Bob Walsh
Stockton, CA
Male, 60
I worked for the California state system, starting as a Correctional Officer and retiring as a Lieutenant in 2005. I now write for the PacoVilla blog which is concerned with what could broadly be called The Correctional System.
My current title is RETIRED. I worked for the California Dept. of Corrections. It's purpose was to incarcerate persons committed to it by court action for the period of time prescribed by law.
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Least enjoyable aspect of the job was people on occasion trying to kill me. Most enjoyable was general job satisfaction coming from doing a job that I was good at and that had social relevance and importance. Pay started at about $1,000 per month, but that was 35 years ago.
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It is hard to say what stresses one person and not another. I never had a staff member murdered on the job in all the time I was there. I did have staff members die. I had to tell staff that family members had died. I had to tell inmates that family members died, and tell family members that inmates died, often violently. I had inmates I got along wel with murdered, at least once by mistaken identity of having gotten in the way of something that was going on.
For some people the on-going stress, not immediate situation stress, is what gets to them. When the alarm goes off you don't know if it is a false alarm or someone has just gotten murdered. At the end of shift and you really want to go home you can't, because some butthead called in sick so he could watch the game. (That happened to me on Y2K when a couple of guys that had been prescheduled to come it simply didn't show.)
Sometimes the stressors are from above, from management. I had one boss who I truly beleive was deliberately trying to get me hurt to force me out of the job. I had one or two others who were lazy and/or incompetent. One or two that were just plain nasty for no reason. I was screwed with repeatedly on promotional opportunities, little things like mailing my interview notice to a "mistaken" zip code in Saskatchewan so I got it after my interview date. Once I showed up for a promotion interview 12 minutes early and I was ordered to leave as I was "too early" or I would be arrested for trespassing. Really. You get used to the inmates trying to screw you over. Its expected. You don't get used to staff trying to screw you over.
Soledad was a very violent place at that time. People trying to kill you just because you are there can mess with your head.
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Already answered two notches above.
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Stand-Up Comedian
Did your career blow up after you performed on the Tonight Show / Conan?
Chef
Has anyone ever found anything gross in their food on your watch?
Starbucks Barista
If a homeless person wants to use your bathroom, are you supposed to stop him?
As far as I know, yes. Finding someone to perform the ceremony might be a bit inconvenience depending on where the camp is, and what else is going on, but inmates do have the right to marry.
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I have no idea what a Correctional Service Technician does or where they work. I am guessing it is an entry level job so they may ask you questions within the field that fit into the MQs (minimum qualifications). They are also likely to ask you questions about your general ideas re: interactions with inmates. They may also be interested in your attendance and/or job preformance at a previous job or school and your communication skills, especially writing skills. Wish I could be more helpful but I am having trouble visualizing the job. It sounds like you will be functionally a supervisor-lead person for a crew of inmate janitors.
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The chances that the police even responded to your noise complaint are almost zero in most towns, so they don't care one way or the other. If you make a LOT of complaints and they mostly turn out to be bogus the cops might be irritated but under the circumstances I am completely competent that the local cops couldn't care less. (My expertise here comes from being the guy making the complaints and not the guy responding to them.)
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