I stepped inside the Commisioner’s office and entered another world. Leather couches, windows with curtains, and a bowl full of Hershey’s kisses placed neatly on a glass coffee table.

I felt like I was in an office at Trump Tower.

“Can I help you?” A detective approached me.

“Yeah, I have a letter here for the Commissioner requesting an urgent meeting?”

“Hmm, let me get one of our secretaries here.” He got on his phone and buzzed her. When she came in and spoke with me, I learned I didn’t even have to write a letter, I could have just shown up in person and requested a meeting right then and there.

“Are you kidding me??” Man, I was getting jerked around by everyone. Whoever I spoke to earlier about getting a meeting must have thought I was the press and made up that B.S. excuse about a letter just to get rid of me. The secretary I was speaking to now buzzed in one of the chief detectives, who read my letter and asked me a few questions. He then told me the commish was unavailable but that I would be getting a call back soon.

My hopes bolstered a bit, I left and stopped by my union office. Even though I didn’t show up in my section, I was dressed and ready to work, I wanted my union president to note that I had shown up at their office ready to work, and to inform my supervisors where I was.

The union president wasn’t there though, and not quite sure what to do with me, the secretary there led me to the vice president, who then took me into the conference room so we could discuss the problem. They tried to call my union rep several times, but she apparently disappeared off the face of the earth, so it would just be me and the VP. After we sat down, once again I was being subjected to the same tired old arguments: she hadn’t done anything to me yet, I had no standing, I’m putting myself in jeopardy by not coming to work, blah blah blah…

Whatever. I did take their advice and called in Time Office to let them know I’d be taking off another day. They had to clear it with the head of my division first, who let them know that while they’ll approve more vacation time, they wanted me to know that I was being foolish burning up time like I was. No indication at all that they would move Devil Woman either. It was just something I had to accept, and I could either continue to burn up time, or get AWOLed, or worse.

At that point it occurred to me that the Commish’s office may have been blowing me off too. All I had was the promise that they would call me up, but I had no idea when. Meanwhile I was still burning up time here. I decided to go back, and simply squat there until I got some attention. They did have nice leather couches after all, so I could wait all day if I had too.

I went back, spoke to the same detective I met earlier, and it finally began to dawn on him that I simply wasn’t going away. He got up to go get the Chief of Police. Chief of Police comes down, asks me to walk with him back to his office.

And that’s when the real confrontation began.

Tags: battle, chief, commish, commissoner, corruption, curtains, detective, detectives, excuse, face of the earth, fight, hershey, jeopardy, job, secretaries, time office, union, union president, union rep, vice president, vp
Categories: In The Coal Mine
 
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“She’s still here Linc.”

I blinked a few times. “Are you @#$% kidding me?”

“I kid you not.”

I hung up my cell and threw it across the room. The woman almost drew a gun on my relative (who also works the same job), and they expect me to work in the same section as her???

3 weeks of this crap. I called my union. My union thinks I’m the bad guy. But after hounding their fat hairy asscans for days on end, they finally talked to the bigwigs and my union rep assured me she would be moved out the day after Thanksgiving.

She lied right to my face. Motherfrick useless union whore. I called her cell and left an urgent message, but of course she never called back.

Well that’s it then. I donned my uniform, grabbed my audio recorder and headed out the door. I was going to make a visit to the Commissioner’s office and see the big man himself. I had enough.

After I pulled up alongside headquarters, I took a long, deep breath. In seven years I had never gone in to see the Commissioner. Hell I didn’t even know what his office looked like, but I would soon find out now. Rather appropriately, the commish’s office was at the end of a long hallway on the second floor, and as I walked that last mile, I knew I was putting my job on the line. I was going over the heads of all my bosses and bypassing my union altogether. I paused for a few seconds outside the door, trying to gather myself and keep myself from visibly shaking. I prayed hard and asked God to watch over me.

And then stepped inside.

Tags: audio recorder, battle, commish, corruption, deep breath, fight, God, hallway, job, last mile, seven years, Thanksgiving, union, union rep
Categories: In The Coal Mine
 
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I called up the Director’s office, but apparently the Director is such an important guy that I have to write a letter formally requesting a meeting with him first, then outline the reasons why. Good grief.

So I wrote a nice long letter explaining everything: naming names, describing Devil Woman’s long and sordid history, and my request to be immediately transferred either to another division altogether, or somewhere outside of headquarters.

Then I drove down to HQ and parked next to the building entrance. I grabbed my MP3 player in case the Director decided to see me then so I could record the conversation, and braced myself. In 7 years I had never done anything like this, and now my job and future was on the line. Once I turned in that letter there would be no going back. All of hell was about to be unleashed. I let out a long breath, and opened the door…

*RING*

My cell phone lit up, but I let it go to voicemail. I hesitated long enough to check my message just to see who it was, and it turned out to be my union rep, letting me know she had good news and to call her back as soon as possible.

Hmmmmmm… I looked at the entrance again for a moment, then decided to call her back.

“Hello?”

“Hi Del, it’s Linc. You had news for me?”

“Yep, she’s gone.”

“…………..what??“

“She’s gone, back to her old section.”

“What happened??”

“Apparently she wasn’t authorized to be in that section to begin with, so she’s been ordered back to her division.”

“……….well I’ll be a son of a b….”

I spoke for a few more minutes, and from what I could garner, my union rep had finally talked to one of the chiefs, who upon learning that Devil Woman had been moved, immediately called to have her put back. The move had been unauthorized and never should have occurred.

It was a victory, but I was peeved. My union rep had given me the runaround for days, telling me she couldn’t couldn’t be transferred, there was nothing she could do, I had no case, blah blah blah, and one conversation with the chief finally took care of that stupidity. Really, how about you actually find out for sure first what can’t be done before you start making broad assumptions and making me out to be the bad guy here? Damned stupid woman.

But… a victory is a victory, and I do need to thank God for it. If I hadn’t stood my ground, who knows how long she would have remained there. The powers that be in my section were trying to pull a fast one, but now they’re on notice. Next time they push me, I WILL bring the noise.

Tags: battle, cell phone, chiefs, corruption, devil woman, fight, good grief, hq, job, mp3 player, runaround, union, union rep, victory
Categories: In The Coal Mine
 
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Well I didn’t ask for it, but I’m now in the middle of a poop storm, and I’m gonna have to fight my way out of it.

I’ll tell you something though: I hate unions. @#% hate ‘em. They steal my money by calling it dues, then use it to fund political candidates I can’t stand, or organize picnics I’ll never go to. But when it comes down to them actually doing something constructive, like defending my civil rights, they can’t be bothered.

I have been blown off, ridiculed, and talked down to now not by my supervisors, but by my own damned union reps. Hey guys, how about you take those dues you expect me to pay and shove ‘em up your fat a…

But anyway, this concluded day three of being jerked around by my overrated “advocates,” so now I’m gonna play hardball. I’m setting up an appointment with the head honcho of our agency, and hopefully I’ll be able to resolve it then. I’m not asking for much now, just a transfer out so I can be removed from this situation, but these union guys act like I’m asking for a boatload of cash and a tropical island.

And they don’t think I have a case. My ass. If the ACLU thinks I have a case, I have a case, and I have the documents, recordings and the pictures to back it up too. If they force me to go “scorched earth” on them I will, and I will BURN this place. Scumbags.

Y’all messed with the wrong Italian this time.

Tags: aclu, advocates, agency, appointment, battle, civil rights, corruption, dues, ead honcho, fight, hardball, job, labor, money, picnics, scorched earth, tropical island, union, unions, war
Categories: In The Coal Mine
 
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