I may be a postal contractor but I can totally sympathise.. The powers that be are cost cutting in all the areas that should be having more money allocated to them.
Piss & Moan Table
- Thread starter Farmergreg
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I may be a postal contractor but I can totally sympathise.. The powers that be are cost cutting in all the areas that should be having more money allocated to them.
I don't really live in a town, but the nearest one and the one containing the post office that serves my zip code is a speed trap. There have been years in the recent past where traffic fines comprised very near 50% of their revenue (which is the state cap on that). That's probably changed recently because of a huge restaurant and Route 66 destination that's opened up, but I digress. The town has a population of about 150, down from 250 in just a decade and occupies less than a square mile. By my estimation they have 2, maybe 3 officers, just enough to have 1 on duty at most times, and all the town administration have day jobs so traffic court is on the afternoon of the 3rd Saturday of the month.
Usually they get a lot of out of towners passing through on 66 because it slows from 55 to 45 through town. But the state is widening the highway on both sides and has the highway marked down to a 45mph work zone for miles before getting to town in either direction, so I suspect the speeding ticket pool has diminished significantly. To replace that revenue, now there's a spot just south of the top of a hill where the town cop sits facing north catching speeders where the 45mph county road enters town limits and drops to 35 and then 25 in quick succession before hitting 66.
Back in October I was taking my kids to school, knowing full well deputy Fife runs his speed trap there virtually 5 days a week, but was distracted by my 5 year old that was making a full on crisis about being too hot. In my distraction trying to tell him how to pop open the rear side window in my 3 door Silverado, I missed the 35mph sign and was going 50ish when I saw the 25mph sign and slammed on my brakes.
Sure enough, he lights me up and tickets me for 56 in a 25 and makes sure to mention the favor he's doing me by not ticketing me for reckless driving on top of the $400 and 3 license point violation for 31 over, and tells me he already had me on radar before I slowed down.
None of it sat right with me, from his attitude, to whether I was really doing 56, to the fact that I doubted any possibility that I could have still been going much over 30 when I passed the 25mph sign. So I did a little investigation.
1. He can't see the 25mph sign from where he was parked, which means he can't see my vehicle when I pass it, and neither can his radar. Which means he either got me in the 35 or 45 zone or when I created the hill, which I know wasn't the case. His statement that he "had me" before I slowed down only supports that he radared me before I entered the zone he ticketed me for.
2. My State Farm "drive safe and save" dings me for hard braking events, and shows their location on a gps tracked map of the entire trip. I was able to overlay a screenshot of that with the hard braking marker onto Google Earth and saw that the event was about 200 feet before the 25mph zone.
3. I don't have proof of this one, but 56 in a 45 would be abnormally fast for me, and I find it convenient that it just happens to be exactly the speed he needed (in addition to lying about where I was when he measured my speed) me to be going for the violation to jump an extra tier. In a town that's known for using traffic citations to dramatically supplement tax revenue it's clear he has plenty of motive, and probably a quota, encouraging him to inflate the citation.
At this point I'm prepared to go before this small town judge and burn the honor of one of their 2 officers to the ground, but the town attorney offers me a plea deal for <10 over, 0 license points and maintaining my spotless driving record and the significant insurance discount that comes along with...but I still have to pay the original $400 fine...again, this is clearly about revenue and not public safety. Because the guaranteed outcome of the clean record and not being convicted of a crime I literally didn't commit (which was most important to me) vs the uncertainty of going to court with only evidence to possibly get down to 21 over, which would lessen the fine by $80 but still carries 2 points, I took it, and systemic corruption continues.
Usually they get a lot of out of towners passing through on 66 because it slows from 55 to 45 through town. But the state is widening the highway on both sides and has the highway marked down to a 45mph work zone for miles before getting to town in either direction, so I suspect the speeding ticket pool has diminished significantly. To replace that revenue, now there's a spot just south of the top of a hill where the town cop sits facing north catching speeders where the 45mph county road enters town limits and drops to 35 and then 25 in quick succession before hitting 66.
Back in October I was taking my kids to school, knowing full well deputy Fife runs his speed trap there virtually 5 days a week, but was distracted by my 5 year old that was making a full on crisis about being too hot. In my distraction trying to tell him how to pop open the rear side window in my 3 door Silverado, I missed the 35mph sign and was going 50ish when I saw the 25mph sign and slammed on my brakes.
