Maintaing steady employment-Overcoming Panic Attacks
Up until last week I was a correctional officer for the state of Oklahoma. Without any warning I got called into the Wardens Office just before the end of my shift and I was told that the decision had been made to let me go after reviewing my progress which was quite negative.
I was accused of being rude to Inmates, I was accused of not using the metal detector on them correctly…which is really hard to do if you have 100 Inmates coming out of the gate all at one time. The metal detector I am talking about was a hand-held one, I had to scan each Inmate top to bottom, front and back, and I was the only one doing it because they are so short handed. I had to do this twice every day for breakfast and lunch, for approximately 1000 Inmates.
The Inmates would come at it too fast and then run into it and they screamed :”Assault” at me. If I would tell them to slow it the heck down, I was accused of being rude. One of the case managers has written me up for yelling at an Inmate to “quit beating on the f**king window” when he was indeed banging on the damned window.
There was so much more going on and I really have a sneaking suspicion that it was “pay back time” for me having reported another supervisor to the higher ups for her having handed an Inmate a menstrual pad which the Inmate stuck on his forhead and then walked around with it. She then handed him a friggin Tampon and told him to “stick it up his @$$.” I felt that I had to report this because I witnessed this incident and it would have been very easy for the Inmate to scream “sexual harassment” (this is an all-male prison) and I was NOT going to get involved in that one.
Under Oklahoma State Statute, having sexual contact with an Inmate is considered RAPE and I was NOT going to go there, know what I mean? This falls under the rape prevention act and I felt that I was obligated to say something.
Little did I know at the time that half of the staff in that prison are either married to one another, dating each other or related in some form or fashion…and I attacked one of their “buddies”, know what I mean? I can’t prove retaliation, but it sure as heck seems like it…..
With Vickie’s hubby being a cop, I am sure she can verify this rape law with him he should know.
Evelyn has given me the adresses of a few websites that offer home employment, I think I will seriously check into this. I will also make an appointment with my doctor to get her opinion of this entire “keep on getting fired” situation.
On the other had, I am sure the brutal distance that I had to drive every day to and from work (150 miles round trip), didn’t help my stress level any. I took this job because it was a damned good job….a state job for crying out loud, I thought I could handle it until I had the opportunity to transfer somewhere closer, but I guess that didn’t work out.
Anyways, that is my story with the damned unemployment…..:(
Overcoming Panic Attacks
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> I’ve had my current job four years in December and I’m having a little bit of trouble. There’s a bunch of office politics; we have a new secretary and she’s coming up to me all the time and whispering to me that she doesn’t like half the current staff. That got old to me quickly and I e-mailed the staff whom she doesn’t like on blind copy and told her she better get with the program at our firm because calling half the firm names will boot her out really quick. Anyway, one of the girls forwarded it to HR and I’m anxious about what’s going to happen with that. I’m anxious about the economy helping us lose clients and if we do that we won’t need the attorneys and naturally we won’t need the secretaries. Every day I go in I expect that.
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> If you can concentrate on your job (I know that’s hard and it is for me), do the best job you can do and the hell with people who consider you rude. Work is not a popularity contest and besides, you won’t get yourself tied in office politics and gossip.
