You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?

[ghouck]

Am I the only teenager that doesn't own a cell phone (nor do I want one)? No Ipods either. Even if I was given a cell phone, I don't think I'd ever use it.
But of course, I'm thus considered a lunatic by others. =p

I hate cell phones. I like not being able to be reached.

Same here, I don't own one, and can't see the need for one. My regular phone only rings about 5 times a month, and a couple of those are wrong numbers.

[ghouck]

What really grinds my gears: POSERS, plain and simple. I'm at the Correctional Officer's Academy right now, and it is LOADED with posers of every type. There's 28 students, from 8 or 10 different institutions in the state, and SO MANY of them are posers. None of us have been a CO for even a full year, but some of them talk as if they run their entire institution. That's like an Army private talking like they run the whole division. There are COs that have been so for less than 4 months talking about how the Superintendent of the institution I work at is doing things wrong. My Supt has been a CO for 24 years, 10 of that running the biggest institution in the state, which is also the only maximum security prison in the state, as well as having a degree in Criminal Justice. Yea, some CO-nothing has something he needs to hear. There's one knucklehead that talks about running the entire pre-trial side of an institution, as if the 12 Sergeants and 20+ other COs are under her 'command'. Another knucklehead talks about how he's going to relay the academy info to "all the guys he's training". I mean really, how the heck was he training people before being trained himself.
That same knucklehead barged into a conversation I was having with another, more realistic student, we were talking about b-movies (Plan 9 and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians to be exact). Mr knucklehead starts with "I love those kind of movies, like 'spies like us' and 'Fletch'". I'm not the most knowledgeable or experienced  b-movie fan, but this knucklehead doesn't even know the beginning of it, yet.

The first day, the Instructors said "We (correctional officers) are outnumbered by inmates by between 12 and 20 to 1. If they want to take control of the institution, they will. The only thing stopping them is the fact they feel their lives are better by generally abiding the rules. When they decide otherwise, we will have huge problems". Out of the 28 of us, who combined have about as much time in the department as any one of the instructors, only about 5 of us agreed with them. Just amazing. Some of these guys really think simply putting on the uniform transforms them into some awesome source of fear, power, and authority. One guy is talking about a particular inmate saying "I guarantee I wouldn't have any problem with him, the guy is almost 50 years old". The guy they're talking about escaped one institution several years back, disarmed 2 state troopers, killing them both. He then swam the Kenai river (a glacier-fed river) TWICE, in FEBRUARY. I have personally seen the guy play handball in FULL RESTRAINTS (handcuffed to a belly chain and leg irons on), and WON. I've seen him play handball for 6+ hours STRAIGHT, against a rotating mass of opponents, staying on the court because nobody could beat him. I've even seen the guy play 2 games of handball at the same time, and not lose either. This is one of the most in-shape people I've ever encountered, and definitely the most determined person. Any officer that has to deal with him and thinks they won't have problems with him is pretty much dead where they are standing.

Anyways, posers all around. One guy talking about being a Navy Seal until an Instructor asked him what his bud/s number was and mentioned a method of finding out if he really was. Then he backpedaled like mad.

Fortunately, there are only 4 of us from the institution I work at there, and the only one of us that's a knucklehead is on a different shift than I am, so I won't have to deal with him.  

Edit: Sorry about the wall of text.

[AndyC]

The first day, the Instructors said "We (correctional officers) are outnumbered by inmates by between 12 and 20 to 1. If they want to take control of the institution, they will. The only thing stopping them is the fact they feel their lives are better by generally abiding the rules. When they decide otherwise, we will have huge problems". Out of the 28 of us, who combined have about as much time in the department as any one of the instructors, only about 5 of us agreed with them.

I've never set foot in a prison, but it just seems like common sense to me to get along with the inmates. Not just to keep order, but to make work bearable for you. Even if you could keep them in line by threat of force alone, that would be a miserable environment for you to work in.

[Flick James]

What really grinds my gears: POSERS, plain and simple. I'm at the Correctional Officer's Academy right now, and it is LOADED with posers of every type. There's 28 students, from 8 or 10 different institutions in the state, and SO MANY of them are posers. None of us have been a CO for even a full year, but some of them talk as if they run their entire institution. That's like an Army private talking like they run the whole division. There are COs that have been so for less than 4 months talking about how the Superintendent of the institution I work at is doing things wrong. My Supt has been a CO for 24 years, 10 of that running the biggest institution in the state, which is also the only maximum security prison in the state, as well as having a degree in Criminal Justice. Yea, some CO-nothing has something he needs to hear. There's one knucklehead that talks about running the entire pre-trial side of an institution, as if the 12 Sergeants and 20+ other COs are under her 'command'. Another knucklehead talks about how he's going to relay the academy info to "all the guys he's training". I mean really, how the heck was he training people before being trained himself.
That same knucklehead barged into a conversation I was having with another, more realistic student, we were talking about b-movies (Plan 9 and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians to be exact). Mr knucklehead starts with "I love those kind of movies, like 'spies like us' and 'Fletch'". I'm not the most knowledgeable or experienced  b-movie fan, but this knucklehead doesn't even know the beginning of it, yet.

