Lost In Thought Again. Search Party Not Needed
You know, there are a few things in life I find really thought-provoking when I look at them.
Wednesday and Thursday were two more solo missions in the control center again. I never realized that my own coworkers (some supervisors included) could suffer such a severe ineptitude of intellectual capability once I'm in there.
We all know about the count procedures from one of my previous posts. Back in the day, control actually called the first count of the day over the radio to all the areas. Now, it's up to the officers assigned to those places to do it themselves and turn them all in to their lieutenants or to the control center for verification. We don't call any of them now except for the 8:30 pm count and even before that, we have to ensure all the walkways are clear first.
"Control to 12 and 22, are your walks clear?" I asked.
"12 10-4," That's my lieutenant and, for the most part, I still don't see how this man got his gold. He suffers from an extreme lack of anything even remotely resembling leadership ability. He's like a frightened version of John Kerry and he's too insistent on detail in areas where it won't make a shit.
"22 10-50." Great....that's unit two's lieutenant and I have no damned clue what the hell he's doing. Whatever. I'll take my time doing other shit that needs to be done.
Or so I thought. By now, I'm severely behind on paperwork and Unit Two ain't helpin. I'd give anything to get outta this dump and just do my shows, manage the band, complete the five damn novels I'm fucked up on right now...anything. Still...I wait.
8:45 pm....still waiting
8:50 pm...The phone rings for the umpteenth time. By this time, everyone and their brother has called me asking, "Hey did you call count yet?" Welcome to the fold, Einstein. At least I thought that's what this phone call was about.
Remember the severe ineptitude? Watch This!
"Control" I said
"Count for Unit 1," I heard...my lieutenant.
"I haven't called count yet," I said.
"Why not, man!" he's saying. Now I can see it, his bug-eyes already popping outta his head from sheer panic. This isn't normal operating procedure, "We can't wait all night!"
"Unit Two's walk isn't clear," I said, my tone taking on a sound of "bother someone who gives a shit and remind me to cry about it when I'm not goddamn busy."
"Why not, man!" he says again. Now he's just pissing me off. I'm stretched mentally and this guy just doesn't know when to shut the hell up.
"Well, you know what? That's a good question. You might wanna call him up and ask him," I said. Shit, pull out the write-ups again, I thought, those damnable things are of little consequence to me anymore. In my five years of working there, I've had four. I was only really deserving of one but I took all four. Now, one for being a smartass. I'd fight it and I'd win. What they don't know is giving me access to a computer with a flash drive on my damn keyring is the most dangerous thing to their worthless careers. I'd level him and I'd win. And that write up? It would be worth ass-wipe by the time I was done.
"Alright, man," he said. I've noticed he uses that word a lot like he's some burnout throwback from the '60s, "I'll see what's up with him"
I hang up. I want to scream. I'm about to knock two lieutenants out cold.
Calling for times so I can put my log together? That was a joke. Nobody kept shit. Normally all I have to do is call and say "Hey, I need times" and they're rolled out faster than I can take them down. Both days were different. Nobody had shit. I had to guess and hope to hell it matched should this kinda stuff ever be investigated thoroughly.
Have the people with which I work descended to the level of beasts mentally?
I once read a paper written by an inmate in which he vented his frustrations about us. He painted us all with broad strokes, saying that we lacked either the social or mental capability to hold down an honest job. Funny...I thought this was an honest job. Basically he painted us all to be woodticks incapable of taking two brain cells and putting a thought pattern together with some kind of cohesion from the sum total of it.
Well, I was beginning to think he was right. Not all of us are that dumb. Some of us, sadly, are. I was suddenly ashamed to have this happen to me. What unfortunate shit had I walked into?
I can tolerate stupid people sometimes. As long as their idiocy doesn't get in my way, we're all good but this...this was too horrible a fate to ask anyone to bear.
The second day wasn't as bad but still, I had to deal with others' inability to really use some common damn sense. B-team usually takes the task of taking a few minutes to get everyone issued whatever they need in the way of keys, radios, restraints, whatever so I can get the count done. Nope, not that day. Here's the info on the paper, myshutupnowandleaveyeahfuckyou was the scenario. Running back and forth through the length of that damned place isn't fun and when you're a smoker who hasn't had one in hours...oh yeah, you just learn to ignore people after awhile and tell them they can wait their fuckin turn.
Side note, they hate that blank stare and a resounding, "I'm waiting for the point to this and I don't have much time so if you don't mind making it so I can get back to my work that would be great" when they're done or a "Yeah, whatever flips your skirt" works too.
Hell, what can they do, fire me? Hell no. They rank the same. Joke 'em if they can't take a fuck.
