Have you ever had a vision of what a career is going to be like? Have you thought about how people are going to respond to you when you answer their calls for help? I did and I have been very disappointed in the reality versus my vision. I am a social worker. I went into the field because I wanted to help people improve the way they live. I wanted to support the providers that offer services to those in need and I wanted to help people give their children a vision of a different lifestyle for themselves and their children. Through the years I believe I have done this with some clients and providers; however I did not realize when I started in the field that there are some people that prefer to live their lives the way they are rather than take the risks of changing.
I became disillusioned with people's responses to services and help when it came to the holiday times. This happened the first year I was in county social work and it continues to some degree each year. I am now working for a non profit agency and the response is no different. My first year working for a government agency we had many wonderful donations from individuals, groups, companies and retailers. We had gifts for families that ranged from the full turkey dinner for the holidays to electronics to decorated Christmas trees. The two people in our agency that coordinated the donations had done a wonderful job collecting high quality items. Clients that needed help with holiday gifts, food and decorations were to fill out forms indicating the age of the family members, clothing sizes and wish lists. The case managers for each family then coordinated with the workers that coordinated the donations. At the last minute one retailer donated five decorated Christmas trees. They were beautiful. They had them on display in their store. They wanted needy families to have them. The guideline was that the decorated Christmas trees could be picked up after four o'clock on the day before Christmas Eve. We decided that we would choose from clients that lived close to the store and had the means to pick up the tree. There was a new foster home that was providing care for a sibling group of four. The children had been placed only a few days before Christmas. The foster family was finishing a remodeling job so they had not unpacked their holiday things. I asked them if they would like one of the decorated Christmas trees. The trees had lights and different ornaments on them. One was in a Victorian theme one had traditional bulb ornaments and one had a nature theme. The family agreed to pick one up, but instead of being pleased they complained that it was not the size they ordinarily have and the ornaments ere not a special as those that they had packed away. This aligned with all the other complaints I heard from clients about quality of donations or them wanting ham rather than turkey for their Christmas dinner. I have learned to dread the holiday season at work.
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