Make your Job Work for You
I mentioned in a prior blog how at my first job I tended a small rose garden. I could have ignored this garden like most inmates do when assigned jobs, but I chose to make it work for me by learning something that is of interest to my wife. My wife likes to garden, and likes roses. By learning how to grow and tend a rose garden, I became a better husband because I found another way to share in the things my wife enjoys.
Perhaps you are stuck in what seems like a bad job. Making it work for you might be different depending on why you think your job is bad. Does the problem stem from co-workers or management (or both)? Perhaps it is bad because it doesn’t pay well (you are not alone). Perhaps you do not feel challenged or adequately trained. As an inmate, I can still relate to these issue in my prison job, and believe me, I think my co-workers, my pay, my training, and my intellectual opportunities in my prison job by comparison are for worse than most jobs. But, I still think that anyone can make a job work for them, even a lousy prison job.
One thing I regret about my previous jobs is the missed opportunities to learn something new. My first job out of college as a tax accountant provided a plethora of opportunities to learn that I ignored. I remember doing the quarterly payroll and sales tax for a restaurant. Rather than take some time to learn about the restaurant business I simply did the forms I was told to do. It became a rote activity. I took a number from the report and put that number in the computer. I look back at that and think how fascinating it could have been to figure out what that number actually meant to this restaurant, and why it was important. I could have learned something that would have served me well in the future. Two years before I came to prison I had a restaurant as a client for my bookkeeping business. I didn’t keep them very long because that business has some unique aspects to it (liquor licenses for one). I could have done a better job with them if I had made my first job out of college a better learning experience. Instead I viewed it as a dead end, bad job. I was working long hours and only got paid $8.75/hour. Oddly, even the job that ultimately got me in prison was a job where I did try to learn some things, and those helped me start my own bookkeeping business.
My second job at prison was an easy job by prison standards. It was also easy to make the job work for me as well. I was a recreation clerk. I was in charge of issuing equipment to inmates. The best part of the job was that I had a room with a desk to myself. I could write or read without worrying about a sleeping bunkie or taking up someone’s space. I could us the time I had sitting there to achieve personal goals. Because I had to sit there I was able to fill up the time doing things that helped me learn. Of course, the obvious retort is that not everyone just sits at a desk with little responsibility so that they can read all the time. I’ll concede that, but that’s not my point. I know that no one spends 100% of their time at work “working.” Some is spent at lunch, talking on the phone, emailing friends, or just chatting with other employees. I’m not saying don’t do this, I’m just saying that there are snatches of time that we can use to learn on our own. My brother lives in Portland, and during the winter rainy season has decided that he would rather read the Wall St. Journal during his lunch hour than fight the rain going to the local mall to eat for an hour. He eats, but he spends 45 minutes reading, as opposed to 45 minutes going to the mall, waiting in line, finding a table, and then heading back to work. Similarly, use the downtime at your work to read an article in a trade journal, or some other publication you enjoy. I think finding learning activities to do during boring times, or downtime is a good step in making your job work for you.
My current job in the prison is actually a rare job for a prisoner. Out of the 580 or so prisoners here, 15 of us get to leave the camp every weekday and work someplace in town. I found this to be a great job, but I think I have vastly different attitudes about my work than other inmates. True, the out crew does require much more work, and far more strenuous work at that. But, there are benefits that I liked to make the job work for me. First, the church where I go provides us lunch every day. After dreary prison food, having a hamburger, a pizza, or some Chinese takeout makes the work rewarding. Not only that, but the work crew gets to choose what they want. Normally, in prison, you eat what you are served, or you don’t eat. On the outside, if you want a cup of coffee at 6 am, you either have your machine on a time, brew it yourself, or buy a cup. Simple enough. In prison, if you want coffee at 6 am, you have to wait until the chow hall opens, head over there, wait in line, usually for about 20 minutes, then when you get your coffee, it may be sludge. That’s not hyperbole. The coffee here is thick. Anyway, my point is the how I make the out crew work for me.
