E-mail fiasco (Part 5 of ??)

A couple of weeks ago, I sent my boss an e-mail asking him if he would look at changing one of our policies. It wasn’t a huge thing, but I thought that I might as well ask. I probably shouldn’t give the specifics, but it had to do with how officers man a certain station at work.
So, I sent him an e-mail explaining the reasons why I thought the policy should be changed and asked for him to take a look at it for me/us. He replied that he would look into it and take it to the sergeants meeting for all of them to mull over.
I was pleased. It was nice to not have a quick “no”, but an actual thoughtful look into the policy. That was about a week ago.
The sergeants meeting was a couple of days ago, and I got an e-mail from my boss explaining that while the face of the idea seemed like it would be ok, it ultimately wouldn’t work. I was thanked for my request and told that I was more than welcome to submit more ideas in the future. It was a bummer that it didn’t look like it was going to work. I knew that the chance was slim, but if I hadn’t of said anything, then I would be bothered that I didn’t ask at all.
I decided that I wanted some more information. I mean, the reason I was given for the denial seemed a bit broad, so I shot off another e-mail to my boss listing the reasons I thought it may have been denied and also rebutting those reasons.
I explained to him that I knew he had already made his decision, but that his explanation of the denial didn’t make sense.
Here’s where it gets a bit negative. I tried to come across as joking and light-hearted as possible so I wouldn’t sound angry or disrespectful. I wasn’t angry at all, but I am afraid that is exactly how I ended up coming across.
I started the e-mail off with a joke. I addressed it to “Big Bad [my boss's name]“. Unfortunately, this must have set a negative tone with the thought that I was accusing him of being a “Big Bad” power hungry jerk. This was as far from the truth as it could be, but with that thought in his head, every other thing I wrote came off like I was being a prick. And if I think about it now, I would have sounded like a HUGE prick if the things I wrote were taken the way he took them.
The good thing is that he caught me in the hall on my way to leave and asked to talk to me. He asked me about it, and it was obvious that he was bothered by it. I assured him numerous times that my intention was nothing malicious. I even put a PS in that assured him that everything I wrote was “with a smile and not a frown.” The thing is, is that by the time he read the PS, it was already too late.
I am glad he talked to me though. He got to vent a bit about the e-mail, and I got my question answered. Come to find out, the reasons for the denial of my original request made sense. It was nice to hear the full information, and not just a snippet too.
Jeesh, this e-mail thing sure can be a double edged sword.
The last couple of things I have been talked to about involved e-mail. Have you ever gotten into trouble, or been totally misunderstood because of an e-mail? Tell me about it in the comments.

A few of my favorite things.

There aren’t many things that I really love about my job. I mean I like my job, but there are few things that are actually great about it. Who likes dealing with unruly adult-toddlers all day? (show of hands, please)
I do like some aspects of my job though. Not everything is “boo-hoo Joel”. There are a couple of things that I really look forward to.
One of my favorite things is shooting. I don’t ever get to shoot while I am off the job, but every six months or so, we all go out to the range and shoot a qualification course. Now, I am not the best shooter; I don’t hit everything I aim at every time, but I am alright. Our trainers are two Sgts that have special training, and they seem to have fun setting up the range and thinking of new things for us to do.
Today was “Qual day”, so I had a blast. I passed with little fanfare. Not as good as I thought I was going to do, but not failing. Plus, we don’t get paid any more to get a high score anyway, so as long as I pass I have fun. This time, one of our target groups was golf balls hanging from ropes. It was a “par 5″. 5 golf balls, 5 bullets. My kind of golf, but I only hit one. I just wish I had more time out there. If we were able to train more often, I might just become a golfer.
One of my other favorite things in my job is letting people go when their time is up. There is nothing like the look on someones face after they are told to “roll it up”. Now, I know that jail is a revolving door, and that a large number of releases will eventually end up in jail again. But for that one brief moment, they believe that things will be different, they believe that this is the last time, and that “this time” they will be able to make it work. I get a kick out of that. It makes me feel good to be able to give someones freedom back. Besides, they earned it.
So after all is said and done, there are a couple of things that I like about my job. Who would’ve thought?

