Job with plenty of flashlight usage?

[letschat7]

Way back in the day, like when Bush II was in office, I considered a career in law enforcement since a relative was getting a tonne of overtime doing normal police work and airport security. Well I took a day off from work and went to the Public Library to take that civil service(?) test and before I picked up the test I asked what the job was and they said corrections so I thanked them for their time and left. I figured I would be in prison eventually anyways and that wouldn't help me out any. Boy was I right about that!

A different relative had tried it because his buddy said it was easy well paid work only on his first day some monkey threw a cup of urine on him and he quit on the spot.

Don't get me wrong it is an easy well paid job and you can sit on the internet all day long instead of doing your job and you can play with Streamlights(thats what they had in the Low I was at) and it pays a lot but who would want to do it. Oh they do attempt to use light(UV?) to try to find 'K2' on legal papers and mail which is kind of cool but also pointless since guards bring in tobacco, cannabis, mobile phones, and harder drugs.

I think if I was a guard I would target white gang members, bookies, and the usual trouble makers and force them to throw all their possessions away, in the special dumpsters inmates don't have access to, that isn't like the issued clothing items on a regular basis. They seem to ignore a lot of obvious rule violations. Like if some males are in the shower together at 4 in the morn they are at best doing some drugs and at worst some PREA stuff. Or if some people of the same skin colour is sitting together in the same seats in a television room they are doing gang activity, or if on commissary day everyone is taking large bags of food to one person he is doing something sketchy.

I read about Camp 14 and some of the rules although harsh would make prison a better place.

 

[Monocrom]

Let's be totally honest, if an individual is lazy, has no valuable skills, no desire to spend years learning a valuable skill and being paid garbage wages that entire time.... What options does he have? Realistically, a career in corrections. Sure, he might get shanked by an inmate. He might be violently killed if a successful prison riot took place. Honestly though, nowadays the latter is so rare that it's not even a concern to the corrections officers.

As far as the former goes, that's why much of the time the corrections officers look the other way. Don't tick off the prisoners, they won't shank you. Much of the time, they won't do other things to you.... like throwing a cup of urine on you.

One corrections officer once told me about treating prisoners with a certain level of respect. If you disrespect one of them, openly; the smart ones will wait. They won't attack the corrections officer right then and there. Oh no. The smart ones will wait until 10 minutes before shift change. 10 minutes before that disrespectful officer is set to go home. Then, they'll flood their cells, violently act up; just go wild. Well, when that happens, shift change doesn't take place. Lockdown does! And, that disrespectful officer along with all the others; oh no one gets to go home! They get to go deal with the situation. That prisoner, especially if he's a Lifer, doesn't care.

He'll face some disciplinary charges. But dealing with that situation and writing the necessary reports afterwards means all the corrections officers are going to be stuck there for an average of three hours! New corrections officers learn quickly not to openly disrespect any prisoner. And, if you see something a bit shady, you pretend you didn't see it. Two guys in the shower when no one should be there? One of them a high-ranking gang member? Another one a lower-ranking member of the same gang? You know what they're up to. Not worth confronting them. One gang in particular controls the TV in the rec. room? Okay. No reason to go in there and change the channel. Sometimes, you look the other way. If you get urine or feces thrown on you, well; that's why you keep a spare uniform in your locker.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

If I was searching for gainful employment, I can assure you that needing to use a flashlight while working would be way down the list of priorities.

 

[Monocrom]

If I was searching for gainful employment, I can assure you that needing to use a flashlight while working would be way down the list of priorities.

Admittedly though, that would be a nice perk if it came with the job.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

Admittedly though, that would be a nice perk if it came with the job.

I don't think that's a universal truth. It certainly depends on the work and how often and for how long one would need to make use of their flashlight. I can think of lots of vocations where needing a flashlight makes the labor much, much more unenjoyable. 🤔

 

[letschat7]

Pay anywhere is $10+ and I buy a lot of lights maybe 180? and hardly use them. It sure would be fun to have a job where I could burn through a rechargable battery or two even each day.

