To all my fellow Social Workers!

You know You're a Social Worker when...

1. You think $40,000 a year is "really making it".
2. You don't really know what it's like to work with men.
3. You know all the latest lingo for drugs, where to get them, and how much they cost..
4. You've started a sentence with 'So what I hear you saying is...'
5. You've had 2 or more jobs at one time just to pay the bills.
6. You tell people what you do and they say "that's so noble".
7. You have had to explain to people that not all social workers take away kids.
8. You use the words 'validate,' 'appropriate' and 'intervention' daily.
9. You spend more than half your day documenting and doing paperwork.
10. You think nothing of discussing child abuse over dinner.
11. People have said to you "I don't know how you do what you do".
12. You've never been on a business trip or had an expense account.
13. You know a lot of other social workers who have left the profession for another.
14. You've very familiar with the concept of entitlement.
15. Staying at a job for 2 years is 'a long time'.
16. Your phone number is unlisted for good reason.
17. Your professional newsletters always have articles about raising salaries...but you still haven't seen it.
18. You've very familiar with the term 'budget cut'.
19.. You can't imagine working at a bank or crunching numbers all day.
20. You've had clients who liked you just a little too much.
21. Having lunch is a luxury many days.
22. You've been cursed at or threatened...and it doesn't bother you.
23. Your job orientation has included self defense.
24. You have the best stories at any cocktail party.
25. Your parents don't know half of the stuff that you've dealt with at your job.
26. You know all the excuses clients use for a failed a drug test by heart.
27. You repeat to yourself "you work to live not live to work."
28. You find it hard to get babysitters as you don't trust anyone with your children..
29. You're exhausted but you keep smiling!!
30. You dream of stacking shelves at a Supermarket!!
31. You enter strangers houses to talk about their children and not one ever asks for an ID (in 10 years never! Have frequently offered though!)
32. You tell your hairdresser the truth of what you do to only to then find out she is a)adopted b)tracing her long lost father or c)victim of some terrible abuse which she then discusses in a packed salon over the noise of the hair dryer!
33. You assess your date (in your head) while out on a date just to see if they meet criteria for any DSM IV diagnosis.
34. Your significant other has learned that when someone greets you in public not to ask "who was that?"
35. You ever had to put a client on hold before you began laughing uncontrollably.
36. You believe the government should require a permit to reproduce.

Hope this makes you smile, it's a tough job but someone's got to do it!