The first day, the Instructors said "We (correctional officers) are outnumbered by inmates by between 12 and 20 to 1. If they want to take control of the institution, they will. The only thing stopping them is the fact they feel their lives are better by generally abiding the rules. When they decide otherwise, we will have huge problems". Out of the 28 of us, who combined have about as much time in the department as any one of the instructors, only about 5 of us agreed with them. Just amazing. Some of these guys really think simply putting on the uniform transforms them into some awesome source of fear, power, and authority. One guy is talking about a particular inmate saying "I guarantee I wouldn't have any problem with him, the guy is almost 50 years old". The guy they're talking about escaped one institution several years back, disarmed 2 state troopers, killing them both. He then swam the Kenai river (a glacier-fed river) TWICE, in FEBRUARY. I have personally seen the guy play handball in FULL RESTRAINTS (handcuffed to a belly chain and leg irons on), and WON. I've seen him play handball for 6+ hours STRAIGHT, against a rotating mass of opponents, staying on the court because nobody could beat him. I've even seen the guy play 2 games of handball at the same time, and not lose either. This is one of the most in-shape people I've ever encountered, and definitely the most determined person. Any officer that has to deal with him and thinks they won't have problems with him is pretty much dead where they are standing.

Anyways, posers all around. One guy talking about being a Navy Seal until an Instructor asked him what his bud/s number was and mentioned a method of finding out if he really was. Then he backpedaled like mad.

Fortunately, there are only 4 of us from the institution I work at there, and the only one of us that's a knucklehead is on a different shift than I am, so I won't have to deal with him.  

Edit: Sorry about the wall of text.

ghouk,

Well, you seem to have a head on your shoulders. These knuckleheads you speak of seem just like a lot of people who put on a uniform. You see it with law enforcement and you see it in the military. I'm prior military, and while it's probably not as widespread as in environments like corrections or law enforcement, it is still there. Not everybody who gets into corrections or law enforcement are like that, as you seem not to be, but sadly, many of them are. There's only a small percentage of people who are cut from the right cloth for that kind of career, at least to do it well and have an ounce of sense, far fewer than what is needed to handle the numbers, and so you get what you're talking about, a predominance of knuckleheads. I've dealt with cops, even played cards with a bunch of them on semi-regular basis when I lived in Virginia, and you can tell the good cops from the dickhead cops pretty easily. There's a wierd mindset amongst the latter that I still don't understand, and don't think I ever will.

Anyway, good luck at the CO academy. I can tell you right away I AM NOT cut from the right cloth for that career.

[Jim H]

The guy they're talking about escaped one institution several years back, disarmed 2 state troopers, killing them both. He then swam the Kenai river (a glacier-fed river) TWICE, in FEBRUARY. I have personally seen the guy play handball in FULL RESTRAINTS (handcuffed to a belly chain and leg irons on), and WON. I've seen him play handball for 6+ hours STRAIGHT, against a rotating mass of opponents, staying on the court because nobody could beat him. I've even seen the guy play 2 games of handball at the same time, and not lose either. This is one of the most in-shape people I've ever encountered, and definitely the most determined person. Any officer that has to deal with him and thinks they won't have problems with him is pretty much dead where they are standing.

Who is this person?  If you can say, I mean.  I'm quite curious. 

[AndyC]

The guy they're talking about escaped one institution several years back, disarmed 2 state troopers, killing them both. He then swam the Kenai river (a glacier-fed river) TWICE, in FEBRUARY. I have personally seen the guy play handball in FULL RESTRAINTS (handcuffed to a belly chain and leg irons on), and WON. I've seen him play handball for 6+ hours STRAIGHT, against a rotating mass of opponents, staying on the court because nobody could beat him. I've even seen the guy play 2 games of handball at the same time, and not lose either. This is one of the most in-shape people I've ever encountered, and definitely the most determined person. Any officer that has to deal with him and thinks they won't have problems with him is pretty much dead where they are standing.

Who is this person?  If you can say, I mean.  I'm quite curious. 

I'm picturing the Bob Tessier character from The Longest Yard.

[ghouck]

The guy they're talking about escaped one institution several years back, disarmed 2 state troopers, killing them both. He then swam the Kenai river (a glacier-fed river) TWICE, in FEBRUARY. I have personally seen the guy play handball in FULL RESTRAINTS (handcuffed to a belly chain and leg irons on), and WON. I've seen him play handball for 6+ hours STRAIGHT, against a rotating mass of opponents, staying on the court because nobody could beat him. I've even seen the guy play 2 games of handball at the same time, and not lose either. This is one of the most in-shape people I've ever encountered, and definitely the most determined person. Any officer that has to deal with him and thinks they won't have problems with him is pretty much dead where they are standing.

