Back to the grind

After 4 weeks in Basic Training for Correctional Officers, and an extra week off just because I wanted to, I finally returned to work this past Friday night. I lucked out and was A-section first half which meant I was able to just walk around and help where needed. When I finally made it into the block, and the inmates seen me back for the first time, there were numerous gasps for air. Several inmates even yelled out "oh no, Burns is back", throughout the block. I took this as a sign that they just love me when I work haha. For the first hour or so, I kept hearing those same things over again. Several inmates came up and asked me how my vacation was. I of course told them it was awesome! It was definitely a little weird getting back into the swing of things after being gone for over a month. There were so many new faces of inmates that had transferred in from other camps, from other units, and even from the other block. I know its gonna take me a while to get used to it all again. Its almost like starting over except for the few inmates who hate me even more now that I'm back. It's ok. For me, that just tells me that I do my job right, the way its supposed to be done, and the inmates hate that. That sucks for them I guess. Just makes me look like a better officer when they complain about me. The weekend ended up going by pretty fast. Saturday drug my at a snails pace but Friday night and last night flew by. Thank goodness. It was nice to see my co workers again after being gone for so long. They were, surprisingly, happy to see me. Even the one that I haven't really gotten along with since I got there welcomed me back. It was kinda nice. also waiting for me at the Unit was a letter from the Superintendent of the facility congratulating me on my accomplishment. This kind of positive energy is what makes me so happy that I left my former job and came to work with the state. It makes you feel appreciated in everything you do and accomplish. The first weekend has come and gone and it's now my short week. I was feeling a little tired already after 3 days, so I decided to take the week off lol. Yes, you read that right. I was at Basic Training for 4 weeks, took a week off, worked 3 days and now I'm taking another week off. The best part is, I'm only having to use 12 hours of vacation time, which in the end will come out of my holiday comp time bucket. That means I'll end up using no vacation time at all! Haha! Love it. Now, it's time for me to go relax at my moms...for a week!