Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Christmas once again

What a busy, busy week. Second day off now, things are just starting to come back to normal ... well as normal as things get. Dec 24 was my first day back so that means I get all the last minute shoplifter calls, child custody disputes and a few suicides here and there, tis the season. I'm fortunate enough that that my brother who lives in Crazy Town too got off at the same time that I did and to take me to our dad's house for Christmas eve, he lives in Redneck Town. Jacks, it is Redneck Town, I saw a few people in their decorated tractors going down the street to pick up pizza ... there's no shame.

Got to see my Nana which is awesome because this will probably be her last year, we keep getting the be prepared speech every time we say goodbye.

It was hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing when I asked my brother to get a present that was in one of my bags. I had 99% of them in one bag but that one I had gotten late so it somehow didn't make it to the right place in the confuffle. I told him it had red and black wrapping paper. Easy enough, he goes rooting through the bag, cause he was going to his bag beside mine anyways. I'm sitting in the living room, playing with my puppy, a 11 ... 12 year old German Shepard mostly mix when I hear him holler.

My dad asks him if he's still alive and my brother admits that he is very quickly and a few minutes later he comes back a few shades of red. He hands me the present without making eye contact and I ask what. Apparently he had found a bra that was red and black and had taken that out of the bag. Well I laughed, my mom and dad laughed and he just sat down and distracted himself with the pupper dog.

The next morning was an early one because I was doing the 12 hour shift and had to be on the on ramp to the highway at 04:45. I had a coworker was coming through from Hub Town and picked me up. We had 50 dispatchable calls that day, normally it's like 150-200, which means only one thing. We got ourselves in trouble a lot. There was laughing, talking and someone threw a packet of ketchup at me. Officers came up and visited, there were treats brought in and oh my god enough chocolate to send everyone into seizures. Fat and full, around 18:00 that night, the same coworker drove me to Bum Fuck Nowhere where my mother lives and I had Christmas Dinner there. My mom's boyfriend is really nice and he had his mother there. She was a bit creepy looking as she liked to stare at you and go, "Hmmm ... niceeeeee." Four different kinds of pie, two different kinds of potato, stuffing, turkey, a million and two vegetables ... so full, so tired, I slept on the couch. The youngest dog a westie/silky mixture slept on my shoulder asking every two seconds, 'play'?

Mom and her boyfriend drove me back to Crazy Town on Boxing day, to which I was running on little sleep but did 2 night shifts worth of work. Last night finally got enough sleep and am feeling better, opening and putting away some presents, Electric mixer, Food steamer, pots and a few decorative things. Headache week count though ... 3rd week going on 4th ... was told to look into codine ... might try that. There was also this other pill ... apparently the strongest thing you can get without a prescription. Might look into it, constant headaches suck royally. It's good to see the family but it's really good to be home too.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Police K-9 and a Santa MVA.

Last cycle was awesome! On two occasions the police k-9 came up to visit and both times I got to see them! I will admit I am a dog person, German Shepard is my favourite breed and these guys were so adorable. I have come to accept that I would be an easy person to abduct. Show me a puppy and I get tunnel vision. Hell I'd probably walk in to the van and if you let me hold the puppy or pat a dog, I'd go all the way to the second location happy as pig in shit. One was either just over or just under two ... i believe, he was young though and still in the 'I love everyone' stage. He had really nice markings and even had a little Santa hat, which we thought was cute but he seemed to hate. It was just put on for us though, not to go on patrol with. Last night shift we saw a brand spanking new one. This one was still in training as he was only 9 months old but apparently he was really showing some good skills. He was super, friendly and had this massive head and massive paws. He was in the stage of 'Is this food? let me put it in my mouth. you smell good. I give you kiss. I want to smell everything! I'm going to ....Squirrel!!'

We got our first substantial snow fall this cycle and this amazing thing happened to almost all of the drivers. It was nearly instantaneous and I'm sure would have been funny if you were watching it from a birds eye perspective. It was like when a snowflake landed on a car, it instantly made the driver forget how to drive! Imagine driving down the road, you probably don't even see the single snowflake and it's "OH MY GOD! What is this wheel thing? What are these lines things! Aaaggh!" Crash. All day. Not happy.

So I go out shopping, regrettably, the malls are chaos with glitter and a bow. Going down an aisle and it happens again. Don't know if I blogged about it or ranted about it, but it happened again. Going down an aisle in Zellers, just avoided being side swiped by an old lady going mach 2, when I see it's completely blocked off. Lady has her cart facing one way and is looking the other so that no one can get by. I hate this but whatever I'll go around again. I turn around and someone else is doing the same thing on the other side. I am stuck again! Twice in one season, I need one of those cow plow things that they put on trains.

Looking forward to tonight because my brother is going to take me around to look at all the Christmas lights. Besides the whole 'family togetherness, love, peace on earth thing' this is my favourite part of Christmas. I don't even need gifts, just drive me around and let me look at the lights, or the plastic Santa that just flew across the highway.

Me: 911. What is your Emergency?
Panicked man: I just killed Santa!
Me: What? Where are you? Mall Santa or ...
Panicked man: On the highway! It blew right in front of my truck!
Me: A man just blew in front of your truck? Which highway? *thinking winds are high but shouldn't be that high. Especially if this man is red, fat and jolly.**
Panicked man: I ran it over and it made this weird popping noise under my truck.
Me: *crickets* okay so a popping sound ... ok which highway, I need to know, we have a lot.
Panicked man: I'm on 'main Crazytown highway right before the psycho mall that Kat would eventually battle through. (okay he didn't say that but hey, can't give out major highways or malls, my whole secret identity thing ... yes secret identities just aren't for superheros)
Me: Have you pulled over?
Panicked man: Well no I'm late for work which is why I was rushing. I didn't see it until it flew over the median and crashed in my lane.
Me: He flew over the median? Can you still see him?
Panicked man: Oh no, I mean ... this is going to upset some kids if they see that ... I figure he came off one of the yards, probably wasn't secured right.
Me: *finally dawns on me* Sir is this a decorative Santa or a real man dressed as Santa?
Panicked man: Like the kind you plug in.
Me: *Withholding my sarcastic remarks* So a fake decorative lawn ornament Santa, not flesh in blood need Fire, Police and an Ambulance for?"
Panicked man: Well no. Someone should clean it up though, kids might see it.
Me: Right ... *erases most of call ... thank god I had not entered it yet, they'd never let me live it down* I'll call the department of highways to come by and scrape Santa off."
Panicked man: Okay thanks ... will I be charged for destroying property?
Me: Not if it blew in front of you while you were driving on the highway ... though you might find a lump of coal on Christmas day.
Panicked man: *laughs* Good, I'll use it to heat my house. Price of oil is crazy.
Me: I know eh? (i do say eh, it's habit). Let me get your name and number confirmed then I'll send you on your way.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

911 versus the Dispenser

I'd like to think my Division is made up of skilled, capable and intelligent individuals. We handle life and death emergencies (and the not so dire) calls all day long and I feel we do a rather good job. That is why I am perplexed, given my crowd of associates, that we are constantly thwarted by the paper towel dispenser. I don't get it. At least twice a cycle I see that it's get jammed up and it flat out refuses to preform like an scorned hooker who's got Johns lined up around the block. This has been going on for months now and every time our cleaner has to unlock the beast, beat it to shit before the paper towel is unclogged. Thank god we have a second one or everyone would think we had pee hands all day.

This is my first day back and it has gone quite well. A co-worker has surprised me with a loaf of her ever-lovin freaking awesome banana bread for me. The whole thing, for me!!! It was a belated birthday gift! WOOO! Then a half hour later another co-worker took a bite out of her Tim Horton's breakfast sandwich and didn't like it. Instead of wasting it, she cut off her bite marks and gave it to me. Taking it, I thought and then looked at both of them. "You two are trying to make me fat ... er."

Oh go figure this. Some kid thinks it's funny to tell people at school he has a gun then go back behind the school and set off firecrackers! Now here's the crazy part, everything thinks he's shootin off a gun and we get 1 call. A few hours later we have a guy walking down the sidewalk and falls over. He's fine. 6 calls! Priorities people!

Officer came in, guy had puked over him, felt sooooo bad. I saw him in the hallway as I was going to the bathroom. He said I looked like death, ok so I wasn't feelin the best, constant headaches suck. My only response 'well you smell like it', even though he'd already changed. Then I had to admit that death smelled a bit worse then he did, but I told him if he got any riper then he'd be close.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Docs and grocery scavenger hunt

So today I got a call at about eight ... don't they realize that's early still, lol? It was from the one supervisor that I cannot stand in the least, thank god she's not on my watch. It's my second day off so it's not as bad as if she was calling the day before. Anyways, she says my payslip wasn't in and the Operations Manager needed it. Sighing, and a mild head slap I remembered I didn't drop that off my last night shift. Groan. I fired off my Operations Manager an email and then got showered to go out. So much for sleeping in after a night of tossing and turning.

My OP is a nice guy, temperamental at times but nice enough. He's on the phone when I get there and he's talking. Then I realize he's starring at me, when he was talking so I don't know if it's directed at me or not. Turns out it is but he never got off the phone. So I just put my pay slip on his desk and he signs off on it and put it in his desk. The entire time he is talking to a guy on the phone and then sometimes to me. Afraid I'll answer the wrong question or that he'll miss some of the other guys question I bolt it out. I get the stink eye from that supervisor that I 'love'. Argh Supervisor JR, one of the few people I can't stand. When I used to work on all the watches, I got stuck with her a few times. I don't really hate anyone but I highly dislike her. She's rude to the officers, she acts like she's god on a power trip and she's overly critical of the new people. I swear if she could she'd start a flood to drown all the low lives, however she would make it last for 80 days and to hell with telling anyone to build an ark. She is the one that said I should have never been hired and if she was on the committee I wouldn't have been, because when I first started I didn't know the area that well. I wasn't going to waste my breath telling her I made up for that by studying maps, going on ride alongs with our officers and having friends drive me around like crazy. Thanks, bro, dad, bobby, robin, cory, leslie, calvin, sam, gilroy and JJ. I may have started not knowing the area but that's a learnable skill that I gained in a month.

