Poverty of Culture – Inhumanely Devaluing Retail Jobs

This year, I had the pleasure of working a big anchor retail store in the mall.  My job description consisted of keeping the departments replenished and getting the store ready for the next business day. It sounds simple enough to do as a side job, right?

I have a new deep empathy when it comes to today’s retail workers. I use to work retail a long time ago. It was a respected service industry job that had the perks of deeply discounted purchases from the store in which you worked. Fast forward today and that has all changed.

My job started during “Back to School”. I was not shocked by the amount of refolding, re-shelving and rehanging I had to deal with.  What I was shocked and horrified with was how badly customers treated the people hired to help them with their purchases. Their customers that charge like bulls right up to customer service rep and start rattling off the items on their lists. As the customer service person is locating these items, the customer proceeds to throw clothing to the floor, discard hanging clothing to the floor and destroy displays. The children that come in with these shoppers proceed to follow in mommy and daddy’s example. I watched as teenagers came in groups and proceeded to topple towers of folded shirts, shove other customers, curse at each other because there was no personal accountability and break the arms off of clothing racks.  Everyday at closing, I usually had to find the clothing and missing limbs off of mannequins. Many of the workers didn’t understand why were the customers getting worse and worse every year.  “Perhaps, its because people were making the personal choice of devaluing the job of the associates.”  “Minimum wage now means minimum amount of respect if any at all.

I felt so bad for my coworkers, spending hours preparing tables filled with folded clothes only for an adult to come through and pull it apart. The customer didn’t look at the tags to see the sizes, they flipped through the clothing like it was a file of papers pulling each shirt out, looking at it and then throwing it over their shoulder or worse messing up other folded items when they threw that item aside.

My patience was truly tried in the days after “Tax – Free weekend”, but ultimately my dignity suffered the most.

I have no problem with re-shelving, refolding and fixing the store back to pristine conditions after the mobs of people have left. What I did have a problem with was how people had forgotten that these associates they were asking for help  were still human beings.

The worst things I had seen customers do, aside from rip up artfully created displays, was trash the associates like they were soulless  things. I watched customers make associates follow them around, hunt and seek out items and then yell at the associate for not being able to find what they were looking for.  Many times when customers come late the items they are looking for are out of stock.  I remember trying to explain to a multitude of customers this simple truth and getting cussed out. A mom forgot she had her kids and used rough language with out regard to any of the other people with kids near her.

The absolute worse was when a woman came in and harassed every department, leaving my section for last. She didn’t go to the young men, or any of the older women, she came up to me.  She took a gruff tone from the very beginning. She informed me that she was late (something that was in her control and not my fault), that she was trying to buy clothes for her kids and grand kids, and that she needed me to search for sizes that were not available in our department. I informed her that there were no more of those sizes  available and tried to redirect her to other items. She still wanted me to help her search. I helped her search and as we looked for these non existent items, she threw clothing across tables and onto the floor. I picked up the items and folded them to keep the table neat and to “try and look” just in case, “by some miracle” we came across the size.  To no avail did we find the sizes she was looking for and at this moment she turns and yells that I was not helping her. I responded in a quiet voice that I was helping her, I also had to keep the area tidy as I went. She was even more upset and said I was not making her a priority. I responded softly that she was my priority and I was helping her the best way that I was trained to do. She got infuriated, began to talk down to me like I was a slave, began throwing more clothes to the floor, and  screamed insults. I looked to my lead associate. He put his head down and continued working trying not to draw attention to himself. It was obvious he was not going to help.  I saw that she was trying to escalate a situation, so I calmly told her I think she needed to speak with a manager if she was unhappy with the present service. She yelled, ” Well You Do That!!! You Get A Manager HERE NOW!!” I walked to the cashier and had them to call the store manager to the front.  My supervisor told me the woman tried to find me after I  left. He said it was like she had second thoughts about her behavior.

