Friday, December 19, 2008

Ok here's the dealio, schmelio

This morning I will be examined by a nurse for the life insurance policy. I told her yesterday that I have been completely smoke and nicotine free, continuously, for 7 days and previously to that I had 3 cigarettes since Dec 1. She said, "Good for YOU! and I will make note of that so we have it in your chart!". Then I also told her I have probably gained at least 5 pounds of the 72 I lost over the year back in the last 3 days as I have been eating like a giant HOG. She laughed.

Well, sure...she can laugh. I get back on Nutri-Systems for at least 30 more days right after Christmas and I am not kidding. I worked too hard to go from a size 20 to a comfortable size 12 w if I order from Talbots. I feel better than I have in years and while I will never be a size 6 again I do not want to be a size 20 either....so, no more over eating out of nerves.

Which, btw, is exactly why I am shoveling food into my mouth as though I was about to set foot across the desert to study Holy Scripture with the ghost of St Jerome.

Yesterday, I had to calm down a little clerk here who is tiny but a real bully - her name is K and she is Vietnamese (I think) and gets away with a lot of rude behavior under the guise of 'it's a cultural thing'. Ok. You know, I have no problem with that to a certain extent; however, if I then decide to explode on someone and hit them upside the head with a shillelagh will I get a pass from management? Probably not...especially since I don't even know if I spelled shillelagh right. How about a big smack in the puss with a hot pizza? No...pizza is not native to Italy and I am not originally from Chicago so that won't work.

K is good at what she does but she has a tendency to get a bug up her butt about something and then not let go of the issue...she is like a rat terrier in really cool shoes.

Her latest crusade is about proof of service on restraining orders.

Here is the deal: an RO usually falls under the domestic violence protocol and an officer does not need an actual piece of paper in his hand to serve a person with an RO. In fact, the officer can see it on his car monitor, turn to the RP (restrained person) and say, "Hey, did you know you have a RO out on you and you are not supposed to be within 50 feet of this person's car? No? Well, you have now been served and you are to turn around and put your hands behind your back because I am arresting you for violating the RO".

In other words, in an effort to offer as much protection to domestic violence victims as possible the officer does not even have to give the RP a warning...it is 'YOU HAVE AN RO AND YOU ARE GOING TO JAIL RIGHT NOW, BUSTER (or BUSTERINA)'.

Because of this we rarely have deputies or officers 'going out to serve' RO's...besides it is a real pain in the patootie. Oftentimes the RP has been moved right back into the house because the victim does not know what else to do, needs the money the RP brings in so the rent can be paid or they can buy that dress they need for the gala at the arts center they have to go to because the perpetrator is a town big shot. Sometimes the PP (protected person) is so terrorized they can be easily talked into 'forgiveness' because if they don't forgive they might end up dead. Sadly, many a PP are so caught up in the culture of domestic violence (they think it is supposed to be this way - everyone gets beat up by a person who says they love them, right? I mean my Momma did, and her Momma and all my aunties and my uncles joke about smacking them around - it is what it is, right?) they honest to GOD do not know what else to do.

And any officer worth his or her salt knows to be prepared for the worst and to never assume that because the guy or gal was told to turn in all their guns within 24 hrs of being served with the RO the RP is not armed. And dangerous. And nutty. And drunk or loaded. The officers know that being called in on a domestic violence situation is not only incredibly dangerous it can be frustrating and emotionally draining - because there are usually little kids with big eyes hiding in a corner while Mom and Dad duke it out...and it is so ugly.

Back to the angry clerk:

K is furious that the POS (proofs of service) are not completely up-to-date. She is so angry that officers have called and said, "I served this yesterday, why does it say it is not served in CLETS?". She wants heads to roll, bodies to be torn asunder...she wants someone to get in trouble.

And it ain't gonna happen.

We have one and a half people doing RO(s) and we process approximately 100 to 150 a day, depending upon whether there has been a football game on every day for a weekend or it is after a major holiday - at which point it could be about 200 to 300. We get POS(s) in from the courts a week after the Temporaries have expired. We do not have enough personnel, space, time or resources...and it doesn't really matter because served or NOT the guy or gal violating the order can get hauled off to the hoosegow (what a great name - does ANYONE know where it came from?) without a 3 second warning or a headstart.

OK - so K has spent the past two weeks terrorizing my RO clerk and other people around this issue. Yesterday she tried jumping all over me...and it did not work. And I made sure to document everything in an email to her AND sit down and talk with V about it...immediately...so I could assure her I had done everything right. E also got told and she has all the printed out stuff but too bad - mistakes were made, but I will not be spoken to as though I were a bad little girl.

This morning I will encourage K to come to me with problems if she feels she is being pressured by deputies because she does not have information at her fingertips. And I will NOT let the little minx beat me up. I will kill her with sweetness and kindness. I will go home and have that physical, find out how fat I am again and then go buy a pack of cigarettes...

ok, maybe I won't do THAT......

PRAY FOR ME!!!!!

2 comments:

Christine Trollinger said...

Hang in there Leslie! Irritation is a small price to pay.

But, I will volunteer to smack her with my shillelagh for you. LOL!

Leslie K. said...

oh she is such a brat...she did the whole lip quivering thing, told me it was my fault because I would not listen to her yesterday (not true) and that she has been penalized in the past for not knowing the answer to something.

I just finished giving the big speech to everyone down there about not getting in trouble for saying "I don't know" or "I don't have that information". I am going home for a physical and a hot fudge sundae.