October update on Ted Braden (Teen in Jail)

Ted was released from the Largo Residential Reentry Center on August 13, 2010.

Since that time, he has been doing quite well. He went to get a one-time shot to stop smoking on August 26, 2010. (For further information, visit www.stopsmokingamerica.com. It is located in Tampa.) The one-time shot and follow up one-week anti-anxiety medication cost $462, but it was well worth it. According to the iPhone app “Quit It,” he has been smoke-free for one month and 26 days. He’s saved $342.47 by NOT smoking 1,142 cigarettes in that time (at one pack a day).

He also had oral surgery on his wisdom tooth at a discount dental center run by the University of Florida in St. Petersburg. Ted could have had this done for free in prison, but he would have had to leave the work release center to go back to a “real” prison to have the dental work done and it might’ve taken weeks for him to get back to the Center - if at all. The tooth was cut out by a dentist for $342. It would have cost upwards of $750 or more with an oral surgeon. His face was swollen for days.

Ted did go on a trip with me for six days during the Labor Day holiday. One day, he and I just decided to get in the car and drive! We traveled through Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Lousiana and back to Florida. (More on that trip later.)

Ted was paid $300 by his former job at Discount Energy as a settlement. He was owed upward of $750. Ted wrote a blog entry about his dealings with Discount Energy which I will be posting soon.

One person left a comment that Ted had been re-arrested for possession of marijuana and probation violation. This is not the case.

First of all, Ted was not put on probation after his prison sentence. Secondly, Ted has studiously avoided contact with all of his former “friends,” all of whom have no clue where he is living. Ted is living with another family (out of the old neighborhood) and babysits a two-year girl for eight hours a day, five days a week. He is surprisingly very good with children. He is not taking drugs of any kind and not smoking.

Ted does not currently have a computer where he is living. We are working to remedy that. One blog reader was looking into getting him a laptop. Ted is also not sure what to write on the Teen in Jail blog now. He says it was a blog about jail and prison, and since he is no longer in either, is not sure where to take it from here. We’ve discussed starting some other type of web site, but haven’t hit upon the perfect idea yet. Any suggestions of a new site would be welcomed. You can still send emails to teeninjail@yahoo.com.

Photo: Ted smiling (finally!) at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans on September 4, 2010.

An employee's nightmare

The whole time I was in work release I worked at telemarketing jobs. It’s not that I wanted to [work at telemarketing], but I did it because I thought it was a way to save money and also it would keep me from going back to prison. Well as it turns out all it did was keep me from going back to prison.

The telemarketing place I was working for (Discount Energy in Dunedin) kept giving me bad checks. Every time I turned in a check from there it would bounce. Sure for the most part I always ended up getting paid even though it was never the right amount. Somehow even though I worked eight hours a day, five – sometimes six – days a week, I rarely ever saw a weekly paycheck over $200. It was always closer to $150 – much less than minimum wage. Now that’s while I was in work release, but now that I’m out I still haven’t gotten paid. I figured out that with everything they owe me for the last couple weeks and including one past check that bounced - they owe me $782.

Now get this – the owner of Discount Energy, Doug, told me he won’t give me my last two checks he owes me because another check he gave me bounced at Amscot. LIKE THAT’S MY FAULT!!!!!! I’m not the only person he’s done this to. It’s just that everybody who works there is from a work release program and nobody will say anything because they need the job or they’ll go back to prison.

Currently I’m taking all necessary legal actions to get what I’m owed and also that the guy who runs this crooked place pays for what he is doing.

The Largo Residential Reentry Center is fully aware that the residents’ paychecks keep bouncing. The financial person at the Center was supposed to get back to Ted a week and a half ago to let him know the total number of his paychecks that have bounced, but has not yet returned the call. Another released inmate (from the female Center) also has not received the pay owed her. Yet Goodwill continues to have their work release residents work at this place. Ted has hired a private investigator to investigate the owners and will be pursuing further action with the state.

My last few days

I’m finally down to my last 17 days in this place. It doesn’t seem like that’s any time at all, but it’s dragging by so slowly.

I try just to focus on work, but it’s hard knowing that soon when I leave my job each day, I won’t be going back to the prison release center after work. I can go back to my house.

I won’t have to be around a bunch of people I don’t want to be around. I won’t have to stand in line everyday to get a meal. I won’t have to wake up at 5:30 a.m. every morning surrounded by a bunch of other people who are just as grumpy as you because they have to get up so early.

Ah, I can’t wait. 17 days left….

My first two days out

Last night I was thinking of all the good movies I’ve missed that came out. So I decided the first day I get out, I’m going to Hollywood Video to rent like 6 – 8 movies that have come out that I’ve wanted to see, and for the next couple of day, I’ll sit at my mom’s house and watch movies.

