There was a big story this weekend in the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News about how food stamp applications are overwhelming state workers. The lead sentence claimed that state employees are “frustrated and stressed out with inadequate staffing.”
“Many work long hours, but the cases keep stacking up. They blame nearly impossible conditions for high absentee rates and employee turnover,” the story reads.
Later in the story is this: “A caseworker who might have handled 12 cases two years ago now faces 20 to 25 per day, said Jan, a state employee who did not want to be identified with her last name because, she said, employees were told not to speak to the news media.”
The next paragraph says: “It takes between 30 and 45 minutes to process a food stamp application, she said. “It’s very discouraging. It stresses you out when you go home. You get to a point where you just don’t care anymore.”
Dear state worker:
Welcome to the real world of small business which employs most Texans.
I’m sorry that your work load is now getting close to matching the ample pay and benefits you receive from taxpayers. Now you may understand how we feel when we work an average of 10 to 12 hours every day, often six and seven days per week, and then find that the government has taken a third, to half, of our hard earned income to hand out to those not working, and to pay complaining bureaucrats.
We employers, risk takers and contractors get to where we “just don’t care anymore.” And we sure don’t want to hear you whine about how hard it is to give away our money.
Robert Pratt is host of “Pratt on Texas” heard daily on KFYO radio.
