Author Archives: mjwayblog

Life for me comes what seems to be in triplet. The three unproductive employees no longer affected the decisions made in our school. The mismanagement and harassment was gone. I was informed by my colleague that there were only three Horticulture Instructors left teaching in the DOC and when Instructors left they were not beingContinue reading “Trifecta”

She thought she was protected. She had friends in all the right places. The department’s manager was her best friend, the Warden in charge of the other prison she reported to thought highly of her professionalism, and the new Warden at our facility was friends with our department manager. He too thought she was exceptional.Continue reading “Explode”

He was picked by our new school principal to be our school secretary after they wanted him out of the Business Office in the Administration Building. I found out later that he wasn’t liked there because he was lazy and he lied about the work he supposedly had finished. They had deadlines in accounting andContinue reading “Slime-Ball”

The prison in Detroit was closed so after making sure he had a position at our facility, he loaded up the truck and began to move in. He made sure that everyone was made aware that he was on a first name basis with the department’s new director. He didn’t have a clue on whereContinue reading “The Weasel Incarnate”

She was by far, the most talented, educated, and appreciative school principal I ever had the privilege to work for. She was only with our school for a short period of time, but with her as our school principal I could have worked much longer than I did. She was a great motivator and madeContinue reading “The Good Doctor”

CL was my first African American Horticulture student and he was selected by me to be a potential tutor once he completed the class requirements. He was bright and non confrontational. Something he seemed to keep learning after killing a man over what he now called “a bunch of nonsense!” He would spend the restContinue reading “C.L. and the Judge”

This was not going to be easy. I was called by the union to inform me that the contracted nurses from Canada were hired by the State Employer as employees and they elected to be represented by UAW Local 6000. I was to meet with them asap and welcome them to the union. They seemedContinue reading “Health Care”

My supervisor reminded me that just because I was the facility union representative did not mean that I could neglect my classroom. I was expected to still hold class. Any investigations I was involved in with our union members had to be conducted on my time. This issue was going to be my very firstContinue reading “The Novice”

I was elected union steward by default. The unionized teachers and staff sitting around a conference room table were asked at the last minute to become union stewards by the chief union steward working out of parole and probation in Mt. Clemons. Michigan. He would train anyone who volunteered. I wasn’t paying attention as usual,Continue reading “Say it ain’t so Joe”

I was working late on an August 4th night in my second year as an executive at the Detroit Medical Center. On my way out of the building I had heard on our hospital police radio that a man had just shot a man in the head on the campus of Wayne State University. TheyContinue reading “The Witch”