I tried to return to the table three times, but by then I was so upset I left the area. I didn’t give that lady the satisfaction of knowing the results of how inhumanely she had treated me. When I returned a forth time to resume my area, three managers came to address the problem with the woman. She tried to convince the managers that I was disrespecting her and was only interested in folding clothes. The managers informed her that I was one of their good associates, that I was following policy and it didn’t seem like it was my nature to ever be rude to anyone.  My supervisor , who had been present at the situation, informed the managers the woman was trying to provoke an argument and that she had been very inhumane. He explained to them that the woman had been tearing up the tables on purpose and making unrealistic requests.

During my third attempt to try and work , the store managers came and talked to me, they had figured the woman was getting her jollies by terrorizing the more mild mannered workers in the store.  Apparently, she had caused eight workers to walk off from the job that day.  This particular woman had an insane habit of coming to the store yelling and fighting with employees. She gets the service agents so worked up that they will do anything to get rid of her…such as offer her discounts or take back her clothes for a full refund against company policy. Lately, her scams haven’t been working and so now she is even more demeaning, crass and aggressive towards employees. The managers didn’t want me to be the ninth to quit. I was given a 15 minute break to recuperate and then allowed to return to the floor.

Unfortunately, this woman was not banned from the store, but no one except a manager is allowed to deal with her.   Currently, the store is working with most of its customer associates gone.  while I am making more hours, I ,also, carry the burden of doing more work because of the absent workers. Our managers are trying to resist hardened aggressive customer service workers.. but if the store is going to continue to allow that kind of insanity, they will have to hire hard-hearted customer service associates that can deal with a increasingly growing gruff crowd of customers. …just like Wal-Mart.

In my opinion, it is not professional to allow customers to become nuisances for monetary gain or  for an insane sense of entertainment.  I am aware that there are some stores like K&G men’s fashion in Meyerland, Houston, Texas that use to call the police department to escort nuisances out. The police have started arresting people on the charge of creating a disturbance/ disturbing the peace because these folks would do nothing more than cause a scene to try and get something for free or discount.

It has been a long time since I have set foot in anything but the small stores at a strip mall. The brutish inhumane customers that venture into big mall spaces remind of why I don’t shop enclosed malls anymore.

 

Just Married – Cost of Living Increase

by Andre and Andrea Miranda

Artwork by Andre & Andre Miranda. Copyright 2013. The events are based loosely on events in our lives. Names have been changed so we don’t have our pants sued off, LOL!..seriously. Have a LazeeDazee day!

Just Married #2

“This story is based on actual events. In certain cases incidents, characters and timelines have been changed for dramatic purposes. Certain characters/ props may be composites, or entirely fictitious.” This story may not be reproduced with out permission of Andrea and Andre’ Miranda.  Copyright 2013

Low Income Neighborhoods Falling Victim to Blind Eyes & Hard Crime,

I went to visit a few friends in a neighborhood that was hit hard by the down turn economy. This neighborhood was filled with many nearly retired city workers and blue collar working class. When the economy went south, their jobs went and their hopes to retire before they become too frail had been dashed.  The new mayor told everyone that there was too much government and she would trim the fat. There was no fat left to trim after Mayor white had cut down to the bone and beyond. He cost so many people their retirement plans. None of the people he cut walked away with a million dollar pension. ( Wish people had of asked to see these pensions he spoke of..I sure didn’t see any.. just a lot of  broke people that went claim SSI and less than half their pensions…How did that help us if these workers were put on the dole .)

As I talked to my friends, they tell me how first the city services started to ignore them. The public works  wrapped up the bayou projects fairly quickly and then left. They left so fast there is still rubble, rocks and cement debris still standing in hazardous piles near the roads and access points to the bayous and drainage areas.  Then police stopped circling the areas. The police department is required  payment of 40-50k to have a dedicated unit in the area. The local constable that use to patrol has now retired and now no one patrols the area.

Efforts to push drugs out of the neighborhood are weakening.

Neighbors use to count on the police, reports to the local neighborhood code enforcement and public utilities to help keep criminal elements out of their backyards.  Code enforcement was swallowed up by the police department (it no longer exists..ironically, the budget still does.) Many of the  districts have been combined to be serviced by fewer workers and some services don’t occur until their are emergencies that involve the press.

