Complaints

They mean I'm doing my job. I have to keep telling myself that.

I don't get them very often, which is good. If you were to tally up all the tickets I write or people I've arrested, the percentage who have complained (aside from those who whine about the handcuffs or the hard plastic seat) has got to be less that .001%.

In fact, I can only think of three.

1. The speeder in Sequoia. She lived in an inholding in the park, and therefore, was exempt from the traffic laws. She'd been driving that road for years, and thus was allowed to drive at a breakneck pace around blind corners. That was why she was upset anyway.

2. The EDP at Boston. He was a regular customer. In my first encounter with him he threatened to take a Boston officers gun... which didn't go over well. He got his butt kicked, but didn't seem to hold that against me the next time he came over. However, my boss had told us to get rid of him the next time he wanted to tell us his latest sob story. When I told him to leave, he turned the crazy on. He was fixing to get thwacked with my baton when the ambulance showed up and suddenly he was calm and I was the big, mean Ranger. He later told my boss I called him white trash. While apt, I hadn't thought to fling names at him.

3. The trucker who claims I'm out to get all truckers. I hope he fights his ticket and tries to say that I only stopped him because he drives a commercial vehicle. Then I hope the judge asks how many semis I've stopped in the last year... because he's the only one! And it's not my fault that he lost his job. I actually do feel bad, if that's true. But I don't feel too bad, because he was a real jerk.

So really, out of all the crazy people and law breakers I've had dealings with, these three are the only ones who've been irate enough to complain to my employer. I don't even think any of them followed up with a written complaint.

Maybe I'm not working hard enough! In over 5 years of doing law enforcement, this is all I can come up with? Three complaints?

I guess it's OK to only have three. Every time I get one, it bothers me. Which is why they do it, I suppose, to get under my skin. There's always that uncomfortable talk with the boss where I wonder if they're going to believe me or not. Even when they do, the fact that we had to have a talk is irritating. I'd much rather not know. Just trust me that I didn't call anyone names or make any threats or whatever it is they said I did and don't even tell me about it. Let me just carry on in blissful ignorance.