I could probably watch them all in one day, but I’m still going to have other things I’ll need to do like register as a convicted felon at the county sheriff’s office and go to work. I’m not going to quit my job just because I got out of prison.

One very important thing that I’ll probably have to do is clean my old room out. My mom sent me pictures of what it looks like now and it looks like she turned it into a storage room.

Hollywood Video closed its doors in December 2009. Some of the movies that Ted wants to see are Slumdog Millionaire, 2012, and Ironman 2. Ted’s mom will clean out his room before he comes home (hopefully).

Photos: Ted's room before he went to jail and prison. (Click to enlarge.)

Weird guy

There’re some of the weirdest people riding on the bus. You can always tell who they are. Now I’m not saying that everybody is weird – not even a small fraction are – but every now and then you’re bound to run into one of them.

For instance, yesterday on my way home from work on the last bus I had to take, we picked up this guy who reeked of alcohol. He kept looking at people and smiling, but all he would say is “Marijuana”. Everybody on the back of the bus where I was sitting was laughing at the man. He didn’t even notice and just kept smiling.

After about 15 – 20 minutes of this, he finally got up to leave, but when he got off the bus, he went around to the front of the bus and stole somebody else’s bike and started to ride away. The whole bus saw him do it, but nobody chased him. Most of the people on the bus just laughed.

Transition manual

I just finished completing a 100-hour transition workbook. Everybody in prison has to do one to go home. (Well I guess they would let you out eventually if you didn’t do the workbook, but I’m not trying to wait.)

It asks you questions about everything: family problems you have, what you’re going to do when you get out, etc… It took me over two weeks to write the 340-something pages, but I finally finished it last night.

It’s only four days late, but at least it’s finally done. I would’ve had it done on time, but it’s hard when you’re gone to work 12 hours a day. I don’t really feel like doing anything when I get home from work except sleep.

Ted was also awakened at 3:45 a.m. three times over the past week to get a random drug test, which made him all the more tired.

Photo: Yukon Suspension Bridge over the Tutshi River, Canada - Kelly Shannon Kelly. Click to enlarge.

My first job at work release

My first job since I arrived at the Largo Residential Re-entry Center was in telemarketing. At this job, about 100 people worked in one big room and an automatic dialing system dialed potential customers in various states.

Telemarketing is a job spent dealing with endless voice mail messages and answering machines (which are seldom returned), being told the decision maker isn’t there that day, getting hung-up on, disconnected numbers and angry hang-ups.

Even when you finally speak to a live person, you have to get past secretaries and then haggle with a decision maker who already has a resistence to phone sellers. After all, what busy person wants to fight with yet another telemarketer on the phone promising to save him money?

I was crammed into a half-booth – calling it a cubicle would be too generous – at a small desk that didn’t really offer any privacy from the other telemarketers sitting around me. I put up with the laughter, cackle and screeching in the background as I tried to read a script without sounding like I was reading it.

And a telephone headset? Forget it. Try holding a phone up to your ear for eight hours a day, five days a week.

Some of the CSRs (customer service reps) do well in this environment and don’t become overwhelmed by the constant rejection. On the other hand, it stressed me out tremendously and I’m not sure learning to become numb to it is a good thing.

Many of those I called complained of repetitive calls from our company, sometimes two or more on the same day. One man told me he’d been called nine times in two weeks. The online computer system allows you to categorize each call (no answer, hung up, fax line, disconnected, etc…) but obviously some CSRs failed to take the time to do this in order to more quickly get to the next call. It results in significant time waste for others later calling.

Training was strange because the trainer said nothing about pay. Not even when payday was, the commission levels, nothing. You only know how much you’re paid for each week when you get your paycheck.

Some of the trainers would get on the phone and call some of us CSRs – pretending that they were customers that were going to sign up. Then they’d die laughing after they revealed that it was a joke. Not too funny when you maybe get to talk to only four or five live people in one day.

One supervisor said to tell people as little as possible and try to get an order without even quoting the price. I overheard a very successful salesman giving the impression to the person he was calling that “it’s my job to show you the savings plan” and that he was “required” to wait on hold while he or she got their last gas bill; he added that he’s paid hourly rather than on commission so he didn’t mind waiting. Of course this is false – most telemarketers are strictly on commission. I hate the fact that a lot of telemarketers often lie to get a sale.

While I now have a new telemarketing job, it’s a much different environment. There’s only a few of us working, the script is much simpler and everyone working there is like a family.

Right on time

Because I was sick, I missed out on three days of looking for a job which left me with only two days left to look.

I must have called 1,000 places, but finally on my very last day, my case manager’s assistant told me about this really small telemarketing place. He told me he called them already and that they were waiting for me to come down there. So I got a one-day extension and went down there the next day.

It was like it was meant to be. They hired me on the spot.

Everyone who works there seems to be part of one big family. They all seem so nice. It also seems a lot easier because they have a much simpler script, so hopefully I’ll do a lot better there.