Where as drug dealers did not do crime in the broad open daylight, now they not only operate in the daylight but in front of the few remaining children playing in the streets. Coming and going into the neighborhoods, you have to watch out for the ‘grown men’ dressed in black and white colors with Trac phones that never leave their heads. Abandoned houses like the one next to a local head start have become a vacant drug den. The men that want to buy drugs have been seen waiting in front of  abandoned houses. They wait for customers and then bust into the back of the sliding glass doors in the rear. Neighbors have run off everything from vagrants, kids, to middle aged men selling drugs and loiterers.  Most of the men disappear on foot into the nearby  local trailer park. The customers are high end and sit in odd places.  Often they sit in front of houses with plenty of old model cars.  The grown men on bikes will pedal up to them, take the money, take the money to a maroon truck down the street and come back with bulging sandwich baggies twisted closed.  Just as I was leaving, a weekend warrior showed up in a pristine mint black hummer. ( No one in that neighborhood owns or is even related to a person that comes in that neighborhood with a Hummer. )

I use to find unsupervised kids playing in the streets irritating, but I would rather have the kids dancing in front of my car than a plain- obvious bunch of thugs on each corner looking out for cops and their next customer.

Pitbull fighting has come back.

Not just a backyard full of breeding stock, but fighting stock. Two young immigrants get paid good to handle  more than ten dogs spread across several houses in this neighborhood. Many times the dogs get loose. Everyone knows not to bother them. The terriers are vicious. There hasn’t been any other stray dogs since the revival of this old game in the area. No stray dogs either means the pound is doing its job very well or .. the strays are being hunted for honing the skills of the fight dogs. The first time we heard of Pit bull fighting was when an abandoned house near the bayou by Hiram Clarke was busted.  The news crews showed images of a floor that had been created with trash and blood was everywhere.  Now it has famously popped up in the Buffalo Bayou area. The handlers are seen also sporting black shirts and white shorts, often walking with several big pitbulls attached to chains, instead of leashes, the kind used to hitch cars to a tow truck.  The kids love talking about these guys. “These dogs are so mean .. they have to use jaw breakers on them. .. the electric kind. Jaw breakers are tasers. ”

Kids have turned to vandalism and petty crimes.

Those who have working underpaid parents, find that life is easier outside of homes that remind them of how hard things have become. They are too young to work and don’t want to be sucked into slaving for the dealers. (Kids are not as easily duped into taking a beating for not making sale’s quotas anymore.)  The next best thing is to join a clique, protect each other , steal from the local stores, and ran sack the abandoned houses.  They usually tag meaningless graffiti on the fences that face the streets. White Heather homes are always being tagged. The city comes out and paint the natural wood white and move on to the next place.

It is fun for the vandals that figure they have a clean slate.. but it is a rise in taxes for the low income neighborhood and cost in city service  that has to deal with it. It is especially no fun for the business owners that could be fined or ticketed for not removing the unwanted art.

Cops often ignore areas like this unless it is ticket time. Then you see the units sitting on Almeda. The cops sit five to six units deep, pulling over old cars with expired tags. Many of the drivers asked when they are done if they are going to patrol the neighborhoods, but once they are done they had back towards 610 to disappear into the inner loop. There is no incentive for the cops to stay in these neighborhoods. You have community activists, age old family folk lore and well intention-ed advocates asking for police to lessen their presence so that citizens are not in fear of the people that patrol the area. .. but then you have criminals that take advantage of neighborhoods that want to live quietly and peaceably with just about any element. These same neighborhoods sat quietly by as drug dealer dealt for six years out of a store front taco stand. It sat by as several Notel Motels were built down the street. They did not enforce zoning of sexually explicit businesses.

Now the economy is down, the people cannot afford to do more to secure their homes. There is nothing left to take except their lives…and the families feel hopeless as they meet up trying to share ways to keep their streets from further falling in the hands of blind eyes and hard crime.

Elderly Patient Coerced to Sign A Do Not Resuscitate Order

Tsca.bot/ wikicommons

Imagine your mom went to a hospital for medical treatment. She was told she had a low hemoglobin count and required antibiotic. Things are okay and the staff keeps you optimistic. She is in stable condition and treatment is working. A shift change occurs and you leave. Upon returning your 70 y/o mom says to you she was coerced into signing a DNR-Do Not Resuscitate.