Oh and I thought of a job myself but its boring tier light usage and thats traffic control. A maglite with a red cone is boring.

 

[letschat7]

I can think of lots of vocations where needing a flashlight makes the labor much, much more unenjoyable. 🤔

Go on I'm listening.

This reminds me of the time I got my dream job working in an office using a linux computer and it sucked because it was telemarketing.

 

[Monocrom]

Pay anywhere is $10+ and I buy a lot of lights maybe 180? and hardly use them. It sure would be fun to have a job where I could burn through a rechargable battery or two even each day.

Oh and I thought of a job myself but its boring tier light usage and thats traffic control. A maglite with a red cone is boring.

Don't know what your situation is at home. But if you're single, don't have family near you or don't get along with them, plus don't own the dwelling you live at; seriously consider moving to a state that is desperate to hire people. It's been discussed above already. Some places have a desperate need for city/state employees, and they're willing to pay.

 

[Gregoryhf1]

Man, I've been working in the Air Force for almost 30yrs as a aircraft mechanic. This is ultimately shift work and almost all maintenance takes place in the hours of darkness. I've had so many cheap headlamps in the early days, I couldn't keep count of them all. But, for the last 4 yrs I've used a Nicron 7 with 3.6v rechargeables and a Sofirn headstrap. I have about 30 flashlights some expensive, but at work the simple Nicron 7 is what I use.

 

[ghostguy6]

if you're single, don't have family near you or don't get along with them, plus don't own the dwelling you live at;

Oddly, those are often considered warning signs that you should not be working alone in the dark. The suicide rate is often much higher among those people.

 

[iacchus]

Alaska always wants folks to come work there, and it gets real dark up that way.

 

[Monocrom]

Oddly, those are often considered warning signs that you should not be working alone in the dark. The suicide rate is often much higher among those people.

Not everyone in that situation suffers from depression. Though I admit it's likely many do.

 

[M@elstrom]

A building Superintendant would use their light often... if they're the proactive type 🤔

 

[sajohnson]

What job could I get where I would have a reason to use a light of my choice? Bonus if it pays 15-20+ USD per hour?

I finally got a year in for the resume/CV and bad leadership at my workplace will be here soon.

I worked for Metro (the D.C. subway) for 27+ years -- 3rd/night or 1st shift almost the entire time. Mostly nights.

I used a flashlight daily. I retired in 2010, so I only got to use an LED flashlight for the last couple years, but that was worlds better than a 3D Maglite, or those cheesy company issued yellow plastic 2D lights.

Anyway, that's a job where you will typically use your flashlight for hours every day. It's also a union job, so the pay is much better than 15-20 dollars per hour, not to mention great health insurance, a "defined benefit" (old school) pension, paid sick and vacation days, etc. The downside is that Metro has a habit of killing employees.

 

[Monocrom]

Better a soul-crushing job with benefits than one without.

 

[ampdude]

When I worked security I worked days and nights. When I worked nights I generally used my Surefires, because the lights they gave us where garbage. Or someone would drop one and break it so that it barely worked. Only two lights we had that were not complete garbage were a Streamlight in the car, but the lens and window was mostly melted. And we had a Magcharger for a short time that worked fine, but it disappeared one day. That's what made me buy one later on. I liked the brightness and ability to use it as an impact weapon.

 

[sajohnson]

Better a soul-crushing job with benefits than one without.

To be honest, when I started at Metro I figured I'd be there a couple years and then move on to something I enjoyed more. At 22 years old, I paid little/no attention to the benefits. Defined benefit pensions and health insurance in retirement were still relatively common (at least the pension was).

Then the 'golden handcuffs' got me. I realized there were few jobs that had anywhere near that combination of pay and benefits, so I ended up staying the 27 years (now it's 30).

You're right about the 'soul crushing' aspect of it, but it wasn't like that all the time. In hindsight, I'm glad I stuck it out.

Did I mention we got to use a LOT of flashlights?

Toward the end of my time there, we had a lot of those heavy brick shaped Streamlights:

At one point I made a "bucket o'light" a bucket with a sealed lead-acid battery, an inverter, and a CFL trouble light.