Ted had six sales on his second day.

Terminated

Last Thursday night (June 10th), I went into work and within three minutes of being there, I got fired for low production. Okay, so I wasn’t the best, but I didn’t see that coming.

What made that night worse is I could feel my muscles and my throat were sore, so I knew I was getting sick. I wish they would’ve called me here at the Center instead of having me ride an hour and a half there [on the bus] to tell me I’m fired and another hour and a half back.

I have only five days to find a job. I just hope I can find one.

If a work release resident is terminated from his job, they have five days to find a new job before they are sent back to prison. Ted was very sick for three of those five days and his female case manager screamed at him repeatedly that she was sending him back to prison. Luckily, the case manager’s assistant helped Ted tremendously and found him new employment quickly. Ted started the new job on June 14th and likes it much better. Ted’s female case manager was fired on Friday, June 18th for unknown reasons.

Ghost town

There are about 280 people here at the work release center. It’s supposed to be one of the biggest work release centers in Florida. Who knows if that’s true or not? Anyway, it holds just as many people as Lancaster work camp.

During the day, the compound is like a ghost town almost. Most of the inmates here are at work, so there really isn’t anybody to play cards with. The only people here are busy looking for jobs. I try to sleep most of the mornings away, but I can only ever sleep until 10 a.m. at the latest. Currently, I’m looking for a job during the day. I need the money and it will make the time go by faster.

While I was in prison, I kept busy while I worked in the kitchen, but here I don’t have anything to do until 2:50 p.m. when I leave for work. All morning and early afternoon, all I have to do is read. It gets so boring.

This entry was written two weeks ago. Since that time, Ted was terminated from his evening job for not making enough sales. He has since gotten another full-time job which he'll write about soon. The authorities at the Center did not let him apply at Val-Pak, as one reader recommended. They said Val-Pak would not hire work release residents.

Peer pressure

If anyone has ever worked at telemarketing then you know that a lot of people there like to get high. So far I haven’t seen much of it at my job, but it is around and I’d be lying if I said I haven’t seen people smoking weed.

I didn’t realize it while I was in prison, but now that I’m out, it seems to be calling my name. Before I continue, let me say this – “Nothing is worth going back to prison. NOTHING!” I haven’t touched pot or any other drugs since I’ve been out, but the temptation is always there.

I feel like I’ve come so far and my worst fear is getting out and messing up everything I’ve worked for. I just keep telling myself that if I can stay clean in prison and work release, I can do it when I get out too.

Van rides

Now that I work on the night shift, I can’t take the city bus on my way back from work because the last bus comes at 7:30 p.m. I don’t get off of work until 9 p.m., so that means I have to wait around for the van from the work release center to come pick us up. Sometimes they pick us up on time, but most of the time, we have to wait.

I’ve only been taking the van for about a week, but people have said that they’ve waited until 1 a.m. for the van to come. The longest I’ve ever had to wait was about an hour. Once I get off work, I just want to go back and go to sleep, but I have to wait on the van. Once it comes, we normally have to pick up more people all over Pinellas and Hillsborough County. My second evening on the night shift, I didn’t get back to the Center until 11:40 p.m.

Ted eats lunch around noon at the Center before he takes the 2:50 p.m. bus to work. He is not given a bag lunch for dinner, so does not get to eat until he returns to the Center in the evening.

Ted continues his search for a second job in Pinellas County. One reader left a comment about a possible job prospect and Ted will be calling that business tomorrow. Thanks for posting it!

Night shift

Well I guess I wasn’t doing too good at work because I got switched to the night shift. I was making sales – I just wasn’t making enough of them.

The night shift is only part-time, which sucks, but I do like the people I work with now a little more. Even though night shift may have a better working environment, I still wish I could get more hours.

I need to find another job soon so that I will have a decent amount of money saved up by the time I get out. Now that I’m working 4:30 – 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 12:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. on Saturdays, at least that will give me some time to go look for a second job during the day.

All I want for now is a job paying $9 or $10 an hour with 40 hours a week. A normal full-time job.

Worries

Even though I’m still finishing my prison sentence and I still belong to the Department of Corrections, now that I’m at work release I have new things to worry about: money, clothes and hygiene. Some of the things that really worry me are running into a group of old friends or drugs. It’s so easy in prison to stay clean because even though drugs are around, it’s not like on the street. So far I’ve been doing good, but a lot of people here have been sent back to prison for drug use, so I know it’s still around.

What worries me is – say I make it out of here in August, get out and move away. Then I’m going to have to start over somewhere else and I’ve never done that on my own before. I’ve been incarcerated during the years I should’ve been learning how to live on my own. It feels like I’m being kicked out of a cage into the chaotic world.

