Today I go back to work. It has been a lovely week and I have enjoyed every second of it. Yesterday I had to get back into the mindset of 'having to get these done'. Yes, I had to finish the laundry and get ready to go to work today.
I usually do not talk about my job and I will probably only talk about it this one time. I do not like to talk about my job and I don't like to listen to my friends who are coworkers talk about the job either, but they talk about it a lot.
I work as a social worker with Los Angeles County Dept of Children and Family Services. I am lucky, I do not knock on doors. I am an intake evaluator at the Child Protection Hotline. I answer the phone and take the complaints and assess if the complaint warrants an in person response and then assign an appropriate response time. I listen to stories of child abuse all day and when I have my lunch break and when I go home I don't want to talk about it or listen to it. However, all of the social workers that I know ALWAYS talk about it. They talk about it at lunch, on the way home, at parties, at BBQs and homes of retired social workers and on vacations and they tell others about the job when on vacation. When I am on vacation I say I am an artist because I am and I don't want to talk about the job that actually supports me and has supported my family.
Please do not misunderstand me, I love my job and I do a good job. I take it seriously and care about the kids we try to protect. BUT it does not define who I am am and there is a whole lot more that makes up who I am, so when I am around my soicial worker friends and collegues I take a deep breath and just listen. When there is a group of us I just listen, I don't talk. Most of them think that I do not have anything to add to the conversation because almost all of them have worked in the field and have knocked on those doors and I have been at the hot line since 1988. I did knock on a few doors for training and I know that I have been blessed having beern assigned to the hot line. As difficult as it is to listen to that garbage all day it is no way near as difficult a job as for the social workers that knock on doors. There have been times when I have asked one of my children, now adults, to listen to me about a particulary hard day. They will usually also take a deep breath and then listen. But most often I just call them on the phone and tell them to let me talk to my grandchildren a while and then send them all kisses and hugs. I must have a particular sound in my voice when I NEED to send my grandkids hugs and kisses because all three of my children have said,'had a bad day mom?'
So you see this is probably the only time I will ever mention my job and the work I do there. I will talk about the people I work with because they are GREAT people, FUN people, WARPT people, and I LOVE them. Yes warpt, how could we not be and the ones who have worked in the field are shell shocked and may never recover and I may ALWAYS have to listen to their war stories, but that is the least I can do since I have been blessed to be able to avoid the front lines.
SInce I am returning to work today I will probaly only have time to write this blog on Fridays, so that is the plan for now.
TTFN
I usually do not talk about my job and I will probably only talk about it this one time. I do not like to talk about my job and I don't like to listen to my friends who are coworkers talk about the job either, but they talk about it a lot.
I work as a social worker with Los Angeles County Dept of Children and Family Services. I am lucky, I do not knock on doors. I am an intake evaluator at the Child Protection Hotline. I answer the phone and take the complaints and assess if the complaint warrants an in person response and then assign an appropriate response time. I listen to stories of child abuse all day and when I have my lunch break and when I go home I don't want to talk about it or listen to it. However, all of the social workers that I know ALWAYS talk about it. They talk about it at lunch, on the way home, at parties, at BBQs and homes of retired social workers and on vacations and they tell others about the job when on vacation. When I am on vacation I say I am an artist because I am and I don't want to talk about the job that actually supports me and has supported my family.
Please do not misunderstand me, I love my job and I do a good job. I take it seriously and care about the kids we try to protect. BUT it does not define who I am am and there is a whole lot more that makes up who I am, so when I am around my soicial worker friends and collegues I take a deep breath and just listen. When there is a group of us I just listen, I don't talk. Most of them think that I do not have anything to add to the conversation because almost all of them have worked in the field and have knocked on those doors and I have been at the hot line since 1988. I did knock on a few doors for training and I know that I have been blessed having beern assigned to the hot line. As difficult as it is to listen to that garbage all day it is no way near as difficult a job as for the social workers that knock on doors. There have been times when I have asked one of my children, now adults, to listen to me about a particulary hard day. They will usually also take a deep breath and then listen. But most often I just call them on the phone and tell them to let me talk to my grandchildren a while and then send them all kisses and hugs. I must have a particular sound in my voice when I NEED to send my grandkids hugs and kisses because all three of my children have said,'had a bad day mom?'
So you see this is probably the only time I will ever mention my job and the work I do there. I will talk about the people I work with because they are GREAT people, FUN people, WARPT people, and I LOVE them. Yes warpt, how could we not be and the ones who have worked in the field are shell shocked and may never recover and I may ALWAYS have to listen to their war stories, but that is the least I can do since I have been blessed to be able to avoid the front lines.
SInce I am returning to work today I will probaly only have time to write this blog on Fridays, so that is the plan for now.
TTFN
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