Anyways those kind of people aren't worth arguing with, you can't win. So I ignored her and left. Went to a walk in clinic because I've had this headache for a week and half, eat about 6 Tylenol a day and the shakes I just can't well, shake. I only have to wait a half hour which isn't bad at all. I see this guy who first off tells me he can't help with the shakes, go see my family doctor. Already explained that my family doc is over an hour away, I don't have a car, him and I don't get along and that I was in the process of finding a new one. So even though last night I had a shake that shook my entire body for three seconds and I passed out, not his concern. Whatever.

He deducted that my headaches were from lack of sleep, stress and that I'm not wearing my eyeglasses. Okay lack of sleep, I get that however it always takes me 2 hrs to get to sleep and I never stay asleep, always been that way. Stress ... well stress and me are best friends and I'm working on that. Who the hell doesn't have stress? Last possible cause, glasses. I am technically supposed to wear them for far away, things just look like blobs of colour the further it gets but the glasses I have, well they actually give me headaches. I went to the eye doctor two months after I got them and they said my lenses were fine, that was what ...grade 8 or 9? Haven't worn them since.

I don't know what I was expecting walking in there ... guy kept looking at his watch, it was near lunch, maybe I was keeping him from that. So here is what he left me with, sleep more, relax and take an Advil if you get a headache. Thanks doc!

On a happier ... well more amusing note. This walk in clinic was in a Superstore so I figured, heck why not pick up some groceries while I'm here. You know, justify the cab fare. So I'm starting, starting ... go down to the front door ... k. Pharmacy section ... ok, what ever I'm a Sobeys girl so maybe this is how Superstore does it. Going around ... laundry section ... mixed in with canned goods ... ok. I can't even find the carts or baskets yet. Then I hit the meat section ... then clothing? What? clothes? Toys sections? Still no baskets or carts. Chip aisle ... baking goods ... something i don't know what it was but it was white and it floated in a jar with green liquid ... I was lost.

Eventually I came to the baking section at the far corner, veggies and this ... chicken and taters stand thingy. Got a few things in my hand, still no baskets or carts, arms are getting tired. Wander around for a bit more, found a discarded basket on a pile of dark purple fruit. No idea what the heck those were. Actually I'm not even sure they were fruit. Like a pomegranate except purple! In a half hour I wandered around long enough to get more or less enough stuff, 11 items.

When I was done I went outside and called for my cab. He asked which door. Confusion again? Which door? Looking down, now that I was outside I could see there was a second door, a massive second door ... hmm. Maybe that was the front door and I went through the whole thing backwards. Maybe they had carts down there ... such is my life, going through it ass backwards. Ha ha. Oh well. I was happy, I bought a cheesecake!!!!

911 at 2 am

Me: 911, what is your emergency?
Woman: My son is three years old.
*long silence*
Me: Okay, he's three ... and?
Woman: Well he's only three and he is watching this show on the television and a man swore.
Me: Okay ... well what's the emergency?
Woman: He's only three, he shouldn't listen to swear words. Don't you think?
Me: Generally, I don't have a personal opinion but I'm going to say no. At three, probably shouldn't be hearing swearing. Is that it?
Woman: Well I don't think they should swear on tv. I thought they weren't allowed to. So they would be breaking the law.
Me: Mame, I have a quick fix for you.
Woman: Okay.
Me: Got the remote handy?
Woman: Yes I have it now.
Me: Well either turn the channel or turn it off. Is your phone number *secret phone number*?
Woman: Yes, but isn't this illegal? Shouldn't I report it?
Me: Not on 911 ... well not to the police actually. If you have an issue with the television show ... you don't call the police . Call the station or something.
Woman: But it's two in the morning ... there'd be no one there.
Me: That it is Mame.
Woman: So you want me to take the law into my own hands?
Me: Mame I really can't discuss this further on 911. If you'd like to contact our general inquires number I can provide that to you. However they won't be able to help you either. If you feel that a swear word is inappropriate for your three year old to hear, while he is awake at two in the morning, contact the television station on Monday.
Woman: Well you were no help at all.
Me: Have a good night, Mame.
*click*

Monday, December 6, 2010

Days off = Gingerbread and Relax

Ahhh days off. How I missed thee. Sleep, a long lost friend, lol. It's the end of my third day off, one more for me and then back at her. Some days off feel like I never left work, either I'm at court for my 911 tapes, at a training session (which I don't mind) or doing overtime. Not this set, nope. This set of days off is for me, me, selfish me.

First day off. Slept. Glorious. Got in lots of sleep. Hmm ... hot dogs for lunch, grunge-aliscious. Stayed in PJ's and watched a movie, old tv shows on dvd and this super, intense dinosaur show. Wow, it was good. Oh yeah, there was also ice cream. Woot.
Second day I had to take a shower, got changed, but not much else. I wrote a lot on that day and organized the sketches I would need to do for it. Also drew the cover for the book I'm writing. Third day was the most productive of them all. Scrubbed down my apartment and did a load and half of laundry. Would have had two loads but the second washer spit up dirt on half the load, which is weird and I was told had something to do with them not being cleaned. I dunno, I guess I just always assumed the washer was the cleanest place to be. So now I have towels and stuff draped over my doors in my apt, not worth the coin to dry them. My cat, Lee, also got into something but I'm not quite sure what. It got all gunked in his fur on his back and stuck out like two pyramids. So ... bath time. Guess who just got voted mother of the year? (yes I do think of him as my child in a fur suit, if I have to clean up his shit, his mess, feed him, play with him, love him when I pissed at him, he IS my child for the time being.) He is pretty good about baths, he thinks he's a dog. If I let him put his head in my hand, he won't move that much. Well the two gunk chunks wouldn't move so I ended up hauling him out, drying him off and cutting them out. Now he has two brown spots on his back from where there is less fur. Also did his nails while I had him. After all that, not two minutes later he was cuddlin on my lap. He forgives quick.


This evening my brother Randy and his roommate Devin came up to build a gingerbread train. Now this is not my or their idea, not really. My mother bought it for me, for Randy and I to do. I'm not quite sure why, maybe she doesn't remember what happened last year. Last year we did a house and it collapsed. Oh mothers of the world ... perpetual misplaced faith in their young. *sigh*. We called in reinforcements, only to learn that Devin had never done one in his life ... lovely. So we tried to build this train thing, not coming along too too bad. I ordered in supper for all of us, cause hey when do I get to see them. Supper comes just after we got everything stuck in place, no candy yet, just the skeleton set up. We set that aside to harden while we go at sup sup. For me, poutine. My bro got poutine and donair, Devin got 2 piece fish and chips.

After Din we played a round of Mario Party 2. I was, and always is, Yoshi! Yoshi rocks! My bro got DK, like always and Devin got Luigi. Peach was the computer player, which we ganged up on, because of an old grudge. Computer always gets stuck with Peach. After the game we went back to the gingerbread train and frosted it up and stuck candy on it. Well it was a train ... train wreck maybe. Lol. The fun was making it though and Devin, for never having done one, got a kick out of it. I've also posted pictures of it. Don't laugh, this is 3 twenty some year olds having fun and not trying to be professional. There was frosting everywhere! Candy balls stuck to the couch, candy disks and junk just all in the carpet. Had to vacuum there a few times. Randy and Devin were so sick by the time they left. They both ate a good chunk. Hmmm I'm not quite sure how long we were supposed to leave it up for ... meh.

That about wraps it up. Tomorrow I plan to get a few groceries, rearrange ALL my furniture to be away from the heaters and wash my sheets.



















Saturday, December 4, 2010

Can't we all just get along! *Vent warning*

Can't we all just get along!!

Thus was the reoccurring theme of my last night shift. For about four hours it was back to back 911 calls, over flow 911 calls, alarm calls, non emerge calls all screaming to be answered and to top it off we were short staffed. A bare skeleton crew we did what we could with what we had and sometimes it wasn't a pretty sight. People I knew to be strong people looked weak and broken and one strong introvert was actually crying and had to take five. There was no relief in those four hours when Crazy Town blew up in a hell fury. I don't even exaggerate a little, we had murder calls, robbery calls, physical disturbances, serious motor vehicle accidents with injuries, weapons calls. Every call was serious. All but one which was a noise compliant call on 911 to which I had actually 'raised my voice' at him. I transferred him off 911, apologized and then so did he. I explained we were flat out and that 911 couldn't be used for that purpose. Didn't get to take his noise complaint as we were still flat out and he ended up hanging up.

I was exhausted, my head was pounding something awful, my chest hurt, my back hurt and I was actually losing my voice. It seemed like I had to ask every single question at least three times to either get an answer or the appropriate answer. Like 'what kind of knife' and the answer being, 'I have employees.' Fail! I fail you!

Our murder call was brutal and had hollers over the dispatch air and dozens of officers all talking at once, trying to get critical information in. A co-worker, AP, the one who cried took the blunt of that call trying to get information from a woman who seemed to be only capable of saying 'get them here now!' and then hanging up. I was trying to help her, calling for ambulance, updating them and handling that side but it was clear the whole night was starting to chip away at her. After the call, she needed five. I don't blame her. It was bad. She also had chest pains though,headaches, arm pains and felt sick. Turns out there were four of us with the same symptoms. You can only throw so much at people, we were at our limit and still going further. I am very proud of my team, because we did it. Hurt like hell but it got done.