It's when it was all done that I slouched in my chair and looked at my own computer screen suddenly despising our own technology. It's made our way of life better in a lot of aspects. Why do I have to sit down and physically write you a letter? Now I can get you the important updates quickly just by emailing you. What you don't see is what it does to people. Remember the movie Johnny Mnemonic where people got that Nerve Attenuation Syndrome aka N.A.S. or The Black Shakes? I'm beginning to believe that one day I'll become patient zero. It wasn't epilepsy. You were still coherent when it happened. You just couldn't control your nervous system.
But what causes it? Keanu Reeves asked the question everyone else wanted to know.
"This causes it! This causes it! THIS CAUSES IT!" Henry Rollins went around slappin different items in his workshop, "ALL THIS TECHNOLOGY YOU SEE AROUND YOU POISONING THE AIRWAVES! But we still have all this shit....because we can't live without it!"
No shit. Makes you wonder just how far with nature we'll fistfuck just to make things easier on ourselves and at who's inconvenience.
Another piece of entertainment comes to mind with the X-Files episode "Humbug." Jim Rose and a couple members of his sideshow co-starred in it. Right at the end, he's packing the car while The Enigma sits inside. He's talkin to Scully. Check out what he says.
Jim Rose: 21st Century Genetics is gonna make you a little hard-pressed to find a slight overbite or a not-so-high cheekbone. Yanno, I've seen the future and it looks...(scoffs and points at Mulder)...Just like him. Imagine walking around your entire life looking like that. The point is, Nature abhors normality that's why it's up to self-made freaks like myself and The Conundrum (The Enigma) to remind people.
Gillian Anderson: Remind people of what?
Jim Rose: That you can't go too long without Nature creating a mutant and you know why?
Gillian Anderson: Why?
Jim Rose: I don't know either. It's a mystery. Some mysteries just weren't meant to be solved.
Interesting. How far will we go? How much more will we fight against ourselves, each other and this planet before we figure out that we can only go as far as Nature allows us. Sure we can go much further beyond ourselves through our Supernature but never beyond Nature. It's a living organism and it will lash back until we get it through our thick skulls that someone out there is not willing to just "go with our flow."
Going back to work with this nature thing, I understand the mentality behind deviant behaviors in a place like that. In some ways, to the human organism, captivity is unnatural and so is deprivation and that loss of autonomy. In that respect, the human organism, as carnal as it is will eventually turn to unnatural things. In others, sadly enough, it is as natural to them as water is to a plant.
On the mutant issue. Have you ever questioned why people all over the world still think that finding that rare mutant plant with the extra appendage will bring them some mystical good fortune?
I don't either but I do know I found a four-leaf clover a couple of weeks ago.
It still hasn't done shit.
Wednesday and Thursday were two more solo missions in the control center again. I never realized that my own coworkers (some supervisors included) could suffer such a severe ineptitude of intellectual capability once I'm in there.
We all know about the count procedures from one of my previous posts. Back in the day, control actually called the first count of the day over the radio to all the areas. Now, it's up to the officers assigned to those places to do it themselves and turn them all in to their lieutenants or to the control center for verification. We don't call any of them now except for the 8:30 pm count and even before that, we have to ensure all the walkways are clear first.
"Control to 12 and 22, are your walks clear?" I asked.
"12 10-4," That's my lieutenant and, for the most part, I still don't see how this man got his gold. He suffers from an extreme lack of anything even remotely resembling leadership ability. He's like a frightened version of John Kerry and he's too insistent on detail in areas where it won't make a shit.
"22 10-50." Great....that's unit two's lieutenant and I have no damned clue what the hell he's doing. Whatever. I'll take my time doing other shit that needs to be done.
Or so I thought. By now, I'm severely behind on paperwork and Unit Two ain't helpin. I'd give anything to get outta this dump and just do my shows, manage the band, complete the five damn novels I'm fucked up on right now...anything. Still...I wait.
8:45 pm....still waiting
8:50 pm...The phone rings for the umpteenth time. By this time, everyone and their brother has called me asking, "Hey did you call count yet?" Welcome to the fold, Einstein. At least I thought that's what this phone call was about.
Remember the severe ineptitude? Watch This!
"Control" I said
"Count for Unit 1," I heard...my lieutenant.
"I haven't called count yet," I said.
"Why not, man!" he's saying. Now I can see it, his bug-eyes already popping outta his head from sheer panic. This isn't normal operating procedure, "We can't wait all night!"
"Unit Two's walk isn't clear," I said, my tone taking on a sound of "bother someone who gives a shit and remind me to cry about it when I'm not goddamn busy."
"Why not, man!" he says again. Now he's just pissing me off. I'm stretched mentally and this guy just doesn't know when to shut the hell up.
"Well, you know what? That's a good question. You might wanna call him up and ask him," I said. Shit, pull out the write-ups again, I thought, those damnable things are of little consequence to me anymore. In my five years of working there, I've had four. I was only really deserving of one but I took all four. Now, one for being a smartass. I'd fight it and I'd win. What they don't know is giving me access to a computer with a flash drive on my damn keyring is the most dangerous thing to their worthless careers. I'd level him and I'd win. And that write up? It would be worth ass-wipe by the time I was done.
