So here's a little story about me and my experience with the welfare system.

When I was 18 I left my home state & moved to a small city in PA. I had no real plans, no money, and little to my name. I found a job paying minimum wage, and my first apartment.

1/

That apartment turned out to be a crack house! Fun times. Aside from the people coming to my apt looking for drugs thinking the city's (at the time in jail) biggest dealers still lived there, no one really bothered me. I worked my lame job and lived in my dump.

2/

A friend of mine whom I knew there before moving suggested I get on food stamps. I was a very anti-conservative registered Democrat, but like most 18 year-olds I really didn't know anything about anything, so despite my politics, I was clueless about how they worked.

3/

The lady at the office was young, white, and very helpful. I qualified, and I got what looked like a debit card to use at the grocery store. I was able to actually get decent food! Pretty cool! Sure, I was embarrassed at first, but I got over that and stopped caring.

4/

Time passed, and I lost my seasonal job, was out of work, got a new job, quit because it was miserable, and got a new job that wasn't half bad: 3rd shift at a big gas station. I started off making a few dollars an hour more than my last job. Movin' on up!

5/

Still stuck in the crack house (which did eventually get condemned after my ceiling caved in and half of my apt had to be sealed off by me & my friend because of the mold that grew), which didn't cost much to live in, I started having more money to my name.

6/

When I realized I made enough that I could buy groceries on my own I just assumed the thing to do was turn in my EBT card and move on. I got a ride to the office and found the lady who helped me before, and casually said that I was there to turn in my card.

7/

I said it like I would've said "I'm here to make a deposit" at a bank. The lady was confused and asked what I meant. So I said that I was making more money and didn't need it anymore. She seemed alarmed and insisted we go over my finances to see if I still qualified.

8/

Now *I* was confused, because I knew my financial situation: I could buy my own groceries. So I repeated myself, a bit unsure, thinking I might be doing something wrong. She made another attempt to get me to just sit down and go over things.

9/

At that point, it became clear to me that it wasn't an obligation on my part to do what she was suggesting. I didn't need it, so I was turning it in, and that was that. I handed her my EBT card, and she tepidly took it from me.

10/

The look on her face would have been the same someone came in with mismatched clothes and a propeller beanie yelling "I'M GOING TO BUY YOU ALL DONUTS!" in a very serious voice. It eventually occurred to me that this very likely had not happened to her before.

11/

I left, and that was the end of it.

I believe the lady meant well & honestly thought she was helping me. But the experience stayed with me. I came from nothing, a pretty poor family, but just not poor enough to qualify for any kind of welfare. Not even free lunch @ school.

12/

Everything we had was worked for. My parents didn't bitch about "the rich," or complain that anyone was holding them down. The only thing they complained about was not being able to get me things for Christmas, and by complained about I mean my mom cried.

13/

I was never taught that anyone owed me anything. My politics as a young adult stemmed from cultural issues, not fiscal policy (I was 18...WTF did I know about that?). The idea that an individual would get welfare and keep it longer than they needed it made no sense to me.

14/

But that's the reality of it: people DO feel entitled. And the people running these programs (from my experience) believe they are helping you by keeping you on welfare for as long as possible. It becomes a feedback loop between the clerk & the welfare recipient.

15/

That was almost 20 years ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday. That's how much that three-minute experience impacted me. Who wouldn't want to be self-sufficient? Yeah, I know, I was naïve. Still...

16/

If nothing else I can look back at that moment and recognize that I apparently wasn't ever TRULY a progressive Democrat at my core. And that's nice to know.

I thought I had some great point to make to wrap this up with, but it looks like I don't. Or I forgot. Oops.

/end