DannyBoyinExile

woke last Sunday, still smarting from my job change, but feeling optimistic because I had a video visit scheduled – which will always brighten my day. Alas, it was not to be.
When it comes to Securus, there is a big difference between SCHEDULING a video visit, and actually RECEIVING it. I’ve had many visits cancelled, for reasons such as the computers being down, the electricity being out – and even because the unit simply didn’t have enough staff on hand to run visitation.
For the past two months, however, I was assigned to Terminal #5 – which simply does not work. The machine is Kaputt (as my German wife would say), (or a piece of junk, as I would say!), and will not connect you. Many inmates – as well as their families – have complained about it, to no avail. You have to notify them that it didn’t work, make sure the unit also notifies them, and they’ll eventually refund your ten bucks.
However, we are only allowed one video visit per month. So when my wife tries to schedule another one, in place of the one we never got in the first place, she always gets irate when they tell her that I’ve already had one for this month, and I’ll have to wait until the following month. Not only do they never fix the machine – they keep assigning people to it, month after month! I can’t help but vent to my wife about it. “What are we doing – LOANING them $10 a month, to be repaid a few months later, with no interest?”
You can imagine my dismay when I got to visitation and the guard tells me, “Terminal number 5.”
I’m like, “Come on! This makes three months in a row, and the machine DOES NOT WORK!”
I tried to be think positive, and tell myself that maybe they finally came and repaired the machine. A few minutes later, I was only positive that it didn’t work. After explaining to the guard that it was the THIRD TIME IN A ROW they assigned me to the same (broken) machine, I volunteered to kick it off the wall completely, to MAKE them come and fix it!
Of course, he immediately tried to dissuade me. “You don’t want to do that – they’ll charge you a LOT of money for it!”
I’m like, “How much can they charge me for a machine that doesn’t work? It’s junk! How much does junk go for these days?”
He immediately called the Duty Warden, who happened to be the B wing Major. (Hopefully to notify him that the machine didn’t work, and not that I was threatening to destroy it!) After explaining the situation to him, I had a brainstorm…
This Major works on B wing, which is a separate part of the unit from where general population lives. The turnover rate for inmate workers there is pretty high, and he is always looking for good ones. He also knows me – or at least, he has seen me around, because I was always busy cleaning the hallway when he came through.
So I asked him, “Do you need a good SSI?”
He immediately said, “Yeah, I do.” That was my chance. I explained how I’d just gotten fired from the hallway for no reason (at least, not for anything that I did), and needed a good job, as I am a really good worker. He wrote my information down – and the very next day, my job was changed. I was rescued from the mattress factory, and reassigned to the “Captain’s Utility Squad, B Wing”.
Now I spend all day cleaning, helping out, and doing the detail work that I’ve grown famous for. Most importantly, I kept my composure through the difficulties of getting an unexpected job change, then getting yet another visit cancelled – and managed to make the best of it. Not only did I not make things worse, I actually turned things around and improved them. If I can learn to do that, in here, there’s no reason that all of you can’t do the same out there.
If you can keep your head up, not give in to frustration or negativity – and never (ever) give up, you can always make things better for yourself. In fact, you can do just about anything. So says DannyBoy.