Here in the UK I spent five years as a First Contact Officer at a JobCentre Plus, part of the Department for Work and Pensions. I was first point of call for people wanting to claim Jobseekers' Allowance, Incapacity Benefit or Income Support. They ran the gamut from kids with two GCSEs to people with PhDs, from the noisily drunk to the terminally ill, from single mums with 13 kids by 13 different men to the quietly courteous but very traditional Muslim newlyweds who couldn't understand why she had also to be 'available for and actively seeking work' in order for their mandatoery Joint Claim to be processed. I could write a book, but I'm not allowed to!