4/26/10

Today is my first day of yet another kitchen assignment. I was in the 'pit' (scrubbing pots and pans), then I was moved to spraying trays (a pseudo promotion as it is more of a lateral move in the higharcy), and now I am on the line (serving food). All this within three weeks of my return from the hole.

There are plenty who envy my position as you supposedly get extra servings of food and if the cop is nice, he may let you take some left overs home. In all honesty, that means nothing to me as all the food looks, tastes, and smells like shit. Not to mention horrible for you in terms of health. While the work is fast and furious, making the time pass quickly, it is annoying how much bullshit I have to put up with. Not only from the other inmates bitching about what a lousy piece of cake I gave them, or how small the fruit was, but the fucking cop today had some demeaning line for me every other minute. I don't care for it. Besides that, the guy can't take what he dishes out. If you speak up or take a verbal jab back, he runs for the paperwork to give you a shot. I am not going to be putting up with it for long, I want off the line immediately. Luckily, my allergies are kicking in and that may be the ticket off the line. Can't have someone sneezing all over the food, not that that would be the only unsanitary thing to happen to the food on it's way to the trays.

So for now, I will be sticking it out on the line until further notice. My question is, if the job is so envied, why can't I get switched out? Well, I found out why when I showed up to work. I am the first white server since I first got here. Remember that guy in my wing that went to the hole my first week here? He was working on the line when he got taken in, the last of the cacassions. For some resemblance of fairness, they stuck me there.

Otherwise, ACE classes start today, not next week as I originally thought. There was a teacher who took over the two history classes from last round, so I will take those again (History of WWII and Ancient Civilizations). I am also taking a class on Blue Planet, based off of the discovery series. Not sure how it will be structured, but I do know that we will have a pre-test on day one and a final test on the last day of class and will watch a bit of the series in class. Should be interesting to say the least. Much to my dismay, there will not be any credit smart classes this round.

There was one other class I signed up for, but now I am not sure I want to take it. It is called Future Marketing and it deals with the subject of internet marketing. What changed my mind is that the BOP won't let the original teacher (my current bunky) teach it again despite that he has for the past 4 rounds of classes. They suddenly decided it is too closely related to a crime of his past. They didn't feel that way before, but a change in the ranks suddenly changed some minds as well. Anyway, they guy that is replacing him doesn't have nearly the qualifications to be teaching it and doesn't have any hands on experience doing it, only what he has read and retained during prison. So after a class or two, I will make my final decision on if I will drop it or not.