Throwback Thursday

Four months after I turned 66 I retired, and as we enter August, it's time to make plans to for my yearly visit to my old job. Several of my old pals have moved on, but there are still some holdouts who just don't give up no matter how hard it gets.  I tried to hang on as long as I could but, the stress, along with a huge weight gain, was causing health problems.  Food had become a stress reliever for us. We'd barely be finished with breakfast before we started planning for lunch, and they were huge lunches, believe me.  And don't even ask me about all the snacks--cookies, chips, candy--all day long.  No wonder I put on 70 pounds those last couple of years.

This is one of the group rooms.  It was in this room that one of our more troubled clients raised his fist to me when I asked him to leave. Truth be told, I was shaking in my boots, but I couldn't back down so I stood my ground.  Had he followed through, I probably would have been hospital bound, but fortunately, he backed off.

This picture was taken before we actually moved into the new office.  My desk is the one next  to the aisle.  Notice how low the cubicle walls were.  The main elevator broke so clients had to use the back elevator which made me the first one they saw when they arrived.  I was already  going crazy between my counseling duties, running groups, clinical supervision, an enormous amount of paperwork, staff meetings, and now I had to act as receptionist as well.  Constant interruptions were taken their toll, not to mention a growing fear once K2 hit the streets.  Clients were becoming violent and our CEO did not believe in security measures (no metal detectors or security guards) so clients could bring in whatever they wanted. We were on the 10th floor and below us were two shelters and a detox...and all the clients were mentally ill.  I held on as long as I could but when clients began attacking staff in the different programs, enough was enough.  A nurse had his nose broken, and a counselor who worked in the shelter was beaten in the elevator.

One way of helping out with the stress level was keeping my desk fun.  I had a variety of chatty toys on hand.  The frog sang "The Gambler" and the flower sang "You are my Sunshine".  There are more off camera, enough that each of my peers was gifted with one when I retired.  I still have that large shell that was gifted to me from a client.

A wider view of my office space.  No privacy.  Couldn't even cry when the stress got too much for me.

A group picture from my retirement party.  See how heavy I was back then?  And if you notice, almost all of us were.  The man in front with me is our director and he never gains, the one on the far left with the curly red hair was an intern so she hadn't been there long, and next to her is our clinical supervisor and she didn't gain because she couldn't really eat due to health conditions.  But if you notice, the rest of us who do all the work are all on the chubby side.