Sure enough, he lights me up and tickets me for 56 in a 25 and makes sure to mention the favor he's doing me by not ticketing me for reckless driving on top of the $400 and 3 license point violation for 31 over, and tells me he already had me on radar before I slowed down.
None of it sat right with me, from his attitude, to whether I was really doing 56, to the fact that I doubted any possibility that I could have still been going much over 30 when I passed the 25mph sign. So I did a little investigation.
1. He can't see the 25mph sign from where he was parked, which means he can't see my vehicle when I pass it, and neither can his radar. Which means he either got me in the 35 or 45 zone or when I created the hill, which I know wasn't the case. His statement that he "had me" before I slowed down only supports that he radared me before I entered the zone he ticketed me for.
2. My State Farm "drive safe and save" dings me for hard braking events, and shows their location on a gps tracked map of the entire trip. I was able to overlay a screenshot of that with the hard braking marker onto Google Earth and saw that the event was about 200 feet before the 25mph zone.
3. I don't have proof of this one, but 56 in a 45 would be abnormally fast for me, and I find it convenient that it just happens to be exactly the speed he needed (in addition to lying about where I was when he measured my speed) me to be going for the violation to jump an extra tier. In a town that's known for using traffic citations to dramatically supplement tax revenue it's clear he has plenty of motive, and probably a quota, encouraging him to inflate the citation.
At this point I'm prepared to go before this small town judge and burn the honor of one of their 2 officers to the ground, but the town attorney offers me a plea deal for <10 over, 0 license points and maintaining my spotless driving record and the significant insurance discount that comes along with...but I still have to pay the original $400 fine...again, this is clearly about revenue and not public safety. Because the guaranteed outcome of the clean record and not being convicted of a crime I literally didn't commit (which was most important to me) vs the uncertainty of going to court with only evidence to possibly get down to 21 over, which would lessen the fine by $80 but still carries 2 points, I took it, and systemic corruption continues.
OP
I actually woke up this morning thinking about how the "legal system" has become a "stuck between a rock and a hard place" trap for its victims and yet they're dumbfounded when people build killdozers.
Traffic court in particular seems to openly violate the principles our legal system is supposedly built on. You're guilty until proven innocent, based on eyewitness testimony with zero actual evidence, and because court fees are so ridiculous it usually costs many more times as much to fight it as it does to just pay the fine by the time you paid an attorney to take it to a trial by jury. Hell, I'm not sure the town wouldn't just drop the charges in that case just to avoid the costs plus having their game publicly exposed, but to get to that point I'd have spent thousands.
I suspect the outcome for real crimes is not unlike this for people who can't afford representation and get stuck with an overworked public defender that's just trying to get them to take a plea deal to get it over with. I don't know if you've ever seen the movie Just Mercy, but the story it's based on is really eye opening regarding how the legal system works for people in that situation. It's main focus is institutional southern racism but the same story could easily play out exactly the same way without the racial component.
Someone at work stole my soda for the second time in about 2 weeks. Everyone here makes enough to buy their own soda.
If I have a lunch in there, I leave it in my lunch bag or behind it. Though when I grab my lunch, I put a new soda in the fridge for the next day. Guess I have to buy a second lunch bag to just leave in the fridge.
This happened at a previous job and it was one of the 'partners' (part owner) that I finally tracked down taking my sodas. When I confronted him, said he though they were 'extras' that someone left in there. Didn't give a crap that he could get me in trouble. Chewed him out and asked him to stop stealing from me.
Sometimes people are ignorant. Or at least claim they're ignorant after the fact.
If I have a lunch in there, I leave it in my lunch bag or behind it. Though when I grab my lunch, I put a new soda in the fridge for the next day. Guess I have to buy a second lunch bag to just leave in the fridge.
This happened at a previous job and it was one of the 'partners' (part owner) that I finally tracked down taking my sodas. When I confronted him, said he though they were 'extras' that someone left in there. Didn't give a crap that he could get me in trouble. Chewed him out and asked him to stop stealing from me.
Sometimes people are ignorant. Or at least claim they're ignorant after the fact.
Sad, most people are too cowardly to admit they were wrong, and would rather pretend to be stupid.