Us and them

There is a man in jail right now who is going to sue us all. He is going to own the county, and he will fire us all. There is a woman who is from the Central Intelligence Agency, and is eagerly awaiting a visit from the President. There is a man living with AIDS who, by all statistical rights, should not be alive. There is a man who is on trial for his 3rd strike, fighting for his freedom. There is a man sobering up to the DUI charge he received the night prior. There is a woman writing a letter to her children trying to explain why she is in jail “this time”. There is a man wondering if his family is going to show up at visiting time. There is a man thinking of ways to get out of jail. There is a man thinking of ways to score more dope when he leaves.

Then there’s me.

Sometimes I think that the only thing that separates me from most of them, is one or two really dumb decisions. We both feel, we both bleed, we both have wants and needs. There are many things that we have in common, but the only one that counts for now, is the fact that we are both in jail. I am on my side, and they are on theirs.
I think I like this side better.

Holy Graveyard, Batman!

Ahhhhhhh….
Graveyard is finally here. I must say that so far (2 days) it is wonderful. I don’t mind the other shifts, but I always look forward to graveyard. My wife doesn’t, but I certainly do.
I have sleeping problems. Graveyard is nice because I am able to sleep without a ton of drugs to help. I took Ambien while I was on swing shift, but that stopped working after about a week. Prior to that, I was taking something else, and that stopped working as well. It’s weird, because I found myself SO tired, but completely unable to actually sleep. I could lay in bed for hours and hours, not moving, not tossing or turning, just awake. You can imagine, it was maddening. Some of my co-workers were incredulous at my predicament, because they were able to go home and be asleep 15 minutes after they walked through their front door. You always take for granted the things that come easy.
Compared to other shifts, graveyard is heaven. We have to do extra rounds throughout the night to check on the inmates, but even that isn’t a big deal. All inmate issues are dealt with on other shifts, so unless someone is going to get into a fight or is deathly ill, it waits until morning. That isn’t to say that we aren’t asked to do things, it’s just that we don’t do it.

Graveyard is sleep time for the inmates, and if it wasn’t important enough to get taken care of during the day prior, then it can usually wait another shift.

We do actually do some work though. We release inmates if their time is up. We book in an exceptional amount of people during graveyard. If an inmate has charges in another county, we get them ready for transport, and we get all of the transports ready for prison. We serve breakfast in the morning. But I do have to admit, even with the work we do on graveyard, it is exponentially less than the other shifts.
Of course, just like anything else, not everyone likes what I like. (stupid people) There are people who HATE this shift. Normally this is directly tied to sleep; I can understand that frustration. My wife hates graveyard too. She feels like she is able to see me less, but she forgets about swing shift, where I would stay up until 3, or 4, or 5, and then sleep until 1pm. Then I would leave for work at 4. Now, at least I only sleep until 3. I take a couple of hours to “warm up to the world”, but she still gets more hours per day with me than she did on swings.
Oh, well. She only has to put up with it for three months and then I will go to day shift. Day shift, HUMBUG! Every one’s awake, court, radio traffic up the wazoo, attorney visits, and all of the other lovely things that come with day shift. Up at 7, home by 4, sleep by 2 (hopefully). The three month countdown begins now.
The only thing that I have found that I don’t like, is that I post less. On swing shift, I would post when I was awake at night. It was easier to post when there was nothing else to do, so I found myself posting more regularly. Now, I am afraid that my writing will suffer due to my new found ability to sleep. I guess, we will just have to wait and see.

