Happy bloody new year!
by Chris on Jan.01, 2004, under General Thoughts
Well, that was bullshit.
All in all, a great new year’s eve - a glass of port, a lot of talking with Char, Mel, and Simon, and a leisurely drive home.
Or not.
More like a drive home interrupted by the first cop i’ve ever encountered who actually fit the “i intend to give you a ticket for something ” stereotype. In addition to the two things that he ended up citing me for, he threatened A) a DUI charge, B) a citation for having my license plate covered by snow a full three hours after the first snowfall in weeks, C) speeding (for going a hair under 50 km/h, but having the misfortune to hit some black ice that almost (but not quite - i stopped in time) caused me to slide through a four-way stop.
Then, he nailed me for not wearing a broken seatbelt and for failing to have up to date insurance. The latter charge i can’t dispute, regrettably - i have the insurance paper, although i’m not sure where it is, but i didn’t have it with me, and apparently that’s worth $172. The seatbelt thing, well, Char will say i should have been using the middle belt, and so did he, but when i do the shoulder belt sits across my neck somewhat, which makes me uncomfortable. So i choose not to use it. So, my choice here was, “Well, wear it, or i’ll have your truck towed,” which was, to say the least, a wonderful capper to my first experience with EPS from this end of the stick.
In general i have a high opinion of cops, they do a shitty job and receive little appreciation for it. But christ. There have got to be better things he could have been doing.
January 1st, 2004 on 11:08 am
Maybe he was being such a jackass because he thought that there were better things he could be doing, too, like not doing check stops on New Year’s Eve and being home with his family or getting drunk with his friends. Still… I have the same opinion of cops, and I’ve worked with them. 95% of the cops are good cops, but there is that shitty 5% who make all of them look back, and this guy’d be one of them. While I agree you should get your seatbelt fixed (it’s just common sense), everything else except not having your registration, seems a bit trumped up. Hopefully the enjoyable part of the evening that came before all that will make up the difference.
January 1st, 2004 on 11:18 am
Simon says I’m supposed to refer to you and Char as ChrisCross.
January 1st, 2004 on 11:23 am
Simon is, however, full of it. I’d also be interested in an explanation of that
At any rate, yes the rest of the evening was nice. But the $300 in tickets really puts a damper on my enthusiasm. I’m not that rich.
January 1st, 2004 on 3:30 pm
Ouch, is that how much it came to? Yeesh. I guess you could fight it.
Earlier today, Simon refered to you and Char as C&C which I guess was the name of a bad early 90s band (although trying to think of a good early 90s band leaves me drawing a blank) and I asked if that stood for CrissCross. He said no, but CrissCross was also a good name for you two, however, since your name is Chris… the pun was too good to pass up.
January 1st, 2004 on 10:32 pm
Mel is clearly insane.
January 2nd, 2004 on 8:24 am
At least I’m not as dumb as a worm.
January 2nd, 2004 on 8:38 am
Sounds like you run into a real cop wanna be. I’ve had the same type experience with EPS, especially the license plate thingy, I was ready to take a picture for my appeal. Guess why I say the RCMP are so good, they think. They would have given you 24 hours to produce your insurance most likely. This really raises questions in my head on whay Ralph will get us with a provincial force?
Other than this, Gutes Neues Jahr.
January 2nd, 2004 on 9:01 am
Jah
I’ve always been aware—peripherally—of the rcmp-city dichotomy, and this would seem to bear it out. However, i don’t know that this is an EPS thing, since i have worked with EPS before, and found that their officers are just as good as the RCMP ones in a lot of cases. I think that this is more a case of wanting to throw one’s weight around, or—as Mel suggests—having things he’d rather be doing, and taking it out on me.
January 2nd, 2004 on 9:21 pm
I’m sorry but Warrant was a GREAT early 90’s band. So was Slauter.
As for the cops, they have never been anything but nice to me when I was working with them, but that guy was a jerk. I concede, and I usually like to oppose Chris.
January 2nd, 2004 on 9:33 pm
Don’t i know it… You’re such a good, accomodating woman – just what every good, utah-born and raised patriot would want in a wife
January 8th, 2004 on 11:05 am
Hairbands, in general, rock my world.
May 17th, 2005 on 1:32 am
Thanks, I needed something to put a smile on my face.