@tbemrmccoy said:
@slimj87d: the Sally, or Salvation Army as the people with hones call it, is 3 to 7 dollars a night in most cities and they let you in at 5 at night and they kick you out at 4 30 am. I know because I was a drifter for 11 years. So good luck freezing at 4 30 am for your last few dollars of food money.
I can tell that you know what you're talking about. When I was between school and work in 2001, I had to go homeless for like 6 months, because I have a dysfunctional relationship with my mother, who has a dysfunctional relationship with my father who was living in a separate state from me. I lost my place as a student at Washington University in St. Louis; I had a part time job at the grocery store at the supermarket that I frequented as a student, but I made a mistake in getting a student apartment instead of a regular apartment; I just believed in myself as a student but didn't quite understand the struggles that I was facing as a student at the time. So, when the school evicted me, they claimed to need the apartment space for another student; they just needed the apartment available; I was also lazy paying my rent and I didn't take threats of evicting me for late payment seriously because I didn't understand the predicament that I was falling into. So, when I lost my slot as a student, the apartment just happened to be at the end of the eviction proceeding than gave me my 3 day notice to vacate. Had I kept up with my rent, I could have been there long enough to start getting paid and worked my way to stability. Instead, I was in a situation that I didn't fully understand and felt compelled to vacate the apartment by the deadline; actually, I don't know if I had much of an option there. Just the day before, after receiving my 3 day notice to vacate, it was a nice 80 degree day, but we had received a weather warning; the next morning, it was like 20 degrees, had about 3 feet of snow on the ground, and was snowing heavily. All I could think about was what I would do in the next 2 days, as I no longer had a place to stay, and I had an apartment packed with all my things, including all of my valuable textbooks; I couldn't think rationally about potential options that I might have had, because I'd never conceived of being in such a situation. So, somewhere the idea came up that I should return home to my mother with as many items that I could carry; I would have to leave most of my belongings behind. On the third day, two men showed up to evict me and I grab what I could carry and fled to the Greyhound station. I arrived home to my mother and siblings. My siblings were bitter because they decided to waste their lives being cool whereas I decided to achieve everything that I could academically. I wasn't planning on being there very long, as the climate was thick with envy; I started applying to jobs in the field that I did graduate in about a year and a half earlier and made a run for the NAVY; previously, I had failed the physical for the NAVY weeks earlier in St. Louis but thought that I could get in with a waver. So, one day, as I was watching tv, one of my siblings started trying to kick up an argument with me, when my stepfather saw her screaming at me, sided with her, and decided to come at me. He reached in his pocket for his knife, I was timing him for my move (e.g. I had a weapon that I was about to put into action), when someone heard the commotion and got between us. I than filed a police report and my stepfather was picked up at his home. About a day later, the cops surprised me at about 9am. I was than kept in a holding cell for about a month and a half without having my booking procedures. My favorite teacher heard my sibling discussing the matter at school and made my bail for $80, plus I was being considered for release anyway, since I hadn't been officially booked. I was than homeless and started off at the Salvation Army, as I didn't want to try returning home. I found out about the nightly fee; I had no prospects for employment but I was referred to a day labor shop. I wasn't being sent out as soon as I thought I would be, but I was blessed to be sent on an assignment just in time to avoid being kicked out of the Salvation Army. But, eventually, I was kicked out for none payment before 3 weeks were up and I had nowhere to go. I was wandering away from the Salvation Army when I meant this guy who had been homeless for sometime; he was a Jehovah's Witness and knew the locations of two other homeless shelters. One of them was a church but they both had fee requirements too. So we finally settled at the church. I beat my case and I ended up at the church for 5 months as a homeless resident. I would get money from the day labor facility every so often, but I also started applying to jobs in my field again. I than got a job at a K-Mart briefly, about a month before I started my career. I had the embarrassing experience of showing up my first day of work in a tacky blue suit, carrying a duffle bag, because they had a policy to be out the shelter in morning hours. My second line supervisor had to meet with me on my first day of work, evaluated my situation, allowed my to stay at a spare place on his property, and we became friends. The lab director heard about me, walked into the office as we were talking, and handed me my first $100 bill; I was shocked and pleasantly surprised. I than worked myself through and got my own place to stay.
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