Medical please…

Have you ever had a tooth-ache?
I have. It was horrible and I wanted to rip my whole head off. I called my dentist and couldn’t get in to see him for 2 weeks. It was not good. Needless to say, the next 2 weeks were not fun, but I made it, and I lived.
Tonight I worked on the third floor at the old jail. It was nice to not be at the Annex (the new jail), but I still had to deal with inmates. The inmates on the 3rd floor are all “low-risk” and generally mild mannered. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be able to be there. Still, inmates are inmates. They still exude that air of entitlement, so as long as you can deal with that, you are A-OK.
Tonight I was doing my first round, and was hit-up by an inmate for some Tylenol. As a CO, we aren’t able to give any medications. Not Tylenol. Not Advil. Not aspirin. Not anything. It is a pretty hard and fast rule, and every officer is aware of it. We aren’t allowed to dispense meds because we aren’t medical professionals and we don’t know if the inmate is allergic to anything, and we don’t know what else the inmate may be on that could react with whatever they are asking for. These reasons aren’t the only ones, just the ones I could think of “right off the bat”.
So, this inmate tells me that her tooth hurts, and I tell her she needs to fill out a medical request form (standard procedure) so that she can be seen by the nurse. Fast forward a couple of hours, and still I have no request form. You can bet that she still asked for medication every time I saw her though. Then at about 9pm, she calls me on the intercom and tells me she needs to go to the hospital. I ask why; it’s because of her tooth-ache. WHAT!?
I tell her she’s probably not going to the hospital for a tooth, but I will advise the nurse, so she can be seen.
As I am about to turn off the intercom, I overhear her telling another inmate that she doesn’t want to see the nurse because of the medical fee, and that she will then have to pay for medications. She thinks that this is “F@!#ing stupid”, and that she shouldn’t have to pay anything to get her tooth taken care of. She says that it’s her “right” to be taken care of while she is in jail.
To that, I say, no… and yes.
OK, OK, you may be thinking “Poor girl with the tooth-ache”, but let me submit this:

Who of us doesn’t have to pay for our medical care?

Even if we have some kind of insurance, there is almost always a co-pay for the visit, and then another for medications. Why is it that this inmate feels that she is entitled to better medical coverage than I am. Even if she doesn’t have any money, she still gets the same level of care as an inmate that does. A debt goes on her account, but she still gets medical care at a greatly reduced cost to her. She doesn’t even pay an insurance premium. I do. Why is she entitled to, essentially, free medical care, when every month I have medical premiums deducted from my paycheck?
An inmate comes into jail and suddenly they get every ailment they have ever had, taken care of, and issues that have plagued them for years suddenly become emergent. Why? Why is it that taxpayers bear the brunt of medical costs for people who, more than likely (60% recidivism rate?) to go out and get into trouble again?
I know that we, as a society, are supposed to take care of the broken and the weak. I know that inmates are people, and that if they have medical problems, we are expected (by law and conscience) to tend to their needs. I just get sick of the entitlement.
If you are in jail, don’t expect for me/us to run you to the hospital for every hang-nail or tooth-ache. It is presumptive and asinine, but don’t worry, because we will still take care of you. We probably won’t even say anything to you about it, but you can bet we think it… loudly.

/begin rant
We will feed you when you haven’t eaten for a week because you have spent every last dime on the drug of your choice. We will give you your psych meds even though you stop taking them every time you leave jail, and not because you can’t get them. We will get you stitched up when you get into a fight with someone your better. We will clean up your shit-stained room after you come down from heroine. We will keep giving you your medications even after you try and hide them so you can take a larger dose to try and get high.
Just don’t ask us to like it, because we have seen too much and watched too many do horrible things to themselves over and over again.
/end rant

Oderint Dum Metuant

Translated - Let them hate, as long as they fear.

I was perusing the web tonight after work (Imagine that!), and I came upon this little Latin gem from Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, also known as Caligula. According to Wikipedia, it was one of his favorite sayings, but was originally attributed to the Roman poet, Lucius Accius. (Okay, okay, enough with the history!)

I can relate a little to this saying. I don’t really know for sure that every inmate hates all of the officers, but I know that the ones that do, tend to not do anything about it because of fear. Now, I’m not stupid enough to think that their fear comes from us personally. I don’t think that we are seen as so big and bad that inmates are afraid to get physical with us (no, I’m not talking about sex, but that’s out of the question too…blehh. I think I just got sick a little), but I do think that they are afraid to act on that hate. Fear of reprisal from the law (as in Felony Assault Charges) is probably the largest thing that looms in their minds, and I don’t really mind that at all. Jail is a good reminder for this kind of thing. That’s not to say that inmates haven’t tried. It happens, but (*crossing fingers*) hopefully these incidents will stay few and far between. Normally, if something is going to happen, it happens at booking, so officers are numerous and usually ready.