Who is this person?  If you can say, I mean.  I'm quite curious. 

Nobody you would hear about outside AKDOC, and I don't think it's wise to mention his name. There are a few that fit that mold: Highly capable, determined people that when the opportunity comes, will stop at nothing to get out or get back at someone. We have another that has escaped twice, once from my institution and once from another. He actually intended to kill a CO, the only thing that saved the CO was the fact that he was lazy and never loaded his gun. The inmate in question took it from him and pulled the trigger, but got nothing but a click.

[ghouck]

Lol, and it's only getting better. There's a student that has never handled a gun. That's cool, no problem there, but his reasoning for that was "Because I'm not a barbarian". He claims to be a former college chemistry professor, and he's taking a job as a Correctional Officer where many (most) of his colleagues are 'barbarians' by his standards.

[AndyC]

Lol, and it's only getting better. There's a student that has never handled a gun. That's cool, no problem there, but his reasoning for that was "Because I'm not a barbarian". He claims to be a former college chemistry professor, and he's taking a job as a Correctional Officer where many (most) of his colleagues are 'barbarians' by his standards.

Oh, I love people like that. So secure in their righteousness, they'll insult you to your face and they either won't realize it or they won't give a damn.

[ghouck]

Oh, I love people like that. So secure in their righteousness, they'll insult you to your face and they either won't realize it or they won't give a damn.

Yea, how stupid is it for a person to go into an institution full of prisoners when the first thing they have to fall back on is a team of people they consider beneath themselves?

[Mr. DS]

Daylight savings...its friggin stupid.

[Leah]

The guy they're talking about escaped one institution several years back, disarmed 2 state troopers, killing them both. He then swam the Kenai river (a glacier-fed river) TWICE, in FEBRUARY. I have personally seen the guy play handball in FULL RESTRAINTS (handcuffed to a belly chain and leg irons on), and WON. I've seen him play handball for 6+ hours STRAIGHT, against a rotating mass of opponents, staying on the court because nobody could beat him. I've even seen the guy play 2 games of handball at the same time, and not lose either. This is one of the most in-shape people I've ever encountered, and definitely the most determined person. Any officer that has to deal with him and thinks they won't have problems with him is pretty much dead where they are standing.

Who is this person?  If you can say, I mean.  I'm quite curious. 

I'm guessing, from a 12 year old POV- Chuck Norris.
My 16 year old POV- Bane.

[Leah]

Daylight savings...its friggin stupid.

here's some information:DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME IS REALLY SPENDING MORE MONEY ON ELECTRICITY THAN REGULAR DAYS!!!

[ghouck]

Is it just me, or are kids these day intentionally adhering to stereotypes? It seem like emo kids decided to be emo kids and play the part, hipster kids seem like they looked up 'hipster' on the internet and formed a shopping list of things to buy, wear, do, say, and how to act, and pretty much every other group is the same way. I heard kids talking the other day about how they wish the 'import tuner scene' would shift in some way because they liked something better. Another kid I was talking to described herself as a 'scene girl'. When I was growing up/a young adult, the gearheads were gearheads, and did what they wanted. The metalheads were metalheads, and they listened to the music they liked. Months ago I was talking to a guy who was fiddling with a handheld GPS. I asked him if he did any geocaching, and his answer was no, that basically he only had a GPS because he hangs with a group of techies and to be a techie, you have to have all the major cool gadgets "computer, laptop, latest cellphone, ebook, gps, media player, etc". I just don't understand this hive-minded way of thinking. . .

[Umaril The Unfeathered]

Lol, and it's only getting better. There's a student that has never handled a gun. That's cool, no problem there, but his reasoning for that was "Because I'm not a barbarian". He claims to be a former college chemistry professor, and he's taking a job as a Correctional Officer where many (most) of his colleagues are 'barbarians' by his standards.

Having followed this post for awhile, I can now tell you that my mother was a CO for a correctional facility in NJ for almost 20 years, until a knee injury she recived during an un-cooperative cell extraction cost her her job.  She did get a good offer and retired early with full honors and great references.

Having heard my mother's own stories about the types of people you mentioned, your posts on some of the people in academy reminded me of her own stories.   There were a few "gun haters" in her class too, as well as those who felt that uniformed presence and verbal command would be all they needed to get thru a day of life with some of America's worst and least wanted.

My mother was licensed to carry, and had a nice S&W .357 she kept with her at all times, subject to the usual restriction about CCW in our state.  She never had to use it, thank God.

As to your comrade who feels that "guns are for barbarians" maybe he'll be in a situation one day where he'll have to use his duty weapon to save his life.  Sounds like this guy's a real winner.

The very best of luck in academy and may you graduate top of your class!