Thursday, May 21, 2009

Surprise! We eat and drink!

Why is it that just about every other profession can get together in a public place without any repercussions? I guess some people have nothing better to do than to bitch and complain.

You see a group of employees from waste management eating lunch at a local place and no problem. I'll see several UPS trucks parked near a restaurant with the drivers inside eating and no problem. I've even seen a crew of South City maintenance workers taking up an eatery and yeah, no problem. Hell I'll even see a fire truck parked at a local coffee shop with its crew having coffee..... no problem.

You get a motor unit at a restaurant and some citizen complains. Maybe they received a ticket from one of us and figure some type of pay back is due. As usual they don't have the intestinal fortitude to leave a name when they make their complaint.

Of course this person just plain lacks common sense. Lets see, several motor officers all gathered at one location eating lunch.... hmmmm. That probably means nobody is watching the streets for speeders and other violators of the California Vehicle Code. Go figure.

Well, we now get our lunches to go and meet at an out of the way place, out of the way from whining, butt sore citizens who are the same people who complain if we stop and get a cup of coffee in the morning.

People, we're entitled to a couple of breaks as well as a meal period during our shift. Get over it and get a life.

Damned if we do, damned if we don't.

8 comments:

  1. It's amazing how little things have changed in 30 years. The same people probably bitch when there are rambunctious teens in the diner and no cops around to tell them to cool their jets.

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  2. Funny. Just last night I picked my kid and his friend up from a martial arts class and we swung by a Tim Hortons for a treat. There were 3 Police cars in the lot and 3 officers in the restaurant.
    My kids friend said "wow, so it's really true what they say about cops and dough nuts."
    My kid said "I don't think the Police like dough-nuts any more than we do, they're just more visible to people because of the job they do."
    Nothing real deep in it, but I thought it was interesting POV.(and I'm pleased to note that my kid still uses the term Police at 13 years old : )

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  3. Why must people treat cops like an alien race? They are men and women, the same as everyone else. The only difference I have every really noticed, is a good portion of them have a wicked sense of humor. At least the ones I'm related to do. They still have to eat like everyone else. And believe it or not, they need sleep too.

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  4. Yep, The great citizens love to call and complain. I was on a task force, we all like to get together and have brotherhood once in a while, and here comes the complaints. They didn't see the drunks that we had to put up with the rest of the night. We did find a mom and pop restraunt which took care of us and they would not put up with a customer complaining. We were their cops. With their daughters and neices waiting tables, we made sure they got really excellent tips.

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  5. Powdergirl raised an interesting point, or rather, her kid's friend did. I don't know about the West Coast, but here in the East, lo, these many years ago, we didn't have 24-hour McDonalds, or Taco Bell, or any of the other eateries. On the midnight shift, we had two choices: Howard Johnson's (yeah, I'm showing my age) and Dunkin Donuts. HoJo was too slow and too expensive, so we relied on DD to keep body and soul together.

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  6. It's a good hint, if you see lots of Officers eating at one particular restaurant, chances are the food is good. Out here on the west coast, we had Bob's Big Boy and Denny's.

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  7. Our motors typically are working hard writing tickets to the scofflawing public from 7am to 9am, At 9am, when the commute is over, we are having our morning coffee. Usually 2 or 3 of us at a time. Most of the citizens at the coffee shop enjoy having us around. I guess there's always a pissant around whose primary purpose in life is to make others miserable. Enjoy your coffee 2WT! You deserve it!

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  8. I hear you Brother!! When we stop for a break and a bite to eat the good citizens do the gawking and complaining. One even approached me and said, " Why aren't you out on the street's protecting us?" and my response was, " Madam we can take a break at the moment as I see your son is with you!!". It was phoned in of course, complete with my badge number, but the woman didn't know, I WAS THE SHIFT SUPERVISOR and it went into my mail box. It didn't go much further!! ;-)
    But what really irks me is when you have to use a public restroom and they stare and point. Yes people WE PEE TOO!! Good thing that woman wasn't there to see me use a can or I may have had to file another complaint to file 13!!
    Work Safe Brother!!

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