Believe It Or Not, But I Held My Tongue

Oooooo.....  I got pissed off tonight.  Like I haven't been in a long time.  And believe it or not, I behaved myself and didn't take the top of the fool's head off like I wanted to.

It wasn't an inmate this time.  It was staff.

The unwritten but understood rule is that nobody moves fifteen minutes before count time.  Nobody nowhere.  Unless it is a life or death emergency.  That way it lessens the chance of our count getting screwed up over something stupid.

So I'm down in B-dining this afternoon and it's maybe 4:10.  Twenty minutes to count.  I hear Snowball on the phone telling somebody that he is keeping two offenders until count clears and he hangs up the phone.  Two minutes later the phone rings again.  It's the little dweeb from visiting complaining that two of the dining workers have a visit and Snowball wouldn't send them.

I said "Look.  I'll call the control center and see.  But it's probably too late."  So I get on the phone to Miz Twang and she says "No!  It's 4:15!  It's too late.  They will have to wait until count clears."

I called visit back and told him it was too late and he said "Well, I called the Lieutenant, so he'll be calling you in a minute."  And sure enough, a minute later the Lieutenant called and said "Send those two to visit now."

I distinctly remember at one point slamming the phone down and contemplating throwing it somewhere a long ways away.

So because that self important little snaphole went behind my back and cried to the shift commander that his visitors might be inconvenienced, we had to send two inmates out to visiting at 4:23.  Seven minutes before count.

I was so pissed off, I really wanted to go up to the visit room and tell that little jerk that he better never go behind my back like that again.  My concern was safety and security and trying to keep count from being messed up.  His concern was listening to the visitors complain because they had to wait to see their precious little felon.

But I thought better of it.  Chewing him out in front of a room full of visitors would have been bad.  So I stewed awhile then went up and ranted to Lt Pants instead.  He wasn't the one that made the call, so he just sat and listened and agreed and I felt a little better.  Then I apologized for being so crabby.

I know that I'm just a Sergeant and I don't really have a lot of authority.  But the authority that I do have I take seriously.  And that snaphead just lost whatever cooperation he might be getting from me in the future.  I'd jump in a donnybrook to save his life, but if he lost his wallet in the parking lot I might kick it down a storm drain.

I probably wouldn't, but I'd smile a whole bunch thinking about it.