It is pretty easy to make the out crew work for me. I enjoy the fringe benefits so much and I don’t mind the longer hours and harder work, so it probably is a good job from that perspective, even though my pay is still low, and I get no intellectual stimulation from it. One thing that I did learn from this out crew that I use to my advantage is making the most of my time. I would often work alone. That seems silly, but finding “alone time” at a prison is practically impossible. Yet, on the out crew, there are jobs that you can do by yourself and not see anyone for an hour or more. I use that time to think about things, pray, and just be quiet. The discipline of solitude is something I cherish right now and I’m using my job to get that. So, if you have a job that engages you physically, but not your mind, then use that time to think about something you have read, memorize some verses (I read about a truck driver that did this). Anyway, just think, and you will be surprised at how valuable engaging solitude is, and engaging your mind.
In my next blog, I want to continue the theme of working, and elaborate on a concept I mentioned in an earlier blog, know who you work for.
Jeff
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Crappy Job (#40)
So You Have a Crappy Job
I had a bad job. Well, I thought it was bad. I got paid well, and not a lot was expected of me, but I wanted more. I wanted a better title, more money, and ultimately, more authority to make decisions. I couldn’t be content with what I had. This was the gateway, the starting point, to my actions that ended in a 3-year prison sentence. I thought I had a crappy job, but I would give anything to have that job back now, considering where I am. Perhaps I can shed some light on some of the things I learned about wanting more in my job and being content with what I have been given.
All prisons expect their inmates to work (at least all Federal prisons do – barring some high security or other extenuating factors). I’ve written about my various jobs in prison, and I still find it to be one of the most interesting situations I have ever experienced. I work for the institution, but it’s the taxpayers who ultimately pay my wages (which would be criminal if I got paid this on the outside, 12 cents an hour). You are supervised by a guard. Yet, in most prison jobs, you will not interact with anyone from the institution. As I have mentioned in an earlier blog, the inmates are your actual customers, and as anyone knows, you really work for the customer. Your customers, while not in direct contact with you, get angry if they have dirty bathroom, poor food, etc. But, in prison, the customers don’t pay for anything. If you can recall back to your basic economics class, the prison is like a communistic economy. Each prisoner should work their best and hardest because the common benefit is the reward, not wages or private ownership. If everyone worked hard, then the food would be better, the restrooms cleaner, the grounds tidier, etc. But, as sinful people, we don’t think like that. The prisoners think, "what kind of effort should I give for 12 cents an hour?" As a result, you get an effort that is the product of 12 cents an hour or what takes the least amount of effort).
When I was a supervisor, one of the most common complaints was about the employee’s level of pay. The management’s response was always find another way to motivate them beyond their pay. The reality is you have to motivate yourself. Even if you have a bad job, finding a new job probably won’t solve the problem. You have to learn to find the positives about the job. Do the job you have and do it well regardless of who is looking or if you are rewarded. Take pride in what you do. I look at this like I would look at dating or self-esteem. If you like who you are, if you are confident in who you are, it will be noticeable. The same is true with your job. You don’t have to necessarily like data entry or like cooking French fries, but by doing it well you can be proud of what you did. If you adopt this attitude people will notice. You can’t do it to be noticed though. You have to just do your job well for the simple reason that you want to take pride in doing your job well.
Finding the right job in prison was important. However, the right job depended largely on what you wanted to do with all the time. There are jobs in prison that take 30 minutes a day. There are jobs that take 3-4 hours. There are jobs that may require you to be up all night and there are jobs that require you to get up at 4am. There are disgusting jobs like cleaning toilets, hauling trash, or washing 500 dishes. There are easy jobs like dusting phones or mopping a small room. There are challenging jobs that require specialized skills. There are even jobs that allow you to leave the prison. It’s important for an inmate to find a job that works with the inmate’s personal objectives. This is true on the outside as well. I’m not saying that you need to change jobs. But, try to make your job work for you. Develop a skill set through your job that can help you be a better person, or a more efficient worker.
Let me give you some examples of my jobs in prison and how I made them work for me. Inmates are assigned their first job by the institution. My first job was as a recreation orderly. After 3 or 4 months, an inmate can change jobs to something they might like better. As a recreation orderly, I was responsible for weeding, watering, and picking up trash in a certain area of the recreation yard. This was not my ideal job. I was supposed to work from 8 – 10 am and then again from 12 – 2 pm. Now this job didn't take four hours, and many inmates made it take an hour or less. Fortunately, the rec jobs do not have a guard who is constantly monitoring the inmate’s every move, so you could do your job in 30 minutes or you could take more time. I figured this job would take about 2 1/2 hours to do well. So, I made it work. I went to an exercise class from 8 – 9 am and then after already getting sweaty, I would proceed to do my weeding work from 9 – 10.
