Oven Guy

Again, I am going to bore everyone with another kitchen story. I will skip the parts of waking at 3:45 am and get right to the point. This is my fourth consecutive day working in the kitchen. All of these days, I have been assigned to the food service line. Today was no different because I was assigned there again but this time to he prune service area. (Yes, that is correct – hot prunes are served every Tuesday). This takes care of any “backup issues” that the inmates may have due to the deficiency of bran in the food service items. I actually like these prunes which means I am really getting old!

Most of the inmates that I am friendly with – such as my Bunkie- work the food service line. When we all arrive at the kitchen, there is very little to do for the workers. We all try to find something but invariably there is a great deal of standing around until the food is prepared. As I was looking for something to do, I wandered into the back of the kitchen and saw my Bunkie with another inmate loading trays into the oven. I asked if there is something I can help him with and was a greeted with a response from the other inmate and asked if I wanted to do a real job. My answer was, “YES!” However, I fully didn’t understand what I was answering yes to; I just wanted to help out. The next thing I know – my Bunkie goes out to the front line and I am assisting the inmate who puts the food in the oven. What I didn’t realize was that I was being trained to be the new “oven guy”. Not only does the “oven guy” load the oven with large trays of prunes and oatmeal which are today’s oven needs, he unloads these trays onto a larger tray to be used in the food-service line. Unloading a 350 degree oven with 12 large trays in each oven is not a hard task but neither is it easy. Also, there are time deadlines which must be met which add to the stress. Last, throw in an insane inmate who takes his oven duties very seriously and that all provides for a very interesting morning.

I was quickly reassigned to the oven duty when I said “YES” to helping the oven worker. As I mentioned this oven worker is “insane” but I mean this in a very nice way. His insanity is more like the Tasmanian Devil because he just didn’t stop during the entire breakfast service. He was training me to replace him because he will be leaving in a week or two. As he was rapidly going through the instructions, I had to stop him and ask him to repeat those instructions several times. He was very cordial and repeated for me in a very clear manner.

The hardest part about being the oven guy is not getting burned. My trainer showed me various burn marks on his arm and head. He told me I will get burned someday, but if I stay within myself and take my time, I should be fine. As I was watching my trainer do his bet Tasmanian Devil impression, I noticed he was working very hard but not necessarily working “smart”. I am a big proponent of working smart and not hard. I believe if I do become the “oven guy”, I should be able to handle the responsibility. The one downside according to my trainer is if I were to burn any food, I would be fired. This certainly wouldn’t be good so I will try to prevent this from happening.

Normally when I worked on the food line, I was able to have two breakfasts (which is my pay along with the two lunches). However, there wasn’t any time for the first breakfast and I had to tell my trainer that I was hungry and asked him if I could eat my breakfast now. Today was a very unusual day because I could eat everything that was served – oatmeal, prunes, pancakes and a packet of peanut butter. Another one of the perks of working in the kitchen is the specialty dishes prepared by the head cook. Today he made apple pancakes and I was so full from eating breakfast, I couldn’t eat lunch and wasn’t very hungry at dinner.

After breakfast, I had to finish cleaning the ovens. I am not sure if I ever cleaned an oven in my life, but today I cleaned six! Unfortunately, they are not self-cleaning and I must say I did a very good job. My trainer complimented me on my cleaning. This is something I have never heard before. Maybe I am changing for the better!!

All I know is that the morning flew by which is always a very good thing. The work is very different from anything else that I have done in my life, but in a weird sense, I actually enjoyed it. Besides all this, if I do become the “oven guy” I don’t have to worry about being near or serving eggs because all egg products are cooked on the grill which is a different position and I will not have to fret about eggs anymore.

We will see what tomorrow morning brings. If I am not the “oven guy”, so be it; I can always work the line. I do like the fact of the hours flying by and as I have mentioned before every little bit helps in a place like this.

After my kitchen service was complete we all headed back to the dormitory. When I got back to the dormitory I did my exercises. My routine has changed because of working in the kitchen. When I get up at 3:45am I don’t do my push-ups or sit-ups, I save these until I get back from the kitchen. This morning I did a very extensive workout and now I am feeling very tired but it is a good tired. Hopefully, tonight I will be able to sleep well (which is a relative term because anything more than two hours is a bonus).

Yesterday being Labor Day marked three consecutive days without any mail. When the mail call came at 2:15pm it was just like my Birthday. In fact I received three more Birthday cards along with five other letters. Again, I was the envy of the other inmates which I hope is a good envy (I think it is). I finally received a letter from my wife which took 12 days to get here. Most of the letters and cards were from 12 days ago. I am not sure why the delay, maybe due to the Holidays, but it is always nice to receive any letters.

I may have written this before so please excuse my redundancy but I need to clarify some questions that were asked in the letters. Everyone has been so kind and generous. They have asked me if I can receive books, CD’s, or anything else. Unfortunately here at the reception center I am very limited to items I can receive. No, I cannot receive books or CD’s but once I get to the next stop wherever that may be I can receive these items, but they must come directly from the publisher or Amazon.com. I appreciate everyone’s kindness and I am so blessed to have such great friends.

I received more paper, (thank you Jane), envelopes and stamps (thank you Monica), which I can always use. I do wish I can receive a pen, but I believe it is prohibited and lending out a pen is very unusual. Pens are a luxury and cherished to a high regard. I was able to borrow my bunkie’s pen last night but I wrote so much I felt guilty and went back to pencil this evening.

I was very happy to receive a letter from my wife. Inside the letter were pictures of my family. These pictures were of events in the past because I was included in them. I proudly showed these pictures to my Bunkie and a select few inmates. I am so proud of my wife and I am beyond grateful to her. She is an amazing lady and I love her so very much. Everything will continue to workout for the best and we will all be back together very soon.