I walk in the place and at least Lisa had been told by Kim that I was expected to arrive at 8 a.m. so there's that, but just like me she had no idea what position I would be filling at the company. Rather than play trainer roll and show me around give me an idea of how things worked there she basically wanted me to just sit and watch folks as they went through their daily routine of simple classroom tracing letters, coloring in coloring books, the same kind of stuff I had seen last Friday. The two older Spanish ladies that were volunteers / paid employees by other agencies (I don't know. It was all confusing when it was explained to me by Dave who is reticent to explain anything of any concern almost to a fault.) these ladies were super nice, gentle and kind with the clients and very helpful in answering questions from me. Lisa and Dave on the other hand, it was like I was putting them in the interrogation scene and literally had to use techniques like good cop bad cop to get a word or two from them with almost every question I had. They seemed to take as if I was insulting the way they did things they even mentioned a couple of times their concern that I would be gathering this information in order to tell on them. At first my questions were probing because I did want to get to the heart of the culture of the company and my anticipated position within but as I peeled back the onion layers I literally in some cases saw the dirt under the carpet.
The place looked like it had been bombed. Old, very overused furnishings, dirty ripped carpets, even rat feces on the corner of the floor in one of the bathrooms. I'm quite surprised I didn't see roaches at one point.
I noticed that a clock on the wall had stopped working and Dave said that must have just happened that day. Oddly, another battery-operated clock on another wall also had stopped working and in the break room there wasn't a clock on the wall at all.
Here's why clocks on the wall with accurate time is important in this field. It's part of the Bill of Rights of clients of agencies having intellectual disabilities or mental health issues. Ordained by the state of Florida to have the right to certain basic freedom of information which all people enjoy, even little things that can easily be overlooked, like having access to the time of day, the day of the month, and the year. Why would this be important? Let me tell you a story back when I was first starting work at the Gaskill group home.
One of the residents, Alfred, had his girlfriend over visiting and we were all in the living area sitting around and chatting and I think it was myself who mentioned that it would soon be the first day of fall. Alfred's girlfriend suddenly looked shocked and asked me "It's fall already?" and I assured her yes and then with a sad look and a tear in her eye that I will never forget, she said woefully "What happened to summer?" I said summer's almost over and she said "No one ever told me summer was here."
People with developmental disabilities: one can't just assume they know what time of year it is at all times. It may have to be reminded to them and on a frequent basis. All I could do was imagine her thinking of her childhood and the anticipation of a summer filled with fun activities like all children have and now as an older adult she worried that she hadn't enjoyed the season before it was over. Of course we know she had enjoyed her summer, but she simply did not know that the season was summer, and that may seem a minor aspect but think about it: Isn't combining the memories and anticipation of great moments in your life an important part of enjoying things "in the moment?" Resurrecting past good times in your mind and coupling them with present good times enhances the joy.
At lunch time I stepped out and gave a call to Silas. He informed me that he was thinking that I would be the manager taking over at this ADT. I went back after lunch and told everybody what Silas's decision was they appeared okay with it but I still sensed a bit of apprehension. I had worn their nerves thin asking a billion probing questions that morning and these were the type of people that didn't like their shit disturbed. They liked it the way they had it set up where they could just walk around on their phone and do what the hell they wanted when to.
At 3:00 a new group of clients entered the building and with them a volume of history on the many bizarre behaviors that they frequently exhibit. Severe SIB, elopement in the middle of the night, property destruction, assault on fellow peers, and staff alike even with knives. Candice the girl who is currently serving as the management staff of the Highlands County group homes, reminded me very much of some of the folks I used to work with especially back at Wrentham. The type of staff that feed off of chaos and confrontation. She came across as a person who was more than willing to do what they call "takedowns" on a daily basis. She bemoaned the fact that her staff didn't seem to want to work their hours. She couldn't get good workers. This girl was supposed to be my supervisor. She told the story of one day on the job a client went off, strip naked and shit all over the room they were in, and during the takedown Candice was covered from head to toe with what she called "boo boo." She said Kim and Silas were around and they laughed when they saw her covered in boo boo.
By the time 4:00 came around, I kind of was pretty sure this wasn't going to be for me. I'm not 19 and I'm not going to go back G Building. Or worse, these stories made it sound like F Building with Arthur A. and shit. I'm too old for this. I slept on it, but in the morning, of course, I texted Silas thanking him for the offer but telling him I would not be taking the position. I shut my phone off since I didn't want to deal with a call or text answering me back right away. When I turned my phone back on hours later Silas's response was "It's okay, we were thinking the same thing. Good luck." Oh well alrighty then. So this is the end of my very short-lived career at this particular agency and I have to grin ear-to-ear because I really do feel that I've escaped from the House of Horrors.