When I came back out at noon, I would water the plants while I walked the track. I also brought out books to read or wrote letters. I could read while I picked up trash. I made the job fit with what I wanted to accomplish while still doing my job and doing it well (this based on the fact that no one else weeded and rarely did anyone pick up trash). Did I do this to be noticed? No, I wanted to look at my work each day and say, “The rose garden looks good.” I got to enjoy the rose garden because I worked on it. I know other guys appreciated it too, but that wasn’t why I did it. It was an unintended benefit to them. The job itself was not difficult, but I tried to do it well, and better myself while doing it.
I made this job work for me by getting exercise, writing, reading, and enjoying the rose garden. My family and in-laws are gardeners. Even if I only had time to work on the rose garden, I would have made the job work for me because I would have learned something that would have helped me relate to my wife and in-laws. I would have become a better husband simply by learning something about gardening. Most guys in prison wouldn’t view their job as a way to become a better husband and probably many of you don’t look at your job as a way of learning something that can make you a better person. I’m not necessarily talking about the actual skills you need to do your job. I’m talking about other skills you can learn from your job.
Jeff
I had a bad job. Well, I thought it was bad. I got paid well, and not a lot was expected of me, but I wanted more. I wanted a better title, more money, and ultimately, more authority to make decisions. I couldn’t be content with what I had. This was the gateway, the starting point, to my actions that ended in a 3-year prison sentence. I thought I had a crappy job, but I would give anything to have that job back now, considering where I am. Perhaps I can shed some light on some of the things I learned about wanting more in my job and being content with what I have been given.
All prisons expect their inmates to work (at least all Federal prisons do – barring some high security or other extenuating factors). I’ve written about my various jobs in prison, and I still find it to be one of the most interesting situations I have ever experienced. I work for the institution, but it’s the taxpayers who ultimately pay my wages (which would be criminal if I got paid this on the outside, 12 cents an hour). You are supervised by a guard. Yet, in most prison jobs, you will not interact with anyone from the institution. As I have mentioned in an earlier blog, the inmates are your actual customers, and as anyone knows, you really work for the customer. Your customers, while not in direct contact with you, get angry if they have dirty bathroom, poor food, etc. But, in prison, the customers don’t pay for anything. If you can recall back to your basic economics class, the prison is like a communistic economy. Each prisoner should work their best and hardest because the common benefit is the reward, not wages or private ownership. If everyone worked hard, then the food would be better, the restrooms cleaner, the grounds tidier, etc. But, as sinful people, we don’t think like that. The prisoners think, "what kind of effort should I give for 12 cents an hour?" As a result, you get an effort that is the product of 12 cents an hour or what takes the least amount of effort).
When I was a supervisor, one of the most common complaints was about the employee’s level of pay. The management’s response was always find another way to motivate them beyond their pay. The reality is you have to motivate yourself. Even if you have a bad job, finding a new job probably won’t solve the problem. You have to learn to find the positives about the job. Do the job you have and do it well regardless of who is looking or if you are rewarded. Take pride in what you do. I look at this like I would look at dating or self-esteem. If you like who you are, if you are confident in who you are, it will be noticeable. The same is true with your job. You don’t have to necessarily like data entry or like cooking French fries, but by doing it well you can be proud of what you did. If you adopt this attitude people will notice. You can’t do it to be noticed though. You have to just do your job well for the simple reason that you want to take pride in doing your job well.
Finding the right job in prison was important. However, the right job depended largely on what you wanted to do with all the time. There are jobs in prison that take 30 minutes a day. There are jobs that take 3-4 hours. There are jobs that may require you to be up all night and there are jobs that require you to get up at 4am. There are disgusting jobs like cleaning toilets, hauling trash, or washing 500 dishes. There are easy jobs like dusting phones or mopping a small room. There are challenging jobs that require specialized skills. There are even jobs that allow you to leave the prison. It’s important for an inmate to find a job that works with the inmate’s personal objectives. This is true on the outside as well. I’m not saying that you need to change jobs. But, try to make your job work for you. Develop a skill set through your job that can help you be a better person, or a more efficient worker.
