are much more willing to help you if you look
and sound like you don't need it. Because I was well educated and had the
remnants of a decent wardrobe, I was usually treated with reasonable respect.
Those in line with me, often illiterate and not well laundered, were not.
More than once I got scolded for helping some poor old man or woman fill out a
form that was impossible for aged eyes to read or that was written in abstruse
language that make the IRS look like clear speakers. As soon as I looked the
scolding social worker straight in the eye and said something innocuous like
"There but for the grace of God go you and I" she would back off, start
calling me by my title and last name, and even say things like please and
thank you. Image, it seems, is all.
Doc
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