With the life-altering events I've undergone since last October, it's easy to overlook the fact that I'm heading into my fifth month of living at the Salvation Army Vocational Center. Luckily, Uncle Sam was kind enough to remind me that my food stamps expire at the end of next month, and I first received them around six months ago.
If you recall from my previous post, AJ had suffered a seizure and was taken to the hospital. Evidently she had an adverse reaction to some medication she takes. The good news is that she's made a complete recovery and is back in the kitchen. That's also the bad news, to a degree. She's just as loud and obnoxious as ever. She's also just as prone to deliver monologues filled with too much information, ala her graphic story concerning her roommate coming out of the shower and displaying some oddly shaped genitalia visible “through, you know, the hairs.” I guess some people simply won't change.
Some important dates of note are March 25 and April 4. The former date has already passed (indicating how far behind I am with this blog) but t still bears comment. 3-25 is the date we no longer have volunteers in the kitchen. Volunteers do a lot of the grunge work in the SA kitchens (like dishwashing, cleaning out grease traps, etc) and that frees up a lot of time for us clients to concentrate on the important stuff – like cooking, serving, and taking excessive smoke breaks (for those who smoke, unlike your humble narrator).
In return for their work (usually a 24 or 40 hour sked), the volunteers received a paid bed in the common dorms and free meals (only during their work shift). Some SA beancounter decided the Vols were getting too much recompense and decreed they get only meals; no more paid accommodations. So the convenience of tossing off a dirty job to a willing Vol is over; who'll work 40 +/- hours just for meals? That means a lot of clients (like me) will be doing a lot more multitasking in the days to come.
Luckily, your humble narrator is regarded as one of the more dependable workers in the kitchen. That makes me wonder if one day SA might be pushed into hiring some of their better workers in order to retain their services. Either that or bring back the volunteers with their old deal in place. Really, which option would be cheaper?
I say this because the turnover for SA workers (in the kitchen and elsewhere) is staggering. When you recruit groups of substance abusers off the streets, or repeat offenders from prison you're basically getting the quality of service you pay for. Many of these guys have a serious f**k-all attitude which leads them into disputes/fistfights, constant tardiness (if they show up at all) and careless work habits. The tardiness has gotten bad enough that SA has instituted a harsher policy: First time is a warning; second time 50% of gratuities are taken; third time, you spend a week in the common dorms; fourth time you're dismissed from SA entirely. A number of my fellow clients think the new rules are too stringent. I disagree; how can you expect to hold a job if you're habitually late?
There are certain meetings SA clients are required to attend: The daily 'roll call' from 7:45-8:00 which consists of attendance being taken, followed by a reading from the AA handbook and a group recitation of the Lord's Prayer. It may sound fairly rote but punishment for missing them is severe: miss 3 roll calls and you're discharged from SA. (If you're scheduled to work during roll call you're excused.) There's a monthly client-staff meeting where relevant news is announced and everyone has a chance to air gripes if they want to; complaints usually have to do with TV privileges or why isn't there more desserts offered at meals (one reason is because the kitchen staff eats so many sweets when they first arrive that there's not much left over for anyone else. Not me, of course.
We also have the occasional unscheduled staff-client meeting that usually takes place after an inordinate amount of misbehavior occurs (arguing, fighting, or bad work habits). A recent meeting concerned the aforementioned tardiness and the importance of treating the vocational program as a training program for the 'real world'. There was a heartfelt message for clients not to sneak foods into their rooms because the SA vocational program is basically broke and can't afford to hire an exterminator.
The idea that the SA vocational program is on its last legs was hammered home repeatedly. Maybe it was a scare tactic, but who knows? I do have to wonder when I've heard SA is a $4 billion/year enterprise; they cant divert some of that cash toward a worthwhile rehabilitation program? Supposedly, the program might be discontinued in the near future. That's why one caseworker pleaded, “Get yourself a backbone ... not a wishbone.” It is true that a lot of guys here seem to treat the program more as a vacation, not a springboard to a new life.
A case in point would be a young kitchen worker I referred to as the Illustrated Man because of all his tattoos. IM didn't show up for work his first day, then proceeded to be late at least 50% of his scheduled days. One memorable episode involved him arriving 30 minutes late, then begging the manager for some breakfast because he was so hungry. The manager grudgingly obliged with the understanding that IMIM announced he had to go pick up some medication and took off. He didn't return for the rest of the day.
The day after the aforementioned 'backbone' meeting, IM was discovered in a compromising position with a female client in a third floor room. Both clients were summarily dismissed. I knew the female client but didn't know she had such lousy judgment. I didn't know IM at all, but at least he went out with a bang (I think).
April 4th is important because it marks the CSN culinary course graduation dinner. In other words, no more school. I'll go down to 24 hours (3 days/week) in the kitchen and will search t employment the rest of the time. I've already begun some research on which companies to apply to and have visited a few establishments I might like to work at. But again, the big news is that school is done.
Ironically, this second part of the course has been more enjoyable than the first, due largely to the fact that my new teammates are far more compatible than Rain Man and Pitbull. But I'm still looking forward to moving on. Still, that doesn't mean that school is completely out of my life. The experience at CSN has been enjoyable enough that I'm considering returning there to finally complete a degree in art. Might be nice to finish something I started umpteen decades ago.
More on this as it develops. For now, that's a wrap!
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