Alton Sterling shooting: Piecing together what happened before the videos

[hollowdweller]

9. So called "Obamaphones" were a blessing to me

In the old days when I worked everybody had an address so when I tried to contact them I could get them. Even alcoholics often lived in campers on their friends or parents property so I could get a hold of them and ask them questions about their claims.

However once the opioiod epidemic hit us that changed. Where an alcoholic might steal some grocery money for a six pack, if you had a drug addict living on your place you might come home and find your jewelry or TV or something else gone. You might even get killed if you didn't give money.

So in the mid 2000's I'd encounter large amounts of people with no fixed address.

The law said we could not deny their claim without contacting them and their listed contact by phone or mail at least 2 times.
So we'd have these claims around, unable to get needed information because the person was unreachable, but we'd have to hold them a long time with our mean processing time going up on the case and mgmt breathing down our neck because we had to jump thru the hoops to get the case out.

With the "Obamaphones" most of the time we could get a hold of the person and get the information even if they had been kicked out for stealing, or jailed or whatever because they had the free phone on them. Loved it.