Do other COs feel this way?

[TheKansan]

Every day when I am walking out the prison door, I feel like ripping my uniform off. I am very much relieved to be myself again, and not just a CO. I feel like just being at work, I lose my identity. Like I am no longer the person, but the profession.

[NYCBold]

Wow, I just started with NYC Correction and I feel similar to how you feel. I thought it may be because I just started and I was hoping to adjust. Hopefully I get used to it soon.

[Iowa #1603]

I have always been very careful to dissociate my career with my personal life.

The two lives were always completely separate.


Even when I was on career path & working management---------(read lots of hours for no OT) I always made room for outside interests and kept separate from work interests. I did this to the point that I really had no friends at work..............I had co-workers, but I can count on both hands the number of people I worked with that I associated with outside of work.


Just my way of handling it........................................ Don't get me wrong, I did the brotherhood thing, but it was normally with my Police friends not my Corrections co-workers.

[TheKansan]

Wow, I just started with NYC Correction and I feel similar to how you feel. I thought it may be because I just started and I was hoping to adjust. Hopefully I get used to it soon.

I actually didn't feel that way at first. I was very proud of my job after having worked so hard to get it. Over time though, I just became sick of it all the time and wanting to be the individual I was before the job. I'm sick of people calling me by my last name. I'm sick of inmates yelling "Hey CO!!!" I feel like the BOP owns me. Maybe I just need a vacation. I've been a CO for over 2 years and haven't used any of my annual leave in that time. I also have banged in only once. Maybe I'm experiencing the burnout that everyone talks about appearing after a couple of years.

I have always been very careful to dissociate my career with my personal life.

The two lives were always completely separate.


Even when I was on career path & working management---------(read lots of hours for no OT) I always made room for outside interests and kept separate from work interests. I did this to the point that I really had no friends at work..............I had co-workers, but I can count on both hands the number of people I worked with that I associated with outside of work.


Just my way of handling it........................................ Don't get me wrong, I did the brotherhood thing, but it was normally with my Police friends not my Corrections co-workers.

I don't hang out with any of my coworkers outside of work. I also have never felt that brotherhood here was very strong, at least not for me. When I leave work, I focus on my outside activities because simply put, they make all the bad stuff about the job bearable.

[Iowa #1603]

I've been a CO for over 2 years and haven't used any of my annual leave in that time. I also have banged in only once. Maybe I'm experiencing the burnout that everyone talks about appearing after a couple of years.


.

Oh God--------------------don't do that.

Vacations are the only thing that make the world go round in Corrections......................USE that time-------I don't care if it is one day at a time to make a 3 day weekend or a couple for a 4 day !

A week away from the place makes it bearable for the next 4 months or so.....................

TAKE YOUR VACATION!!!!!!

[Willard_DTC]

Oh God--------------------don't do that.

Vacations are the only thing that make the world go round in Corrections......................USE that time-------I don't care if it is one day at a time to make a 3 day weekend or a couple for a 4 day !

A week away from the place makes it bearable for the next 4 months or so.....................

TAKE YOUR VACATION!!!!!!

+1....My favorite motto has always been this...."The worst day at home is better than the best day at work."

I know that doesn't always apply because life has a funny way of throwing all of us curve balls over the course of our careers but the time away from the jail and bennies are the ONLY things that make this job bearable. Take it...use it....and enjoy it. It is YOUR time.....you earned it by dealing with scum of the earth 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. Most of all...enjoy it while you are young...20 years down the road you can't go back and change the past......

[RawHideWill]

I have written a book called KISSED BY MY ENEMIES. It is about my 13 years as an Officer for Texas an Arizon. Best 271 pages you'll ever read, Guaranteed. BARNES & NOBLE click my name (Will Ballew)search.

[Flowbee]

I certainly find myself more serious/uptight while in uniform than I am off duty. I feel the need to be careful what I say and do around inmates (can't be too friendly and fun-loving) and probably more importantly, co-workers. Do I like having my job? Yes. Do I look forward to going to work everyday? No!

I arrive to work just in time and hightail it out of there as soon as I'm able to give turnover to the oncoming shift. I take plenty of vacation and when I'm working long hours of overtime, vacation is what's on my mind to keep me going and thinking of the extra money I'll have for it.

Four years ago when I started in corrections I bought the whole box set of OZ but after working as a C/O I now have zero desire to watch any jail or prison based movies or shows.

[josephcook78]

I have always pretty much felt the same way. I can never get out fast enough, and get to work just in time. When I was at our county jail I hardly ever used vacation or sick time because we were on the 12hr 2-2-3 shifts and got a good bit of time off. Now I'm going to TDJC and they work the 12hr 4-on, 4-off schedule. I'll have to see how things play out and decide how to take my leave. My last job for the past 10yrs was 4-10's, every Fri,Sat,Sun off if we didn't want OT. But that place drove me nuts and I'd burn some leave every week it seemed like.

[Protect-N-Serve]

New Officers from the Academy: Hardchargers, arrive early, stay late, always at a 10 over petty stuff, lives and breathes Law Enforcement.

Experienced Officers: Laid back, arrive on time, leave as soon as relief shows up, knows how to talk to criminals and outsmart them, gets the job done and forgets they are an officer the minute they walk out the gate.

Retired Officers: I'll let you know when I get there.

[ball9shooter]

New Officers from the Academy: Hardchargers, arrive early, stay late, always at a 10 over petty stuff, lives and breathes Law Enforcement.

Experienced Officers: Laid back, arrive on time, leave as soon as relief shows up, knows how to talk to criminals and outsmart them, gets the job done and forgets they are an officer the minute they walk out the gate.

Retired Officers: I'll let you know when I get there.

This is soooooooooo true. I now have 11 years and I NEVER take my work/emotions home. In fact.....if I remember I need to do something home but Im at work, I have to leave myself a note because as soon as I leave work thats where I leave everything. If I dont write myself a note I wont remember what I had to do until the next day of work. Prison life is what you make of it. I work with a 18 year vet who dont know half of what I do because he is still busy running around trying to catch everyone at everything when I sit back and watch whats REALLY going on......he (officer) is amazed that I knew what was going on all along. Dont try to save the world in one day. Sit back and watch and the prisoners will let you know what they are up to without them even knowing. As far as not taking your work home........If you have an idea whats happening from a day to day basis then you wont worry about it when you go home.....but it takes time. Good luck and be safe brothers.

[Protect-N-Serve]

I have written a book called KISSED BY MY ENEMIES. It is about my 13 years as an Officer for Texas an Arizon. Best 271 pages you'll ever read, Guaranteed. BARNES & NOBLE click my name (Will Ballew)search.

I am reading through this right now, passing by chapter 10 and I can relate to most of what I've read so far. Thank you for the continued great read!