She tells you that a  nurse came into the room and kept explaining how important it was to sign this DNR.  The nurse didn’t want to leave until the paper was signed. Your mother explained, coherently,   this was against her wishes and had instructions on file not to discuss anything without at least one of her sons present. The nurse talks over and through your mom on  how important it was to have the DNR , places pen and paper to your mom and your mom caves under fear/stress to sign the paper.

When the nurse is asked about the situation she admits she convinced your mother that a  DNR was in her best interests and stayed in the room to explain what “quality of life” meant … should she suddenly stroke out. There is no discussion about what would be the negative or positive effects of CPR. There has not been any level of high risk assigned yet to your mother that you have been made aware of.

A  family, close to me,  recently had to speak with supervisors to get DNR orders rescinded at a hospital after their mother’s assigned  nurse had violated patient instructions that had been recorded and filed upon admission.

March 20, 2012 Update:

General practitioner walks into the patient’s room and expresses a positive outlook. He said, ” … in two to three days the patient would be in a regular room.”  Her reason for being in ICU was age and low hemoglobin. She is responding well to treatment and her vitals have made great improvements. A new DNR was signed. This one stated that if she flatlined then she did not want to be resuscitated. This reflects the instructions that were recorded during her admission.

Two hours after the general practitioner left, a cardiologist walked in and told the family that she could die from a heart attack in the next two to three days.

Family’s opinion regarding cardiologist – They don’t believe the practitioner would have delivered only good news if their mother’s health was not improving and other medical personnel would have reflected the cardiologist’s    grim prognosis.

The family does understand there are risks, there are possibilities that complications could happen.

March 22, 2012

Patient has been moved from ICU with case of pneumonia. General practitioner explained in a better tone what the cardiologist could not. There had been some heart damage but that she was okay. Her condition was still improving and it was possible for her condition to continue to improve despite the grim fatalistic view of the cardiologist.

April 4th Patient is home with out cardiac problem.

Hallmarks of A Great Teacher: Behavior During Absence

by Sandejasbn/ wikicommons

 

The bane of every substitute is entering a class full of  students that act as if they have  to only obey the teacher whose name is engraved on the door.

What the bad behavior says about the teacher and students:

You need new classroom management skills and your students don’t respect your rules. ( I pity you..)

I have only come across two classes that have not treated their substitute teachers this way.  The first class was taught by a teacher in her forties. Her classroom reminded me of an elderly person’s living room. There were table clothes, pictures of the students around the wall in dollar store frames, handmade crafts, stuffed dolls, glass vases with silk flowers, real plants in ceramic pots, doilies and lamps. The room was very comfortable and homey. Students had to behave to earn the right to take care of those little treasures or play a classical cd in the radio.  The students were so “perfect” I thought I had stepped into the Twilight Zone or Village of the Damned.

The second teacher was a  20ish mommy figure. Somehow she had convinced the kids that she needed to be taken cared of and the students did this by obeying her rules. The students followed her rules and maintained her classroom just to get her glowing appreciation and approval. Observing this class did not give me the creeps. The students had routines and goals to meet. They marked off their accomplished goals in books and classroom charts. The students were mostly operating by their own intrinsic values.

The first teacher said she took psychology classes. She used everything from random rewards, token economy, self management, she taught coping skills, team building and peer leadership/citizenship to create a smooth running classroom. The classroom ran by itself and she had 99% passing rates. Her  high expectations, endless encouragement , respect for her students , and her toleration for no discord in her class helped the children score high.  Students with various abilities surprised themselves by passing their state tests.  (This teacher told me if I ever wanted to succeed in high-risk schools take plenty of psych , development, therapy, conflict management and special needs courses. More children will come from dysfunctional backgrounds, not be  diagnosed correctly or treated too late to do them any good…she was right. )

The second teacher had an average  passing rate. Her class scored all over the place with only  three to four students failing to meet state standards. These students were intrinsically deficient or mentally unable to pass in a traditional classroom. ( I believe they could have passed if taught by the first teacher.)