One weapons call I took could have been very serious and gruesome. It could have been down right deadly, murder of at least two people. Thankfully the suspects stupidity saved them. He had come to their store armed with a very long knife and seemed to be high. He was stabbing at the door trying to push it open. God knows what exactly he had planned. Robbery? Intimidation? Murder? He eventually gave up because he couldn't get the door open and the owner was on the phone with me. He took off running. The store owner was upset, obviously because the door was unlocked. It was a pull door, not a push door. If the suspect had just taken a second to pull the door he would have gotten in and I would have had a different call.

Things started calming down, thank god. It seems right at the point when we physically and mentally could not take anymore calls it stopped. Flat out the phones stopped ringing, all at once.
It was funny, one of my coworkers shot up and yelled for the supervisor, saying the phones were broken. We actually all checked our phones and yup they were working, just no calls. whew. It was at this point everyone broke out the pills, ran for bathroom breaks we'd been holding off on, getting water and getting a bit to eat. Our symptoms began to fade and we were still tired but feeling more capable now. One of my coworkers, who wasn't from our watch but ordered in, started talking about a murder last cycle. It was one I was involved with and I found, strangely enough, that it bothered me to hear about it. To even hear her go over the details made my stomach and chest hurt all over again, I guess I wasn't ready to hear it again. I felt so bad about that call, like I hadn't been able to do enough to save that victim, though I understand there was nothing more I could do. There was no saving the vic even if ambulance and police teleported there. He was dead before I got him. Just things you think about.


I don't know what the heck is happening in our city these last few cycles, the calls are intense and numerous, the powers that be in the offices are breathing down our necks and scolding us for every trivial detail. We have a new superintendent that is taking care of our division who has made it clear in the past that he does not like our department. Him overseeing us was not his choice and from his rude emails to us, tell us it's going to be a long while before we can lift our heads up at all. I miss our old superintendent, he defended us from our departments, the public, to his own superiors. He actually came in and got to know us, chatted with us. When we had a serious forest fire last year and we were having a nutso gonzo night, he brought us pizza and his dog came to visit! He also was there for me personally. While I was on one of the first rounds of medications (they were trying different ones to see which would work) I began to be affected by it and not in a good way. I don't really remember much of that day because apparently I looked stoned, I was crying over everything and as the day went on I looked more and more like death warmed over. I had been yjacking that day, thank god I wasn't on calls and had left the floor for a few minutes. Apparently I was pacing in the hallway when he saw me. I remember this part vaguely. I just remember he was able to 'herd' me into the locker room and make me realize that I was not me and that I was not okay. He also ordered me to be seen by a doctor right that very second. We compromised, I went to a walk in clinic and not the hospital. He got a co-worker to drive me and I ended up being off for two days until the medication was out of my system. I also wasn't allowed to be alone in that time so I stayed with my mother. He was there for me when I needed him, so he will be missed. This new superintendent has my doubts but I believe people can change. Got to give him a chance ... well another chance I guess.

I have to laugh, it's a means of survival for me. By the end of the day your grammar goes out the window. A caller had said he was robbed but then described his apartment broken into. In our area a robbery is theft plus either weapons or intimidation. Someone breaking into your apartment is just a B&E. I had asked this gentleman. "So was your apartment broken into or was you robbed?' My hand covered my mouth. "Was you robbed?" Oh god my English teacher would beat me if she heard that, thankfully my caller didn't seem to.


Well that was my vent, I love my job, I do. Some days though it feels the need to test me, to test all of us there. We did it, so I guess we passed.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The Primary suspect

So I came in early again, cool, extra $$ that I didn't have before. I found out that full timers get this extra pay in December, from working holidays after and between certain late night hours. It comes out to an extra 600-700 bucks. Nice. Not for part-timers, like me though. I only work 3 hours less and the same late nights, *sigh* no extra monies for me. :( Someday I will be full time and work those 3 extra damn hours then get the bonus, vacation days, sick days, pay into the pension, pay raise and extra money when I get called in. Am I bitter? Nah, I'm next in line, woo!!!

Got a woman who called me on 911 today that was very hard to get through without being sarcastic, laughing or condescending.

Me: 911 what is your emergency?
Tired Mom: My son won't go to school.
Me: Excuse me?
Tired Mom: My son refuses to go to school. He just stands there.
Me: How old is he?
Tired Mom: Six.
Me: Excuse me?
Tired Mom: I need the police.
Me: Why? **thinking**oh you need something girlie but it ain't the police, it's a number 10 boot
Tired Mom: Because he won't go to school.
Me: Are you calling from *secret address* and is your phone number *secret phone number*?
Tired Mom: *annoyed huff* Yes.
Me: Does he have a weapon? (yes by this time I am annoyed and going through my 'normal' standard questions for 911 calls)
Tired Mom: What?
Me: Does he have a weapon? Gun, knife, bat, bear mace ...
Tired Mom: No no no
Me: Has he been drinking?
Tired Mom: What? He's six!
Me: Well I'm trying to figure out why you called 911. I'm taking you off 911 and transferring you to by non emergency line. Please hold.

So she ended up wanting us to come by and not only make junior go to school but to take him there as well. I ended up telling her that there was no way that I'd send an officer for that reason and that she, as the parent, would have to deal with him. She said I wasted her tax payer money and hung up. By the way I picked up a trait from one of my former bosses. I do cuss at the phone six seconds after they hang up so it's not on the taped line. It makes me feel better.

I remember one of my first bosses in an advertising business would be all sweet on the phone. This proper old British lady and then right after she put the phone down she'd cuss like a bloody sailor.

Last night shift was slow so they played a movie on the televising that was installed in case we had to watch 'up to the minute' weather forecasts during emergency disasters. Yeah, we watch movies and this jib jab thing on the Internet. It's this random thing where you can stick people's faces inside these animations and they do different things. They put one guy in it a lot and he apparently is a very talented dancer. Anyways I was talking to an officer, thank god, and was just logging him off for the night. We were chatting and suddenly a girl in the movie flashes the camera and I holler "Ack boobs!" Well the officer was intrigued and slightly confused. Embarrassing a little. I tried to explain ... let's just the conversation didn't get any better from there.

Just got done my second day today so now I have two nights to look forward to. Tomorrow I am assisting in the training of some new investigators which is cool. I wanted to role play a dead body but they wouldn't let me. :( I also volunteered to be the suspect and get arrested, but no. They wanted me to play dispatch. Fine. Next time I'm either the DB or the Perp. I uh ... passed down the option to be tased. Also have to face the malls after training and before shift to do some Christmas shopping and to try to pay off my mom's ring for Christmas. It's an interesting choice. Do I be tased or face the mall ... very hard choice here. Either way I'm going to be sore from head to toe and laying limp on the floor. At least the officers wouldn't trample me.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Just say No to Drugs

Three times this year I've been hospitalized because of this damn crohns. Before this it was only the once, when I was diagnosed with it at age 14. I don't know why this year's been so bad but it seems to be my time to get the stupid thing angry. Oh well ... year is almost over I guess.

So I spent all of my days off in the Crazy Town hospital, the staff was wonderful, the neighbors were ... crazy and the drugs even crazier. Let's start with Drug 1 Emla. LOVES it! I have a phobia of needles and this little patch makes it so I don't feel a thing. So I put it on my hand and that's where my IV goes. Cool. Then they take blood out of my arm, don't remember that. I just remember starting the whole thing sitting upright then being flat on the bed, warm wet rag on my head and few more staff beside me. They told me what happened but I don't remember what they said. They gave a few minutes of just sitting there then the second drug morphine, argh it's a love hate relationship. It has this ability to burn the back of my head and neck, swelling my throat and making me incredibly stiff. If I was a guy that could be a major embarrassment. Finally after that passes, the pain from my crohns starts to fade away. Drugs 3, liquid gravol, never knew there was such a thing. Well that stings going in the iv and makes me sleepy. They probably did it to make me easier to handle. Nausea went around there, just remembered sitting there not caring about squat, being so pissed at the world.

At this point I had gone 2 nights no sleep, it's amazing what happens to your body when it doesn't get the sleep it's used to. Had a bunch of tests, few more drugs, one that makes you feel like you've pissed yourself, lovely. That was my CT scan, ie. big ole doughnut thing. Confirmed. Partial obstruction again. Go Kat go! All day I am slipping somewhere between fully alert and ok to deal with to semi-asleep. My nurse was really nice though, she kept checking on me and seemed to know when my morphine wore off and was ready with more. So even though they knew what was wrong me with I didn't get any medicine for it until much later that night.

At this point I've spent all day, since 1:30 am when I came in to 21:00 that night in the ER room, in our little stalls separated by sheets. There is this one man who kept yelling for his mother (he was at least eighty), a woman who balled, and a man who kept asking about his 'horn' and how his catheter was. No wonder they liked me, I just sat there and did what they asked. I know better then to piss of the people with the drugs.

So surgery was opted out again, thank you wasn't going to do it, so they chose steroids, yey more drugs, number 6. Got some liquid stuff of that, yey. Then I got more morphine and more gravol, oh god. They then got a room for me upstairs, sweet cause you can't sleep in the ER at all and that would have been another night without it. The porter (person who transports you place to place in the hospital) asked if I wanted to walk to the room, go into a wheel chair or stay in the bed. I said I can walk. Get up and then the nice old paramedic who had been minding his own business a few steps away, caught me and helped me in the chair. I hoped I thanked him, not my most charming moment. It sucks when your mind says you can do something and your body backs out on the deal. So I was ported by wheelchair.

