Longer Than Expected

Due to an unusually high call volume, you may experience longer than expected wait times. 

It's the same message every time I call the CT Department of Social Services. It's always a longer than expected wait time. I was prepared to be on hold for upwards of an hour and a half, as past experience suggested. I was not prepared for my time on hold to go nearly forty-five minutes past my expectations. 

During my time on hold I read several chapters of a book, wrote a bit about my adventures at Camp Calumet, read a dozen emails and responded as appropriate, got caught up a bit on Facebook and Instagram, posted a photo to Instagram, chatted for a while with someone who stopped by my campsite, walked to and from the bathroom, took some photos, did some editing of the slideshow I'm putting together for my children, all while trying not to lose my mind listening to the on old "music."

During my time on hold, my husband and eleven year old son got changed into fishing-appropriate attire, got their rods ready, packed up what they needed, went over the fishing rules for the lake, put sunscreen on, walked to the beach, signed out a canoe, rowed out into the lake in search of a good fishing spot, fished for over an hour, rowed back, put the canoe back in its place, signed the canoe back in, and walked back to our campsite. 

I was following up on a call I had made five days prior, at which time I was on hold for a mere forty-eight minutes. That call was to find out why, a couple days short of a month after reviewing the periodic report form of a family I'm helping through the DSS process, the changes to their account had yet to be made and their SNAP (food stamp) balance had not been added to their card. The first time I called, the food stamp balance was three days late. The next time I called, it was over a week overdue and still nothing -despite the 24-48 hour promise made five days before. This was not what I was planning on spending vacation time on, but there are worse places to have to be on hold with DSS than outside in my campsite on a beautiful day. 

Two hours and twelve minutes on hold for a two minute conversation.

Somehow, people are supposed to manage to call between the hours of 8am and 4pm Monday through Friday and spend over two hours on hold if need be, just to make sure they're going to receive the benefits they need to survive....AND work at the same time.  I was the person to make the call on behalf of this family because the "head of household" was working all week. When I started helping this family navigate social services, he signed a document granting me access to his dss account just in case of situations like this. I don't know of any employer who would allow someone to take a 1-3 hour break to call DSS, and cannot figure out how people can manage to keep their benefits when the only opportunity to talk to someone about food, cash, or health benefits falls during normal working hours for many. I'm sure the DSS professionals are doing all they can to answer questions and help people navigate the system, but cuts in funding and the number of DSS workers is to the detriment of all. So those of us who need to plan for "longer than expected."