3465: From a Distance w/ Mary Jo Pehl

[flashthegreat]

At 18 I worked as a security guard. Mostly I worked in tech offices, but they needed coverage at a methadone clinic on Christmas Eve. I said yes, because it was time and a half and they were only open till noon. At noon all of the nurses shut off their machines and we started locking up. Then a man came up and asked if we were still open and we said no. This set this poor man off. He started waving a gun and screaming because he was actually trying to get sober and knew he wouldn't last the day without methadone. Because this was so regulated the nurses couldn't help. So he killed himself. At this point the police had already been contacted by the alarm buttons. Even though they had a station right around the block it took them over an hour to come. I told my boss that I needed the next day off and he flipped out. Said some shit about it being Christmas and I don't have a family so I should work. Nothing about me just watching a man kill himself. I ended up quitting that day. Managers always treat younger people like shit, even though they are doing the same job all of these older people are doing. They know that they will take their abuse. Thankfully in the 15 years from when this happened it's a little better for people trying to get sober with methadone. This man was hard working and the only reason he couldn't get a take home dose was because he smoked pot, and that meant he failed his drug tests. From what I understand those clinics no longer treat pot like a drug, because realistically it helps people.