Return From NeverLand

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Work is an interesting thing. I clean a little, sit around all night and then most of the time I have a trying morning. I pray for patience every morning, or at least I should. My mornings usually consist of Tim purposely annoying me and trying to redirect Kacey from his latest obsession.

Kacey can be real OCD. He obsesses over a lot of things though,the most common thing Kacey obsesses about is the Buick. He usually asks things like, is the Buick going to be there when I get home, is the Buick fixed now, is it going anywhere? Stuff like that. And he goes on and on, rambling and mumbling. At times it is easy to redirect Kacey and at other times its down right impossible. I love him though, he can be pretty funny. Though, lately he has had a couple of bouts of med-evil after he takes his meds. Med-evil is what we call is when he really starts freaking out. This morning he had some med-evil. It was quite interesting because is was the first time he has every done it for me and of course I was all by myself and didn't really know what to do about it. About a hour after he took his meds he started yelling a lot, like almost constantly. Its not like he yells words, its more of just a yodeling sound. I could never imagine how much it really sounds like yodeling until I heard it. Right away I was like, "Oh, so this is what Destiny was talking about." A strange sound indeed.

Tim is very high energy in the mornings. Hes always up at about 6:10, even though he doesn't have to get up until 6:30. Tim is an individual who needs a lot affirmation. He needs you to tell him his own opinions, like if he likes a certain movie or if he should take a shower now. Tim says hello every time he sees you, so about five times throughout the morning. This isn't too bad at all, he does get annoying though when he does things he knows he shouldn't. When he tests how far he can go. Such as, Tim tries to touch my hair every single morning even though he knows he can't. And he'll persist on making sounds that he knows I find annoying. I have to constantly ask him to behave in a more adult manor. This is particularly annoying because I feel like it never makes a difference. Another of Tim's quirks is that he'll repeat himself quite a bit. He'll tell you something over and over again and you have to remind him that we don't repeat ourselves. Also, every morning he'll tell or show you the same things, such as, his model train catalogs or some videos he recorded.

I know this is how the guys are and I wouldn't try to change them, its just that they can be particularly annoying or overwhelming after staying up all night on little sleep. Their redemption is sometimes found in John and Paul. Paul is real easy except for the fact that at times he is a bit difficult to understand, I'm better at it now than I was when I first started. Paul is easy because all you really have to do is his meds and make him breakfast, which is always cereal and a piece of bread with jelly. On weekdays you do have to watch him brush his teeth and help him change his sheets and that isn't hard at all. On weekends Paul immediately goes back to bed after breakfast.

John you don't really have to do anything for. You supervise his meds, but he does that all himself, you just watch. He makes his own breakfast and the most common thing you have to prompt him for is brushing his teeth. I never do John's routine though because I leave before he goes to work so the other staff always does his morning routine. John is kinda difficult because he thinks hes above all the other guys, better than them. He talks about getting his drivers license and going to college one day. At this time I can't see that ever happening though because for starters he can't read. John is very able though, so who knows. It can be hard though because John is so much more able than the other guys. It makes me want to treat him as an equal and it makes me reluctant to tell him what to do. So that can be a problem.

Overall, I really like this job. The week long haul can get... well,... Long. And the week long vacation is nice though at time short. The pay is good, though I wish I got more for being awake overnight staff.

posted by June @ 5:03 AM

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