Let me give you some examples of my jobs in prison and how I made them work for me. Inmates are assigned their first job by the institution. My first job was as a recreation orderly. After 3 or 4 months, an inmate can change jobs to something they might like better. As a recreation orderly, I was responsible for weeding, watering, and picking up trash in a certain area of the recreation yard. This was not my ideal job. I was supposed to work from 8 – 10 am and then again from 12 – 2 pm. Now this job didn't take four hours, and many inmates made it take an hour or less. Fortunately, the rec jobs do not have a guard who is constantly monitoring the inmate’s every move, so you could do your job in 30 minutes or you could take more time. I figured this job would take about 2 1/2 hours to do well. So, I made it work. I went to an exercise class from 8 – 9 am and then after already getting sweaty, I would proceed to do my weeding work from 9 – 10.
When I came back out at noon, I would water the plants while I walked the track. I also brought out books to read or wrote letters. I could read while I picked up trash. I made the job fit with what I wanted to accomplish while still doing my job and doing it well (this based on the fact that no one else weeded and rarely did anyone pick up trash). Did I do this to be noticed? No, I wanted to look at my work each day and say, “The rose garden looks good.” I got to enjoy the rose garden because I worked on it. I know other guys appreciated it too, but that wasn’t why I did it. It was an unintended benefit to them. The job itself was not difficult, but I tried to do it well, and better myself while doing it.
I made this job work for me by getting exercise, writing, reading, and enjoying the rose garden. My family and in-laws are gardeners. Even if I only had time to work on the rose garden, I would have made the job work for me because I would have learned something that would have helped me relate to my wife and in-laws. I would have become a better husband simply by learning something about gardening. Most guys in prison wouldn’t view their job as a way to become a better husband and probably many of you don’t look at your job as a way of learning something that can make you a better person. I’m not necessarily talking about the actual skills you need to do your job. I’m talking about other skills you can learn from your job.
Jeff
Monday, May 19, 2008
Quarterly Update (#39)
This is about a month old now. I'm a bit behind on the updates- Scott.
This past Sunday (April 13th) marked my 1-year anniversary in prison. I had strange feelings as I approached my anniversary. Until now, everything was still new. I had not spent an Easter in prison until this past March. What would that be like? What would the weather be like in March (the winter wasn’t too bad). When will the trees turn green again? These questions seem mundane, but in a place where very little changes from day to day, change, in any form, helps one cope. As I started to see things that were the same from last year after I had just arrived, that sense of change and newness left. I could no longer say, “tomorrow will bring something new.” I know look at the calendar and say, “I know what April will look like.” This kind of made me depressed, because the newness of things helps the time pass. The mundane unchanging elements make the stay here feel as though time is slowing or stopped. As much as the routine gets you through the day (if you keep busy), it’s the little changes that keep you sane. It reminds me of that saying about how change is the spice of life. Every so often you need change to keep things interesting.
The other thing that I noticed as I approached my anniversary is that everyone pointed out that I had been here for 1 year. Probably the one thing every inmate does is track how much time they have served and how much time they have left. I’ve calculated the number of weeks I have left, the exact date that represents my halfway point, and just about every possible milestone you can imagine regarding my stay in Taft.
I’ve been fortunate that I’ve had some small changes since my last quarterly update. I’ve had some big changes too, although you don’t always want that. My last quarterly update – based on my 9 months here, was January 13. Since then, one of the biggest changes that has been both sweet and sour was my dad’s arrival to the Taft Camp. I’m happy that there is a friendly face, but it’s never fun to see a family member go through what I’ve been through or taken away from family and friends. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. My dad had one of the more difficult 3-4 weeks after arrival of anyone I know here. A few days after he got here, his brother (my uncle) passed away suddenly. My uncle was sick and in the hospital before my dad arrived, and my dad was able to visit before he reported to Taft, but no one, not even the doctors, thought his illness was life threatening. That was pretty hard on my dad. It left his mom without any help. I was really sad for my dad, because the first month or so, prison is a hard enough adjustment, but my dad had the weight of his mom and her care on his mind, not to mention the grieving of his brother to deal with. I was able to get my dad moved into my dorm. That was good. In that same week, we had a shakedown. A shakedown is when the guards come through the dorms looking for contraband. In this instance, they were looking for people with extra blankets, pillows, cardboard, etc. in their lockers. It was not a very serious shakedown, but it was my first experience with (and this after almost 9 months) that and I know my dad was nervous. In your first week, everything seems crazy, and a shakedown just adds to the stress.
