 |
| Why do you do all that volunteer work? |
There are people here who seriously believe I am nuts because I do so much "volunteer work."
At this point, it's tempting to do a re-post of my letters to the Staff on Saturday and Sunday during this heatwave in Washington, DC that has once again caused the air-conditioning (A/C) unit to start overflowing with water from the air-distribution box.
As I detailed last summer, it is basically a problem with the type of unit they installed, that at its base there is no drip pan, and they never bother to try to do a DIY type of fix that might connect to the drip-condensate line that also drains from the A/C on the third floor just above.
 |
| The maintenance person drains the distribution box and replaces the wet moldy filter |
As a result, every summer, the air filter shown above is replaced a few times because it becomes moist, wet, and moldy from the drip condensate leaking into the air-distribution box. And that's all they do because "anything else is outside the contract."
I suppose eventually they may write in that residents should just sit on their hands and do nothing, but then, they know very well that on the weekends, when the Catholic Charities Facilities / Staff does not answer the phone, respond to calls, the water may overflow and cause the dining room ceiling to collapse. The warped bending wood also leaks and flows water onto the dining room floor.
So in one of my innumerable "extra chores" in the house, I have taken to dry-vaccuuming the air-distribution box myself, because I don't like the dining room dangerously wet, I don't like the electrical wires to get wet, I don't like the overflow in the distribution box to make the second floor wet either.
 | ||
| Thanks to my efforts, the leaks through the ceiling have been minimal so far | |
Thanks to my efforts, the leaks through the dining room ceiling from the A/C unit and conduits just above have been minimal so far this summer. So why am I writing about this? Because it is sad that I undertake to do this kind of unpaid work, notify the staff, and hear nothing back. It is worse when N-a reports to work on Sunday evening as Program Assistant and sometimes is impossible to approach.
I also asked in email that N-a furnish the house with more kitchen bags because we are out, and the garbage was piling up in the kitchen, because that person does her chore on-and-off. I had done it for her a few times, and now she takes it for granted that I will "pick up where she left off." That's why I shouldn't do chores for people because they just decide to leave the rest for me to do.
Other obnoxious chore that I do include emptying the cigarette butt cans outside on the patio . There are about four of them, and due to a few chain smokers here, they fill up and then the rain also fills them with grey water. The designated chore person never does her chore. If I do it and then tell her, she will dismiss me, and if I complain about her not doing her chore, she seethes and rages against me.
Then also in the email to staff, I told them that someone, E-a, leaves the windows wide open in the basement, in the stairwell, in the bathrooms. She has a mania for her style of cleanliness, so it doesn't register to her that this warm air causes an updraft and makes the A/C work harder, and also moistens the air and increases the condensate, eg. collection of water visible outside the air conduits.
This is the same character who wears sunglasses and dark raincoat 24/7 even inside the house and sprays her door tread with Shower Tile Cleaner and outside her door to the point that the wood is stripped of varnish and feels as rough as sandpaper. Again, I told the staff about this and they do nothing.
Why do they do nothing? Well, like we mentioned before, everything they do comes from the manuals, the books, the bureaucracy which trains them to follow all kinds of rules that may or may not even be very helpful, or even optimally relevant.
(It is in the vile nature of these misfortunate employed program assistant, director of administrative management, senior director here to do their best to BAIT this resident. So rather than focus on the problem, they may actually DO AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. The whole rationale behind this evil attitude is that by deliberately ignoring, they hope I will become frustrated, at which point the evil beings will try to escalate and pin this resident down for a WRITE UP. In narcissism theory this is about "catching a big fish" in their predatory mindset because they know I have several college degrees.The staff are great at BAITING like this. So they would rather let the garbage pile up, the leak go on, the ceiling panels warp and paint peeling, and the house in a state of disrepair, if it means they can WRITE ME UP. Imagine if there is a state of emergency, a national emergency. Such vile beings will be the type who are more concerned about the little details about boarding a life boat than about helping people abandon a sinking ship. It is the epitome of small-mindedness but it definitely augments their sense of self-importance because suddenly they have more paper to process, create meeting time about, and follow-up on "the case." So right now, I definitely sense they are full throttle BAITING ME just because it's possible they can try to get me upset about the leaky A/C. Like I said, they are infinitely more excited about the possibility of frustrating residents than doing their job properly! And this is further reinforced through training that is opaque, secretive, and fills them with conceit.)
Take the "Emergency Preparedness Plan" posted with about twenty other notices posted at the Client Information Board.The numbers do not work on the weekends for the presumed contacts. The contact people have changed from a few years ago. These contact numbers are what one would get from the DC government pages, such as how to contact the police, poison control, DC Water, emergency service numbers, etc. There is a lot of fluff, but the basic instructions in any emergency are either 1) shelter-in-place or 2) call 9-1-1 or 3) call staff.