I barely remember getting to my room, I just remember waking up the next day really. Felt a bit better, hell a lot better. I could smell things now. I smelled pretty bad. I needed a shower. Bad. Felt even worse for that paramedic. Got showered, got some liquids and by the end of the day I was allowed to eat 'regular' food and if I passed I was allowed to go home the next day. Sweet. They also had me take pilled steroids, Drug 8. No I did not skip Drug 7. Drug 7 was one I could not pronounce in my iv bag I noticed the morning after. Don't know what it was, or what it did. They either did it while I was asleep or as I was nodding at things.

That night was hard to go to sleep, my neighbor, sweet old lady, 91 but she snores like dynamite. It was like standing in the shower all night and listening to someone open and close the curtains, that shrill, metal on metal kind of sound. A nurse asked if I wanted a sleeping pill as sleep was apparently crucial to my recovery. Why not. It's not like I don't do drugs as of lately. Mystery drug 9. Oh 9, how I hated you. It was this little white pill that went under your tongue, it then dissolved. Alright. Go to sleep and have terrible nightmares all night long. Not only that there are points where I know I'm awake and feel things bumping into me. When I open my eyes I see silhouettes of people run beside me and into the wall. Hallucinations. Great. I remember lying awake, watching the horizon, praying for the light to come, so these shadows would stop terrorizing me. Every time I closed my eyes, they would bump me, for hours. If I did manage to drift off I would have a nightmare. So yes, I spent many hours waiting for that sunrise. The morning nurse, said I looked tired. Tired. I was beyond tired. Tired of drugs!

I ate my breakfast very quietly, the nurses were worried. I could tell though they didn't say anything. Normally when I'm in there, even when I’m sick and in pain, I make jokes. It's a means of survival for me. No jokes, no nothing, I didn't even make eye contact with them. How could I tell them I was afraid of the silhouettes that had haunted me for hours, without them thinking I was crazy. I couldn't. So I didn't.

Another doc came in, she said since I was eating all right I'd be able to take the pilled steroids home, gave me a prescriptions for a few days and then 4 to take today. I was cool with anything, I just wanted to get out of there. A nurse took out my Iv and well I bled for a good five minutes, three gauze pads, 2 alcohol wipes and 1 Band-Aid.

I am now home, having had another shower, had to get the hospital smell off of me. In a nice warm, fuzzy housecoat, bowl of hot soup and lots of crackers. Life is good. I'll get those drugs tomorrow, I don't need them until then. For now I am done with drugs, just say no Kids. Just say no to drugs.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Walking the road

I almost feel like I shouldn't write this blog, because of the day it is today. Through internal debate I've decided this blog is for me, to put my own thoughts in order and being such, if they didn't need to be put in order, I wouldn't write the blog. That being said, I will write my blog and I'm sorry if anyone feels it is ill-timed, but this is for me.

This is my second day off and I still find myself thinking about a call I took on my first night shift on Monday. It was from a woman who thought her husband was having a heart attack or a seizure, she wasn't sure which. He had vomited outside and she had brought him in. He's breathing but not responsive and foaming at the mouth, so I verify her home address and phone number, then patch us all over to ambulance dispatch. In the time it took for me to tell ambulance where the patient was, he stopped breathing. I entered a fire call from my side as well, per protocol when a person is not breathing, fire is dispatched to assist. All the while I can hear her crying, 'Phil, don't leave me'. Ambulance has her start compressions but to no avail. I wonder when she knows what both ambulance dispatch and I already know. I think she must have known though because her crying was less panicked but more upset, if that makes any sense. In ten second intervals she would still plead with him, not to leave her. It broke my heart to hear her plead and I kept updating the call with what was happening. This was Ambulance's ball game now, they had control of the call guiding her with the compressions that wouldn't be stopped until a paramedic or firefighter arrived on scene. For the most part I was the silent person in the back of the room, typing information to the fire fighters on route, briefly talking with the ambulance dispatch, briefly with the grieving wife. It came to a point when Dispatcher Grumpy, who was doing Fire Dispatch that night stood up and said 'Kat hang up.'. I muted my phone and asked why? What if something changed? He told me that ambulance dispatch would call him if something they needed to know happened. I hung up as instructed, at first thinking he didn't want all the information being put on the fire call and then I read what I was putting on there. I was pretty much stuck on 'on mode' and was writing things like 'still preforming compressions' and 'male still not breathing'. The man was dead, I was with her when it happened, maybe not physically but I was still there. Dispatcher Grumpy was pulling me off the call because I didn't need to be there anymore. I had done my job and needed help getting unstuck from 'on mode'.

I sat there for a few minutes, waiting for the call. Ambulance did arrive and so did the firefighters. I waiting, watching and waiting for Fire dispatch to be called and updated with what I knew was there. I had to see this one end, if that makes any sense, I felt like I had to see it through. It was updated. The man was officially dead. Fire dispatch entered a police call, also standard with any sudden death at home. The man was young, early 50's, and it was completely unexpected. I read the police report later, probably shouldn't have, husband and wife had, as the officers put it, intimate time and then the man went outside on the porch and got sick. Wife brought him in. He had chest pain and the wife was going to take him to the hospital. Things went downhill and she called me. Now I was up to speed, I knew the beginning, middle and end. Thinking that could take my mind off the call, I was wrong. I still thought about it the rest of my shift. Dispatcher Grumpy asked if I was okay and I said yes. If a call bothers you, you are weak, if it doesn't you are cold. There's a very fine line you have to walk and I walked it out of there.

I've had a couple calls like this in the past, where people die either on the phone with you, or you're talking to the spouse while the other had died in their sleep beside them. I think it's harder when the people who go are good people. Not that I want to see anyone go, but when it's a gang banger who has a gun fight with another gang banger and dies ... it doesn't bother me as much. Call me cold. When that same fight gets an innocent bystander, who had been at the wrong place at the wrong time, call me weak.

Toady is a day of remembering. I did not go to a service, I did not stand at cenotaph while poems were read and the wreaths were laid. Call me cold. I stayed home and was alone with my thoughts. I remember our veterans, what they sacrificed for. What my grandparents fought for. They stood for peace. I honour them for more then just this one day. I've always been told there's not one way to feel so there's not one way to show it. I held my own moment of silence and thanked those who not only fought and were taken, but those who fought and came back a different person then when they left.

I was always told that we never know how long or short our lives are supposed to be. Just that however long it is, that's how long it was meant to be. For whatever purpose our lives serve, it will be served and then it's time to go. We don't always get the luxury of knowing what the reason is, for it could be our deliberate actions or actions that we didn't take, something that someone saw or interpreted us to do. We may serve our purpose and never know it. Our purpose might be our death, it might be a change to come because of it. What our death might spawn. It helps because I know the husband and the veterans had served their purpose and that it wasn't in vain. Whatever they were supposed to do, was done. Rest their souls, you have walked your road. Now I will walk mine until I have done what I've supposed to.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

High winds

I will open by saying, garbage cans have the ability to fly. I seen it. They also have the ability to crash, entertaining. Needless to say we have a lot of wind here today and my day has been filled with the sounds of things being blown around, crashing and the tree that bends way to close to my windows for comfort. I can picture it coming down and crashing through my window while I'm in bed. Next horror movie.

The latest big crash was the big ole garbage bin thingys that people put out to their curb. I live in a 10 level apartment building so there are lots of things to go flying around. I don't understand when we get wind warnings and people don't take anything inside. Hearing the crash I go looking through my windows, nothing. So I go out onto the balcony, making sure the cat stays inside, because even though cats land on their feet ... I somehow think he'll be happier if those feet weren't airborne.

I can see the garbage bin flying through the parking lot, just blowing probably a foot or so off the ground and it's banging cars as it goes. Lovely. It finally comes to a rest against a house. Things are still being banged around so I look down, neighbor below me has this plastic stuff blowing off and there it goes across the parking lot. Kites can be inexpensive. She's losing some serious stuff though so I go to the 3rd floor to tell her. 1st thing, this third floor smells like fried chicken and Cheetos, a weird combination. 2nd, there are hearts and flowers everywhere. I am wondering who the hell lives on the third floor. Every door has some wooden sign thing that says welcome, or enter, or happiness stuff. It's also unusually warm.

No answer on the door with a big ole wooden heart that says Welcome. I tried. While leaving I tried to open the hallway door with my shoulder, it's how my floor has to open it's door, and ouch. Okay, so their door actually works and they get to use the knob. Getting back on my floor, the sixth, it's freezing. The vent things are open and all you can hear is the wind, there is a penis scratched into the wall and no happy sayings. It's all what you are used to. I unlock my door and I can't open it, have to again shoulder check it because the wind inside is keeping it closed. I do have my balcony open a little, need the fresh air circulation. My shoulder is a bit sore by now but I'm in and my cat comes running and crying. Great. What'd he break in the three minutes I was gone.

There on my balcony is more plastic, all pressed up against the door, trying to get in. Securing my big brave security cat in the bathroom I collect the plastic from my balcony and put it inside, that way it doesn't become a flying projectile again. All the while this old woman from the third floor is hanging her laundry, each time she put a sock on it blew off going across the parking lot.

Me: Mame you just lost a sock.
Older lady: Yes I have socks on.
Me: *sigh* Your bra just went across the parking lot.
Older lady is now feeling herself. : No, I'm not wearing one.
Me: *blinks* The clothes you are hanging up are blowing off.
Older lady looks at the line beside her. :They're gone!
Me: You got some underwear on that bumper. You might be able to catch it.

