I was called a b&tch to my face this morning for the first time since seventh grade. If you count back in my diaries, you'll find that a week ago was the second time I stayed at the Trinity Episcopal Interim Shelter in Wheaton, IL... And the first time I ran into Terry ("I'm not your babysitter, don't make me call 911.")
I was pleased to get a late arrival pad in Wheaton last night, especially after feeling the need to leave the Friday night site, since no chairs were allowed on the women's side. Note that says "on the women's side. Because at every site, the men's side is laid out first... usually with the newest pads, and ALWAYS with at least a little space between the pads. When a woman had the gall to point that out, she was told, "There are more men than women."
So? There are also more individual women than family members. And yet the family members place highest in the PADS food chain, with individual women placed third. Now, if that were settled by a nightly draw, so be it. But for it to be the status quo out of convenience sucks.
Wow, am I off track. I got to last night's alternate site, checked in and got ready for bed. One nice thing about the couple of sites that never fully bring down the lights: I was able to read a chapter of my book & relax before falling asleep. And I slept pretty well. This morning I got up at 5 & sat up on my pad, considering whether and how to get up... and Teri saw me. "B&tch, leave me alone. I'm not responsible for you." Someone had told me to be careful with her, because if you back down she gets worse. And that she throws things. So I whispered (it WAS 5 AM): "Back off." I figured that was enough... and it seemed to work.
After getting up and brushing my hair, etc, I went to the dining area and sat at a table. Terry walked over to get coffee, about 15 feet from my table. This was when I WISHED I'd brought in a pen and notebook to accurately record the "conversation." A nice looking young man stepped up behind Terry, getting coffee himself. The yelled conversation was about the fact that she was "f_£(ing married", which seemed to be in question because she claimed it twice.
Trust me, this kid did not care whether the shrew was married or not, and he looked as stunned as I felt when I first met Terry. He and a volunteer exchanged looks and the kid just froze, waiting for the rattlesnake to slither away.
Soon after, she knocked on one of yhe kitchen doors before pushing it open to politely request sugar. Someone inside the lively kitchen asked her to repeat her request, and she shrieked something about a volunteer who has been with PADS for 30 years, and the number of times she'd asked and "don't make me ask again."
Holy crap did things start happening. Volunteers searched cabinets so high that I would have needed a step ladder to reach them. Four or five volunteers searched the Rubbermaid tote that should have held the canister. One of them took off for a convenience store to buy some. When one of the volunteers told her they couldn't find any, she said "that's all right," and left the building.
As I left about 15 minutes later, I saw Terry sitting on a curb outside the entrance, all bundled up, smoking away. Do you remember those little plastic smoking monkeys they sold around the fourth of July? Picture a blondish one with sallow skin, and you have Terry.
In other news, I spoke to my case manager yesterday. I got official permission to attend the housing meeting and communications group. He also asked about whether I have touched base with the county mental health group. I haven't, so I will go back to the PADS center on Thursday to see them in person. He also suggested I get a doctor's note saying I need a chair to lower and raise myself from my pad due to my limited mobility. :( Anyone out there a doctor who can write me a chair prescription?
I think that's most of the new from the homeless in Costaldo Park, Woodridge, Illinois.
© 2015 sheddhead – not to be used without written consent of the author, unless quoting portions of this diary on DailyKos, with links back to the original quotation