Home Team Basic Course – I went for that. It was an 8-day stay in course at where else? Home Team Academy. What those who went for the 1st batch said was true (which was not very on the positive side) and I must say I find it not just b***ing but also disg***ing.
My personal distaste for the course itself aside (which of course I won’t and I can’t express openly in an open domain), there were things I could remark about the whole course.
Like the fact that rob and I were sharing the same room, which was unfortunately 2 levels away from the rest of the prison guys. That meant I had to go all the way down for the nightly gossip sessions lor and I could not wait for the others to go off together.
Culture shock between me and rob… Well… I scolded him for constantly switching on the light (even in the day), cos I am VERY LIGHT AVERSE. Light hurts my eyes and I would prefer to live in the dark if I could. I also argued with him about leaving the room door open, cos the room was super stuffy and in need of ventilation.
As for him… I don’t know what he did not like about me… haha! Maybe he did not like the fact that I always left him in the room to go chit chat with the guys (he wanted to sleep early what…) or that I always woke up so late, I left only 20 min between leaving the bed and leaving the door for fall in. Or perhaps he could not stand me grumbling every now and then about the very rigid discipline master or group IC. Or badmouthing some other guy who happen to not fit my criteria of being a normal human being.
Whatever.
We spent most of our waking hours asleep in the comfy auditorium chairs (somewhat like the GV chairs), so much so that we looked like people on DIL (Dangerously Ill List). We spent part of our evenings discussing how to fill up the performance item for social night, to the tunes of MJ (1st time I watched or listened to his song in full… Previously, I only knew ~BEE LEH!!~
Our discipline master wanted us to sit in our groups and to mix with the guys from the other agencies. But by 2nd day, we were sitting with our prison kakis in the same group again, and by the 4th day, we were leaving our groups for our prison community. Even during the morning tea breaks (the food was better than that of the mess hall), we were mixing and talking with our own people rather than the others. We even went to cafeteria in the evenings in our identity as a full pledged prison officer…
I guess, the fact that we were full fledged officers (and senior ones too) bore the wrath of the organizers. We somewhat were the ones who led the others astray, not marching properly or conforming to certain rules. Well, we are no longer trainees and it really made no sense for us to act like trainees when we are already working professionals. We are now contributing fully to our organization in operations. We should be treated with more dignity for our professionalism.
Oh right… I just hate marching around like trainees.
Did I make new friends? Yes, I did, but perhaps not as much or as deeply as some of my colleagues lah. Be glad that I even made an effort to mix. I could have just sat there for 5 full days and kept to myself and emit an aura that said ‘LEAVE ME ALONE’ lol
Anyways, this course… I shall just treat it as a dream that does not need to be regarded with importance. Let’s just say it added no value to my work and my operational capabilities. ya… ’nuff said.
*And I could not even type properly after a week of acting like I was on DIL…*