Older lady is now mortified and takes her laundry basket inside. Shaking my head I have returned inside as well, I don't really want to see an old lady's thong anymore today and I really don't want to go back to the third floor. Lee (my cat) is snoozing now, occasionally be woken up by insecure items and car alarms while I watch that tree the keeps looming towards my window.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Halloween and Quirks

Tonight was quiet but full of quirky little things and I don't mean Officer EE. Guy looks like Mario, talks like a thug, gets into trouble like a rookie and is about hip height. Nice guy though, funny when he's not working. ANYways, off topic there. Started my shift with a domestic call. It kinda gets cookie cutter some calls. Woman screams, man yells, banging around, woman cries, police car rolls. This apartment has a history for domestic violence so we go code. Get there. 2 guys playing video games. Cops check the house, all clear. *head desk* Losing my faith in my witnesses.

Woman calls 911 because her wood furnace is making strange noises, splashed water all over the floor and there is pressure in the pipes. She's grabbed the kids out of bed, threw them in the truck and hightailed down the road because she thinks it's going to explode. I'm shaking my head but hey, she thinks it's danger and she got out,that's cool. I just couldn't help but thinking how I had a hard time convincing people to leave a burning building. Maybe next time I'll mention the furnace has a rattle.

Oh last night was Halloween, not too bad at all. It rained all night though and it was Sunday. It was like being a kid really, everyone brought something in. I kept walking through different pods saying trick or treat. One girl brought cupcakes and well ... they were pretty looking but the icing was bitter. I tried to eat it in private because if I ate it facing my other coworkers they laughed at the faces I couldn't help but make. But I ate it! We also had mini chocolate bars, gummies, candy corn, chippies and Supervisor Plaid Jacket got all dressed up in this costume thingy and handed out candy. What a sight to see. Needless to say we got a few pictures.

Last night though we had 5 adults jump out of a van and threatened to beat the fuck out of a bunch of kids. Took their candy and then chased them through back yards. Sigh, what the hell.

Tonight we got a call for an injured person out cold in a bus terminal. We get there and the buddy is passed out after one too many Listerine bottles. We get him to come around and ambulance comes by for good measure. Turns out he's not fit for cells and needs to get transported to the hospital for clearance. Alls good. Then I get a call saying the hospital refuses to accept the man because he has no ID, at all. Uh ... he's homeless, he never has ID, he comes to the hospital and cells so much he's got his own coffee mug. Poor paramedics are stuck with this drunk that they can't drop off and they really can't keep him either. It's one thing to bring a puppy home but ... something about drunk 50 year old men just doesn't fly. Officer GM who had worked the call has to go all the hospital, go with the charge nurse and paramedics and go, yup that's drunk jimmy. Patient went in, paramedics went on their way, cops went on their way. 10 mins later, paramedics are calling back. Hospital is refusing to keep him. He's too rude. Take him away. *head desk* We can't put him in cells until he's medically cleared, and they don't want to clear him because he's dropped too many f bombs. Cops were heading back as I was heading out the door.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Peanut butter and Jam smoothie

So yesterday I went in for an early shift, which meant being at work for 05:30, yucky. I am not a morning person at all, however when I am tired I tend to get hyper first then sluggish, then hyper again. It also means that there can be a few immature conversations on the floor for a bit. There should be a warning to the public, don't have emergencies before 11:00 am.

I get there, and a few people from my watch have already logged on but there are few from the previous shifts looking as awake as I feel. I have a stainless steel travel mug and they point and say, 'you coffee, oh shit, I'm leaving'. Okay so maybe the one time I had coffee I was almost literately bouncing off the walls. I assured them it wasn't coffee but a smoothie I had made the night before for the morning. However I had been out of my normal ingredients so I had to improvise. In the end it turned out tasting like a peanut butter and jam sandwich, which wasn't so bad but it got some looks from my coworkers.

I sit down and the first thing the person I'm relieving says is, 'you smell like shampoo and *sniff* *sniff* cherries." My body wash is cherry seed and mint, shampoo is peach something. At this point I have gone from hyper to sluggish again so I sit at my computer and start answering the phone. Its an officer and he's calling to log off, however I uh failed.

Me: Hello Officer *slurred words*
Officer DL: Have you been drinking? Show me some ID.
Me: Yes.
Officer DL: Really?
Me: Yes and it tastes like a peanut butter and jam sandwich.
Officer DL: What? Oh honey drink the good stuff.
Me: But I like peanut butter and jam.

Conversation goes on like that for a little bit then I log him off and send him home. On the weekends we are allowed to wear jeans and some people even have blankets. It's cold in there! The girl beside me is just as tired as I am and says she's allergic to my smoothie and to dump it out. I can tell she is joking cause she does more then me and she has the smile she makes every time she tries to pull your leg. I told her I was allergic to her face. At this moment Supervisor Plaid Jacket is walking by. He stops, shakes his head and mumbles something about the maturity of 911. I'm mature. But it's not even six in the morning! Don't expect intellectual conversations that early. Maybe after a few drinks (if i drank) but not before six. Hell not before 11.

First 911 call.

Tired woman: I just got woken up.
Me: And okay what is your emergency? What woke you up?
Tired woman: Police siren. Tell them to shut if off.
Me: Really? Uh ... no.
Tired woman: But it woke me up. It's only six in the morning and now I won't be able to go back to sleep and I'll be tired all day.
Me: Well Mame are you calling from *secret address*, and is your phone number *secret*?
Tired woman: Well yeah but don't send them back here. I want to go to sleep.
Me: This isn't an emergency I'm taking you off of my 911 line.
Tired woman: It will be an emergency when I go to work looking like shit. *Hangs up*

Thus started my day. It was long but I gotta admit it had it's funny moments. Now tonight ... Halloween. Everyone be safe out there.

Monday, October 25, 2010

A cold and the conflict.

Haven't posted in a little bit, trying to get better after this rotten cold and the horrible test of self that comes once a month. Last night shift wasn't too bad, actually it was great. Problem is I sounded like a man, friggen cold. One of my buddies in the ambulance dispatch, Dispatcher GH, had at first pretended not to recognize my voice and then proceeded to laugh at me. Great. I told him I'd arrest him and he threatened to take me to the hospital. Since I hate hospitals, it was a stalemate. At least he made me laugh though, I had needed at that point.

As the night progressed my grammar went down the poop chute and I had my coworkers in stitches. Turns out anything at 2 in the morning can be funny, so when I heard them laughing I had to really wonder what I had just said. Like "What plate is the province from." I actually didn't get what was wrong with that, couldn't understand why that one was funny till this morning. I have two supervisors but they tend to only work one at a time where the other is always on vacation. I told them it's like having divorced parents, two separate rules no matter who you're with. Supervisor JP is by far the nicest but Supervisor Plaid Jacket definitely wears the pants in the relationship. Anyways Supervisor JP was in last night and he bought a hot chocolate for my cold. Yey. He then pretended he had just been infected with my cold and proceeded to die a horrible painful death. Yey. Hot choco and a show.

Not to sound like a drama ridden teenage girl here, but there IS one dispatcher, dispatcher 2face she will be referred to, who is out to get me. How our centre has it, is that there are call takers (moi mostly) that answer 911, non emerg police/fire, alarms and ambulance lines. We talk to the great public and enter calls into the CAD. Our dispatchers then read the calls and talk to the Po po. We're all in the same room and that's great cause at any moment a call taker can get up and sit at a dispatcher spot (if they have to go to the bathroom). Most people are crossed trained, I'm getting there. I'm partially trained but we have really short staff so that's sort of on hold for now. Anyways, Dispatcher 2face tears apart all my calls that go to her zone that she dispatches for. I don't mean read and anaylze I mean, she goes and sees if she can stretch anything into a mistake, see if she can find anything I can get written up for. It's stressful putting calls to her cause you know she's going to either send you a message, mess up your call or stand up and say "why did you do this? Did you realize that you're wrong?" all for ever one to hear. Last night was an irker.

I had this call where 2 young women had been walking down a residential area at about midnight and a car had been circling around the block essentially looking at them. Nothing said and the car never stopped but it had happened 5 times in five minutes so the girls were freaked. I get the 911 call and I map the house they are in front of. They are dead center in a bunch of houses and there are no businesses close. Just houses and a bunch of trees. Great. I tell them to stay in front of the house they are at and go up the driveway away from the street. I put in the call for the address they are at and wait for 2face to send me a message. Well she does. She wants to know why I have them stopped there and they should keep on walking to where ever they are going and police will meet up with them. Uhhh ... 1, don't you know how much random violent crime we've had the last 2 weeks, not to mention the last 2 nights? How many weapon attacks, robberies and assaults? 2, I want to know where the hell they are exactly in case this goes from creepy to criminal in a heartbeat. So I stood my ground and my callers stayed where they were. She got huffy about it and sure enough went to the super after it was done. He never came and saw me but I was ready to go in there like it was court and justify why I did what I did. I had told the caller if anyone stopped from that vehicle and got out to start screaming like a banshee and pound on the door of the home. I had made sure there was a vehicle in the driveway so there would be someone home. Not only could she be allowed inside this could provide a deterrent. So she was as safe as I could make her while she waited for police and not walking down a street with a half inkling as to where she was. Police found my caller and her friend and drove them home, vehicle wasn't found but everyone was safe. My thing.

2Face has gotten so bad on some calls, questioning everything I do, that it makes me wonder about what I am doing on all the calls. Dispatcher Grumpy though solved that by walking up to me, while she was right there, and said "Kat you know your calls are great, she's just crazy." He then gave a smile while she stormed away. I told him he was my hero and he proceeded to mess up my hair.

