Eggs, YUK!

One of my worst nightmares happened today! I was assigned to the Egg Station on the food service line. I tried my best to get reassigned to the ovens, but apparently we didn’t have enough people even though we were staffed with the required 28 people. After not being able to be reassigned, I switched to Plan B. I asked one of the other inmates who was working on the food service line to switch stations with me. I was very fortunate because other than my “bunkie” who was sleeping in, this other inmate was the only person I could ask without explanation. I knew he would say yes, and the “window station” was right next to the eggs.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of staffing with the correction officers on Sundays, we had to serve into carts and carry trays over to the inmates in their cells. This is what happened last Sunday and will most likely continue to happen into the foreseeable future. We had to load 500 trays into carts as quickly as possible in order to keep the food hot. We were moving fairly well, but we started to run out of food items. At this point, the inmate I switched jobs with had to go into the back and look for something. While he was away, I had to man his station which meant I had to touch the fried eggs. YUK! Thank goodness, I had on latex gloves but the texture of the eggs made me queasy. I only had to touch 3 or 4 fried eggs because the other inmate returned to his station quite quickly, thank God. I don’t know how many more eggs I could have served without getting sick.

Yes, I do realize this is very silly, but this is how my brain is programmed about eggs. I just don’t like anything about them. I don’t like the smell, the texture, or the look of them. I was able to get by with the smell because the kitchen has so many other foul smells, the eggs don’t really stand out. But touching them almost made me sick. Unfortunately, we don’t use serving utensils with the fried eggs, just the gloved hand. If I didn’t have the latex gloves and had to use the cheap plastic while touching them, I would have put 10 pairs on both hands. I am happy to report I made it through the entire breakfast service without vomiting. As you can well imagine, I didn’t have much of an appetite this morning.

I did enjoy working the front of the food service line. I was able to talk with the CO and the kitchen supervisor. I was also able to watch them become stressed out when plans had changed. Apparently, the CO was told something by his sergeant which was contradicted by another sergeant and this is where the “fun” began. I could feel his stress level rise and when that happened, the kitchen supervisor’s rose. In turn, the stress level of the inmates working in the kitchen rose, as well. It was a great example of the ripple down effect. I was not going to let mine rise, but I wasn’t going to take the situation too lightly either. I maintained an even keel and made sure all the trays were loaded into the carts. It was a fun morning, and as always the hours went by very quickly.

I was fortunate not to work the ovens this morning because they were preparing ham slices –actually turkey ham – and potato wedges. The ham slices cooked very quickly and some of them burned along with leaving a tray of hot grease. I can see why people burn themselves easily. Who knows if I will stay assigned to the ovens when my trainer leaves on Tuesday. As long as I can avoid the fried eggs and have fun every morning, it really doesn’t matter which job function I perform. I am very happy to stay out of the way and get whatever task I am assigned to do.

Another interesting aspect about working the front of the line was seeing the work ethic of the other inmates. I am not stereotyping because work ethics cross all racial barriers. There are some whites who are lazy and some who work hard but for the most part the majority of the white inmates are lazy. Most of the African-Americans and Hispanic inmates work very hard. There are some who don’t but most do. It truly depends on the person and it seems the older the inmate, the harder he works. I don’t know why, maybe it’s a maturity issue. Speaking of maturity, it really is very hard to come by in a place like this. Most inmates have been through the system before so they commiserate with others about prior offenses. Not many inmates are talking politics or current events; they are talking about what happened at “so and so prison” in 2001. It is very sad because this system is all they know and are destined to come back.
I have learned some valuable lessons. The most valuable one is to ensure that I NEVER come back.

I have also learned that no matter where I am, people will have many nicknames for me. One of the most popular is “Pablo”. Do I look like a Pablo? A very dear friend has called me this for years and now a few Mexicans and non-Mexican inmates call me this also! Nicknames are very popular in prison and not many inmates are called by their first name. Inmates without a nickname are either called by their last name or “Holmes”. This “Holmes” is a very popular fellow. Some of the nicknames I have run across in my short time here are: Crusher, Slammer, Bug Shot Llama, Shaggy, Scooby, Compton, Blackie, Popeye, Weddow, Spanky, Boston, Redwood and Pisa. There are countless others and I am sure there is a significance to all of them. I do know if someone has the nickname of “Crusher”, I certainly want to stay on his good side. I forgot one more – O.G. which stands for “Old Guy” and is given to any inmate over the age of 60 regardless of ethnic background.

My reading has slowed down considerably due to working in the kitchen and all of the writing I am doing. Quite frankly, I was a little burnt out from all the reading so it has been a welcome change. This week I read three more books - Keeper of the Harvest by Lance Wubbles – which is a Christian book. I didn’t realize this until the 5th chapter. It was very uplifting and the religious views were very subtle. It was more spiritual than religious which is much better in my opinion. The underlying theme was giving back and being selfless. These are two characteristics I hope to improve on each and everyday. The second book was Bloodstream by Tess Gerritsen – a murder mystery – strange but good. And, the third was Blindsight by Robin Cook – very predictable and for some reason took me a long time to read.

I now have 5 or 6 more books in my locker because when someone leaves or is willing to trade books, I always see what they are offering. I don’t have any “must reads” in the collection, but they appear to be adequate to pass the time. I am still waiting for the John Grisham novels which I have not read but those are hard to come by. Right now I am content with my routine of work, exercise, some reading, and a great deal of writing. These days are going by faster than before I started working which is very helpful.

I see the professional football season has kicked off in earnest. Many of the inmates were sitting and standing around the TV hootin’ and hollerin’. I believe they are doing this because there is gambling going on. I have been asked to join the pool where you pick a square and get two numbers. If you win, you get 100 Ramen Noodle Soups. I always politely decline and have not been hassled about it. I don’t believe I can start a GA meeting in this prison system because gambling is condoned by the prison itself. This is fine because now that I have received the GA Combo Book and the steps from my sponsor, I am happy to read the material, write to my family and friends, and not gamble. It has been 18 ½ months since my last wager and I know as long as I don’t gamble, I will never come back to a place like this.