{"id":371,"date":"2009-11-25T02:34:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-25T02:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/?p=371"},"modified":"2014-10-01T03:47:14","modified_gmt":"2014-10-01T03:47:14","slug":"the-king-is-dead-and-the-chessboard-reshuffles-uncomfortably","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/?p=371","title":{"rendered":"The king is dead* and the chessboard reshuffles uncomfortably"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

Dear Powers-That-Be,<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
First off, can you just concentrate your energies on leaving well-enough alone, please?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
You know, like, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We’d been at it this way for many, many years before you found yourself promoted and will be left with the legacy of your poor decisions for many, many years after you retire.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
(We all might sympathize with your unspoken desire to leave some mark before you fade away into the sunset, but screwing around with a unit that for years has been a *high performer* makes no sense. We’re not doing it wrong, for godsakes!)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Secondly, if you must insist on change for its own sake, please respect us enough to ask for our input. We and our clients will be directly affected by your penny-wise and pound-foolish decisions.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And if you think, as you seem to, that our clients don’t need the direct, hands-on services of a social worker, well… it’s been entirely too long since you’ve done fieldwork yourself.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Spend an afternoon with one of us on Bangs Avenue, dodging stray pit-bulls and drive-bys and the young mom who finally finished school and wants to work at home as a daycare provider. The state won’t certify her there, though, (all those bullet holes in the siding) and she’s got no money to move with. Plus there’s her severely handicapped son who gets excellent services in his current school district.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Or on Springwood with the elderly lady who’s days away from being put out of her house because a bank foreclosed on her landlord. She’s got nowhere to go and I needed the time this week to wheel and deal with the bank to get her a cash-for-keys<\/a> offer so she’ll have money for a security deposit on a new place. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Instead you sent me to training to learn to do my secretary’s job.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
(As if I have the time to wear any more *hats*.)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Maybe sit at my desk for a day and explain to any one of my mentally-ill AND chemically-dependent clients (who call at least once a day, by the way) why I can’t be there to help solve their current life-crisis-of-the-day because I’m too busy filing and making photocopies of contracts and chasing down repayment agreements because you insisted we don’t need a secretary to do those things.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Oh and Mr. G. is off his meds again and dumpster-diving for leftovers. Maybe his Food Stamp worker will handle that.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
(If building management doesn’t evict him first for being a nuisance.)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
You can’t insist that we’re doing a good job and then assiduously go about dismantling us.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
(Jeesh!) <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Please don’t insult us or our clerical staff by acting as if we’re all interchangeable and replaceable. I know as much about bookkeeping as Louise knows about social work.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
(I take that back. Louise could do my job in a minute, but you’d have to pay her a lot more than you do now.)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Lastly, don’t you dare mess with our Christmas Party.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Sincerely,<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
A chessman; a mere cog in the wheel<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
*Phil<\/a> is fine. The rest of us, without him, well…<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Tuesday staff meetings do this to me. I apologize.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Powers-That-Be, First off, can you just concentrate your energies on leaving well-enough alone, please? You know, like, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? We’d been at it this way for many, many years before you found yourself promoted and will be left with the legacy of your poor decisions for many, many years … Continue reading The king is dead* and the chessboard reshuffles uncomfortably<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somewhereinnj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}