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Lester Clayton Johnson
THE BUGHOUSE: Some of the experiences of a young man working in a California mental institution in the 1950s
THE BUGHOUSE: Some of the experiences of a young man working in a California mental institution in the 1950s
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CHAPTER I: John Clayton’s First Day at Calaveras State Hospital
John Clayton felt nervous and had a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach as he walked into the Supervisor’s Office at Calaveras State Hospital for the first time. He had no idea of what the mental hospital was like or what he was getting into. Because he needed a steady job, John had signed-up immediately when he heard the hospital was hiring Psychiatric Technicians. John arrived ten minutes early for his 6:00 a.m. appointment with his training Supervisor who would orient him to his new job as Psychiatric Technician Trainee and send him to his first assignment.
John was a good-looking young man at age 20 with golden-blond wavy hair and deep blue eyes with dark brown eyelashes and eyebrows. At six-feet two-inches tall, with a trim, tanned muscular body, John looked striking in his freshly-pressed white trousers, short-sleeved white dress shirt, black belt, and carefully polished black shoes with rubber soles and heels which was the standard summer uniform for male Psychiatric Technicians of all grades. John’s training Supervisor, Ann Baker, a Registered Nurse, was favorably impressed with John’s appearance and his bearing as he introduced himself to her.
Ann was a strikingly beautiful slender young woman with dark-brown hair and eyes who looked at least ten-years younger than her age of thirty-one, and John felt strangely exhilarated as she calmly met his gaze and asked him to sit down in the guest’s chair at her desk; John watched her gracefully walk around her desk and seat herself as he caught his breath and seated himself in a very clumsy manner which almost resulted in his landing on the floor. As he recovered his balance and stammered out an apology for being so clumsy, John looked at Ann in red-faced surprise when she merely smiled and said: “Now, John, you don’t have to fall for me on our first meeting!” Everyone in the office roared with laughter and John felt all of the pent-up apprehension he felt leaving his body. Although he felt nice and comfortable now, if he had known what was in store for him in the days and years to come, he might have walked back out the front door and sought other employment.
John Clayton felt nervous and had a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach as he walked into the Supervisor’s Office at Calaveras State Hospital for the first time. He had no idea of what the mental hospital was like or what he was getting into. Because he needed a steady job, John had signed-up immediately when he heard the hospital was hiring Psychiatric Technicians. John arrived ten minutes early for his 6:00 a.m. appointment with his training Supervisor who would orient him to his new job as Psychiatric Technician Trainee and send him to his first assignment.
John was a good-looking young man at age 20 with golden-blond wavy hair and deep blue eyes with dark brown eyelashes and eyebrows. At six-feet two-inches tall, with a trim, tanned muscular body, John looked striking in his freshly-pressed white trousers, short-sleeved white dress shirt, black belt, and carefully polished black shoes with rubber soles and heels which was the standard summer uniform for male Psychiatric Technicians of all grades. John’s training Supervisor, Ann Baker, a Registered Nurse, was favorably impressed with John’s appearance and his bearing as he introduced himself to her.
Ann was a strikingly beautiful slender young woman with dark-brown hair and eyes who looked at least ten-years younger than her age of thirty-one, and John felt strangely exhilarated as she calmly met his gaze and asked him to sit down in the guest’s chair at her desk; John watched her gracefully walk around her desk and seat herself as he caught his breath and seated himself in a very clumsy manner which almost resulted in his landing on the floor. As he recovered his balance and stammered out an apology for being so clumsy, John looked at Ann in red-faced surprise when she merely smiled and said: “Now, John, you don’t have to fall for me on our first meeting!” Everyone in the office roared with laughter and John felt all of the pent-up apprehension he felt leaving his body. Although he felt nice and comfortable now, if he had known what was in store for him in the days and years to come, he might have walked back out the front door and sought other employment.
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