I don't have a car. It's a fact I can't change right now. However I get off at 3 am and that has led to some interesting moments. My co-workers HATE it when I walk home, it's not a bad bad area but its not great either. We've come to an understanding though, either one of them drives me home or they send the cops. They've done it before. I've once tried to even sneak out and Sergeant CP caught me threw me in his truck and drove me home. Of course that comes with a lecture though, better then cuffs I guess. He's also taken to sending me messages on my computer around 230, asking me how I'm getting home. So last night Dispatcher Grumpy drove me home and it was cute because he acts all tough like he doesn't care about anything, but he waited in his truck until I got past the secure doors of my building and into the elevator. I loves my job, I loves my co-workers (most of them) and I loves our boys and girls. I just hate this cold.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Tomato Projectiles and Light reading

I will start off by saying this is no way a confession, lol, this is no way of saying it was me at all. I have 2 small tomato plants on my balcony that have been giving me lots of little cherrys , much more then I expected. Well there had been two that were green still on the plant, which at this point is dead. I figure these guys weren't going to get any bigger and might stand a chance to ripen if I brought them inside. Easy enough, pluck them off and then I took a moment to look over at my view, which is pretty sweet. I'm overlooking into the harbour and the large town of Crazy Town when somehow, they fall from my hand. I'm thinkin oh well, there goes that idea, watching them fall. My luck. Somehow, someone up there hates me or this old lady who's walkin underneath where my balcony is.

*Thump* *Thump*

Oh shit! I holler out sorry and then run back in my apartment hoping she didn't see me. I'm six floors up and wondering if those tomatoes were frozen from our recent temperature plummet. So ... feeling guilty and wondering if I gave the old lady a concussion I ambled over to the balcony. I had this vision of this lady on the ground, occasionally twitching, and cursing ... damn ... tomatoes.

I look over and I don't see anyone. Sweet. Look around the parking lot, still no one. Good so if she was hobbling slowly away I'd see her. In the clear ... so far. If the cops come to my door, however, it wasn't me, never mind those tomato plants on the balcony. Maybe I'll be lucky and get the canuck version of Lunch Money. (The officer Mamma fargo is currently doing her best to train in http://mommafargo.blogspot.com/)

Besides thinking about if I'm going to have assault with a weapon charges put on me, I got some nice light reading to do. The powers that be at work want to change our SOP (Standard Operating Policies ... I think.) which are pretty much all the rules and such that we play the 911 game by. They email everyone a copy of the new draft, cool, they want us to read it while we take calls ... oh ... okay, it's 97 pages long ... fuck. No can do. So someone got the bright idea to print it off not realizing it was a novel. Hee, I have since borrowed the copy and taken it home to go over it. Some of the stuff they want to change is nuts. I now understand why they were wanting us to read it between calls, hoping no one would or just skim it. There a lot of things in there that I'm just shaking my head at, one being we are not allowed to talk over a person. I get the don't be rude part, don't cut people of yadda yadda yadda. But when you have people screaming at the top of their lungs that their 8 day child has stopped breathing, you can't wait to politely interject your humble opinion for a medic. There is a right way and time to talk over a person so that it's not rude but controlling the call. Nother change, we cannot say squat until we've confirmed phone # and address. Not squat. Pretty much from where I'm at and from other people who have read it, it's written so that at any time management can haul us into the office for policy and go, 'ah ah ah, naughty Kat, look you've broken our ridiculous SOP Suspension no pay for you'. Then we get threat calls and Kat gets fired. Doesn't look good for me. I'm hoping enough people voice their ... displeasure with this and get the draft SOP into the recycle bin. As a novel it tanked.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Oh god, just don't let me drive!

So I didn't sleep much last night, at all, maybe three-four hours tops. When I did sleep I had this major weird dream that was also pretty funny.

I'm driving a car, which is weird on it's own because I'm terrified of driving and hate the thought. I know that in this dream my dad had just spent the entire afternoon giving me lessons so now I am on my own. I can see this from above, like me personally is in a helicopter watching me driver this stupid little silver car. Next thing I know this highway, which was straight, starts having all these super weird lanes, intersections and friggen loop de loops! What the hell! That doesn't go over well and I super crash my car. Not even just, exchange information and contact your insurance, it was totaled. I remember running up to the car and going, this is not good, this is not good. I actually crashed into the building and two of my coworkers were inside, a little freaked out. The first thing out my mouth to them was 'whoops'. Looking at my car I was still thinking, It'll be alright, It'll be alright. Looking inside though the front hood was pretty much merged with the cab of the car and the windshield glass had all these spiderweb cracks in them. My next thought was, nope, I'm dead.

A coworker comes up to me, she is the feisty one and shakes her head. I figure I must have taken her out too, so I best apologize later today. There is this guy that comes to you when you die and essentially takes your left pointer finger and singes it with a lighter to mark that your dead. Great. Didn't hurt though. Then you have to sit in a wheelchair and someone wheels you up to heaven.

Front doors of heaven aren't bad, you go in and you wheel around to the reception desk. The person wheeling you, (which was fuckin Jacks!) in my case tells them your name, date of birth and then wheels you into the main room. Oh and this point, you are naked but no one seems to care, at all.

The first room you go into you ditch the wheelchair and have to pick out clothes. I remember saying 'but I don't like tye dye'. I pick out clothes I like and let me say this. Heaven is like Walmart if it had a hotel department. We find my room which down this freaking long hall. Out in the Main area there are shelves with games, lots of stuff to do. There are couches, tvs, ping pong table everything. That's when Jacks leaves me, says she has other people to wheel in. (Now I know what you really do for a job.)

Heaven also has this major huge buffet table with possibly everything you would ever even think of eating. There was this girl there that seemed expressionless so I tried to make her laugh. I pointed, "Look deviled eggs!" No response. My material was not working. I probably would have enjoyed heaven more too if I was in a better mood. So since I'm there I start making the most awesome sandwich ever. Then my grandfather walks up behind me and starts talking about all the people admitted to heaven today. He also says that my dad was sad and he needed someone. That's about the point that I woke up. Now my gramps is dead in reality as well and I've never met him but I've seen pictures. Needless to say my dad and I are now having lunch on Thursday and he's even driving me to work today which I must get ready for.

So when I get to work I need to apologize to my coworker for totally taking her out, though it wasn't my fault. There was freaking loop de loops! I'll be fine, just don't let me drive!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

The animals

Last night wasn't too bad but there were some who had it far worse then me. First little guy, he's a raccoon and he's stuck on a pole. Nice, he'll come down, he got up there is my initial stance on that. It goes back to the whole you don't find cat skeleton in trees debate (or chip bags but I'll get to that). Well turns out, not only is the raccoon stuck on a pole, the very tip top of it, he has a glass jar stuck on his head. He's spent the entire day crying. It's breaking the peoples hearts and they keep calling us about him. Well, we don't really go out for raccoons (another story, will get to that too.) so I called DNR who is on the way yey! So he will get rescued and hopefully will lay off the bottle for awhile.

The call prompted a little pod meeting as we didn't have calls so turned our chairs around and so began the normal, chit chat/card game. A co-worker remembered the time he put in a call for a woman because there was a kitten stuck in a chip bag. At first I thought he was joking, come on a chip bag, big ole opening right there, but he was serious. The woman sounded more upset then the cat so we did put a call in (thoughts about an ambulance for her near breakdown). My coworker was laughing when he told us the closing remarks put on the call. "Officer heroically extracted kitten from chip bag. All in order." Which reminded us of another closing remarks put on a noise complaint call. That one had been for a group of youth, 'talking loudly' near an intersection. Closing remarks were. "YO GOA. (youth gone on arrival) Told noisy crows to be quiet, they did not listen." Sometimes I think they close them that way just to give us a laugh.

The last story told before our 911 blew up was of how one coworker was coming back from lunch and could overhear the Sergeant on the radio talking to a Constable, seeing he if he could see the suspect. Constable said he had him in his sight. From the dispatcher chatter it was determined the suspect was on the roof of some panicked lady's house. So my coworker rushes to her desk to see what is going on but can't find the call. She's given the call number and pulls up an animal complaint. Seems there was a raccoon on this lady's roof and she was having a conniption fit. It had been a very slow night so the Sergeant and Constable were having some fun on the radio as they 'tracked' the suspect along the roof and then went into a foot pursuit. Apparently when they read the raccoons it's rights it was funny but that's when 911 blew up and we had to talk to the other animals.

Freaked out lady: He's from Alberta but he said he'd send his boys from here to my house.
Me: Did he give any names or when this would happen?
Freaked out lady: Just the crazytown boys from the hood.
Me: The hood eh?
Freaked out lady: Do you know what they plan to do when they get to my house?
Me: I doubt it's for tea and cookies.

Okay, so maybe by this part her half-shrill/crying/over the top was getting on my nerves. All this wasn't even directed towards her, it was to her son who didn't give a shit. No one came either. I seemed to have a night full of me saying something and then going shit, I probably shouldn't have said that.

Supervisor Plaid Jacket: The woman has skitzophrenia
Me: At least she's not alone.
Supervisor Plaid Jacket: She had a knife too.
Me: Was it a hostage situation?
Supervisor Plaid Jacket: Have you had your caffeine today?
Me: No and my locker bit me too.

Supervisor Plaid Jacket backed away to his fire pod.

Friday, September 24, 2010

My hat goes off

I saw this link on Facebook and I'll admit, I'm a sappy person at times. *Sigh* no cure for it either I hear. http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/911song/ Okay there were a few points when I held my breath. It reminded me of when one of our booking officers (who wasn't carrying a gun) was coming off duty and went into the main lobby to help a motorist out front and a guy came in with a knife and demanded the officer shoot him. The booking officer couldn't get away really, guy was by the front door and the door he came out of locks from this side after 17:00. Since the officer never came out this way, only doing so today to help the motorist, he didn't know that.

