To the thief who smashed the window of my new car, while it was raining heavily, I hope something of great value to you is also smashed at a terribly inconvenient time.
To the officer who responded and blamed me for failing to windex the suction cup residue left on the windshield from my GPS, I hope someone blames you for not taking excessive measures to guard yourself against crime.
To the same officer who failed to turn in his incident report (or the clerk who lost it), I hope you have occasion to rely on a police report that is also lost in the shuffle.
To the dump truck driver who side-swiped me less than a week later and then drove off, I hope your license is suspended.
To the traffic control officer who saw the incident, and merely shrugged, telling me to go home then call 911, I hope you remain on traffic duty.
To the responding officer who told me I have up to three weeks to file an accident report when the actual limit is 10 days (and failure to do so carries criminal penalties), I hope you have occasion to detrimentally rely on someone else’s false information.
To the 84th Precinct officer who gave me additional misinformation about obtaining the insurance information of the other driver based on a license plate–even though his only job is helping citizens file such complaints–I hope you remain in your shitty job.
In short, to the various cops and criminals I’ve had occasion to interact with over the past two weeks, I hope you get what’s coming to you.
And to this great and terrible city, full of both hope and suck, goodbye and good luck.
You’ve reminded me why I’m happy to leave.
Been there, done that. Though to be fair, I was youngish and Cumming, GA ain’t exactly the jewel in the crown. I’m thinking DC suburbs, or maybe the Pacific Northwest if they can get their unemployment below 80%.
The problem is that you didn’t ask the cop in the correct format. It’s “Excuse me, can you give me information on filing an accident report, or should I just go fuck myself?”
NYC can be hell if you have a car. I hate the city and fantasize about the ease of simply pulling into a driveway when I can’t find a parking spot but when I do finally find a spot and start walking home, I love the city again. It’s wierd.
Even the cruddy little pickup truck I drove east from Colorado got broken into a couple of times but the break-ins stopped after I got NY plates. Either that or the local theives pretty much knew what was in my truck (nothing of value whatsoever and it didn’t smell too good, either).
We were out for a nice Sunday stroll, getting the girls some new shoes and I saw a bus where my car was, instantly sending my blood pressure through the roof and turning my nice Sunday stroll into a mad quest to locate my car. Turns out they put up temporary “No Parking On Sunday” signs on Friday evening just after I thought I parked my car for the weekend and could forget about it until Monday morning.
My barely controlled queries as to the whereabouts of my car were either too late for the on-the-scene people or too early for where-all-the-information-ends-up people. I was finally given the super-secret number that for some reason was not previously given and they told me where my car was. We were reunited. Of course it was in a construction zone so I had to move it and find a parking spot :rolleyes:.
I’ve not found a place in the US with as good a combination of small town friendliness and convenience/work opportunities as Alexandria, in particular this little slice of heaven called Delray.
Sorry all that happened to you - it sounds like a sucktacular week. That said, living in the DC suburbs is my vision of hell. Different strokes, different folks.
Nope. Mr. Samples died almost a decade before I arrived.
In fairness to The City, I have not posted a complementary thread about the helpful police officers and strangers, and all the reasons I say that city is full of hope (as well as suck). My leaving the city is not without reluctance, these weeks have just reminded me why, on balance, I’m not too sad to be going.
As for DC, it’s just one of many vague possibilities. My immediate future lies in Princeton, NJ. From there, it is likely a matter of where the job tides–such as they are–take me.
You know, when I moved from Los Angeles to Minneapolis, one of the first things I noticed was how different the cops were. Specifically, the cops here weren’t assholes. The police said hello to you and smiled, you could ask them for directions, or any kind of help, really. It was almost as if they were around to protect and serve or something. It may be unsettling at first - your initial reaction may be to wonder wtf these cop bastards are up to - but they’re really just friendly and apparently competent. Seems like big city cops deal with assholes consistently enough that they turn into giant assholes themselves. Giant assholes with weapons and infallible testimony.
I would never encourage anyone to move to the Midwest, I’m just saying… well I’m not really sure what the point of this was. I think my point is: Cops in LA are epic douche bags, and I feel your pain.
Agreed. In addition, when you have a police force of many thousands, then there will be enough shitty assholes to man all of the crap jobs (traffic, complaint desk, etc.). So whereas in Oregon or Colorado you might be unlucky enough to encounter the 10-20 assholes in your city’s PD, in NYC you’re guaranteed to interact with them because they staff all the low-level jobs.