I have been able to help my dad get adjusted. I’ve tried to spend some time with him walking, but because of my job, I’m away from the camp most of the day. We do eat breakfast and lunch together on the weekend and I do manage to spend some time with him every day mainly to catch up on things.
I’m still working on the “out crew.” Working with inmates poses some interesting challenges (of which I will write soon), but I enjoy the work. I find that it prepares me mentally to be back in the workplace. Oddly, you adjust to working a couple of hours a day. When you go back to a regular 8 hour job schedule, it’s a shock. On the out crew I work about six hours a day. So, not only does it help pass the time, but I am getting used to working a normal work day schedule. I work on the out crew 5 days a week, so it makes the weekends feel like weekends. I think that is one of the things I enjoy most, that the weeks are separated by work and then rest. That didn’t happen in here with my previous job.
There was a small change to the out crew schedule that I really enjoyed. One day we went to the mountains to clean a camp that the church runs. The change of scenery was uplifting. We actually saw and walked in snow. We were surrounded by pine trees. This is a drastic change from the Taft landscape and welcome one in my opinion. I hope that I will get to go the camp again before my next update.
Another small change that is helping me stay sane is my recent move to another cubicle and a new bunkie. I’m pleased to announce that I have a window in my new cubicle. My window faces East and I have already enjoyed numerous sunrises. I write most of my letters by the sunrise light. The window also faces a grove a trees that the Native Americans at the camp use as their meeting place. Most of the time the grove of trees is devoid of inmates, so I get to enjoy a somewhat more scenic view than the arid dirt that makes up Taft.
I’ve started and almost completed another soccer season. I’m not enjoying my soccer as much as I did before. I find that people are extremely critical, and I get too competitive. Not to mention that I’m older than most of the guys, and my body can’t take the beating like it could when I was 20 or 25. It’s not a positive or enjoyable environment when you are injured all the time and other players can’t understand why you are not playing. I do like the exercise and the game, but the chronic injuries are not worth the trouble right now. Before I play in another league, I plan on taking a break and allowing my body to recover from the myriad of injuries.
I have also had a couple of opportunities to speak in church. I had wanted to do this when I first arrived, but I don’t feel that way now. I think that we have many people here with gifts for teaching, and I’m not one of them. Being on the out crew does not afford me the time to prepare the talks as well as I would like. That makes me anxious and I think the men deserve and can get better. At this point, I doubt I will pursue opportunities to speak. Maybe when I get out I will look into that, but at this point, I don’t feel like that is what God wants me to do.
Please pray for my relationship with my dad. I want to develop a stronger friendship with him. That’s my priority right now.
Thanks for all of your letters, prayer, and support. I’m doing fairly well all things considered. I hpe that by the next update I can write to you about a furlough. But maybe not until the Fall.
Jeff
This past Sunday (April 13th) marked my 1-year anniversary in prison. I had strange feelings as I approached my anniversary. Until now, everything was still new. I had not spent an Easter in prison until this past March. What would that be like? What would the weather be like in March (the winter wasn’t too bad). When will the trees turn green again? These questions seem mundane, but in a place where very little changes from day to day, change, in any form, helps one cope. As I started to see things that were the same from last year after I had just arrived, that sense of change and newness left. I could no longer say, “tomorrow will bring something new.” I know look at the calendar and say, “I know what April will look like.” This kind of made me depressed, because the newness of things helps the time pass. The mundane unchanging elements make the stay here feel as though time is slowing or stopped. As much as the routine gets you through the day (if you keep busy), it’s the little changes that keep you sane. It reminds me of that saying about how change is the spice of life. Every so often you need change to keep things interesting.
The other thing that I noticed as I approached my anniversary is that everyone pointed out that I had been here for 1 year. Probably the one thing every inmate does is track how much time they have served and how much time they have left. I’ve calculated the number of weeks I have left, the exact date that represents my halfway point, and just about every possible milestone you can imagine regarding my stay in Taft.
