It is perfectly clear that the older I get, the less I can stand dealing with ignorant people. And sadly, some of those ignorant people happen to be in Law Enforcement.
My run-in with such an ignorant person came this evening when I did something that was very normal but I admit was wrong for me to do also. I committed a "sin" for those who live in "gated" communities.
My infraction? While I was delivering a pizza to this gated community, I drove through an open gate entry right behind the vehicle in front of me. That vehicle happened to be a marked local police car driven by an OFF DUTY (and out of uniform) police officer who lives in the gated RENTAL community.
The police officer stopped his car just past the gate, made some hand gestures and put his car in reverse. Then he stepped out of his car and yelled back that I needed to back up and put in my code for the gate. I backed up to the gate's keypad, the gate closed and he began to drive away. Then I entered the code that I had for the gate and as I drove into the GATED RENTAL COMMUNITY the police car made a u-turn, flipped on his lights and pointed for me to pull over.
This is when a tall and FAT man with a shaved head got out of the marked police car and interrogated me about the responsibilites of entering the gated (RENTAL) community. He said that he watched me not back up far enough (as if he could tell while he was driving away) and that I allowed the car behind me to enter their code then he told me to turn around, go out of the gate and enter the code to come back in and that it was meant for EVERYONE to enter a code to access this GATED RENTAL COMMUNITY (not his words, mine). But as he was bugging me about not putting in my code (which I did), FOUR CARS PIGGYBACKED INTO THE GATED (rental) COMMUNITY RIGHT BEHIND ME!!
When I pointed that out I must have further offended this OFF DUTY "Buford Pusser" wannabe as he continued to press me about what code I entered and where I was going. This lasted for a couple of minutes with this idiot flexing his big ego verbally with phrases like "what part of what I said did you not understand" as if I had no idea that I was being ordered around like someone who did something wrong.
I'm probably sounding like I have an ego problem myself with this blog. And I don't give a damn if I do. But the part of this that really got under my skin was as this law enforcement employee was getting on my case for entering the gate behind him he kept using the phrase "my gate". As in saying you are supposed to put in a code when you enter "MY GATE".
Oh, HIS GATE? in this gated RENTAL community of hundreds, where people regularly follow others through an open gate. And one where even the police officers themselves also follow others through an open gate rarely entering THEIR code to get in. What an arrogant ASS this "Buford Pusser" wannabe was. In my opinion, he really came off as an oversized "barney fyfe" with half the brain.
It is people like this idiot that sometimes make it difficult to respect law enforcement. Dont get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for the law enforcement community but then individuals like this one I dealt with, who sometimes overuse their "authority" while THEY have a privledge (as this individual does) that make the law enforcement community at large look bad.
His "privledge"? He lives in a gated RENTAL housing community who's priority housing goes to members of the military. Members of the law enforcement community also get first grabs at vacancies in this community. Civilians are not offered housing in this community UNLESS their are a high amount of military vacancies. And even then, the civilian could be moved out when a military family is in need of the housing.
In the city where I live, there are only a few "gated communities" and ALL of them are RENTAL communities. Only recently have some newer subdivisions installed security gates but none of them are in the area where I deliver pizza. Even so, when you are a HOME OWNER in a gated community, maybe then would it sound reasonable to use the phrase "my gate". But as this police officer used that phrase several times while he lives in a RENTAL COMMUNITY, it really appears laughable. And his attitude toward me just didn't rub right.
I wonder if one day, this person will pull me over and give me a ticket for going 35.3 mph in a 35 mph zone? Big time enforcer of the rules this guy. What a pathetic joke!
If he was really serious, (or to be taken seriously) shouldn't he have asked for my license?
2 comments:
Some people live in eternal torment because they want to exclude people who "don't belong", but they still want the services that those people provide. This tension is probably going to give Buford a heart attack one day.
Back when I was delivering pizzas, I was fortunate enough to work in a neighborhood that didn't have any gated communities, rental or otherwise. Just regular folks who were happy to see the pizza guy show up so they could start dinner.
Life just becomes much easier when you don't stress about who should be excluded, and who "belongs."
Was just passing through and ran across this post. What a joke, Yes sometimes those given authority have no idea whne to use it.
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