Kaz I hope you don't think I'm coming at you like the guest was. When I said I was with the guest I just meant I had my doubts, not that I like his abrasive style. My only reason for doubting you is that the nature of the program, the very basis of their whole break-you-down-and-rebuild-you plan relies on the fact that they have those work assignments in their back pocket. You either do what they say and act how they say you act or you can sit and weed a path that will take so long to weed, the part you started on will be sprouting again by the time you get to the end. The way Dish says it was in his days is how it was when I left in '02...they couldn't not hand out work assignments because that's just how the program worked.
If staff realized you had gone awhile without a work assignment, they went up to your dorm and found something wrong with your bedspace - part of a sheet sticking out here or a thumbtack on the floor there - and they gave you a work assignment. Or they followed you around, just within earshot, waiting for you to curse or talk about your friend from back home that smokes weed with one lung or spit on a path or walk into a building without having your shirt fully tucked in first. All offenses punishable by work assignments.
So maybe the staff don't pull that shit anymore. If that's the case, then man, you need to find yourself a time machine and go live a day at BCA in the 90's. You're missing out on all the fun. But I have a feeling they haven't gone all anti-bullshit work assignments, so I caution you to think on this, because it's exactly what happened to me: I picked up so many work assignments and restrictions and such in my early BCA days and then I got smart and started playing the program the way you said you played it, and the work assignments and restrictions waned. But about a year ago I realized that eventually I had lost the ability to determine how far I could go before I actually WAS giving into the program and not just playing the game anymore. Down the road you're going to realize that line was blurrier than you thought. And if you're anything like me, it's going to really haunt you.
Stina - I keep in touch with a couple of my old BCA friends, and we've been in touch with a few staff members that are still in the program (and for the really uncensored news, we're still friends with a couple staff that were unjustly fired but still have spouses who work there haha). I really haven't gotten the vibe from any of them that the program has changed as much as Kaz claims...they alluded to a few instances where kids were getting bullshit workies or restrictions like the old days. I also know a girl whose little brother was sent to BCA about 2 1/2 years ago (thanks to my parents recommendation). Was there for about a year.