I know that there are inmates that could beat me to a bloody pulp. I know that some of them probably talk about doing just that, but I also know that the constant reminder of where they are keeps the hate just enough at bay to keep them tame (*crossing fingers again*). There are murders and rapists and drug dealers who despise anyone even remotely associated with law enforcement. There are some that are HUGE. I mean, REALLY REALLY HUGE.

So, that’s why I like this saying.
Oderint Dum Metuant – Let them hate, as long as they fear.
(even if they aren’t exactly afraid of me…per se. hehe)

Does detox = cruel and inhumane?

I recently read a blog written by police officers in the UK titled “Blues and Twos“. I’m not sure what the “Twos” part of the title is all about (it IS written by more than one person), but either way, it was an thought provoking read.

They talk about a recent decision to compensate drug addicts for the “suffering” they had to endure when they came to prison and were forced to quit their drug of choice “cold turkey”.

There are 197 inmates making a claim, and according to the court decision, they get to split £750,000.00 ($1,458,449.00). That comes to about $7400.00 US dollars each. Of course, I am assuming that they are splitting the money and don’t each get the $1.4 million.

This is interesting, because I know that there are many many inmates who come to our jail hopped up on meth or another drug of choice. We book them in, and then they “crash” for a week or so. Most of these people don’t get tons of help in their “detox” during this time. While this may eventually become a liability like it did in the UK, I also believe that it is an important part of the jail experience.

Most inmates who come in high are not exactly looking for a way to quit their habit. In all likelihood, they have spent all of their recent time looking for ways to get money to get high. This usually involves simple theft or other more serious crimes like burglary. I believe that when someone comes to jail and they are made to quit, they are forced re-evaluate the price they have paid for their habit

If you ask most inmates about whether they are planning on using again, most will tell you that they are done with drugs. They remember the pain and discomfort of detox. They, albeit briefly, see the price of their folly and know that they have to make a change. Now, we do offer a small amount of relief for the more serious habits, but for the most part, even these inmates have to go through some sort of detox.

If we were to offer a drug that allowed these people to bypass detox altogether, then there would be no down-side to coming to jail at all. We, as taxpayers, feed them, we clothe them, let them watch cable television, we give them free medical care, we give free lawyers, and we keep them safe. If many of these people didn’t come to jail, they would be dead. They would either kill themselves or each other. Jail doesn’t really have much of a downside for the inmates, as they get all of the benefits with very little price. I don’t count their freedom as any real price since most see it as just part of the game anyway.

If they didn’t want to be there, they wouldn’t do the thing that got them there in the first place.

Ok, so you may think that making someone detox “cold turkey” is inhumane. You may think it’s great. You may not really care about any of this. I am just glad that if inmates come in who are abusing drugs, we “help” them quit, and hopefully in the process, they will take a second to look at their lives. I know that most will return to the same kind of lifestyle, but if only one out of a hundred changes, I think it’s worth it.

Hemorrhoid? Really?

