Heart. What does it mean to have heart? A heart? Before I answer this question, let me just fill you in with a little background information. For the last 2 years or so I’ve been dutifully employed by the state to assist our citizens in need, more specifically public assistance programs. Essentially I assist those families or individuals who are struggling to make ends meet for short periods of time, or long periods of time, depending on their current situation.
Now you can probably guess what this entails: food stamps, cash assistance, housing programs etc. This job is definitely not for most people I can tell you that much. I started off as an office assistant to our public works agency and it was a good time. I spent 10 months assisting (or barely assisting as I felt) people who came into our office and made sure their needs were met. I started off at what we called ‘the greeter’. Basically I was the first point of contact for all individuals who came into the building. I greeted them and asked what they were there for and promptly guided them where they needed to go, be it submitting documents, speaking to a lobby worker or finding the bathroom. I’ve seen many individuals pass through those doors (pre covid of course) from all walks of life; I’ve seen individuals who didn’t speak any English, people who were down on their luck and needed some temporary help, people with no homes/jobs/nothing to claim in life. I’ve seen and interacted with people who had mental health issues, people who were violent, people who were angry and pissed off, people who were crying in despair. I’ve seen and interacted with people who thought they were better than everyone else and they couldn’t believe they had to go down to our office to ask for assistance. I’ve seen people drive in with luxury vehicles and pick up food stamps. I’ve seen it all and I’ve pretty much heard it all.
After about a month or so of doing that (which I came to realize was a way to weed out workers) I was moved to ‘the windows’, which was basically the 2nd point of contact for our customers. I sat at a window for a couple hours, bullet proof glass separating my team from the people on the other side and basically assisted them in the easier tasks of document submission, case checking and providing them with access to their accounts. After that, I was moved to the back where I began to handle more complicated tasks such as going into our system programs and troubleshooting, checking the state system to make sure individuals were good (aka clearing individuals). After that, I was moved to scheduling where I assisted our lead scheduler call and input appointments that were face to face or over the phone. After that I was placed in probably one of my more favorite roles, which was the intakes assignment desk.
Each morning I would come in at 6:45am to get a head start on my 7am start time. Essentially I prepared all the intakes for the day, handed out the assignments to our workers and from 8am-2pm I handled walk ins and face to face appointments. Then after that I would then work with my partner to schedule the intakes for the next day and so forth. This went on for about 4-5 months and then I decided I wanted to be one of the workers who met these people face to face.
So I applied for the position, passed the interview, passed the test, passed the background checks etc. 6 months later I was in training and 3 months down the line I promoted to the current position I’m at now, which is a human services specialist.
Human Services Specialist. Someone who interacts with the public and determines their eligibility to the many programs the state offers. I did this for about a year or so (which was the eligibility process) where I met many many people, yet again, however this time my role was to determine if they were eligible to the program. I did phone interviews, face to face interviews and emailed customers back and forth.
Then covid happened.
My role changed somewhat, to where I was now no longer having to speak to people or interview them and I was determining eligiblity based on their application. So this went on for another couple months and then I was voluntold to switch gears and assist our call center due to operational need.
So in January of this year (most like December of 2020) I officially started my new role, which was somewhat more of a laid back role which I was hesitant at first due to the fact I would be talking to people all day 5 days a week, however it is a role I soon came to like doing. Although, some days are rough yes, where I don’t want to talk to anyone and just be alone, however, most days I feel somewhat fulfilled that I help people.
So where’s the adventure? When does it start?
Since beginning back in January I’ve come across all types of callers over the phone and all types of stories they’ve told. Here I will share more of my memorable ones to date.
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Elderly Patience.
On a normal day, I speak to maybe 2-3 elderly individuals (aged 60 or older) who are just mainly looking to check on their case or to inquire the status of benefits etc. Sometimes I get calls from the elderly that break my heart. One day I received a call from this elderly woman who was attempting to complete her renewal for one of the programs. She began the conversation by asking ‘if this call gets dropped will you call me back? is that standard?’ and I reply with ‘yes of course ma’am I will call you back let me confirm the phone number we have here on file’, which I did, and to which she confirmed was correct. She stated that the previous agent she spoke with hung up on her (or the call disconnected which is common) and didn’t get a call back and had to wait in the queue again to speak to someone. I assured her that if the call were to be dropped I would call her. She then comments that she is really appreciative of me and that I have really good phone presence (which I’ve been told on multiple occasions) and we began our conversation. I inquired as to the nature of the call and she really just needed help filling out the document as she was confused and didn’t understand what she was doing and wanted to assistance. So I pulled up a blank document of the same kind and began to read and answer her questions. Throughout this whole time she is apologizing that she is asking so many questions and the only thought that crossed through my mind is I can’t believe this lady is apologizing for asking questions. Questions are to be asked if you don’t know or understand something and my role, right now, is to assist those who do not understand or need clarification. I started to think that there are other people who are doing my same job and treating them like their questions are ‘annoying’ or they can’t be ‘bothered’ to answer multiple questions. And its not just what I ‘think’ or ‘feel’, I’ve been told on multiple occasions as well that workers have gotten irritated at customers (mostly the elderly ones) because they ask too many questions. I assured my customer that her asking questions is no problem and that I am here to assist in any way I can. I spend another 10 min on the phone with her maybe until she realizes that she is filling out the document wrong and wanted to do a phone interview instead so she doesn’t make any more mistakes, to which I gladly informed her I could do. So I scheduled her an appointment for the next business day to which she was grateful for my time and courtesy and patience.
In my head I just can’t fathom how many of these coworkers of mine are in a profession where we need to have a little more heart than usual. I normally have heart, I care for people I don’t even know or have never met in real life (more so now due to covid). I treat people with respect and dignity and never put anyone down because I don’t know their struggle. I don’t know their pain. But I can empathize with them. I can try to understand that struggle and and to be more understanding. I’ve received a couple of good customer survey remarks since January on how I treat my customers over the phone. A lot of them have mentioned the same thing, that I am very kind and professional and actually take the time to listen and understand them.
Being Asian we are taught to respect our elders and to never treat them like second class citizens. I don’t know if this elderly woman was struggling with anything or if she was alone and didn’t have anyone to help her, but for that brief 15-20 min over the phone I was the one who was able to assist her in filling out a document that, if processed, will enable her to keep her food stamp benefits. A lot of our elderly, from what I’ve noticed, is struggling out there even with their retirement/pension/SSA income. Most of them live alone and that is what saddens me the most. I can’t imagine leaving my parents behind to live on their own. They have made it on their own through life already and I will not let them do that as they grow into the later stages in life. They cared for me when I was young, they are still caring for me now (albeit not the same level as when I was a child) and they will still continue to care for me until their last breath and so will I.
Having heart is understanding someone else who you don’t even know. Having heart is treating someone with respect, dignity and like a human being. Like I’ve said before, I have seen and interacted with a multitude of people from all walks of life and each one of them I treat the same. Being homeless or poor doesn’t mean you get any different level of treatment from someone who has their life together and is making 6 figures.
Maybe this is a step into pushing me into the direction of my next career goal. I have come to the realization that a lot of people just want to be heard. They want someone to actually listen to what they have to say. If all of us just listened to one another, I believe we can fix a lot of what is wrong with society today. Listening, understanding and treating people right. More so with those who have nothing.
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BOY MEETS LIFE 