Secret Information

Yesterday I took a trip to the unemployment office to ask a few questions about my benefits. I spent an hour waiting to speak to someone. When I finally did, the woman sitting behind the desk asked me a few questions about why I was here. Before I could get a word out, she decided that I had signed the wrong sign-in sheet and started pointing me to another direction. I had to ask her several times just to allow me to speak. Once she did I was able to explain briefly my circumstances. She offered me a book on unemployment benefits. I asked a few more questions and she said she couldn’t offer me any more information or explain anything else to me due to being under staffed. Then she made a comment about her not helping me “beat the system.” As I walked out I thought how many times people may have lost their benefits or become unqualified because they didn’t have all the information or wasn’t given enough information.

Later I went to the financial aid department at my school to turn in my scholarship paperwork. After standing in line for thirty minutes I sat down and pulled out my application and a copy of my G.E.D. scores and handed them to the financial aid advisor. She quickly started saying that I needed to provide more information. She flipped to the back of the application and showed me where I needed to also provide a letter of recommendation from someone that knows my academic potential and a copy of my birth certificate.

After leaving the financial aid office I still had time to walk over to City Hall to see if I could get my birth certificate. I walked to the information booth to find out where I can get my records. The woman behind the counter directed me down the escalator and told to go through the double door and the office would be on my left. I followed her instructions. I was greeted by a woman behind the glass door taping up a sign on the window. She spoke as if there wasn’t a door between us telling me that the office was closed and would reopen tomorrow. As I was ready to leave and return again tommorrow she opened the door and asked me if the records were for me or my child. I told her that they were for me. She told me there was another office for records over ten-years old that was still open. I still had time to get them. I’m so glad I asked.