Ok, so I should explain that this post isn’t going to be about ACTUAL hemorrhoids or any other sad anal state. If you find yourself disappointed at all by this, you probably need to move along now.
Tonight I was one of two area officers. I was responsible for about 70 men, which is a small number in comparison to the other area. I find that I don’t mind being an area sometimes; it allows me to have only one role at work. I am not expected to do anything else but work in my area, and often that can take all of my time anyway. I like to help the booking officer when I get a chance, but tonight he had plenty of help so I just worked my area and stayed out of the way.
Depending on the night, and some other variables, the inmates are self sufficient. By the time I come onto shift, the inmates have already been through one officer that day and, if the officer has done a thorough job, they have gotten (or been denied) most of what they want. Swing shift is nice this way.
Unfortunately, swing shift also means that everyone is now awake, bored, and generally in a state of malcontent from being in jail. This is understandable. I am a former Marine, and I know that when anyone monopolizes your time and doesn’t allow you to leave, it’s not too fun. I, in contrast to the inmates, volunteered for my personal prison though, so it’s probably not quite the same. Oh yeah, I also wasn’t accused of committing any crimes either, so maybe I don’t know what I am talking about. I like to think I do, so I guess that’s all that matters for now.
With that said, I find it amazing what a bored inmate can do. Just imagine that you are locked up for 21 hours a day with nothing better to do that think of ways to get around the thing keeping you locked up. I would imagine that most of us would be able to think of 100 things to circumvent the system. Most likely none of them would actually work, but it wouldn’t stop you from thinking about it. This is the life of an inmate, with menace as an added bonus.

As the perceived face of the reason for their lock-up, officers are seen as the inmates antagonist. WE put them there, and if it wasn’t for US, they wouldn’t be there. I have actually heard those words come out of someones mouth. Amazing! How about a little personal responsibility??

But I digress.
I generally have a good rapport with most of the inmates. I am able to laugh and joke when the situation allows, but I also take pride that I am able to “lay down the law” (as my dad would say) and get a positive response when needed. At least… I like to think so. Either way, I do what I can to not be an ass when I don’t have to be.
So tonight, as I am getting ready to leave one of the units for the last time, I hear someone ask if I know who the next officer will be. Meaning, they want to know who will be their officer on graveyard. I tell them that I don’t know. They ask again, and instead of asking who the next officer will be, they ask who the next hemorrhoid will be. Hemorrhoid?
If I knew who had actually asked the question, I would probably have locked them down for disrespect. Unfortunately for me, and fortunately for them, they were all locked in for the night, and I had no real idea who had asked the question. Disrespect is just a subtle way for inmates to try and take control of their situation. I just shrugged it off and left.
This little story goes back to the whole “21 hours a day idea to think” idea, and the fact that we officers are seen as the face of their lockup, and (more importantly to my story) the target of their discontent.
Officers are constantly “shrugging off” snide remarks and disrespectful comments. We are treated with all of the respect of an ant, and shown/told as much by the inmates. We are able to listen-in to any cell in the jail, and consistently we hear derogatory remarks pointed in our “general direction“. If you are working in an area and pass through a cloud of “rotten egg” smelling air.

It’s probably not eggs, and it wasn’t done on accident. Ya gotta love that!

All the time in the world, and the only thing most inmates are worried about is trying to make their officer feel like crap in order to try and establish dominance. It’s a nature thing. OR, it’s proof that locking someone up doesn’t change behavior it just changes the location of their behavior.
All in a days work.
When I first started this job, I was bothered by the constant barrage of hatred. I used to let it get to me. Nobody should have to deal with that. As time has passed however, I have found a tough outer shell to be invaluable and almost necessary. If I let every little comment bother me, I would be constantly bothered. If I started worrying about the fact that the inmate in cell number such-and-such thought I was a hemorrhoid, I might just start hating my job and become VERY burned out VERY quickly. As it is, I think I just may make it a couple more years, and who knows, I might even get my gold watch and retire someday.

Comments and Nudity

I like to hear comments. I like to hear feedback on my posts and ways to improve what and how I write. What I don’t believe in is censoring comments or requiring positive ID to comment.
I have found something interesting however. Whenever I get comments that aren’t, let’s say, “Nice”, I find that the person fails to leave any kind of info about themselves. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I am all that important, or even someone who warrants a huge readership. I also don’t think that comments from “Anonymous” are all that bad. Sometimes a co-worker leaves a telling comment that they don’t want attributed to them. I don’t see that as cowardly. I see that as more like keeping a source confidential.
I do, however think that if someone is so afraid of me that they don’t put a name or hint of who they are, then they are either:

A. Joking – a little razz now and then never hurt anyone.
B. Cowardly – Oh, please. What’s the worst I could do?
C. 12 – As in a bored 12 year old. (possibly combined with B)