The poor front desk commissionaire, who is safe behind the glass is frantically dialing our dispatch center for back up as this guy is pacing now. They showed us the video surveillance in our block training. You can see the booking officer, opening up his jacket to show that he doesn't have a gun. Now the suspect is pacing even more and starting to cut his own wrists and eventually has our officer cornered. I think while watching the video in block training, no one breathed. I know I didn't and I even knew how it ended. I could remember thinking, not him, not my charming, flirting, sarcastic, loving, caring, french booking officer. (not that I wanted it to be anyone cause I would have been able to come up with almost as many verbs to describe them)

There is a bit of a time delay cause even though we have officers in the building even ... we were told this, "there's a guy with a knife trying to kill the booking officer. OH MY GOD!" Where do you think we went? Booking. Our guys fly in and .... there's no one there. Well one booking officer who is a little confused at the sudden flood of blue and guns.

So then we call back and ouuu front door. Race of blue and guns to the front door. I can't imagine what is going through the officers head as they burst through a door with their guns while they know one of their own is in peril. But to have to do it twice in 10 mins. You see in the camera the guns first, they make it first, just the guns and they are wavering a bit, then you see the arms and the suspect pretty much raise the knife at them. He's so wired and suicidal, death by cop, not the way I'd want to go out.

One officer tries to taser him but it doesn't work. It's failed. Fuck. We're told that another officer was less then milliseconds from pulling his trigger when another officer burst in and used his taser which worked and took the guy down. My poor french guy is still in the corner and they get him out. They get the suspect a paramedic and that is the end of that. I started to breath about 5 minutes later.

So that's what that video, the link I shared, reminded me of. So needless to say I didn't breathe while watching it, but felt the same relief at the end. Kudos to all that go into the danger when everyone else is running the other way. My hat goes off!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

The many ways to skin a Kat (Vent warning)

What a cycle, whew it was a tiring one, one that pretty much beat you up repeatedly in every which way possible. God, it was a long 4 days. Talking to a suicidal woman who, while talking to me just realized the severity of what she had done (overdosed) and lost her mind. She was throwing up, hyperventilating, screaming, balling and there was just no doing with her. All of this, at the highest volume possible for about 15 minutes. I needed a five minute break after her, just to get my hearing back. Lets see after that what was it ... not the 'fuck you, I'm going to kill you bitch' no I tried not to laugh at him. Next day was a 13 month that was foaming at the mouth, eyes rolled back and not breathing, listening to the mother lose her mind, sobbing and just gone. Husband was the only one that could speak and that was through mumbled 'oh my god'. And tonight, hmmm oh yes, 4 complaints lodged against me from 1 coworker, 3 completely bullshit. But I got hauled into the office anyways, I sit down. I know what it's about. I'd like to believe I'm over the teenage mentality of 'they're out to get me' but this coworker is making me doubt my stance.

I sit down and he has a call of mine on his desk. I can read enough of it upside down to know which one it is. 20 minute call goes down like this. 911 rings and a 10 year old girl is hysterical. A friend of her mothers is pounding at the door trying to break it down. She has a knife and is carving the door with it, threatening to kill everyone inside. Lovely. Kid is traumatised but she can tell me her address and her phone number. God love you kid, you brave soul. I enter a call to get help before the worst happens, this little girl is not in a good place in town and I doubt they make good solid doors out there that could take the beating on the door that I could hear. I pound the call in, let's get some help moving. Mother takes the phone and is pissed at the daughter for calling the police, I wanted to slap that woman. I get the mother's name, DOB, the friends name and age and pound her on the call. All the info goes, description everything. Friend is an upstairs neighbor who, when realizing police are being called goes back to her apt where there are 2 kids, 2 and 5. Lovely. Police get there, we handle it. Done. Okay the complaint lodged against that call, well there was 2 actually. 1st one, when I pounded in the call, I didn't put the 10 year old girls name in the call screen. Whoopde fuck. There's a psycho with a knife pounding on her door trying to kill people, girl's name is not top priority. Mother's name goes in on second sup, suspects name goes on the same second sup. Daughters name sixth sup but that is an officer safety issue apparently. I'm sorry. I'm a big advocate for officer's safety, nothing means more to me then keeping our own boys and girls safe, so that really offended me.

2nd complaint, when the address went in there are 2 different endings for the street. It can either be Random Drive or Random Connector. It should have been Random drive but my finger clicked the wrong one. I can understand that issue if I had not caught the mistake myself within 1 min, fixed it and informed the damn dispatcher. I'm human not a machine, I'm doing a million things at once; cut me a little slack.

The other two complaints are just argh, what! Both were for not staying on the phone for two other calls. And each time it wasn't necessary, all info was obtained, nothing could be gained from staying on, callers were not in danger. All four complaints were lodged by the same dispatcher. Well now I know another complaint will be issued from tonight cause I pissed her off. I didn't make, what she considered, a stupid call go away. Suicidal woman, no description, no anything at the casino. Bang that's it. She wanted to close it. I wasn't done with it. I could work something. Give me a chance. The woman had said she was going to kill herself to a help line that has a 888 number. luck upon luck I was able to do a successful trace and I got a payphone that she called from. I then said i could call the casino, dispatcher said don't bother you won't get anywhere. I told her doing something was better then nothing, which really pissed her off. I called the casino and wouldn't you damn well know it, they knew where that payphone was located. Good I have a better location now, the call was placed only a little while ago. They have video cameras. I got a description now. Guess who has to do their job now miss dispatcher. I turned a call you wanted to close into something you have to work on. Hopefully we can find this girl and get her the help she needs, no thanks to the high school mind set that seems to have taken over.

So yeah I figure 1st day back I'll be hauled into the office, maybe I didn't dot an i or cross a t. I don't care, I'm not perfect. I'm human. I make mistakes but I own them. I've been told I'm not the only one she does this too. Our managers are realizing that she is essentially bullying several people. I just joined the club. Sweet. Let's crash the club house eh? Why is that we can do a critical job that truly is about more then us, but we can't deal with each other. Someone can handle a robbery at gun point but they don't know how to tell someone that they work with, hey about that call you put in, do you think that could do this? Or did you know this?'

I don't know. I'm tired. I'm ranting. I'm still mad about the officer safety remark. I don't spread the shit at work so sadly that leaves any readers to hear about. I should add that a coworker seein my mood slide down the crap chute, played this video for me. I hearts it. I came home and found a link, here it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfGBYtc6q_M&feature=related I'll see how my next cycles go, because as we all know, there are many ways to skin a Kat.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Airplanes and Seat belts

Last night was pretty slow for Crazy Town, nothing much happened at all. We had a shooting where a guy lost a good chunk of his leg to a shot gun but that was about it. It was so dull we came to the inevitable conclusion: Boredom equals trouble. Picture this, you have a room with 13 people doing nothing in tight spot. Let's see we had things flying over half walls, little poker game, coffee all round and of course a big ole gab session. One of my coworkers made a paper airplane, now she makes these things smooth, it is awesome. I waited until another coworker on the other side of a half-wall got a call and then sent the plane over. Direct hit! I may not be able to read lips normally but what she said was pretty clear. LOL!

Dispatcher Grumpy was in fire dispatch tonight so he was sort of hidden away. That didn't stop him from calling up this number that plays you the weather forecast and then conferencing it to my phone. I answer "Police and Fire communications, how can I ...." Then this lady is telling me about the weather. Of course me being me I start talking to her then quickly realize its a tape and that's on my secondary line. Next airplane went at his head!

To end the shift I got a ride home from one of the officers where I don't have a car and no one else was going home (I am technically part time which means I work 3 less hours). So I approach the car, and man I know I work with these guys and I know the officer inside is really nice but damn that car is still intimidating. I see it coming towards me and the only thing in my mind is "Run run run run." Officer JM lets me sit up front and he is typing up a report as he parks and I get in. I'm struggling with the seat belt now because it looks like it goes behind the seat itself. So I pull at it and doesn't it snap around and whip at my face. Turns out it had been buckled in but the strap pulled around back, done by the day shift guy. The whole right side of my face is on fire and I can't open my right eye. Poor Officer JM he is freaking because he forgot to warn me and now he's afraid I'm injured in his car. Means another report. I tell him I'm fine and try not to let him see the tears that are coming from that eye, I wasn't crying but the eye was still trying to flush out whatever had hit it. Of course he doesn't take my word for it and flicks the light on, which after a night spent mostly in the semi lite building, also makes me cringe, damn that white light. He looks it over and eventually my eye opens on its own but it's swollen a bit. The whole time he's saying sorry and I'm saying it's alright, I'm fine, stop fussing and then he continues to fuss. He then unbuckles the seat belt and I pull it around the other side, the sweet guy then takes it and buckles it in for me. The entire way home he is making me laugh and by the time I get out I feel a better and he laughs about what my neighbors are going to say. Screw the neighbors, that was fun, just next time I have to watch out for what's in the cop car and not the actual car.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Check points and projectiles

So we stopped a girl the other night, check points, oh how the public *loves* those. And she refused to give the officer any of her information. Flat out refused. Great way to start. Officer keeps asking her why and she eventually tells him because she can't find her license. Great. Officer asks her to step out of the car. She does and promptly falls on the ground. Officer asks her if she's ok. Big ole yup. Officer then asks her to get up and she sits up, leaning against her car. At this point we have another member coming just in case this thing turns. The senior member wants her to stand up and starts asking her questions but she can't answer them. Questions like what her name is. When asked why she couldn't her reply, and I quote "I am so fucking drunk I don't hella know. Why are you bothering me?" End quote. Needless to say someone lost their car and got a free tip downtown to the Ironbar Hotel. She was a crier too, cried and yelled all night long, booking officer was thrilled.

