Hard Ass

I remember M. saying that after he became a reserve deputy sheriff in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA, his friends told him he became an asshole. I swore that would never happen to me (although my politics have definitely shifted away from the left in a lot of ways and I now vote for the wo/man, not the party anymore), so to all my friends and loved ones, please let me know if that happens to me! But I don't think I have too much to worry about, since I always had a zero-tolerance policy on certain things, such as certain kinds of people and certain kinds of behavior, way before I became a cop, thanks to having the father that I have. Still... last night made me wonder about this.

Now that I'm working p/t at the public library and now that I have cop-training, I've become a lot more bold about dealing w/misbehavior. When I worked f/t at the public library in 1996-2002, I let some problem patrons slide b/c I just didn't want to deal with them. Well, no more! This woman came up to me at the desk and started talking to me in Spanish. I usually can communicate about 85% of the time w/Spanish-speaking folks, but I just did not understand what she was trying to ask me--something about the computers. So she looked kind of annoyed (which already irked me, as if *I* was the one who should be speaking Spanish, and not the reality that *SHE* should be the one speaking English!!!!!!!) and called her teenage daughter over to translate. Turns out the daughter had to type a paper, so I directed them to the computer lab up front, where the computers have Word. They left.

A little while later, this man came up to us at the ref desk and said to my colleague that there seemed to be "some kind of conflict" in the back, that some kids were cussing out a woman, or something like that. I was actually already standing up heading somewhere else, so instead I took a detour and went to the teen section in the back to investigate. I had to ask the man specifically who was causing the trouble and where they were sitting; he pointed towards the teen computers, saying it was the girl in the white headband, who was surrounded by several teen boys. I went over to her and said sternly, "Have y'all been cussing?" She said no, it was the lady at the other computer--the one who couldn't speak English to me earlier--who had cussed them out. She was sitting at the computer across from them with her daughter (the teen computers have Word on them too) and from what I deduced, I believe they were all being disrespectful towards each other and probably both had cussed each other out. I told the lady in Spanish to not talk at or look at the other girl, and I told white-headband girl to do the same or I would throw them all out. Then I walked away--but as I was getting back to the desk, a different man walked by and said, "They're still back there doing it." I said, "After I left???" and he said yes. So now I'd had enough (this is that cop stuff kicking in, how pissed I get when people don't do what I tell them to do! Does this make me an asshole--or am I right?!?!?!?). The old me would've just sighed and hoped that they stopped soon, but the new me stomped right back there. Since this was the teen area, and since this woman should have been the adult and known better, I told her and her daughter they had to leave and go up front to the computer lab, also since that's where I told them to go in the 1st place! Fortunately (for them!!!) they didn't argue with me, simply gathered their things and left, me following them. The end.

So anyway, I hope I handled it the best way. I hope being a cop hasn't turned me into too much of an intolerant hard-ass, but my gut tells me I'm right and that there are, indeed, too many assholes walking around this earth that need to be taken down. I was talking to L. last night and told her that when she starts dating again, just to bring the prospects to me and I'll decide if they're good or if they're shit. I've always been able to decide within 2 min. or less if I like someone, and I swear I've only been wrong 1-2 times in my entire life.

Speaking of L, this hard-ass can't wait to go to the gun show w/her and buy her a gun! Then teach her how to shoot it! I'm so glad she's ready to do all this!