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Since my job considers those in our care to be "consumers" I guess I can post this here? I debated posting any stories at all, but I am under a fake name here, I won't mention the facility, and I will use the gender hiding pronouns of "they" and "them" rather than "he" or "she".
One evening, during showers, we had a particular youth who entered the bathroom area, shut the door, turned on the shower, for like MAYBE a minute, and then come out of the bathroom one more minute later, stating they were done showering. This particular individual has issues with hygiene, so we ordered them back in the shower to which an attempt at a power struggle ensued. We do our best to avoid getting into these struggles because when you are dealing with adolescents, you won't win.
Workers (W): those giving the direction
Youth (Y): well, the one not following directions
W: I understand that you may have turned the water on, however, there is no way you could have properly washed yourself in the time the water was running or completed brushing your teeth and hair in the minute afterward. You haven't even changed your clothes.
Y: I SHOWERED! I'm clean! I'm not getting back in there!
This type of exchange lasted about 5 or so minutes. In the meantime, it was also discovered that the clothes this youth meant to change into were also dirty. So, we had to find clean clothes as well as having them shower again.
Finally, youth gets angry enough and accepts the decision to re-shower.
The water runs for quite some time and stops. They then refuse to come out of the bathroom after a certain amount of time. So, with the nurse there, staff opens the door to discover this kid had showered with their clothes ON!!! It appeared that they were so angry we asked them to shower again, they thought they'd show us and jump in fully clothed.
So, we segregate the youth away from the unit and the rest of the kids. During this time, I am standing there giving expectations that this youth is to follow before moving on to the next activity.
Me: You will go in the bathroom. You will shut the door. You will undress. You will enter the shower area. You will turn on the shower, you will get in the shower, you will wash, you will rinse, and you will get out and dry yourself and then put on clean clothes.
I repeated this many times with emphasis on "you will undress" before "you will enter the shower area".
This kid was getting pissed. Finally, after one of my "You will undress" they yelled,
"I KNOW!!! I'M NOT AN IDIOT!!!"
My response: YOU JUST SHOWERED WITH YOUR CLOTHES ON!!
This kid actually stopped, paused, and said, "Well, yeah, you have a point there."
You think?
One evening, during showers, we had a particular youth who entered the bathroom area, shut the door, turned on the shower, for like MAYBE a minute, and then come out of the bathroom one more minute later, stating they were done showering. This particular individual has issues with hygiene, so we ordered them back in the shower to which an attempt at a power struggle ensued. We do our best to avoid getting into these struggles because when you are dealing with adolescents, you won't win.
Workers (W): those giving the direction
Youth (Y): well, the one not following directions
W: I understand that you may have turned the water on, however, there is no way you could have properly washed yourself in the time the water was running or completed brushing your teeth and hair in the minute afterward. You haven't even changed your clothes.
Y: I SHOWERED! I'm clean! I'm not getting back in there!
This type of exchange lasted about 5 or so minutes. In the meantime, it was also discovered that the clothes this youth meant to change into were also dirty. So, we had to find clean clothes as well as having them shower again.
Finally, youth gets angry enough and accepts the decision to re-shower.
The water runs for quite some time and stops. They then refuse to come out of the bathroom after a certain amount of time. So, with the nurse there, staff opens the door to discover this kid had showered with their clothes ON!!! It appeared that they were so angry we asked them to shower again, they thought they'd show us and jump in fully clothed.
So, we segregate the youth away from the unit and the rest of the kids. During this time, I am standing there giving expectations that this youth is to follow before moving on to the next activity.
Me: You will go in the bathroom. You will shut the door. You will undress. You will enter the shower area. You will turn on the shower, you will get in the shower, you will wash, you will rinse, and you will get out and dry yourself and then put on clean clothes.
I repeated this many times with emphasis on "you will undress" before "you will enter the shower area".
This kid was getting pissed. Finally, after one of my "You will undress" they yelled,
"I KNOW!!! I'M NOT AN IDIOT!!!"
My response: YOU JUST SHOWERED WITH YOUR CLOTHES ON!!
This kid actually stopped, paused, and said, "Well, yeah, you have a point there."
You think?
What exactly was the kid trying to prove there? The mind boggles.
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