"Alright, man," he said. I've noticed he uses that word a lot like he's some burnout throwback from the '60s, "I'll see what's up with him"
I hang up. I want to scream. I'm about to knock two lieutenants out cold.
Calling for times so I can put my log together? That was a joke. Nobody kept shit. Normally all I have to do is call and say "Hey, I need times" and they're rolled out faster than I can take them down. Both days were different. Nobody had shit. I had to guess and hope to hell it matched should this kinda stuff ever be investigated thoroughly.
Have the people with which I work descended to the level of beasts mentally?
I once read a paper written by an inmate in which he vented his frustrations about us. He painted us all with broad strokes, saying that we lacked either the social or mental capability to hold down an honest job. Funny...I thought this was an honest job. Basically he painted us all to be woodticks incapable of taking two brain cells and putting a thought pattern together with some kind of cohesion from the sum total of it.
Well, I was beginning to think he was right. Not all of us are that dumb. Some of us, sadly, are. I was suddenly ashamed to have this happen to me. What unfortunate shit had I walked into?
I can tolerate stupid people sometimes. As long as their idiocy doesn't get in my way, we're all good but this...this was too horrible a fate to ask anyone to bear.
The second day wasn't as bad but still, I had to deal with others' inability to really use some common damn sense. B-team usually takes the task of taking a few minutes to get everyone issued whatever they need in the way of keys, radios, restraints, whatever so I can get the count done. Nope, not that day. Here's the info on the paper, myshutupnowandleaveyeahfuckyou was the scenario. Running back and forth through the length of that damned place isn't fun and when you're a smoker who hasn't had one in hours...oh yeah, you just learn to ignore people after awhile and tell them they can wait their fuckin turn.
Side note, they hate that blank stare and a resounding, "I'm waiting for the point to this and I don't have much time so if you don't mind making it so I can get back to my work that would be great" when they're done or a "Yeah, whatever flips your skirt" works too.
Hell, what can they do, fire me? Hell no. They rank the same. Joke 'em if they can't take a fuck.
It's when it was all done that I slouched in my chair and looked at my own computer screen suddenly despising our own technology. It's made our way of life better in a lot of aspects. Why do I have to sit down and physically write you a letter? Now I can get you the important updates quickly just by emailing you. What you don't see is what it does to people. Remember the movie Johnny Mnemonic where people got that Nerve Attenuation Syndrome aka N.A.S. or The Black Shakes? I'm beginning to believe that one day I'll become patient zero. It wasn't epilepsy. You were still coherent when it happened. You just couldn't control your nervous system.
But what causes it? Keanu Reeves asked the question everyone else wanted to know.
"This causes it! This causes it! THIS CAUSES IT!" Henry Rollins went around slappin different items in his workshop, "ALL THIS TECHNOLOGY YOU SEE AROUND YOU POISONING THE AIRWAVES! But we still have all this shit....because we can't live without it!"
No shit. Makes you wonder just how far with nature we'll fistfuck just to make things easier on ourselves and at who's inconvenience.
Another piece of entertainment comes to mind with the X-Files episode "Humbug." Jim Rose and a couple members of his sideshow co-starred in it. Right at the end, he's packing the car while The Enigma sits inside. He's talkin to Scully. Check out what he says.
Jim Rose: 21st Century Genetics is gonna make you a little hard-pressed to find a slight overbite or a not-so-high cheekbone. Yanno, I've seen the future and it looks...(scoffs and points at Mulder)...Just like him. Imagine walking around your entire life looking like that. The point is, Nature abhors normality that's why it's up to self-made freaks like myself and The Conundrum (The Enigma) to remind people.
Gillian Anderson: Remind people of what?
Jim Rose: That you can't go too long without Nature creating a mutant and you know why?
Gillian Anderson: Why?
Jim Rose: I don't know either. It's a mystery. Some mysteries just weren't meant to be solved.
Interesting. How far will we go? How much more will we fight against ourselves, each other and this planet before we figure out that we can only go as far as Nature allows us. Sure we can go much further beyond ourselves through our Supernature but never beyond Nature. It's a living organism and it will lash back until we get it through our thick skulls that someone out there is not willing to just "go with our flow."
Going back to work with this nature thing, I understand the mentality behind deviant behaviors in a place like that. In some ways, to the human organism, captivity is unnatural and so is deprivation and that loss of autonomy. In that respect, the human organism, as carnal as it is will eventually turn to unnatural things. In others, sadly enough, it is as natural to them as water is to a plant.
On the mutant issue. Have you ever questioned why people all over the world still think that finding that rare mutant plant with the extra appendage will bring them some mystical good fortune?
I don't either but I do know I found a four-leaf clover a couple of weeks ago.
It still hasn't done shit.
posted by Lord Genocyde at 4:44 AM
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