So, here’s what I think. Either someone who is afraid of me (ha ha) and decided to “get me good” and leave me a sweet comment, or a pre-teen has been reading my blog. Of course, it also could be a joke, but usually I get a sense of where those come from, so I’m gonna go with B and/or C. Either way, I think further posting on this is moot.
So, on to other things.
Tonight at work was beautiful. We had plenty of officers and little to do. Usually it is exactly opposite, but tonight was a nice change. Usually, we have lots to do and few officers to do it. Of course, whenever it’s like tonight was, we almost wish that it was busy. At least that meant that there were fewer crimes being committed, or at least fewer crimes being caught. Last night was different though. Last night I worked an Area. Meaning, I was responsible for rounds in three inmate pods, consisting of about 60+ inmates each, one of which was the female pod. Here’s where things went wrong.
Last night I had a run-in with a naked female inmate. Yep. Completely naked. Why, you ask? (You may not have asked, but for this post, let’s assume that you did)
Well, I have a theory about that.
Some of our females try and use their femininity against officers. That may sound weird to some, but it is true. Now, not every female is this way, in fact, most are “normal” inmates who act in totally appropriate ways. BUT, from time to time, there are situations where females will go out of their way to show extra skin, or, in this case, be totally naked when a male comes around to their door.
I think that this may be done for a couple of reasons. One is purely to shock the officer. There is nothing less an officer wants to see than a naked inmate. Whether it is a male or female inmate, clothes are ALWAYS better than no clothes. Seeing a naked inmate is not something we usually expect to see, so when it does happen, and especially with the opposite sex, it is a shock, and not the good kind either.
The second reason is a little more sinister. I think that some female inmates try and use the situation to get the officer into trouble. For instance, if I were to see a female inmate and not tell her to put her clothes on, she may try to tell my superiors that I was staring at her or that I told her to get naked. Things like that.
What is nice about the new jail, is that we have cameras everywhere. Anything an inmate or an officer does is recorded. This is nice. As far as the naked female goes; I yelled for her to get her clothes on and had another female stand by her door until she did so I didn’t have to see her. When she was dressed, I told her, for all to hear, that nobody wanted to see her naked, and that if she was caught without her clothes on again she would be locked down.
I figured that if everyone in the area heard it, they may pressure her to act appropriately using positive peer pressure. Either way, at least she knows that her actions were noticed and not approved. Hopefully this will spare myself and other officers in the future. Only time will tell…

The Return

So, the big hubbub is all over. If you haven’t noticed, I have been pretty quiet lately. The reason I haven’t been writing is due to a conflict concerning this site and my employer. Here’s what happened.
Last Thursday I was approached by my Guild Representative. He told me that my Captain wanted to talk to me about my blog. I figured that it was concerning the video of the jerk screwing with my jeep, so I removed it before I talked to him, just in case. (P.S. Haven’t been able to return the favor yet)
On Friday, I asked to talk to the Captain, and so I got a Rep, and went to see him. Firstly, I sat down and noticed that he had a printed copy of my website in his hands. (Interesting) I then told him that I had removed the video, and that… He stopped me mid-sentence. He began to read a canned letter informing me that I was under investigation for misuse of the County property. WHOA DOGGIE!!! Put the brakes on.

The end of the letter said that the result of the investigation could result in disciplinary action “up to and including termination.” That definitely had my attention. Ears pricked, sensed in overdrive.