I’ve been fortunate that I’ve had some small changes since my last quarterly update. I’ve had some big changes too, although you don’t always want that. My last quarterly update – based on my 9 months here, was January 13. Since then, one of the biggest changes that has been both sweet and sour was my dad’s arrival to the Taft Camp. I’m happy that there is a friendly face, but it’s never fun to see a family member go through what I’ve been through or taken away from family and friends. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. My dad had one of the more difficult 3-4 weeks after arrival of anyone I know here. A few days after he got here, his brother (my uncle) passed away suddenly. My uncle was sick and in the hospital before my dad arrived, and my dad was able to visit before he reported to Taft, but no one, not even the doctors, thought his illness was life threatening. That was pretty hard on my dad. It left his mom without any help. I was really sad for my dad, because the first month or so, prison is a hard enough adjustment, but my dad had the weight of his mom and her care on his mind, not to mention the grieving of his brother to deal with. I was able to get my dad moved into my dorm. That was good. In that same week, we had a shakedown. A shakedown is when the guards come through the dorms looking for contraband. In this instance, they were looking for people with extra blankets, pillows, cardboard, etc. in their lockers. It was not a very serious shakedown, but it was my first experience with (and this after almost 9 months) that and I know my dad was nervous. In your first week, everything seems crazy, and a shakedown just adds to the stress.
I have been able to help my dad get adjusted. I’ve tried to spend some time with him walking, but because of my job, I’m away from the camp most of the day. We do eat breakfast and lunch together on the weekend and I do manage to spend some time with him every day mainly to catch up on things.
I’m still working on the “out crew.” Working with inmates poses some interesting challenges (of which I will write soon), but I enjoy the work. I find that it prepares me mentally to be back in the workplace. Oddly, you adjust to working a couple of hours a day. When you go back to a regular 8 hour job schedule, it’s a shock. On the out crew I work about six hours a day. So, not only does it help pass the time, but I am getting used to working a normal work day schedule. I work on the out crew 5 days a week, so it makes the weekends feel like weekends. I think that is one of the things I enjoy most, that the weeks are separated by work and then rest. That didn’t happen in here with my previous job.
There was a small change to the out crew schedule that I really enjoyed. One day we went to the mountains to clean a camp that the church runs. The change of scenery was uplifting. We actually saw and walked in snow. We were surrounded by pine trees. This is a drastic change from the Taft landscape and welcome one in my opinion. I hope that I will get to go the camp again before my next update.
Another small change that is helping me stay sane is my recent move to another cubicle and a new bunkie. I’m pleased to announce that I have a window in my new cubicle. My window faces East and I have already enjoyed numerous sunrises. I write most of my letters by the sunrise light. The window also faces a grove a trees that the Native Americans at the camp use as their meeting place. Most of the time the grove of trees is devoid of inmates, so I get to enjoy a somewhat more scenic view than the arid dirt that makes up Taft.
I’ve started and almost completed another soccer season. I’m not enjoying my soccer as much as I did before. I find that people are extremely critical, and I get too competitive. Not to mention that I’m older than most of the guys, and my body can’t take the beating like it could when I was 20 or 25. It’s not a positive or enjoyable environment when you are injured all the time and other players can’t understand why you are not playing. I do like the exercise and the game, but the chronic injuries are not worth the trouble right now. Before I play in another league, I plan on taking a break and allowing my body to recover from the myriad of injuries.
I have also had a couple of opportunities to speak in church. I had wanted to do this when I first arrived, but I don’t feel that way now. I think that we have many people here with gifts for teaching, and I’m not one of them. Being on the out crew does not afford me the time to prepare the talks as well as I would like. That makes me anxious and I think the men deserve and can get better. At this point, I doubt I will pursue opportunities to speak. Maybe when I get out I will look into that, but at this point, I don’t feel like that is what God wants me to do.
Please pray for my relationship with my dad. I want to develop a stronger friendship with him. That’s my priority right now.
Thanks for all of your letters, prayer, and support. I’m doing fairly well all things considered. I hpe that by the next update I can write to you about a furlough. But maybe not until the Fall.
Jeff
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