when I was in college as a single mom working to earn my paralegal certification. I used to joke that the forms I had to fill out were so invasive that it may as well have amounted to "what bra size do you wear," "how many calories did you eat yesterday," and "what did you read last night before you went to bed." Even with that, I had to literally spend every 15-minute break I had at my retail job (supervisor for Barnes & Noble) on the phone trying to reach the ever-changing roster of "workers" to whom I had been assigned to ask why, despite the fact I had turned in every single one of my completed forms in a timely manner, I still hadn't received the pittance of a check that I NEEDED in order to pay my daycare provider. I was lucky she was so patient and understanding and loved my daughter as if she was her own.
I was working 32 hours a week at the bookstore and carrying 12 full-time units of school while trying to raise a toddler. Despite the fact that EITHER working OR attending school was supposed to waive my participation in banal activities like showing up for a resume-writing workshop at, say, 2pm on a Tuesday, I would come home after an 18-hour long day to voicemails threatening to cut off my benefits because I'd been a no-show at said workshop, resulting in a fresh round of "spend every waking minute during the workday calling the welfare office in a panic to make sure they realize they've made a mistake."
It got so bad that I wrote a letter to the head of what was then called the "welfare" department of San Mateo County and I demanded AND RECEIVED a written apology from them for the way my case had been handled. I now pay four times the amount in federal taxes than I earned at that job in a year.
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