The Captain started to ask me about how I got the video onto the website and if I had e-mailed it to myself. I said that I had exported it onto the county server from the security program and then had e-mailed it home. (all true) From there I uploaded it and set it on my own server for all to see. (also true)
Then he started asking me if I had sent anything else home via e-mail. I didn’t remember sending anything, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if I did, so I told him so. (true) He asked me a couple of other questions that I can’t remember and then asked me again if I had sent anything else home, and specifically asked how I got my reports home. I told him that I usually had put them on a thumb drive. (true) He then asked AGAIN about sending reports home. I was sort of confused by this point, and told him that if he wanted to, he could ask for a report of every e-mail I had ever sent, because out IT department kept copies of everything ever sent via e-mail. (true)
Then he finally laid the cards on the table. He opened an e-mail and turned his screen so I could see it. Lo and behold, there were about 50+ reports that I had sent in an e-mail to myself. (Trying to catch me in a lie?) I told him that if that was from my e-mail address, then I definitely had sent them. I don’t remember why I sent them to myself. I can only assume that they were reports that looked to be interesting to me, so I wanted to take them home to read them. I can’t remember ever posting somebody else’s reports on my site, so I doubt that was the reason. Either way, I told him that I didn’t remember sending them, but I obviously had, so I wasn’t going to deny it. (true) He told me that he didn’t want me to lie if I didn’t remember sending them, to just keep with that and not just say that I remembered when I didn’t. (I thought that was nice)
It basically was at this point that he said he was finished unless I had any questions. He had asked me all of the questions he needed to and I could go if I wanted. Boy, did I ever have questions!
Firstly, I asked him what was wrong with what I had done. I told him that I can understand the issue with the video, but I said that I believed that since it didn’t actually deprive the county of any property, and it wasn’t of any super-secure area like a dorm, and also it was only of my jeep and the jerk who messed with it, I thought there would be minimal issues.
He said that the video was the minimal issue, and that since it was for the county, it could only be used for county business. Meaning, NOT my website. (Ok, I could pretty much see that one coming)
He said that the real issue was the use of the e-mail for transport. (Now here’s where I learned something.) Our reports aren’t accessible to anyone but internal personnel. Even if someone used the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) to request them, they would get nothing. BUT (huge one here) since ALL electronic mail is available to the public, my act of sending reports via e-mail made those reports I sent home accessible when they previously weren’t.
That kind of freaked me out, because I then realized that I had made a boo-boo. I assumed… (insert Ass-U-Me joke here)
After looking sheepish, I then asked him “So, what am I looking at here [for punishment]?” He told me that he didn’t know. Since the infraction involved e-mail, the matter would have to ultimately be handled by the head of Human Resources for the county. (I think I could have thrown up a little in my mouth when he said that) Generally, if you have to deal with the head of HR, it doesn’t turn out good. So ya, I was freaked. He told me that he knew what he was going to recommend, but that the final decision wasn’t his to make. (More throw up)
After I calmed myself down enough to breath again, I asked my last question. I asked the Captain if I could write about what was happening, so people would know why I wasn’t writing my usual column. (gotta think of you, dear reader) He said that he didn’t feel comfortable answering because he would have to ask “the powers that be” what they thought. I told him that I would suspend writing until the matter was finished. I knew that I could probably have written and not gotten into trouble, but I also didn’t want to create more waves than I already had. Since he would have to ask permission, it would mean more talk about “Joel”, and the less I was talked about was the best case scenario for me.
That night, I came home and took everything offline. No links worked and only the most recent post was showing on the front page. I told my Captain beforehand that I was gonna do that, so he wouldn’t think I was trying to get rid of any kind of evidence or anything.
So, that was last Friday. Today is the following Friday morning. Last night when I came into work the Captain asked to speak with me again. (here it comes) Actually, I had a good idea of what to expect, so I wasn’t to terribly freaked out.

He brought me into his office and we commenced with my punishment. After my slap on the hand talk, I initialed a paper marked “Coaching and Counseling” (C&C), which is exactly as it sounds. I was coached to not do it again, and counseled that doing it again would result in a larger punishment.

A C&C is basically the lowest kind of reprimand available. I was lucky. Of course I think I lost 10 pounds from stress over the week, but I was glad to finally get it over with and not have to look for work elsewhere. It could have been much worse so I can’t really complain, and I’m not. I definitely learned a thing or two, so you can’t say that it wasn’t helpful. In the future, I will probably err more on the side of NEVER USING E-MAIL AT WORK caution, and maybe be more cognizant of the repercussions of my actions. All of the content is back online and the links should work again. If things are a little wonky, drop me a line in the comments.
Oh, and I just want to “shout out” to my newest reader. Hi Captain!!!