Stoopid People Make Me Crazy

*This is a post I wrote about a week ago that I forgot to publish. Seems appropriate since I have to go back to work tonight*

It's been a long couple of days. The weather has been kind of nice and the full moon and all, so the stupidity factor at work has peaked. The worst kind of stupid person is the stupid person who thinks he/she knows more about your job then you do. Lemme splain...

The teeny tiny city that I work for and have worked for, for a total of 13 years, is bordered by the city of Fort Worth, and there's a few spots that are still unincorporated Tarrant County land. The city is 2.5 square miles big. That's two and a half square miles. The city was incorporated on July 7th, 1945. The borders of this city have never changed since the day it was born. There are no stop lights. Every street is 30mph. It sits about 3 or 4 miles off of the highway. It was once a heavy farming community with the railroad cutting the city in half, the remnants of which are still very obvious. Before I started working there, I had never heard of this city before. It's a small city and very little has changed the entire time I've worked there.

Municipalities look at city borders like most people think of state borders. For example. I don't JUST live in Texas. I live in North Richland Hills, Tarrant County, Texas. I know exactly what city I live in. If I ever move from here, I will base my decision on my residency as to what city it lies in. Don't YOU know what city you live in?

So with these things in mind, here's a list of responses I have given to people, as best as I can remember them, as I tried to keep as much sarcasm out of my voice as possible.

1. "No..."
This was (is) my response to the question, "Abla Espanol?"
2. "Just because you walked across the street to make this call, doesn't eliminate the fact that your wrecked car is sitting in the city of Fort Worth."
3. "I have worked here for over half of my life... Your address has never been in our city limits, we've NEVER responded to a call at your house and we never WILL respond to a call at your house." This in response to a lady who insisted we come to her house about loud music... a house that is in the city of Fort Worth that she claims the city I work for has responded to several times.
4. "Yes, we really ARE open 24 hours." or "Yes, we really ARE open on Christmas."
5. "You are 15 years old and you don't know your address?"

Over the course of my employment there, I have screamed at people and I have hung up on people. I've been rude to people and I have been angry to people. 'Cause you see... where I work, 'the customer is always right' doesn't apply... could never apply, to my job. Now, don't go thinking that I'm this awful employee. I am overly nice to people and go out of my way to help them when they call. That's my job! But one of the perks of my job is that I don't have to be nice to someone who's not being nice to me. Unlike pretty much most jobs dealing with the public. But there are nights... stoopid people nights... where my patience runs thin after having to deal with idiot after idiot after idiot... that I sit back and wonder if the stupidity factor runs higher in our city then in others.

It's really no mystery as to why dispatchers eventually become cynical, grumpy and rude. If you've ever had to call the police for any reason, the probability of getting someone on the other end who appears rude, uncaring, and standoffish is very high and is the direct result of getting call after call after call of people who are that way to them. The few times I've called the police, I've gotten that.

For the record, I have never been unduly rude or mean to anyone who is calling for help, no matter how small the matter may seem to me. I have never denied anyone any emergency services. Most nights, I make it my goal to turn angry and rude callers around. I do my best at putting myself in my caller's shoes (which I'm quite good at, not only at work). When my work phone rings, you will hear professional and friendly up until you start calling me names. And in all my years, although I've been cussed out by the scum of the Earth, I have never cussed or called names back. But I will NOT encourage the crazy lady to keep calling over and over again by having a deep meaningful conversation with her... just won't do it.