MORNING in Book Five: Working Through the Maze 2018

So.... last night....
Left from work straight to DM… a roughly 95 minute drive. Spent time with Wife, saw a good movie, drove to MTown… a roughly 74 minute drive. Drank a little, played video games, packed for my weekend, set my alarm, went to bed.

This morning, I slept through my alarm and woke up at 8:15 a.m.
Problem 1.

I threw an outfit together, grabbed everything I needed, and left. I began my 54 minute drive to work.

I encountered no less than 5 construction zones where traffic was at a near standstill.
Problem 2.

Finally, I make it to open road. It is a one lane each highway with no No Passing indicators. And then I see… another construction zone. My lane of traffic is completely blocked by machinery. There is a police escort in front of them giving aid. Fine. Fuck it. I check to make sure there is no oncoming traffic and pass the giant mess.

Police Escort pulls me over.
Problem 3.

He informs me that he pulled me over for unsafe passing. Apparently he was NOT an escort but was a Patrol Officer waiting for a safe passing window. (Uh, you missed it, dude, because that window was WIDE open during my entire approach). He just gave me a warning (good, I didn’t want to argue against an officer in court but seriously… in no way was passing a construction zone under the speed limit against the law).

I get to work at about 9:30. Boss isn’t here. Paralegal’s mom died, so he isn’t here. I have 8 urgent e-mails (including 2 from Asshole Caller) and as soon as I sit in my chair? Our lead County Investigator calls because a Dependent Adult has reported that his caretaker has been removing $30,000 from his account every year as unlawful “payment” to herself. Making the whole mess 10000 times worse is that the issue was reported to the Town Police who did nothing which is why it was then handed to County Investigator.

Get off the phone with HIM and Wife calls wondering how she should handle Notice to Apartment of Intent to Vacate Prior to Lease Termination. I… get it, I guess. When you have ready access to an attorney, you want to use your resources. But this woman has been an Apartment Dweller for her entire adult life. Giving notice isn’t a legal trick it is simply stating “Peace out bye!” But oh well. I gave her a nice looking legal template for notice.

Followed by ANOTHER phone call. A DAA (Domestic Abuse Assault) victim has been calling our office a bunch asking why a different county isn’t doing what they should be for her. HEAD:DESK. Dammit, Woman! I get it and I appreciate it. We are communicating with victims, attempting to help them, taking proactive steps to making sure that (even if we lose the case) they are safe. Other counties don’t do that because they honestly don’t give a shit. Frankly, they are the smart ones. NOT giving a shit about their communities means they don’t have to do as much work. NOT taking care of victims in any way means that they can offer (and did in this case) a violent repeat offender a slap on the wrist. They are smart because they avoid calls like this. My dedication to the job is NOT smart because it opens me up to calls like this. Where I have to explain to the victim that I have no idea why a different county doesn’t do what we do but further I have zero ability to do anything about it. Thank you for calling and treating THE COUNTY’S PROSECUTING OFFICE like a “customer service line” for the State’s various county prosecutors.

All this? And I haven’t even been AWAKE for a full 2 hours yet. What a life, eh?