Domestic Bliss

So, after coming back from my "weekend," I get stuck in everybody's favorite position - call-taker. It's always my luck to deal with the biggest jerks in the county whenever I answer the phone. Sure enough, within the first hour I had two domestics. Not a lot, but certainly not the way I want to start out my "Monday."

The first guy was three sheets to the wind, admitted to slapping his twelve year old daughter, and couldn't understand what was taking the police so long to get to his house. And because I dared to ask what provoked the domestic today, he said "Good bye!" and hung up on me. I don't think so! I called him back and got an earful because the police still weren't there (mind you, this all happened in a matter of three minutes). I called him back, he answered (surprise!) and he continued bitching because I wasn't helping him. Before I could chew him out, officers S48 and S33 arrived on scene and proceeded to do ... nothing! No report. No arrest. They didn't even run anyone's name to see if they were wanted or had valid driver's licenses! NOTHING. They were there for a total of six minutes before they cleared. WTF? Why even bother responding?

The second call happened shortly thereafter, while I was still steamed about the drunk and my S officers not doing a damned thing. The second guy wasn't drunk, but just as stupid and argumentative. He was calling because he was supposed to have visitation with his fourteen year old son and when he showed up the son and his mother were arguing. Ok. Valid reason to call. But then he proceeds to tell me how worthless my deputies are and how we're not going to do anything, so why did he even bother calling, and as soon as his son gets in the car, he's taking off. Um... no. That's not how it works. I told him that. I said, since he called in a domestic he and his son need to wait and talk to the deputy. No chance. He starts going on and on about he's not waiting and he's got stuff to do that night, blah blah blah. I finally got through his thick skull that he needed to pull the car over and wait. He agreed to wait for five minutes. Three minutes later, he calls back demanding to know where the deputy is. I told him he was on the way and to keep waiting. He screams at me and hangs up. The deputy finally gets there, knowing full well in advance that this guy is being uncooperative, and proceeds to "talk" to him for about four minutes before the guy screamed obscenities at the deputy and drove off. The deputy, 44, who happens to be one of my absolute favorites, said that if the fourteen year old son wasn't in the car there would have been a beat down.

So, other than those two morons, the rest of the night went fairly well. I spent the majority of the shift playing 411 for the public, since apparently that number is too hard for them to dial, but 911 is infinitely easier. (And FYI, you can dial 1-800-FREE-411 and it's free. No more "911 is free, 411 costs money" bullshit!)

After work I had a long talk with the newest dispatcher to our department. For the sake of anonymity, we'll call her Sassy. That word describes her perfectly. And I think because of that she's getting a lot of flack from the veterans who feel she hasn't been there long enough to be so fiery. It also doesn't help that she's the youngest one there (thank god, it's not me anymore!) and she's tall and pretty and from the outside she has a picture-perfect life. I get along with her really well and I hope she doesn't let the other vipers scare her off. I was there two years ago. I feel her pain. And I told her my experiences, which I think helped her a bit - at least to know she's not the only one.

I mean, seriously? Are all dispatch centers so damn clique-y? I know ours is. It's brutal. The patrolmen call it the Viper Pit, Viper's Nest, Hen House, etc. Out of a division of 26 people, we have seven males. Cattiness is a daily part of life. Drama, drama, drama...