DannyBoyinExile

The other day, I was helping to pass out trays and feed the hungry inmates on B wing (where I work). I was minding my own business (like I always do), and one of them was complaining (like THEY always do).
“Hey – I don’t want that tray! It looks like half the beans spilled off of it. Give me THAT one.” It was no big deal to me, so I gave it to him. But since he was complaining for no legitimate reason – what we call DRY complaining – I felt compelled to use my most waiterly tone. “Will there be anything else, sir?”
I kept going, but I could hear him talking to his neighbor as I was walking away. “I know that Mexican from population. He’s always studding up.”
There’s an old adage that says, “You should never assume anything, because it makes an ass out of you AND me.” Similarly, you should never argue with an idiot, because it makes an idiot out of both of you!
As I passed back by his cell, he said, “Yeah – I know you: Chapo. You live right at the front, on so-and-so wing.”
My first thought was what a moron the guy was. I mean, I GAVE him the tray he wanted. Now he’s arguing with me for no reason whatsoever, just because he’s bored, in lockup.
I’m like, “Dude. My name ain’t Chapo, I don’t live at the front of so-and-so wing, and I’m not even a Mexican! I KNOW Chapo, but that’s not me. My name’s DannyBoy!”
He immediately changed his tone. “That’s my bad! I apologize. You look just like that fool!” I disagree, of course, but even guards have gotten us confused, and called us by each other’s names, so I understand. I even elaborated. “I do know who YOU are, though. You lived on so-and-so wing before you got locked up. I used to work in the hallway, and one time you sent me to pick up your commissary bag, because you’d forgotten it in the dayroom.”
He knew exactly who I was then, and we never had any other drama between us.
It can be a small world in here, even though there are practically a hundred prisons in Texas. The things you do today will be remembered – and may even come back to haunt you, at some point in the future. So it’s best to go out of your way to be right with everybody.
There is nobody who can say that I’ve messed over them in any way, or owe them any money, simply because I don’t do anything like that. Honesty becomes a habit, just like any other habit, if you consistently practice it. And it feels good to know that if I ever do have a problem with somebody, the blame will be on them, and not me. It also feels good to know that I am above all of the pettiness and sheistiness around here. That may not keep me from being blamed for somebody ELSE’S mistakes. But I try to keep my own to a minimum.
So if anybody ever mistakes Chapo for being DannyBoy – maybe that won’t be such a bad thing. So says DannyBoy.