Soul-Crushing Work

Imagine being a young woman, a somewhat aimless-20-something with a decent but sort of unexpected job; driving a school bus. Imagine being encouraged by your supervisor to apply for the Juvenile Probation Officer job that is open in your city/county. Then, imagine getting the job! Suddenly, in pursuit of a job with a bit more of a future, you’re handed a badge and a gun, and, you’re now a bonafide member of law enforcement.

My writer friend who is nearing retirement told me this was the origin of her near 30-year career, and for her, there were some conditions placed upon her hiring. The manager told her she’d be on an employment probation-so to speak-until she’d completed her degree in criminology. So for her first two years, she worked while going to school to better understand human psychology and finish her bachelors’ degree.

She couldn’t help but pepper our conversation with examples of how difficult the work was, and how it changed her, as a person. For example, first day on the job: she was tasked with watching someone pee in a cup.

“Where, oh where did our dignity go?”

New Probation Officer’s Inner Voice

Or, later on, watching a pregnant woman flip her switch from out-of-control hysterical to unbelievably subdued upon entering a correctional facility; and how observing that kind of tragic human behavior really sticks with you.

Being a Probation Officer, for juveniles, or adults, is work that requires being infused with the values of the system; my friend explained that if she attended a party or was in a social situation where one of her “probies” showed up, it was on her to leave. The bleed-over of your behavior as an officer into your personal life was taught as part of the gig, much like they teach in the military. Happily, she’s done well for herself, transitioning into a Professorship; teaching criminology for now, and soon, a published crime novel, and more books in the works. Her retirement phase will allow her soul to come back to life, because the years of putting in that soul-crushing work are now paying off.

Isn’t that the American Dream?