Servicing my Community Part II

  So part of my DWI dos punishments require community service at the jail.

I am a very polite person, direct but, always pleasant.  So here I go, my best friend Red took me allll the way there and promised to pick me up.  She dropped me off and told me to wave in the window if I was in the right place.

I walk in the building...the first and second window were closed but I turned the corner and could see a person standing in the third window, even with the lights out and the shades down.  Nothing gets past this girl.

I yell a couple times into the microphone ("Hello!?  I'm here for community service."), completely ignoring the guys in the waiting room that said I need to go to the fourth window (that's across the way).  Sure enough, the guy behind the third window tells me to go to the fourth window.

So here I go..  "Umm, Hi, I'm here to do community service." <Smiling as big as I can the whole time to let them know I'm not a threatening criminal>

The girl behind #4 smiles but the guy grumbles, "Yeah well you're going to have to wait a minute."

No problem, I text Red to tell her that I'm in the right place but I'm just about to have a panic attack.  She scared the pee out of me the other day so, looking back, I don't feel bad.

Finally the peeps behind the fourth window ask for my papers and ID, I give them both and ask them if I'm in the right place.  They tell me I am and direct me into the first door.  A nice lady follows behind me.  I get nervous by the door slamming behind us and ask her what's going to happen next.  "Oh the first door has to lock then they'll open the next one."  We seem to be in a 4x4 cage so I start yanking on the door to open it.  Finally the latches release and we're free, she tells me to take a left.

"OK!  Thanks!" :D  -Naive Mego says

I take the left but there isn't a group of people to join so I look back with question marks in my eyes...

"DAY SERVICE TO THE RIGHT."- Random man yells.  I go to follow him, he gives me a crazy look like 'WTF do you think you're doing?!'

"Do I come with you?," I ask timidly.
"NO."-RG

So I turned back around in the concrete maze and walked towards the desk.

The girl working is about my age and I tell her I'm here to do community service.

"Take off your jacket." -Deputy Blah  (OMG I'm getting strip searched)
"Sorry, this is my first time here, I'm kind of freaking out, I don't know what I'm supposed to do just yet."- Mego turned complete pushover  (I'm not getting naked, I will MOVE TO MEXICO so this can blow over)

"I need your purse, your bracelets, and your phone...do you have any weapons?" DB
"Well no, do you want my hair tie too?"-Me in a puddle version
"Does it have metal in it?"-DB
"Well no ma'am?"-M  (I even stretched it out so she could see that it didn't)
I asked her if I could text Red so she knew I was in the right place and she wouldn't wait one me.
"What do you mean?!"-DB
"Well I told her I would let her know if I was in the right spot, she wanted me to wave at her in the window but...you know what, nevermind, hopefully she won't sit out there for eight hours."-Fully freaking out Mego

She still acted skeptical.  Then she felt me up like they did after 9/11 to check for bombs in my bra.  (How have sexual harassment trials not come up from that?)

"Put this on."-DB (It's an ugly dirt orange scrub top that has definitely seen better days)

"Alright well I think I broke my toe so you're going to have to bear with me today."-DB
("What in the world does this have to do with me?  We won't have to run as much?  I didn't know I was going to be running.")
"Oh yikes, that hurts, not much you can do besides buddy tape it though"-Confused but Relieved to dodge a strip search Mego.

She took me to a stock room for inmates, the scrubs they wear and the items they're allowed to have while they're in lockup.  "Organize this" <she waves her hand at the scrubs> "They look terrible"-DB

"Well alright"-Me, thoroughly relieved this isn't a surprise strip search tactic.

I get set at organizing the scrubs, they have orange and black/grey, I started with the black/grey scrubs, refolding everything so it looks nice and is in the place the faded labels deem appropriate.

Soon after a blonde girl joins me, "So what are we doing?"-BG
 "I'm not sure, I'm just reorganizing the scrubs."-Me
She's talking so loud that it makes me nervous that we're going to get in trouble for talking.  She asked me how many times I had done this..."None" (obviously, hello!)

