Ugh.....so 4 or 5 days have passed since my last post, however I'm trying to blog as often as I can within this 90 day challenge that I have set upon myself. I'm currently sitting in starbucks drinking one of those Valencia orange refreshers, they're so good! Anyways....I guess I can count this one as day two, I'm going to talk about job burnout. This is a confession, I'm currently dealing with the burnout right now and some days I really want to run out. I'm a caseworker working in the social service field. I deal with SNAP (supplemental nutritional assistance program) benefits....referred by most as "food stamps" Now I like my job some days other days I can't stand it. Some days I feel like I just babysit adults, while other days I meet clients who I can't help but feel bad for when I hear their stories.
Anyway, the problem is that some days I don't feel like I'm really appreciated at the agency. It seems lately that I get reported for things that others do not, and sometimes I feel like the situations are DISTORTED to make it seem far worse than what they really are. Currently I'm at a point that I'm about to cuss someone out and I'm not going to feel bad about it.
Some days, I don't know who is worse clients or the adults who act like children. I'm not going to address anyone by name, I don't feel the need to because to me if you know who you are and that this blog applies to you then you need to check YOURSELF, not me for simply reporting the truth. It's one thing to be cussed out by a client or to deal with a ton of call center calls, on top of the disaster of a system that the agency has recently adopted. It's another thing to be told that "If you can't keep up then you need to find another job" or to be spoken to as if you are in the fourth grade when something is not done flawlessly. I do appreciate having a job in the recession and I understand the line of work I'm in is high stress and is fast paced, however sometimes I feel that administration forgets that we only have two hands and cannot be in multiple places at once. It would be nice if I could, but that's not the case. With the document imaging system that the agency has recently adopted, all of the mail that clients send to caseworkers is now being sent to a processing center, and okay but to have ALL THE MAIL FROM THE ENTIRE STATE go to one processing center has proven to be a disaster.Let me tell you why in the next paragraph.
In the past, clients could mail stuff to the local P.O. BOX or drop their paperwork off in a drop box kept in the lobby with the security and confidence that it most likely would get to their worker in time, however now everything is being sent to a processing center and as a result of having so much mail to process. There are clients who are not getting their benefits because their documents are not being received on time and one can only deal with so many calls with conducting interviews and processing change reports. IT'S A MESS! On top of internet that takes FOREVER. It's hard enough to have the basic programs open that we use, let along two new software products added.
On the other hand, there are those clients who just do not want to do their part and when their benefits are cut off they want to come up to the office and cause a scene. I had one client say she wanted to e-mail the congressman. I'm like okay...you do that. There was another situation, not one of my clients, she reported the incident to KPLC. What the hell could KPLC do? I have no clue! However if a client can't update their address, how the hell are we supposed to know how to get in contact with them. "Nobody ever informed me my renewal period was here" Well we sent you a letter, but it was returned with no forwarding address. UPDATE YOUR DAMN ADDRESS!
I think that sometimes administration forgets that we have two hands and that we can only do our part if the client does theirs as well. It takes both sides to be successful.
Anyone else experiencing or experienced burnout? Sound off!
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