Staff

Ricardo was 38 and had done 10 years in prison. He showed me the news video of his high speed police chase. He was extremely dishonest and a real hustler. Always looking for an edge. He was tough as nails. His face was tattooed. Half his tongue was missing. The male clients looked up to him and the female clients were afraid of him. He was intelligent. He had run gangs and prison yards. I told him once that if he worked hard and put his mind to it he could accomplish anything he wanted in life. He made a clicking noise, winked at me, and said, “I know”. He was eventually fired for altering his time card.

Myshell is pronounced Michelle. She was 33. Her name was misspelled because she said her mother “is an idiot”. She had 4 kids. 1 was the result of rape. She had boundless energy. She was attractive and was constantly hit on by the male clients. She worked hard. She had custody of her youngest daughter who was born in county jail. The daughter was 5 now and kept getting kicked out of Kindergartens because she would hit other kids. Myshell was always smiling, worked a ton of overtime, and was never in a bad mood. She eventually quit for a higher paying job at another rehab. She was with us for 8 months and slept with 4 different male staff members and 1 female client.

Mitch was 29 and wore a tie to his interview. He was hired for the graveyard shift. He was rail thin, sweaty, and nervous. He was smart but not a people person. He said his favorite clients were the ones he never met. He played video games and read Japanese horror comic books. He accidentally left his phone at work for a day. I had it on my desk and was waiting for him to come in when alarms started going off every 10 minutes with messages to himself. The messages were:
Eat healthier
Fix your damn car
Deal with yourself
Do what you need to do and everything will get better

Gary was 34 and a giant human being. He weighed 360 pounds. He was gentle, had a good sense of humor, and the clients loved him. He was hardworking. He got me cartons of cigarettes for half price off this “old Armenian lady I know”. Once, halfway through doing intake paperwork he asked the client, “Do you know where you are right now”? “Of course I do” the man responded. I asked Gary later why he did that and Gary said, “he just looked like he didn’t know”. Gary relapsed, took my company credit card and stole ten thousand dollars. He was fired. He texts me once every couple of months to let me know he’s still alive.

Marnie started as part of the transportation team but soon was moved to the med room and trained on how to “pass meds”. She eventually ran the med room even though she was the only one in there who wasn’t a registered nurse. She dressed in nursing scrubs and would answer every health question the clients had. She would give the clients she really liked extra meds. She got married, had a baby, quit the job, relapsed, and has been in and out of rehabs ever since.

Angie was 22 and a non addict. She was raised by her alcoholic mother. She tried to do as little work as possible. She was extremely argumentative and judgmental. When she did work she was the fastest and most accurate worker I’ve ever had. She was not educated but one of the smartest people I’ve known. I told her she should go to law school. She said, “everyone tells me that, but I wanna do lashes”.

Nick was 32, a horrible alcoholic, and had gotten sober in the Salvation Army. He was raised by a heroin addict mother. He had been sexually abused as child by his two older cousins. As a teenager he would cut his legs with scissors. He showed me the scars. He had over a year sober when he was hired. He was turning his life around and becoming a father to his two young children. He was extremely bright and capable and funny. He was eager to learn and asked a ton of questions. He was with us for a year and now runs one of the largest rehab centers in the state.

Paul was 41 and a conspiracy theorist. He had 4 years sober. Caring, smart, and very likable. He started at the bottom but quickly rose up to management. The clients loved him and so did the staff. He took his job seriously. He had a problem with authority though and was constantly butting heads with Administration. He became paranoid and thought they were out to get him. He went on medical leave for a year and then quit. He was my best friend at work.

Sara was 39 and had just come out of a year long program for meth but she told me her “real addiction” was crime. Identity theft and fraud. She had stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars. There was an FBI file on her for years. She was named “the ghost” in the file. She was finally caught, entered the program, and was awaiting sentencing. She worked hard, was constantly cleaning, and helped a lot of people. Especially the female clients. I wrote the judge in her case a glowing letter. She was eventually sentenced to 5 years and is currently in federal prison.

Bobby was 28 and trained me. He showed me how everything works. What to do. What not to do. How to fix a mistake. How to own up to one you couldn’t fix. He showed me how the place is run. Shortcuts. When to speak up. When not to. Who you don’t want to mess with. How to advance. He had 5 years sober and wanted to go to law school. He took two years of community college while working at the rehab and was then accepted to a prestigious university. He left for college, relapsed while there, dropped out after a semester, and has been to 6 rehabs in the past three years.

Eden was a terrible staff member. She was a 20 year old, short, heavy, tattooed, ex gang member with a bad attitude. If she was at the top of her game we might get her to do the bare minimum. She was horrible on the computer. She couldn’t remember any of the client’s names. She was lazy. And for some reason I liked her a lot. I asked her what was for dinner one night and she said, “chicken, rice, and white broccoli”. You mean cauliflower I asked? “I didn’t see no flowers” she said. I had to give her a terrible yearly review once. We wound up arguing. She screamed at me. The argument eventually turned into a discussion about life. She cried. When she finally left the office she stopped in the doorway, looked at me and said, “Ya know, I’ve talked mad shit about everyone in this place… except you”

And I still think it’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.