July 5, 2011
--Anywhere I live, anywhere I work, anyone whom I talk to on a regular basis for more than a few minutes at a time; it seems likely to me that all of those situations and people will be instantly scrutinized by the government and other harassers, that the scrutiny will continue for as long as my presence in or association with those situations and people continues, and that it could even continue after my presence or association ends. That's horrible.
--As horrible as it is that my presence can be problematic, there's no excuse for anyone to be abusing me.
After I mentioned on my blog that a guy had asked me out, I'd said yes, and that he'd then told me that my pet's name was "probably something like Milky or Cherry Pie," a square box with the word "CHERRY" on it appeared in one of the refrigerators at the shelter. Guess what's in it.
There are also now two bags of "Goat Cheese" in the freezer at the shelter.
There was pizza for dinner at the shelter the other night. I couldn't handle another night of eating cereal, so I had pizza. Context; context is everything. I would have preferred something else for dinner, certainly in front of the residents of the shelter who have been harassing toward me, but I felt as if I didn't have the time or energy to deal with it beyond how I dealt with it, which was to take some pizza and go outside where I could be by myself.
The assistant director bought a large bottle of Tide "Mountain Spring" detergent the other day. I saw it in the basement, took it and dumped it down the drain. I then went to him and more or less confessed that I had done that; I said, "I really think that the harassing references around the shelter encourage me to be abused by residents and staff." He said "It was on sale; it was an excellent sale." I said "Every mean thing that people say and do makes it harder for me to do the things that I need to do and be productive with my life." Then I left.
I bought a relatively expensive bag of coffee for the house to replace the cost of what I'd gotten rid of; I had to do it that way because I don't have any money, only food stamps. OK, I now have $10 in the bank; I thought coffee was an acceptable replacement for what I'd gotten rid of. I didn't tell anyone about it; I just put it by the coffeemaker.
When I got back to the shelter, the following things had happened:
--There was a bottle of Glade "Crisp Waters" air freshener on the sink in the upstairs bathroom.
--The Sour Cream and Cottage Cheese containers in the bathrooms which are filled with small toiletries for the residents to use had been completely replenished and prominently displayed.
--The second bottle in a row of L'Oreal Pearl Protein Complex Conditioner was sitting on the shelf in the basement shower room. Close to it was a brand new Gillette "Clinical Strength Odor Shield" deodorant. There's no point in having one regular-size deodorant displayed in the bathroom like that; what does anyone expect to happen, that everyone in the shelter's going to use it?
--There was a half-empty bottle of "Total Moisture" lotion on the top shelf of the toilet in the downstairs bathroom.
--There were several new bottles of another kind of lotion, one of which was called "Vitamin Burst."
When I talked to the assistant director about it, I said that I thought the cleaning lady must have put have put those things around. He said "She doesn't have the capacity to do that sort of thing; it's beyond her." I said "I know; she's always seemed very nice." He said "Yes, it's beyond her." I said "So you mean that someone else did it." He said "Those things were all donated; they were supposed to go on a plane to the Guard in Afghanistan, and there wasn't room, so they said "Give them to the shelter.""
Who donates a half-empty bottle of lotion to put on a plane to send to the military ANYWHERE, and who says "That doesn't fit on the plane, so drive it over to the homeless shelter and leave it there."?
He planned out his lies; he wears a cross around his neck and works at a shelter that has sayings about Jesus on the walls.
There is no doubt that his behavior and similar behavior of other shelter staff encourages residents and staff to abuse me. There was an instant increase in that as soon as I got back to the shelter yesterday. A resident walked up the stairs, saw me, and rubbed his nose, to which I replied "I could punch you right in the f---ing mouth."
I need to stop saying things like that; I don't want to say them, and I also don't want to get into a fight with him or with anybody else.