She started sorting out the orange scrubs, not quite as attentive as I was but I'm not the supervisor and it's not my problem today.

We get that done and ask what we should do next.

"Just sit tight and wait."-Older DB says

So we sit, and she tells me she's been in trouble for all sorts of things, including: theft, shoplifting and battery.  She knows all the people that work in the office because she's been there so often.  It's surprising how much you can curse and not get in any trouble.

She also tells me that she wants to go to school to be in Criminal Justice or to be a Doctor.

Not to be judgmental but...I don't think she could ever be a doctor.  I mean, I've searched everything it takes and all of those crimes do not a doctor make.  Call me crazy.

So we were sitting far too long and we fell asleep.  She told me we could sleep all day but I didn't believe her.  I sat in my chair for an hour and finally succumbed to my two hours asleep the night before.

I was only asleep for a few minutes.

I snore a lot so I woke myself up with that.  (Thanks, Pops)

Seriously though, the officer came to see how we were doing and he told the lady officer (ODB) that "it's pretty bad when your inmates go to sleep." -I was awake for all of this. I nudged my bud so she would wake up to talk to the officer that was curious about why she was there that particular day.

It took a few nudges but she never cared.  She woke up and told the officer why she was there.

We sat there for a few minutes and they pulled in all of these new inmates...my fellow community service companion knew some of them.

She asked one guy why he was there, he said, "Don't matter, I'll be out by Monday."

All of a sudden, the officers start screaming at him to quit talking...then they direct their fury into our room:
"SHUT UP, SHUT UP. YOU TWO DON'T SPEAK.  I'VE WARNED YOU TWO!"

-I am terrified that this time I've spent in Hell is in vain.  I didn't talk to the villains!  I don't understand why I'm being lumped in with my terrifying community service buddy.

No fair!

That's typical though, they have terrible peeps come through and I'm a relief.  ...But, I asked to go to the bathroom and Officer Blah said "uh, Suck Ass, you can wait."

Pretty sure every person in the world would be happy with polite manners but she wasn't having it.

So...when I was cleaning the inmate's bathroom, I should wash the sink, then the toilet with one towel.  My bud in service should wash the shower.  For some reason that seems nastier.

We then moved to the officer's bathroom...I may have used that tiny piss towel from the inmate's bathroom to wipe down every area your "god hands" could imagine touching.

I was so polite but yet you all decided to treat me like I was scum...I hope you chew your nails.

Perhaps that's the lesson for today is...treat everyone with respect

Servicing my Community

So I guess a bit of back story would be necessary so that this next entry would make sense. 

I had a bit of a problem with drinking when I got fired from my job.  Maybe "bit" is a bit of an understatement...I drank a lot. 

I am currently suffering the consequences. 

I would show up late for my beloved job and I didn't understand why they didn't like it.  I still stand by the fact that I was really good at my job; I was knowledgeable, understanding and able to do more than my job title required.  Honestly, I didn't mind because, I really liked it.  I felt like it was preparing me for something bigger.

Then they got fed up with me being unreliable and I got the boot.  I was bitter for a long time but now I understand their point.  

I don't think I would have gotten to this point had I not had my downfall. 

So after the boot, I got DWI numero dos.  Yikes.  I cried all day on my 24th birthday because, of course, that was just on the heels of all my other troubles.  Seriously though, I don't want you to feel sorry for me.

It took a great deal of humbling and a few kicks in the pants BUT, I think I'm on the right track. 

I'm in a supervisor position now and I know what trouble it makes when I can't rely on people to show up on time or at all.  I can honestly say that I never understood the repercussions of my actions.  It makes me feel like a fool but sometimes it takes people a bit longer to learn the simple lessons. 

It's been just over a year now since I got fired and I can honestly say that I'm in a much better place now.  I've grown up and taken responsibility for myself.  I'm not completely independent but I'm working on it. 

Sometimes it takes time to sort the shit out but, it will happen eventually.

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