What do we do about the homeless?
That seems to be a frequent message in here when talking about any social crisis in America. Either the government should take care of them, or they deserve what they get, or any of the wide spectrum of alternatives in between.
Well I'm not getting into that argument. That's not why I'm here. I know the thread will be hijacked by both sides, but I hope that it will start out a little cleaner.
The issue I am addressing is what happens when the homeless man or woman tries to get a job. We'll use the example given in a lengthy thread started by Bigmac. A poster decided that he/she would do a "good deed" by telling the next homeless man he/she saw that a local Mexican restaurant was hiring.
Okay, so let's say that the homeless man is me, and I've been homeless for one year. I'm a white male, 45 years old, and am able-bodied enough to do any job in a restaurant. I am not a felon, I have some college but not a degree, and I'm a veteran. So far, that sounds pretty employable, right?
Okay, so I clean myself up as best I can at a gas station restroom. I can't shave of course, but I have trimmed my beard up to make it presentable. I have also cut my hair to the best of my ability using the same scissors I found behind Walmart. I have washed my face, hands and armpits with the watery pink hand soap in the restroom, and I even shampooed my hair with it. I don't own a towel but I do the best I can with the hand dryer on the wall.
I try to wash my shirt as much as possible, but there's only so much you can do in a gas station restroom. Besides, I've been in here a long time by now, and I know the gas station manager will be calling the cops pretty soon. My thrift store pants are still dirty, but there's nothing I can do about that.
I take all of my stuff, everything I own rolled into one bundle, and try to hide it as close to the Mexican restaurant as I can. I don't want to carry it in with me because I'm embarrassed to have to carry everything I own to a job interview. I walk into the place and ask a waitress about the "HELP WANTED" sign in the window. She goes to get a job application for for me and says I can sit at one of the tables in the back. I also have to ask for a pen.
While I'm filling out the application, I'm nervous about someone finding my stuff. After all, someone stole my last bed roll last winter, and they got my wallet with that. I get to the part where it asks for my address, and I write "No Current Residence" because it sounds better than "NONE". I fill everything else out, worrying over the part where I have to admit that I haven't had a job in a year. I take the completed application back to the waitress and she tells me that the manager will call me within the next week or so. She didn't notice on the form that I had no phone number to list. I ask if I can see the manager now instead.
When I meet with the restaurant manager I've interrupted, he looks at me with my beard, ragged haircut, stained shirt and dirty pants. Then he looks at my application with all the blank spaces. How does he expect me to get up and be on time for work when I obviously don't have an alarm clock? He thinks I'm probably on drugs and wouldn't believe that I'm just nervous about someone stealing my stuff from the bushes on the far side of the building.
On the other hand, the parts of the form that I have completed look all right, so he sits with me for an interview. Everything goes fairly well and all he needs to do is verify that I am who I say. He just needs to do a quick check to make sure that I'm not a convicted felon or a child molester, and the job is probably mine after he thinks about it some. And now I have to tell him that my wallet was stolen along with my driver license and my Social Security card, and I haven't been able to get the $15 together to get a new ID card from the state.
The manager is very sorry, but he just can't take that chance. He can't hire me. Maybe if I had just one thing working against me, but not like this...
Don't believe my example? Try it for yourself. Go to a place with a HELP WANTED sign and fill out an application with no address or phone number, and then refuse to show any form of ID. Go on, try it and let us know how it works out.
Until then drop the "Get a job, ya bum" philosophy. It's stupid and I want to believe that you are not.
That seems to be a frequent message in here when talking about any social crisis in America. Either the government should take care of them, or they deserve what they get, or any of the wide spectrum of alternatives in between.
Well I'm not getting into that argument. That's not why I'm here. I know the thread will be hijacked by both sides, but I hope that it will start out a little cleaner.
The issue I am addressing is what happens when the homeless man or woman tries to get a job. We'll use the example given in a lengthy thread started by Bigmac. A poster decided that he/she would do a "good deed" by telling the next homeless man he/she saw that a local Mexican restaurant was hiring.
Okay, so let's say that the homeless man is me, and I've been homeless for one year. I'm a white male, 45 years old, and am able-bodied enough to do any job in a restaurant. I am not a felon, I have some college but not a degree, and I'm a veteran. So far, that sounds pretty employable, right?
Okay, so I clean myself up as best I can at a gas station restroom. I can't shave of course, but I have trimmed my beard up to make it presentable. I have also cut my hair to the best of my ability using the same scissors I found behind Walmart. I have washed my face, hands and armpits with the watery pink hand soap in the restroom, and I even shampooed my hair with it. I don't own a towel but I do the best I can with the hand dryer on the wall.
I try to wash my shirt as much as possible, but there's only so much you can do in a gas station restroom. Besides, I've been in here a long time by now, and I know the gas station manager will be calling the cops pretty soon. My thrift store pants are still dirty, but there's nothing I can do about that.
I take all of my stuff, everything I own rolled into one bundle, and try to hide it as close to the Mexican restaurant as I can. I don't want to carry it in with me because I'm embarrassed to have to carry everything I own to a job interview. I walk into the place and ask a waitress about the "HELP WANTED" sign in the window. She goes to get a job application for for me and says I can sit at one of the tables in the back. I also have to ask for a pen.
While I'm filling out the application, I'm nervous about someone finding my stuff. After all, someone stole my last bed roll last winter, and they got my wallet with that. I get to the part where it asks for my address, and I write "No Current Residence" because it sounds better than "NONE". I fill everything else out, worrying over the part where I have to admit that I haven't had a job in a year. I take the completed application back to the waitress and she tells me that the manager will call me within the next week or so. She didn't notice on the form that I had no phone number to list. I ask if I can see the manager now instead.
When I meet with the restaurant manager I've interrupted, he looks at me with my beard, ragged haircut, stained shirt and dirty pants. Then he looks at my application with all the blank spaces. How does he expect me to get up and be on time for work when I obviously don't have an alarm clock? He thinks I'm probably on drugs and wouldn't believe that I'm just nervous about someone stealing my stuff from the bushes on the far side of the building.
On the other hand, the parts of the form that I have completed look all right, so he sits with me for an interview. Everything goes fairly well and all he needs to do is verify that I am who I say. He just needs to do a quick check to make sure that I'm not a convicted felon or a child molester, and the job is probably mine after he thinks about it some. And now I have to tell him that my wallet was stolen along with my driver license and my Social Security card, and I haven't been able to get the $15 together to get a new ID card from the state.
The manager is very sorry, but he just can't take that chance. He can't hire me. Maybe if I had just one thing working against me, but not like this...
Don't believe my example? Try it for yourself. Go to a place with a HELP WANTED sign and fill out an application with no address or phone number, and then refuse to show any form of ID. Go on, try it and let us know how it works out.
Until then drop the "Get a job, ya bum" philosophy. It's stupid and I want to believe that you are not.