This morning, a male resident told me to get out of the bathroom because he was planning to take a shower there. It was a few minutes after 6:00 a.m., and I reminded him of the rule, which is that you can't take a shower after 6:00 a.m.. He said "Get out anyway, because I have to shave." I said "I need to use the restroom," which I did need to do; I had just gotten up and, like most of the human race, I needed to use the restroom for one of its most important purposes. He started yelling at me, and another male resident in the hallway started saying, "Come on, Lena," as if I were the one who was doing something wrong. I saw that they weren't going to let me go to the bathroom, so I shut the door and locked it. As soon as I did that, the guy who had wanted to shower and then who had wanted to shave in precedence to my and everyone else's need of one of the two bathrooms in the house that has a toilet started yelling for staff, saying "She went into the bathroom and I was going to use it! She got kicked out of Another Way! She does this everywhere she goes!" I had to yell through the door, while sitting on the toilet, that "No, I didn't get kicked out of Another Way; I talked to the director and I'm going back today!"
That got me the minutes I needed. Then I went outside and told the staff what had happened, and that I hadn't gotten kicked out of Another Way but that at least my presence at Another Way had gotten sorted out. The staffperson said "I could hear you slam the door from all the way downstairs." I said, which was true "The guy who was yelling at me just went in there after I was done, and HE slammed the door."
Another Way has two bathrooms, where anyone who wants to can shower AND shave. There was no reason for that guy or anybody else who frequents both places to take up time in either of the two bathrooms between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. in order to shower or shave when the house rule is that you're not supposed to shower after 6:00 a.m., you can both shower and shave somewhere else where you're planning to spend a lot of time anyway, and at least 20 other people need to use the bathrooms and get out the door by 7:00 a.m. just as much as you do.
The assitant director of the shelter, and others who are responsible for what happens there, are vindictive toward me for no reason. They know that their behavior encourages me to be abused, and they do it anyway. Now they're forcing everyone who wants to do laundry to get it a cup at a time from the office, which means that whoever the volunteer ever is has to be constantly dealing with that all evening.
Copyright L. Kochman July 5, 2011 @4:32 p.m.
--Anywhere I live, anywhere I work, anyone whom I talk to on a regular basis for more than a few minutes at a time; it seems likely to me that all of those situations and people will be instantly scrutinized by the government and other harassers, that the scrutiny will continue for as long as my presence in or association with those situations and people continues, and that it could even continue after my presence or association ends. That's horrible.
--As horrible as it is that my presence can be problematic, there's no excuse for anyone to be abusing me.
After I mentioned on my blog that a guy had asked me out, I'd said yes, and that he'd then told me that my pet's name was "probably something like Milky or Cherry Pie," a square box with the word "CHERRY" on it appeared in one of the refrigerators at the shelter. Guess what's in it.
There are also now two bags of "Goat Cheese" in the freezer at the shelter.
There was pizza for dinner at the shelter the other night. I couldn't handle another night of eating cereal, so I had pizza. Context; context is everything. I would have preferred something else for dinner, certainly in front of the residents of the shelter who have been harassing toward me, but I felt as if I didn't have the time or energy to deal with it beyond how I dealt with it, which was to take some pizza and go outside where I could be by myself.
The assistant director bought a large bottle of Tide "Mountain Spring" detergent the other day. I saw it in the basement, took it and dumped it down the drain. I then went to him and more or less confessed that I had done that; I said, "I really think that the harassing references around the shelter encourage me to be abused by residents and staff." He said "It was on sale; it was an excellent sale." I said "Every mean thing that people say and do makes it harder for me to do the things that I need to do and be productive with my life." Then I left.
I bought a relatively expensive bag of coffee for the house to replace the cost of what I'd gotten rid of; I had to do it that way because I don't have any money, only food stamps. OK, I now have $10 in the bank; I thought coffee was an acceptable replacement for what I'd gotten rid of. I didn't tell anyone about it; I just put it by the coffeemaker.
When I got back to the shelter, the following things had happened:
--There was a bottle of Glade "Crisp Waters" air freshener on the sink in the upstairs bathroom.
