DannyBoyinExile

Well, I got a case the other day – the first one in quite a while! After three weeks of lockdown, we finally resumed our normal activities. But who would have thought to be up at 3:30am, and ready for work, JUST IN CASE the lockdown was over with? Not me, for sure – and it’s not like they came by and told us to be ready. So I was sound asleep then, like any sane person, and didn’t even know they let workers out until the sergeant showed up at my door with a case for not going to work.
What’s crazy is that we have a tradition in the mattress factory, of NOT going to work on our wing’s commissary day. And it WAS our wing’s store day, as they picked up where they left off before lockdown. AND I just had a tooth pulled from my mouth, so surely I was due some consideration?
When you get a disciplinary case in TDCJ, the first step is for the sergeant on duty to come around and investigate it. Clearly, their definition of “investigation” isn’t the same as mine, because he simply asked what my statement was, and wrote it down. The sergeant has the authority to informally resolve erroneous cases for whatever reason (by simply throwing it away), but they generally don’t do that. Their general opinion is that, if one of their guards wrote you a case, you must have done SOMETHING wrong. (If not, they just pass on the responsibility to a higher rank who actually runs your disciplinary hearing.)
What really bothers me is that I’m a good worker (when I choose to be!), and I have spent the last THIRTY YEARS working for TDCJ, for absolutely nothing. The only reason I missed work is because I wasn’t expecting it – yet shouldn’t I be ALLOWED a day off if I needed one? It’s not like I’m making a salary, or that they don’t have a hundred other inmates to replace me with. We’re all expendable, and it’s not as if I (the lowly janitor) am a vital part of anybody’s operation.
Just a few short months ago, we won an Excellence Award in the mattress factory, in the form of a banner to display there. It signifies that of all the places they inspected – OURS was the cleanest. That was in no small part due to all of the blood, sweat, and tears I shed into dusting, cleaning, scrubbing, and painting the place to make it ready for the inspectors. (They should have given the award to me!) =~) But that was months ago, and I suppose things have changed.
I can’t remember who said that “gratitude has a short half life”, but I know exactly what he meant. I strive to be a good person, which includes being a good worker, yet I can’t help but feel a little disappointed about the ordeal. That’s life, I suppose – and prison life, for sure. I don’t know how this case will turn out (yet), but I’ll still keep my head up, and hope for the best. Fortune may not smile at me very often anymore, but she does wink her eye at me from time to time, and that’s enough to keep me going. So says DannyBoy.