Apparently I am jinxed when it comes to equipment. I always seem to sit at the terminal when it's just about to blow up. It's come to the point where the tech knows me by name and when she comes to our center she comes straight to me and ask me what I did. Well today we discovered it is not limited to the terminals, oh no. I was just sitting there minding my own business, talking to a guy about a suspicious person (who turned out to rob the joint) when I felt a pain in my neck and heard a click sound.

Do you know how hard it is not to holler out when you are on a taped line. I could only imagine how that would sound. "So this guy was wearing a black bandanna around his aaahhhh!" I was able to wait until my call was done and to see what had hit me. I can already tell something is wrong with my headset because it feels a lot heavier. Turns out the little clipy thing that connects my headset to my shirt broke, whipped through the air and hit me. Got a big old red spot. Apparently though this does not count as a 'work place injury' and I have to continue to work to get my pay. Sigh. Oh well. With my luck I'll prolly get electrocuted next ...

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Trip to the Hospital, thank you very much Crohns

Alrighty, where do I start ... Crohns sucks, big time. Wednesday afternoon I decided I was going to have baby carrots, may sound innocent enough but my condition means I have to be careful around raw veggies. Some I can have and others can tick off the ole crohns. Well I figured I'd try three , three stupid little stick of carrot wrecked havoc for 4 days! By Wednesday night I was in pain and not sleeping. Thursday I blamed the upset stomach on the heat, it had been sweltering so I tried to take a cold shower. Instant barf and back pain so my dad drove me to work and I watched tv in the A/C. That night I still wasn't feeling any better but tried to sleep it off. To skip the gross parts I will say I spent most of the time worshiping the porcelain god until about 2:30 when I couldn't take it anymore and checked myself into the hospital. I told them all I wanted was for the pain to stop which literately felt like a basketball with knives jutting out, dribbling inside my gut. There was no way I could see my specialist as she books so far in advance and my family doctor, way out in another county is the same. Hospital, only option. *Sighs*. While I was waiting in the waiting room, hunched over and swaying I could see a little boy about five or so walk over to me. He looked at me, tilted his head to the side and just stared. I meant to say what or something to that affect but the only thing that came out was this weird groan. Needless to say, 911 operator/freaky lady scares the shit out of little kids will be the headline for the newspaper. He took off so fast and stayed by his mother the rest of the time. Little punk, lol.

I was taken to the Emerg pretty fast and got to sit in one of their beds and wear their stupid little dress thingys that I hate! I was in too much pain to complain so I just sat there again, hunched over, daring any punk kids to stare at quasi modo. Nurse came took my blood, thankfully I had Emla, which is a little patch that freezes your skin so you don't feel a needle. Works wonders for me because I have a serious phobia of needles. Got a bunch of tests done and their conclusion was my crohns and those god damn carrots gave me a partial obstruction. That guaranteed me a night there. They put an Iv me and by this time I am in no mood to do anything. I'm just sitting there. staring at a wall. Iv in, no problem. Then comes the Morphine, Oh my hell I hate that too. It shoots fire up your back and feels like your body is being sucked into your spine. Well I flopped back and scared the damn nurse. Apparently she was new. She got someone to check on me. I was fine, just very uncomfortable at the moment. My abdominal pain did go away and finally I got to relax for a little. The same nurse came back and put something else in my IV, not sure what that was. Anyways she came back later to check on me and my hand was swelling up, with these blister like things on it. So I scare the same damn nurse again. (So sorry Jacks, I am ruining the mental health of your NS counterpart) She goes off to get the senior nurse again who tells me everything is alright and to go back to sleep. Apparently that was ok for me and I passed out again. It's amazing how accepting you can be in the hospital.

So sleep came off and on for a little while. I'm cranky as the devil on roids and the scared little nurse keeps checking to make sure I'm alive. Whoever you are out there, if you are reading this, please don't quit. You were very nice and told me my nearly swollen eyes and fuzz ball hair didn't look that bad. A liar, but very nice. . The surgeon told me she didn't think surgery was necessary (good cause I wasn't getting it) and that the roids/random drugs would be enough to fix it. But I would have to be admitted over night. Then came the waterworks. I wanted to work the next day, it was the Hurricane I had been waiting all summer for. Okay in my defense, I blame the tears on tiredness, drugs and pain. I was admitted and brought up stairs where I bunked with an elderly woman. Eventually the roids, random drugs and morphine was enough to make the pain all go away. I looked at my roommate briefly she was getting injections into her gut, mine were going in my iv and we both had the same look, there was a silent understanding. Then I passed out again. FYI passing out sucks because you wake up feeling like shit and you don't remember the thought of going to sleep.

Being out like a light for 5 hours or so I woke up at eight that night and we talked. She was funny for an old lady, lol. Turns out she has something twacked out on her back and she needed serious pain meds every 4 hrs to cope. sucky. That night we ended up watching a mystery/murder movie on tv, sitting on our beds, wrapped up in blankets with our lovely 'ice chips and water.' The nurse comes in and scares the shit out of us. It's ok. I figured I had it coming and the ER nurse sent her to get me. We stayed up most of the night, cause come on really, they had to check our vitals every view hours and that would keep us awake for awhile. They'd chat, we'd chat with each other and fall asleep to tv. Ended up getting awake by 5 and having cold showers. I'm talking about glacier water being dumped down.

The rest of the day was spent wondering around the hospital, her hobbling, me walking in my lovely shit hospital dress and Iv pole. The power was out so that meant no tv for us as it reset her subscription when the power came back on. We entertained ourselves and I was curious to where the morgue was. No easy way to find it but we weren't looking that hard. I met my floor doctor person for the first time who was a military doctor working there temporarily for some reason. Didn't matter why, he was freaking hot. Brush cut, ripped and damn those blue eyes. I could stay in there forever. He got a prescription for me for my roids and let me go home. Woo hoo! My roommate said she was glad I came in, apparently she had 5 before me and out of all of them, they were either in so much pain they couldn't talk to her or they died. Oh, glad I was made aware of this.

All and all I am feeling better, exhausted still but better. No pain now. I have learned that Emla is freaking amazing and that the true enemy, is carrots.

P.S. side note. How many officers and a call taker does it take to colour a picture? The answer, 3!
The last night shift before I was colouring with our new crayons in some printed out colouring sheets when two came up behind me. I was trying to figure out what these squiggly little things were on the drawing officers formal uniform was. They were helping me, telling me what they were, the colours, the story. My boss walks by and shakes his head. He said I needed to have police supervision.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

The Erratic BOLO

Okay so last night was going by fine, Saturday night in Crazy Town woo! Was doing my thing, 911 and non emergency smoothly, should have known something was coming. I get this call about a black 2 door car that could be driving erratically all over the road, crossing double lines, what have you. Caller was being an idiot though and didn't want to give me the plate, didn't want to tell me what part of this amazing long road it was on, and didn't want to give me the guys name or a better description of the vehicle because it was his brother. He also didn't know when exactly it would be on the road but that his brother would be going out and he always drives like a maniac. Wanted us to 'accidentally' find him. He then hangs up and where it's on my non emerg line I don't really have the ability to trace it. Whatever, what I do is send out a BOLO, which is a typed message that goes on the mdt's to all the cars. Typically when there isn't enough for a call we at least have to do a BOLO, even as a matter of CYA. All I could give was my limited description the area that it might be in and what it was doing. Well wouldn't you know it. My peaceful night went up in smoke and I must have turned five shades or red. This is what I wrote for my BOLO.

"Bolo for a blk 2 door car u/k plate, that anon caller suspects may possibly be driving erotically along LongestRoadPossible St sometime this evening. Driver male, u/k name, u/k desp. Caller unwilling to give more information."

I only knew of my typo when I got easily 30 messages from officers on the road, laughing at me. That and just about everyone on the floor. Sigh, damn fat fingers. At least everyone pays attention to my BOLO's now.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Drunks, Crazies and Crayons

Drinking and driving, yes stupid and dangerous idea. What's even more stupid? Driving along the highway, with a warrant, driving drunk in a veh with expired tags, taking a big ole swing of the Labatt blue while passing a cop car doing excessive speeds! Reminded of the weird al song, dare to be stupid. He dared alright, he dared. Lost his freedom, lost his car, lost some dignity (if he had any left by now, might be in the red)

Sigh. Today was gonzo, just accidents left and right. I swear for the last two shifts I've done nothing but crash cars and talk to those who are off their meds more then they're on. SPCA broke into this women's house to put her bunny back in it's cage and drank her juice ... right.

Question to all the readers out there. I've been informed of this disease where you cannot ask the person a question, at all. They'll have like a panic attack if you do. Apparently we have this new frequently flyer who has it. We've asked our managers how to respond to such a caller and been told, figure it out. Hmmm can't ask anything ... at all. Pretty much go "I see you are calling police .... " And hope they figure in the blanks. I hope she doesn't get friggin robbed at gunpoint cause somehow it will bite me. Let's just say we've already accidentally sent her to the hospital twice already. Whoops! Any ideas on how you would work around that?

Oh one of our managers came by and gave us crayons though. Little confused. They won't help with the poor women we are driving slowly insane but they'll give us crayons. I missed her explanation as to why we all got some, I was too busy looking in the box. There were 4 shades of blue! And white? Really a white crayon. Why? Not being racist but why do we need a white crayon?

Sigh, this is my venting day. Damn this world is a circus.