Incidentally, there are so many signs posted about the house now that you can't look any direction hardly and not see a sign. Just to exit there are at least (4) signs taped on the doors. For instance each door that is used in fire drill has at least (4) signs: 1) map of the house, 2) Emergency Exit sign in white, 3) Emergency exit spanish sign, 4) Red/White sign saying "Exit." (I am waiting for them to post additional signs in other languages and maybe pictures for those who are minimally literate).
Anyway, those are probably requirements to meet the expectations of the Fire Department, because they don't want people to jump out the window in a real fire.
But this is a microcosm, the milieu of living inside DC, where there are so many layers of bureaucracy and oversight committees, and people who still have jobs and careers to defend whether at Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, DC Government, Catholic Charities, and so on.
However they seem to be living in Cloud 9 when it comes to pragmatism. They don't see the clients here, and my suggestions (often from experience) are overlooked and ignored. Their way of viewing me is "Well, you are just a client, so you have mental and physical disabilities, so we can't take anything you say for real." That really is their attitude, and they rather live in their safe bureaucratic bubble, even if it means sitting inside in their office and never taking exercise.
My suggestions have included putting up a bike rack for the 4-5 gals who are brave enough to own a bike and save on transportation costs. Patching up the water gouged pavement from the drip pipe (from the same A/C system) draining near the storage shed. It's really visible, and sometimes the drain becomes clogged and there is an unsightly puddle there. I've mentioned it several times, that it can be patched with maybe some grout, or asphalt, or extra concrete. Mostly my suggestions are round-filed---the Director has never heard of those suggestions.
Then the gals here, I guess they wonder why someone like me does extra chores, likes to work in the garden, and whatnot. How do I bridge this gap in understanding and appreciation? I've tried complaining about it, but then it just makes people upset.
So here is my take on it. Like it or not, Volunteerism offers its own kind of special intangible rewards. Who asks anyone to feed the sparrows or fill the bird bath? Certainly a waste of time and money per the government. But rewarding when one realizes the birds view this person as a great benefactor, someone they welcome each morning with a cheerful song, and flit around like in a dance.
And there is a sort of sobering awakening to the deeper meaning to the words "Catholic" and "Charity." Okay, I am not a very good Catholic, more of a Christian, and Buddhist, but I try. And I am not very charitable---not a Jeff Bezos giving huge generous grants away, but I make up for that with my labor. Tzu-Chi Foundation also mentions how much they appreciate the pitching of hands when they build a new schoolhouse in Africa, or renovate an older person's home.
So while one faces the scorn and derision that "You are Not Staff, You are Non-Career" one must not hang their head in agreement "Yes, I am a Big Nobody"! No, instead, you should just ignore those kind of lambasting, which actually is very prevalent in American society today. It is in fact at the root of our societal problems, that we just see and value everyone for "who they are, where they work, how much money they make."
Those types will not be able to handle a shovel when that day comes because "It is Outside My Grade." They are like robots---unable to be fully human anymore! So it is in our place, as a Catholic Charity Volunteer (and NO, that is not a "label" where I have gone to School, received a certificate, and am inside their System), but meaning really as a "volunteer" to educate and inspire them to deepen their understanding and appreciation of what those words might truly mean.
Because irregardless of our "advanced education, degrees, certificates" when disaster hits, we really will all need each other. Someone can be good at fixing bikes, someone at building local networks, someone at creating sustainable food gardens, someone at opening up a trading post, someone at mending clothes, someone at creating emergency storage tanks, someone at building solar arrays.
Unless our hearts and minds are open and flexible, we will act like lemmings rather than be at least half as resilient as the pioneers were in Early America. I really like how TruNews quotes Matthew and Isaiah when Jesus is explaining the parable of the sower for his disciples:
"And the Prophet of Isaiah is being fulfilled in their case. It says: 'You will indeed hear but by no means get the sense of it, and you will indeed look but by no means see.' For the heart of this people has grown unreceptive, and with their ears they have heard without response, and they have shut their eyes, so that they might never see with their eyes and hear with their ears and get the sense of it with their hearts and turn back when I heal them.
"However happy are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things you are observing but did not see them, and to hear the things that you are hearing but did not hear them.
"Now listen to the illusration of the man who sowed. Where anyone hears the word of the Kingdom but does not get the sense of it, the wicked one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart; this is the one sown alongside the road." (Matthew 13:14-19)
So yes, I fully expect that instead of being thanked, there is sort of a rebuff and ignorance against me if I try to bring it up with staff personally. It is viewed as a threat to their manual limitations, their prescriptive boundaries and attempts to limit and categorize the clients as lesser human beings.
Instead, I have to just expect, like the many signs they put around the house, that they might view the email, and eventually have a maintenance person come and take a look at the A/C system. It might even take a few days, because who knows how many other Catholic Charities buildings have these problems.
In fact, I am also heartened by the fact that I do get to go outside and plant some flowers and maintain the garden that I have developed since 2021. An update will be posted on that blog soon!
