Rants and Raves

Over the course of the last few weeks I’ve begun to apply for jobs and I am beginning to understand what a challenge it is to find a job. Apparently it seems like most employers have the luxury of having a lot more applicants then openings. So there is a lot of competition and I am beginning to understand some of the difficulties that my clients go through looking for a job. I have a college degree, a years worth of experience at a job with a fair amount of responsibility, and I have my head pretty straight on my shoulders. I couldn’t imagine what the process would be like if I was coming off an addiction, hadn’t worked in a few years and didn’t go to college. I feel like there is something wrong when the supply and demand of the workforce is heavily stacked to the benefit of employers.

The reality is that the work force really has the power. If people stopped working the companies and structure of our economy would fall apart. But instead we have a system that has people working ever harder to stay on top of the next guy. The structures that keep that system in place squeeze ever harder on people, and the people I work with get squeezed the hardest. When I graduated college I expected and I was told that my degree would get me a job. Not so, and if my degree doesn’t carry much weight then a high school diploma means nothing.

For some people it is near impossible for them to get a job or be a productive member of society. People with felonies and limited education no matter how they try for the most part they are stuck. There are some places that are able to help. I’ve seen St. Vincent’s Culinary Program help people get training and eventually jobs, but even that help is limited. It’s limited to a very specific type of job and it takes a tremendous amount of work by a lot of people to make any progress. It’s like trying to redirect the flow of the Mississippi River.

I can see why it’s a lot easier for people to stay on a fixed income then venture out and try to get a job. The odds are stacked against people trying to find work and the odds are really stacked against the clients I work with. It’s sad and frustrating. We can say that “well this is America and the will to succeed breeds success.” But I have a feeling that that is just dream that is sold in school. The reality is the working world is cut throat and no one really cares if you make it or not. I guess that’s evolution, survival of the fittest. My feeling is that if our society keeps going the way it is going the majority of people in this county won’t be fit enough to survive. Something needs to change.

Thanks for listening to my rants and raves.
~Mike

Also this is way off topic but I just figured out how to look at the comments people write and I just wanted to say thanks for reading my blog and sharing your own experiences. I usually just post stuff up and forget about it, but I’ll have to pay more attention to what people write and make some responses. It’s really reaffirming to hear that people read what I write and that it effects people enough that they want to contribute also. Thank you for that.

Water cooler break anyone?

The last half of May has been a busy month for just about all the staff and volunteers here at the Downtown Campus of St. Vincent de Paul. For whatever reason there were more people then average coming in for services. When this happens it makes for a very fast paced work environment which can be both good and bad. I might have mentioned this before in another one of my blogs, but sometimes the lobby in our community center feels like an emergency room. There are people walking through the doors with all kinds of problems, like not being able to find a place to stay for the night or needing someone to call an ambulance for them because they are having trouble breathing. It’s just a whirl wind of activity sometimes. It’s easy to get so caught up that the day is just gone in a flash and your left wondering what you did that day.

So at some point last week in the middle of all this organized chaos I got a phone call from Carla, the secretary at the front desk. She was asking me to come down and meet with a client. I think at the time I was organizing all of my homeless court cases so I could fax them out the next day. To make a long story short I was pretty busy at the time, but I like to make myself available to the people who come through the door who need to talk to me. So I decided I would meet him.

The person who was asking for me was a guy by the name of Mike. I had met him a couple of times before but I hadn’t seen in a while. We started talking for a little and in my mind I’m waiting for him to ask me for something that he needs. Like a homeless court application, some kind of referral, a phone number, or whatever. But he didn’t need any of that. He really just wanted to chat. He was talking about the weather, and about his kid, and about how it was neat that our names were the same, and how he wanted to show me how to play a card game, and so one and so on. So it didn’t take long before I started thinking to myself “Man I really don’t have the time for this, what do you need?” This went on for about 20 minutes, and I really wanted to just get out of there. I did not want to sit and chat at all.

Then it kind of occurred to me that maybe this is good a thing. Maybe I’m supposed to just relax in this situation and go with the flow. So I started talking with him about who knows what and just kind of letting the chaos of the community center and the heavy load of work I had to do just fade into the background for five minutes. You know what? I really lightened up, and we only talked for about another five minutes then he had to leave. But it really reminded me that it’s worth while to take time to soak in life and be with the people that walk through the doors of St. Vincent’s, because life is short and relationships matter. It also showed me that I’m not just some resource for a person, which fills some need. I am also a friend to the clients of St. Vincent’s. Who knew a simple “nonsense” conversation could wake me up. It was a lesson in disguise. So cheers to chatting about nothing.

~Mike