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The Straight & Narrow
30 OCTOBER 2009 - *Gary �nally saw
blue skies and green grass. The �rst thing he did
was to pick his daughter up from school. Feeling
guilty that he had been absent from her life, how
must she have felt seeing other kids’ fathers waiting
outside the school gate…
For the �rst few months after release, Gary had
dif�culty �nding a job. It was heart wrenching to see
his 80 year old mother bending over washing dishes
at a nearby hawker center to feed him and his
daughter. Gary was desperate, but he vowed to not
abandon his family again. However, Gary did not
even know how to write a resume; worse he didn’t
really have much to write on his resume. Unlike
most people, he has little work experience, no
awards and no quali�cations. Negativity then starts
to set in...
There was also another problem. Gary had no
friends. He didn’t want to revisit old friends simply
because he found himself going back to jail
whenever he was with them. But addicts go back to
old habits if there is nothing to �ll the void…
In prison, everyone was the same. They had the
same clothes, the same haircut, the same slippers
and even the same type of spectacles. But outside
the name of the game is being different, being you.
The longer he stayed unemployed, the stronger the
urge to take shortcuts to an easy life. Trouble is,
these shortcuts usually led him to prison in the past.
Gary took up a job as a bouncer in a night club at
Clarke Quay. It was a practical decision as he
couldn’t stay unemployed. Yet he also knew having
a job in a night spot was not wise for a recovering
addict. He desperately wanted to not repeat the
mistakes made so many times before.
He decided to give resume writing another shot. He
listed down what little quali�cations he had. While
still working as a bouncer (after all, it paid the bills)
he waited patiently to get called for interviews. He
did get some calls and eventually got an offer.
Gary is now holding a sales position at a local gym.
Though he is grateful to his employer for giving him
a chance, he realises the important steps he himself
took to prevent his reoffending. We would like to
share some of them with you…
1
OVERCOME EMOTIONS Gary knows
of friends who reject offers because it
doesn’t pay a lot, or when it is labour intensive
and then complain there are “no jobs”.
“Just because I am handicapped by a tainted
past, society is not going to give me any special
treatment,” Gary says. Jobs aren’t dif�cult to
�nd at all. It is expectations that are set too high
that often cause great disappointment.
Gary conditioned himself and took on the �rst
offer that came his way. He did not want to lose
the opportunity to accumulate whatever
experience he could so that with time, he would
have more to write on his resume.
Life doesn’t stop just because Gary is past his
thirties and doesn’t have a successful career. If
he continues to wallow in self pity, he would
never move forward.