I know that if I really needed something, I could go to my parents, but I don’t want to have to do that for the rest of my life. For instance, when I get out, I have to pay these court costs off so I can get my license back, get a car and save up even more money so I can get an apartment. I don’t know how or where I’m going to get all this money. I know I have three months left, but that’s not a lot of time to save money, especially when they take 65% of everything I make.

Maybe when I get out I’ll work for a couple more months and save every penny I get. It just seems impossible to make it in the world sometimes.

Updated release date

Ted wrote this about four weeks ago.

Today I finished my last day of training at my job. Training only lasted the first half of the day and for the rest of the day I was on the phone. I even made a deal today. I know one deal isn’t much compared to what other people do there, but I think I did a pretty good job for my first day on the phone.

Another good thing about my job is that we mainly call commercial businesses so there won’t be a lot of people cussing me out. I don’t think I could handle that for too long.

All the people that I work with are really nice, so the work environment is really good too.

Only about four months to go…

Ted still accumulates gain time of 10 days per month for good behavior. His current release date is September 12th, but he can conceivably earn 30 more days off for good behavior, putting his release date in mid-August.

Hired at a new job

This entry was written a bit before Ted’s last entry, but I mistakenly overlooked it.

Well I finally got a job. I start next week, but I’m not really sure about it. Even though I’ve only been here a couple of weeks, I felt the pressure of not being able to find a job, so I went and got a telemarketing job.

Don’t get me wrong, I realize I can’t be too picky, but I’m not too good at talking to people on the phone when they’re yelling at me.

I really wish I had time to go looking for another job, but once I start on Monday, my hours will be Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., and it takes 1½ hours to even get there on the bus. So I’m going to have to stick it out at this job whether I want to or not.

The good thing though is that I can make a lot of money if I do well. So while I’m working there, I’m going to try to do my best.

My first day

I started my new job today. I haven’t gotten on the phone yet since I’m still just in training, but I can tell it’s not that bad. Unlike most telemarketing places, we aren’t selling anything. All we do is call people up and try to save them money on their electricity bill. People that work there seem to make a lot of deals, so it must not be too hard.

Tomorrow I go back to finish training and by the end of the day, I should be on the phones. Even though I know this job will get boring, I think I’ll be able to handle it. I just hope I can make $1,000 a week checks like some other people there.

This is a good opportunity to make some good money and I need every penny I can get, so I can pay the court costs off. All in all, though, I don’t think this job will be all that bad.

This blog entry was also written three weeks ago. Ted will be starting his fourth week on the job tomorrow.

My new job on the outside

This entry was also written three weeks ago. Ted got a job in a week and a half after applying to four Clearwater Beach resorts with no success.

Well I got a job today. My roommate told me that I could make $1,000 a week working where he was. At first I didn’t want to go because it was telemarketing and I’d have to wear a tie, but I convinced myself to go. Hey it’s a job and if I can make a lot of money, that’s good too. I start working next Tuesday. That’s when I start training.

Another good thing about this job is it takes 1 ½ hours to get there on a bus which gives me an extra three hours away from the work release center. Most telemarketing places are really stressful because you’re normally selling something, but the place I’m going to be working at doesn’t sell anything. All we do is try to lower people’s utility bills by switching their electricity or natural gas supplier. Plus we call mostly commercial, so I won’t have to hear people cuss at me like I would elsewhere.

I’m actually happy I got this job. I think I’ll do okay there and everybody there seems really nice.

Clearwater Beach

Ted wrote this entry about three weeks ago, but I just received it today.

In the last week, I’ve been to five different places looking for a job. Three of which were beach resorts or hotels. I know the odds of a nice resort or hotel hiring me is pretty slim, but still I want to try. I’ve worked in the hospitality industry before when I was working as an overnight valet. It’s really easy. All you have to do is smile, be polite and maybe even tell a corny joke. So hopefully my previous experience will help me get a job. If not, I’ll just keep looking.

Don’t get me wrong, I want a job ASAP, so I can start saving money, but just being able to walk down the street is an awesome feeling. Especially down at the beach. So much has changed there. They even built a new resort since I’ve been away, so I’m going to apply there too. I figure if I don’t have any luck this week, I’ll just go to a telemarketing place so I can start saving some money. I’m not going to be picky.

 

Complainers

Ever since I’ve arrived here, for some reason I keep hearing other people say they don’t like it here. They keep talking about how the people who run this place just want to take our money. Well maybe so, but not all of it and still it’s only a small price to pay.

I don’t understand why a person would rather be back in prison with no money than here with a little bit of money. I know where I’d rather be and believe me, it’s not prison.

Here you can do things when you want or have the time, but in prison you do things when you’re told and how you’re told.

As for me, I’m not complaining. The COs (or Techs, as they’re called here) leave you alone and don’t yell. As long as you’re not doing anything wrong, you’ll never hear them and they’ll leave you alone. What more could a person still serving prison time ask for? This is the life.