--The Sour Cream and Cottage Cheese containers in the bathrooms which are filled with small toiletries for the residents to use had been completely replenished and prominently displayed.
--The second bottle in a row of L'Oreal Pearl Protein Complex Conditioner was sitting on the shelf in the basement shower room. Close to it was a brand new Gillette "Clinical Strength Odor Shield" deodorant. There's no point in having one regular-size deodorant displayed in the bathroom like that; what does anyone expect to happen, that everyone in the shelter's going to use it?
--There was a half-empty bottle of "Total Moisture" lotion on the top shelf of the toilet in the downstairs bathroom.
--There were several new bottles of another kind of lotion, one of which was called "Vitamin Burst."
When I talked to the assistant director about it, I said that I thought the cleaning lady must have put have put those things around. He said "She doesn't have the capacity to do that sort of thing; it's beyond her." I said "I know; she's always seemed very nice." He said "Yes, it's beyond her." I said "So you mean that someone else did it." He said "Those things were all donated; they were supposed to go on a plane to the Guard in Afghanistan, and there wasn't room, so they said "Give them to the shelter.""
Who donates a half-empty bottle of lotion to put on a plane to send to the military ANYWHERE, and who says "That doesn't fit on the plane, so drive it over to the homeless shelter and leave it there."?
He planned out his lies; he wears a cross around his neck and works at a shelter that has sayings about Jesus on the walls.
There is no doubt that his behavior and similar behavior of other shelter staff encourages residents and staff to abuse me. There was an instant increase in that as soon as I got back to the shelter yesterday. A resident walked up the stairs, saw me, and rubbed his nose, to which I replied "I could punch you right in the f---ing mouth."
I need to stop saying things like that; I don't want to say them, and I also don't want to get into a fight with him or with anybody else.
This morning, a male resident told me to get out of the bathroom because he was planning to take a shower there. It was a few minutes after 6:00 a.m., and I reminded him of the rule, which is that you can't take a shower after 6:00 a.m.. He said "Get out anyway, because I have to shave." I said "I need to use the restroom," which I did need to do; I had just gotten up and, like most of the human race, I needed to use the restroom for one of its most important purposes. He started yelling at me, and another male resident in the hallway started saying, "Come on, Lena," as if I were the one who was doing something wrong. I saw that they weren't going to let me go to the bathroom, so I shut the door and locked it. As soon as I did that, the guy who had wanted to shower and then who had wanted to shave in precedence to my and everyone else's need of one of the two bathrooms in the house that has a toilet started yelling for staff, saying "She went into the bathroom and I was going to use it! She got kicked out of Another Way! She does this everywhere she goes!" I had to yell through the door, while sitting on the toilet, that "No, I didn't get kicked out of Another Way; I talked to the director and I'm going back today!"
That got me the minutes I needed. Then I went outside and told the staff what had happened, and that I hadn't gotten kicked out of Another Way but that at least my presence at Another Way had gotten sorted out. The staffperson said "I could hear you slam the door from all the way downstairs." I said, which was true "The guy who was yelling at me just went in there after I was done, and HE slammed the door."
Another Way has two bathrooms, where anyone who wants to can shower AND shave. There was no reason for that guy or anybody else who frequents both places to take up time in either of the two bathrooms between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. in order to shower or shave when the house rule is that you're not supposed to shower after 6:00 a.m., you can both shower and shave somewhere else where you're planning to spend a lot of time anyway, and at least 20 other people need to use the bathrooms and get out the door by 7:00 a.m. just as much as you do.
The assitant director of the shelter, and others who are responsible for what happens there, are vindictive toward me for no reason. They know that their behavior encourages me to be abused, and they do it anyway. Now they're forcing everyone who wants to do laundry to get it a cup at a time from the office, which means that whoever the volunteer ever is has to be constantly dealing with that all evening.
Copyright L. Kochman July 5, 2011 @4:32 p.m.