2300 hours (11pm). I’m at my position- “Position 3″ – and my duties tonight are running warrant checks on people. In the room with me are 2 of my favorite dispatch coworkers and a trainee that I’m pretty sure I’m scaring. :D When I work with Kim & Mara, my sarcastic wit delights and titillates them, but for people new to me – hmm… they’re not so sure about me, I think. Basically, there are two types of people in Law Enforcement. Cynical Realists and Idealistic D0-Gooders. The Do-Gooders tend to not have a sense of humor. The Realists tend to think everything is funny.
Take for example, the incident a few months ago in a neighboring city. Our county shares a dispatching computer network and we can actually take calls, create the “event” and send it to another agency. It’s based on a highly developed mapping system and is actually pretty cool. I LOVE the fact that at any time, I can see what’s going on in different city. It satisfys the StickyBeak in me.
Anyway, the incident. I was on Dayshift (ugh) and happened to see a call in another town where a passenger in a car was struck in the head with an arrow. HUH?
Now- this isn’t funny – I know this. Honest. But the guy was only superficially injured. Apparently, some “crazed man” was seen on a balcony shooting a bow & arrow and tag, an innocent guy sitting in a convertible was it. The suspect was believed to have barricaded himself in the apartment’s attic and the county swat team spent a good 36 hours waiting for him to come out. Turns out, he actually ran away and, you’ll never guess, was an ”accomplished survivalist” who would spend the next month hiding out in the wilderness. He did eventually turn himself in.
There are 2 things about this incident that made me laugh, as Cynical Realists often do. One is the absurdity of the situation. Who would think that someone would shoot at them with a bow and arrow while enjoying a sunny winter afternoon? It’s incomprehensible, yet it happened. We can’t make this up. The other thing that made me laugh was the victim’s quote in the paper:
“I was sitting with my friend in the convertible, and it came through the roof and hit me in the back of the head,” McNeil said. “I looked at my friend and said ‘We’re being attacked. Take off!’”
Now, THAT’S funny…
Lorraine
April 3, 2009 at 09:02
OK, the last line made me laugh!
Zanne
April 3, 2009 at 17:58
Why isn’t that funny? It is, it is!! I can just picture the expressions on their faces!
Robin
April 5, 2009 at 15:38
Hi Denise! I just got your lovely card today, thank you so much! It’s really pretty. I have a card or two on my blog right now, they are not that good, I will admit. I totally lost my mojo. I even thought about putting everything on ebay and selling it all in one big whammy and maybe take up jewelry making instead, lol. But I’m tryin to get it back, if I knock out a few ugly cards maybe a pretty one will eventually happen. This story is so funny, I totally fall into the cynical realist category… what the heck did he think he was under attack from? haha Well, to be nice I guess I better say, I’m glad he’s ok. That would be a bad day… the day I got shot in the head with an arrow. LOL Take care!
Robin
April 5, 2009 at 16:02
Oh, PS! I was just browsing your blog and I remember now how I originally came upon your site. I had googled pictures of craft spaces and saw the post about your room after you went shopping at Ikea. I too have a couple pieces from that same furniture line. I think it’s the only Ikea line with actual wood, lol.