USPS is definitely getting worse with theft. I have had an increase of packages stolen in the last year or two. I have another hobby that we buy and sell things of value and USPS is the most common way to ship. Many others have also reported that theft is getting worse. I had a $1000 item that was shipped from another country using DHL with insurance. The item made it to my state, was checked into customs, then disappeared. I got the insurance money from DHL, but it took 6 months and I only got 65% of the money. My friend/neighbor had an item sent for $450. It was marked delivered to our neighborhood lock box. The box was empty.
Now If someone has value, I usually send with signature confirmation and get insurance. I also signed up a local family owned PO Box place. Haven't had anything disappear since I started sending there.
I imagine their dumb happy face. Saying to themselves 'Hey! This must be an extra soda left over from something! Lucky me!'
I had a previous job where some 'ex-lax brownies' were left in a fridge (wasn't me) because of this type of thing. A few people had to go home early that day...
Ah yes, the missing food/drink at work caper...
An email was sent out years back now because someone came to the fridge to find this:
The designer cheese had been opened, a bite taken out of it, and put back. It was a BIIIIG stink! Then, about 2 weeks later, the CEO sent out a message; "Who ate my spaghetti?". That one wasn't as bad - it was a case of mistaken identity. Someone told someone that they could have their spaghetti, so they went to the fridge and grabbed the wrong spaghetti...
Ah yes, the missing food/drink at work caper...
An email was sent out years back now because someone came to the fridge to find this:
View attachment 475724
The designer cheese had been opened, a bite taken out of it, and put back. It was a BIIIIG stink! Then, about 2 weeks later, the CEO sent out a message; "Who ate my spaghetti?". That one wasn't as bad - it was a case of mistaken identity. Someone told someone that they could have their spaghetti, so they went to the fridge and grabbed the wrong spaghetti...
People are disgusting. Makes me want to setup a hidden camera in the break room. I would be livid if that cheese ball was mine. I worked for a Hickory Farms in a mall for a few months around Christmas. Used to sell those.
Worse, the cheese ball was for a company event (apparently). It was a biiig stink. There was one guy that was blamed by many for doing it - but nobody ever really found out.
At least put it on a plate and use a plastic knife to cut a piece. Leave the plastic knife to let others know you're not a fucking animal.
I'm the guy that might cut a donut in half. It would be cut nice and even.
Which way would you do it? Like, two u shapes or around the equator like a bagel?
I worked with a guy that would grab 3-4 donuts, the maple or iced ones, eat the top halves of them and throw the rest away. He was not popular.
Just cut it down the middle so it ends up like two half circles (for a round donut with hole in the middle). If it's a chocolate bar or twist, just cut it in half like you would a sandwich. I know it's cringe to some, but I'd rather do that than throw out half of a donut. I've kept track, and usually someone takes the other half.
I never did that. If there was one donut left, I took it end of story. Sometimes I'd see a half, or even a quarter of one left from this nonsense...
Yesterday my water pressure tank reached the end of its life, which caused the well pump to work constantly until it died too, and in the process of kicking on/off repeatedly, chafed through the insulation on the power cable to the pump. So now all 3 are needing to be replaced and we are without water.
Why in this day and age is their not some kind of idiot light or alarm that a critical system like this is on a path to self-destruction? All I got was the breaker tripping and low water pressure but by then it was too late.
Maybe there is some pressure test I can/should be running on the tank periodically. But I do watch the pressure gauge and it showed no signs of issues. FML
Why in this day and age is their not some kind of idiot light or alarm that a critical system like this is on a path to self-destruction? All I got was the breaker tripping and low water pressure but by then it was too late.
Maybe there is some pressure test I can/should be running on the tank periodically. But I do watch the pressure gauge and it showed no signs of issues. FML
Our subdivision has 6' block walls on all of the property lines, common in the SW. Early summer new people moved in behind us and put their dogs out in the yard and apparently leave and one dog never stops barking until he's let back in. For hours sometimes. I have to go have a talk with them but just hate to because this happened before with the people in the house beside theirs and the dog owner was a total jerk about it. We love dogs, have 2, and volunteer at a dog rescue shelter but just don't want to hear a dog barking for hours. We never put our dogs out and leave. Town ordinance is if a dog barks for more than 5 minutes it can be reported. Time to put on my big boy pants and go deal with it.