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[TorchTheWitch]

17. without gas though I can't go anywhere

I do get food stamps now, but they don't pay anything for stuff like toilet paper, soap, shampoo detergents, paper towels, etc. There's a food bank that's not in the city but it's still pretty far away that I'd have to have gas to drive to, but I don't know if they have anything other than food. This was something else that my case worker was supposed to do for me that she never did. I still haven't found out from her if there's anywhere if not that place that I can get non-food items. Just trying to get her on the phone is a nightmare. I can walk to the Giant across the street for any food with my access card, but it doesn't pay for any non-edible things or pet food. I don't even think that it pays for any over-the-counter medications and highly doubt it. I don't get much money with the food stamps though since I'm only one person. I've still had to REALLY scrimp on food and I'm getting very close to using up all the money they supply on the card for the month. I get that money again for next month on the 9th, and I might still have to go to the food bank for just food before then.

I REALLY hate to use what tiny bit of money I have for gas for anything else other than seeing about a job or getting to a job to work until I get a paycheck. I already had to turn down a one gig job offer because I had no money for gas to get there and no money to buy the two pieces for the uniform I'm required to wear. I HOPE they will still give me other opportunities for work that I could do if I can somehow find that money. I wouldn't even be paid for it for two weeks at least either since the people at the event don't tip, and th company pays the workers with regular paychecks. It's VERY different than the usual kind of bartending job that way.

The whole process of getting that kind of work has turned out to be vastly different than I'd been told. I'd been told that it was just a matter of "signing up" buying the tuxedo outfit and that I'd have all the work I could want. I'd also been led to believe that you got paid in cash after each one night gig. Nope. Most of them told me they already had all the staff they needed for at least the summer. Only two places had any interest in me at all, I had to fill out the usual paperwork and then wait for X many days for an interview, and one of them never got back about that. The other one was also the one I wanted to work with the most, and they did do an interview with me where I found out they only pay every two weeks in a regular paycheck though the pay is good, and you don't get any tips from the people that are at the event since they're open bar. Had I any money to live off of until I got paid I wouldn't care - most people get paid in regular paychecks anyway.

I live in a very middle/upper middle class area where there just aren't anything like soup kitchens or food banks or anything like that for poor people. The religous organizations in this area don't even know anything about soup kitchens or food banks or anything like that. I've called or been to so many of them already. If there's any poor people around here they're still driving nice cars and living in nice places or they're living with family or friends that are helping them. I don't know. Even public transportation barely exists around here. I'm lucky as hell that someone decided to build a Giant supermarket across the street or I'd not even have any way to get to the next nearest one without having to drive (and that one is grossly expensive). Welcome to "Pleasant Valley" suburbia. For people like me in this horrific situation it absolutely sucks.