And now, this year, we have two more spots. The hope is to have as constant an occupancy rate as possible. You see, $4,100 divided by a $50 per week program fee equals 82 program fee weeks. That works out to us having had 1.57 guests per week for 52 weeks. In a four bed house. A four bed house that had 208 program fee weeks available.
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| Me. If I were young, handsome and wore suits to the library. |
That's not good enough. True, it was our best year, but it's not good enough by a long shot. True, we actually served more people than 1.57 per week, but the point of that is that more need to be paying guests.
This year, we're striving for it to be a bit better. It is in some ways already, but we've still a ways to go. On the plus side, we do have the extra two spots now. With six beds, then even though we still rarely operate at full capacity, at least if we're two short out of six that's four, instead of being two short out of four and having only two.
And we've instituted a more rigorous policy on the paying of the program fee, and that has made a difference. We still get burned by our own willingness to try to work with some, though.
And attrition is still hard. Two days ago, for instance, while this is an extreme example, we lost three guests at once. From full occupancy of both houses to just three guests.
In the case of one, he had moved in last Wednesday and had paid the $50. Since we collect such on Friday, he was going to get some free days and not have to pay till this upcoming Friday. Another thing we're going to have to start to change, as we lose on that one each time.
But he dropped off his stuff and with a song and dance about his long and varied hours at Steak n' Shake, we pretty much literally never saw him since. We've ran into this before. See, he has a car, but if he carries all his stuff in it, then his girl will know he doesn't have his own place. So long as she knows he does have his own place, she'll let him basically live with her, but heaven help him if she finds out he's homeless.
You're probably asking, "How come such don't just rent a storage place for $50 a month instead of $50 a week?" The answer is that they do wish to make use of the shower and kitchen if they have to, like if they're between girls, or in an extreme case, if they need to bring her over to pretend the whole house is there's and they're just letting some others "crash" with them.
If you're wondering - and you shouldn't - while we know of that phenomena, it's rare as we nip that in the bud at once. We're here to aid people, so no, to answer what some have asked, it's not about getting a steady program fee. It's about finding someone who actually needs help, even if we're going to go without the program fee for a bit while we find that person.
This guy is the second one in a month that has tried that. This one, though, I've texted him and left a voicemail when he didn't answer any of my phone calls. He didn't respond. He's not at either hospital or the jail. I changed the lock combo and told the guys that if he stops by, tell him to see me. I'm wondering how many days it will be before he realizes he doesn't live here any more. Probably Friday, when he'll no doubt come by with the program fee that I'll decline.
The second guy was a sad case. He had gone to church, just once, but still. That always gives me hope, but in this case it was a false hope. This 45 year old man was only able to move in because his retired mother payed his program fee. I caught him drinking at once, and gave him the talk and another chance.
While aiding him in what seemed to me to be a rather half-hearted job search, I prayed he'd stop drinking. Monday night, smelling it on him when he asked me a question about what he needed to do to get his resume in order, I said, "You need to stop drinking. That'll help you to get your resume in order." He looked puzzled - being drunk will do that - and I said, "Listen, you think I'm not breaking out the breathalyzer because I'm scared to? I'm trying to give you every chance. You've a job interview tomorrow, stop drinking! Because if I bring out the breathalyzer, and it shows anything but zero point zero, you're out of here."
Next day, took him to his interview. Later in the afternoon, he was clearly drunk. I got out the breathalyzer, went over, and told him I needed him to blow. He said that it might show something from yesterday evening when he drank. I said, you mean when I talked to you at 6pm? He said yes. I said, "You lose a shots worth each hour, so unless you had several gallons, you're good to go."
He blew a .16. .08 to .10 is sufficient to be arrested for drunk driving in most states. So yeah, he was drunk. He said it was from the previous day. I said, "I hope you understand that's impossible. And if you don't understand that, please understand that I understand that such is impossible."
He argued the whole time. He needed a chance. I reminded him of the chances. Everyone else was doing this or that or the other, all bad. I told him that I'd never had anyone leave who did not tell me the same things, and he shouldn't worry about what others are up to. He told me ****** was seriously drinking way worse than he was. I told him that I was pretty sure that a few million folks in China were also drinking more than him, but none of that had a thing to do with his sobriety.
He regaled me with his story of having been adopted. How his mother loved her "real" children more than him. (The same heartless mother who had paid each week he'd been there and would have kept paying if I had kept him.) He told me that revenge was sweet, and that he now owed me and my wife. I told him that neither of us had done anything to him, and nor was he the first to threaten us.
Finally, he said that since I'd not let him have that chance, it was over. Done. And he got out a knife and held it up to his throat. While I was concerned, I could not help but think of the scene in "Blazing Saddles" where the new Sheriff holds himself hostage with his gun pointed to his own head.
Me: "Are you seriously trying to tell me that you will kill yourself if I do not let you stay here?"
Guest: "Yes, I'm telling you that."
Me: "I'm sorry to hear that. You still can't stay."
Guest: "I mean it."
Me: "If you do not put down that knife, I will call the authorities."
*I walk over, he takes the knife away from his throat*
Me: "Give me the knife."
Guest: "No."
*He folds the knife, puts it in his pocket and starts to walk up the steps*
Me: "Since you aren't giving me that knife, you are going to have to leave now."
Guest: "I already had to leave, so what?"
Me: "So there is a greater urgency now then before. That was a bit too dramatic, my friend."
Finally I got him to Helping Hands. Where he was too late for a bed. We walked back to the car, and I opened the passenger side door, hit the "all lock" button, and closed it. I knew he expected a further ride to some mythical place. There was no other place.
Me: "I'm a bit upset that had you left at once, we could have been here in time."
Former Guest: "What now?"
I hear that each time. As if having helped them the once, that it is now my responsibility to find them the next place. Like if I cannot, then I must still keep them. This is a child-like way of thinking that is utterly alien to me, even when I was an active alcoholic.
Me: "That is for you to decide."
Former Guest: "I've no place to go."
Me: "If you are seeking advice, I would suggest you let me call your mother."
Former Guest: "No!"
Me: "Failing that, and as you cannot stay at ARC, you should go across the street to where those three guys are sitting. See what they plan on doing. Worst case scenario you will spend a warm spring night under the stars and can check into Helping Hand in the morning."
He then asked me to take him to the police. I pointed to where the building was and said he could walk. But that he'd need to commit a crime, and that seemed like a bit of trouble when he could just wait till tomorrow morning. He said he needed to be in doors. I told him - knowing it wouldn't work - that if he was very quiet, he could probably get away with staying the night in the hospital.
That's an old trick I've used before when I was hitchhiking around the country. If you sit quietly, they'll assume you're waiting on a patient. So I'd read my book for a bit then doze off with it in my hands. But I was always clean and quiet. That helps a lot. Him, I was figuring he'd get away with it for all of 15 minutes, if that.
But that was acceptable to him, so off he went.
I don't really have the time or space here to relate how the third one left. If anything, it was more bizarre than the second guy. Especially how he left owing me $50, but then paid me that $50 the next day. Which then guaranteed that then, in spite of me being "the one who meows", that I could not stay angry!
I passed out my cards the next day, at ARC and Helping Hands. I got a call later that day, and another guest knew someone who needed a spot, so we have two of the spots filled now. Still need one more.
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