Well as the title suggests I had one heck of a week. I was completely drained by the time all was said and done since the day started out at a very, very early time.
I woke up around four in the morning. I got too anxious about what was coming. I decided to clean my whole apartment then shower once all was said and done. I knew I had a car appointment set up at seven in the morning so I at least had something coming up real soon.
Once six came around the corner, and my wood floors looking spotless, I hopped in my car and took the very long way to the dealership. I was getting my vehicle inspected before a very long drive and wanted to make sure everything was squared away. What I found really weird was that the dealership was opened for service at seven, but the mechanics don’t arrive until eight. No idea why but whatever…
I was sitting in the waiting area where they had tons of candy, doughnuts, and coffee all for free. I never got any of it and here’s why. This old lady sat right next to me. She had her granddaughter with her. She asked me what I was there for. I told her it was just a free inspection I called for. She then went on and on about her car and how much better it was for her at her age. It was a Buick… I kind of figured it was.
She talked about her years living out in the country and just talked my ear off. It was a little too early for me to pay attention but I didn’t want to be rude so I did my best at engaging in the conversation. It’s almost funny listening to the elderly people talking about how life has passed by so fast. Once my car was fixed up (I just realized I never took advantage of the free breakfast bar they had because of her) I said goodbye to her and set off.
I was on my way to my job interview which was one hundred and thirty eight miles away. It was a good hour and forty minute drive. I finally arrived at the Sheriff’s Office. I was interviewing for a deputy position for the jail.
I made sure my tie was straight and shirt was still looking good (after a long drive I didn’t expect much). I walked in with a folder of all of my certificates and the “make me look good” paperwork. I opened the door and inside looked like a lobby for a drug rehab facility. I mean this county department is old and out of date. It’s in the country side and immediately I was thinking “what have I done”.
The nice old clerk asked what I was there for. I told her I was there to meet with a few sergeants and the lieutenant for an interview. She said she would give them a call and have me wait for a minute. I looked around the lobby for a minute to get a good feel of the place. It was quiet. I really liked that. Everything was simple. No fancy flat screen televisions, touch pads of any sort, or even anything remotely modern. Even the phones were from the nineties. I mean I was in (what I would interpret as) a real country county department.
The sergeant opens the door and gives me a firm handshake. He said “I know you had a long drive ahead of yourself so we expected for you to show maybe a little early. Let’s get this started shall we?”.
I walk into a conference room and there sat the lieutenant and two sergeants. The lieutenant was a clean cut fellow with just a touch of gray. The sergeant in the middle looked like a fitness guru who obviously really likes younger people who like to stay in shape. The sergeant on the far right had full sleeve tattoos with a handle bar mustache. He intimidated me the most out of anyone in the room.
The interview went perfectly though. I thought I may have messed up a few questions here and there but apparently they liked me so much they asked if I could stay to tour the jail. I said absolutely. The fitness sergeant took me to the first station down at intake. One of the deputies there looked like Officer Farva from Super Troopers.
If you have no idea who I’m talking about…
That’s him.
Now he was chewing gum with his mouth open and took a good look at me. He said “Hey boy… I like your tie… They sell men’s clothes where you got it?”
I just shot back with “Well it was the prettiest and I knew it would catch your attention”. Everyone in the room laughed and he leaned over to his partner and said “Oh yeah… He gonna fit in real good here”. We all laughed and joked for a good few minutes before the sergeant took me to another location.
He took me to the spot where they keep an eye on several medium aggressive inmates. A few deputies were in that pod because that was one of the few pods with the Detroit Tigers game playing. As the sergeant was explaining the door locking system I said “Hey not to interrupt you sergeant but… Looks like two inmates are fighting right now”.
He and the other deputies look over and go “Oh crap!” and run out. The deputy in charge of the pod calls out on the radio to all available deputies to the pod. I was observing the entire thing behind the safety of the one-way glass. You could see that during the fight some of the older guys who look like they’ve been there knew exactly what to do next. Slowly the started putting their playing cards face down and got ready to get on the ground. I looked over at the door and saw maybe ten deputies ready to roll in.
As soon as those doors unlocked they flew open. The two inmates were still throwing punches. The sergeant yells “Everybody get down! Get down on the ground! Now!” and mostly everyone just dropped. There was one young looking inmate, who obviously looked new to the whole thing, just stood up from the table with his hands up. The sergeant ran right to him and yelled “I said get the f*** down!” and threw him down. Five deputies ran over and just dog piled on the fight, cuffed the trouble makers, and escorted them out. Soon after they did a quick pat down. I saw the other deputies covering as the other inmates just lay on the ground.
Just like that. From zero to sixty and back to zero. The sergeant comes in to the pod real quick and says “you got one good eye my friend” and walks out. It was the most exciting thing I have ever seen.
I mean everyone knows of the series “Scared Straight” where they have the deputies take the kids around inmates to scare them of the realities of jail, but seeing it first hand… It’s like most of them aren’t even people. Its literally like looking into the cage of an animal. A reject of society.
One of the deputies said “you’re going to work in a place where murderers, rapist, and child molesters live. You get lied to every day. Trust is a difficult thing to grasp. Are you sure this is what you want to do?”
In my mind… Yes… I would love to. I think it’s more of the fact that every day is different. I wont know what work will be like going in and I will be glad it was all over. I was never fascinated by being a lawyer, accountant, or anything like that. You know what’s going to happen and nothing is exciting. Well… I would assume that. But in the jail you are in charge of making sure that these people that society despises are contained and away from the general populous. I think having that type of job will create many exciting stories to come.
So for most of the day yesterday I was filling out my background packet. I have a conditional offer from them and hopefully in the next month I’ll get the word of my employment there. I have another one to do next week (same type of job) and hopefully I can see how well that goes. But who knows. As for now… I’m just glad that I have something to look forward to. All of my career type stress is gone.
Well.. Not all of it but you know.. It’s getting better.
But that’s pretty much it for now. The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. I have to tend to this swollen bump I have on my chin. I think a spider, or some bug, came and bit me in the middle of the night. One thing that I hate about warm weather are more creepy crawlies are coming out of hiding. Guess we’ll have to deal with it…
Have a great weekend everyone!
Above and Below Average 