How obvious should it be that leaving a single staff -- male OR female -- to hold a dorm for ?? hours -- no matter which shift -- is a BAD IDEA?  Gosh.  It was obvious to ME on my last shift that when I'm working with a 18:1 ratio, well shucks... durn near ANYTHING can happen.  Guess it's STILL OK for a single female to hold the dorm with over 12 kids, 'cause that was the situation.  Guess we just lucked out, huh?  No blood on the floor is always an indication of a good shift around here nowdays!  WHOO HOO!  Score one for US!

Even though I don't appreciate the chronic understaffing -- I myself am not scared of the kids, particularly; we all do what we have to do when things get physical in a violent way.  Am I supposed daintily to hold off all 18 kids should they decide to whack me?  I THINK NOT.  If I'm up against a whole dorm intent on doing me great bodily harm I'll most certainly "do what I have to do" (the new TYC catchphrase) to keep myself as uninjured as possible.  Fair enough?  I mean, how quickly can Security get there to help save me?  Sometimes it's in a flash, sometimes an hour or more... so... I can't positively depend on having the cavalry riding in to the rescue.  With another staff present, I'd only have to tussle with a maximum of 9 kids.  Hey, no problem!!

If they ever get around to changing "Handle With Care" (ahhh, excuse me, but WHY would I want to handle someone with CARE who's trying to choke the life out me?) they might want to consider training us with methods that have actually proven effective and reduced staff injuries ~~ not that I'd even remotely suggest it, but who knows... the video below looks EXCITING, at least.  There's LOTS of even more thrilling titles on the site, so check 'em out (link below).



Maybe someday the State will get serious about our safety.  Maybe not.  If NOT, then everything is JUST FINE here in La La Land!  Just be sure to swallow all the nonsense of why we're getting shafted, as if it's OUR FAULT??!



Rather not live in La La Land?You can order the video HERE for only $24.95. Hmmmm.  Too bad they don't use the photo above as a cover illustration for the new employee's training manual ~ at least they'd be forewarned of what to expect.

This same-old-story is getting reeeeal depressing... anyone who's worked as a guest staff has the opportunity to see how other dorms work and talk to their peers, and everyone -I- am scheduled to work with has been saying the same things:

"I used to care, but now I don't anymore."
I'm just here for the paycheck."
"CoNextions SUCKS."
"We are pampering the kids."
"No one seems to be in charge."
"I hate this job."

Call me a liar, but like I say, that's what I'VE been hearing.  Anyone giving kudos to the chaos and violence that's getting worse and worse is just plain NUTS in my book, but no one I can frankly talk to on campus is saying ANYTHING good.  So I guess we're not nuts.  OVERALL, my co-worker line JCO's ARE frustrated, angry, fed up, tired, and plain ol' PISSED OFF about our working conditions as far as I can tell... and impatient since there's no real progress being made (or shared, IF there is) to offer us much hope for the future.  The word on the street I hear from my co-workers is that changes/JCO feedback will ONLY be implemented AFTER a major incident occurs that CAN'T BE COVERED UP.  Of course, by then we'll be in the same boat as an Agency that we were in 2007, and heaven help us (pardon me) when the shit hits the fan.  I just hope I don't end up as a statistic... 

OUCH!