Category Archives: Special Education Programs

Aug14

Take This Job and Shove It

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Take This Job and Shove It

Five days a week, Alyne attends day services at The Lakemary Center, which is a center for adults with special needs. They do all kinds of stuff that helps them attain self-sufficiency. They learn about diet and exercise. They socialize. They work.

You know how, in every workplace, there is a disgruntled employee? Not necessarily post-office disgruntled, but one that hangs out in the break room, complaining about the company’s Standard & Poor rating? They hate their boss, their coworkers are worthless, and their workload never eases (probably because they spend their work day in the break room, complaining.) Lakemary has one of those too. We’ll call him Fred.

I don’t know Fred’s diagnosis, but I do know that he is addicted to coffee, that lovely, hot, aromatic, nectar, ahhhhhhhhh….anyway, at Lakemary they dangle his coffee in front of him like a huge giant bribe. Much like any addict in the throes of his disease, this really pisses him off. Fred is the guy that skipped the baseball outing in order to go to Starbucks.

“Fred, you can have your coffee after you take your walk.”
“I’m busting out of this place.”

“Fred, you can have some coffee after you sort these envelopes.”
“You just wait until I leave here! Then you’ll be sorry!”

Lately Fred has been pretty vocal about quitting that Lakemary joint. “I’m going to go to JCDCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC” (which is actually JCDC-Johnson City Development Center, but the extra Cs are for emphasis) huffs Fred as he’s forced to work out for a full three minutes with his 2-pound dumbbells. I would like to interject here that it is a good thing that Fred does his workout before coffee because he’s pretty furious with his dumbbell activity. I would hate to have him have the jitters as he does his bicep curls. One of those dumbbells would escape his grasp and take out a window. Finally, when his reps are complete, he gets to go to the break room, to check Lakemary’s stock quotes. Then he pours himself a cup of coffee and starts to complain about his workload.

Jun3

Dad’s Trip to the Ballpark

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Dad’s Trip to the Ballpark

The below story is told by Alyne’s Dad. I only served in an editorial capacity. Enjoy!

*****
I volunteered to help take a bunch of Lakemary adults out to a T-Bones game today. I wanted Alyne’s friend Fred to go to the game, but he went to the mall instead. He was really pumped up–I mean really stoked about his mall trip. He drank his coffee and then ran over to me and said, ” Mike, I’m going to the mall and buy cookies and coffee. ” He’s never said much to me and has never said my name. I told him he didn’t need anymore coffee.

At first I felt like Jack Nicholson in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” when were riding out on our bus to the game, but I had a blast after Mary Ann (the bus driver) turned up the radio and the group began singing and dancing.

When we got the the ballpark, Al ate two hot dogs and a Three Musketeers candy bar. She also chugged half of my Coke when I wasn’t looking. After a few innings I left our seats and went to buy her a T Bones T-shirt. I also came back with some nachos. I was holding the nachos for Alyne and must have zoned out while watching the game, because when I tuned back in to the Lakemary group I noticed that Joy, one of Alyne’s coworkers, was also enjoying the nachos. No harm no foul there was plenty for two of them (editor’s note: none of Alyne’s siblings can believe that she shared her nachos. Hell, we can’t believe that she let anyone else, even her dad, HOLD them, never mind that she let someone else EAT them.)

Alyne’s coworker Baird came to the game. I’ve met Baird before, he rides the same bus home as Alyne and when I go get her off the bus he says “”HEEEEEY Mike!” and then reminds me to “Stay out of trouble Mike.” Baird brought his glove but no foul balls came our way. All in all, it was a great trip out and everybody had so much fun.