May 7th

Well, I let this go to long without an update. I had intended to update each evening as I was in training last week, but having to work dayshift pretty much kicked my ass last week. All I wanted was to collapse on the couch until it was time to go to bed. Then I got to lay in bed wishing for sleep to come. There is a reason I still bid night shift, I DON'T DO MORNINGS!!

Training last week, despite having to get up at a ridiculous time of the morning, was not bad. We had the usual refresher talks about things like ethics and team effectiveness, treatment of the mentally ill in prison, communicable diseases and inmate access to health care, a lecture on the acceptable use of technology at work (aka, don't play on the computers or use it for personal stuff), emergency preparedness and PREA - the Prison Rape Elimination Act.

Then there was a four hour class that was titled "Customer Service". I was planning on coming home that night and UNLOADING on this particular class. Things were running through my head like, "Inmates are NOT my customers" and "Gee, the definition of customer is one who buys goods or services. The only staff that I know that have sold any goods or services to inmates are either in jail themselves, or looking for a new job." It turns out that the class was actually supposed to be more along the lines of boosting morale, and they were saying our fellow staff are our customers. It still doesn't really work with the definition, but after sitting through the class, it was easy to see where they were going with it. In a nutshell, they were trying to encourage everyone to keep up their spirits, and try to have a positive attitude while at work. Not always such an easy thing to do in the type of environment we work in, but it is possible to still have a decent time and not let things get to you.

Then the week ended with a day of shooting to qualify for armed posts, and a day of defensive tactics. All in all not a bad week. Getting up at 6:00 am is incredibly painful for me, but it was a nice break from the same old grind at work.