Unlike other classrooms, bullying was nonexistent, needs were not ignored and children made lasting friendships in the classes. There were personality conflicts but the kids in both these classes understood how to compromise or accept a third-party decision.

It was quite clear the classes had working systems in place. My observations of these classes were great experiences.

As for other classes where the students went wild or went nuts after their teachers left .. it didn’t take much to incorporate a few quick fixes to make their children understand what they needed to do to get off on a good foot with their substitutes.

Horror Movie Style Traffic Stop

My first vehicle was a gold blazer. I loved that truck kept it clean  and often used any excuse to drive it. I liked that truck so much that I threatened passengers with penalty of beat down if they did anything to cause my truck to part from my ownership in any way.  However, the truck seem to attract a lot of unwanted attention. Driving through towns south of Beltway 8 felt like a crime. Without fail, patrol units would cruise behind my vehicle. If I drove someone else’s car there was no problem.  (…was this truck a magnet..or was there history…is that why I got such a good deal on it?)

In one particular town, there was only three cops.  I had , recently, started traveling through those towns, because a family member lived there.  At first, it made me nervous to visit. The cops rode so close to the bumper, I was afraid if I stopped the car, his vehicle it would wind up in my tailgate.  When my husband rode with me , I did not have these problems.  I encouraged him to ride with me more often.

After awhile, I quit traveling through the main roads. It was safer to take the country roads into the small towns and visit with my family. Friends told me those small towns and villages south of Beltway 8 were just heavily patrolled.. don’t worry about it. Okay I said.

One night a reverend invited friends, his family and my future in-laws to his house. We were having a geek  night. The plan was to go to the reverend’s house to watch three geeky movies in a series and then go to a  movie theater for the last geeky movie in that series.  The movie’s release would start just after midnight.

We arrived early in the evening and wound up having to go deeper into the town for snacks. Family members directed me to a local Krogers. As soon as I turned out on to the main roads,  a cop left his post and followed my truck all the way to the store. We made jokes to lighten the mood. ” My own private security escort service… stupid college stickers and tassles.. they know I’m an out-of- towner… and hummed the jaws theme.. ”

We shopped for over an hour in the store and went back out.  Another cop followed us for a shorter distance after we left the store. Once we got back into the neighborhood another unit followed us.  Friends told me don’t worry about the last guy, he was new. The last cop, that had followed us, sat in the field next to the rev’s church. If you don’t do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about the rev assured me.  Okay I said. .again.

We stayed at the reverend’s house for more than six hours.  At 11:00pm, we left the reverend’s house. There was a caravan of us, so I took a position in the middle of the line.  As we left the neighborhood, I saw the cop was still in the field next to the church.

When the movie concluded our caravan split up. I also took on some more passengers. We dropped a friend off in another neighborhood and my fiancée’s brother decided to check and make sure he had locked the rev’s church up. We returned to the church. He checked the doors and then returned to the truck. When we pulled out I wound up going the wrong way and turned around. I went back down the street in front of the church. The cop pulled out behind me.  Before I could get the words out of my mouth, the cop turned his lights on.  D!@#E$%!!!!! IT !@#$%^&*!!!!!

Instead of remaining on the road where all the houses and the church was.. he had instructed me to pull off on a lonely road with no houses or businesses.  A dark lonely side street…like the ones you see in a horror flick or in one of those  crime pieces that end with…” and no one saw a thing…”

This street was completely out of a slasher film. There was only one light and it was coming off of another street. The one street lamp we stopped under had flickered off. Fog rolled out from the fields , thick as pea soup and concealed the deep ditches around us. It was so dark, my lights couldn’t penetrate what could have easily been a black hole in front of us. The darkness seemed to be absorbing the light. If we had crossed onto a dead end.. I wouldn’t have known.  All we could see were tall grasses and weed trees.  (First thing that came to my mind were all the murdered bodies code enforcement had found when they eventually cleaned out vacant lots that looked much like the ones that surrounded us. )

O.o

My passengers wondered what happened. I repeated the mantra.. I didn’t do anything wrong.. nothing should happen..  I stared at the cop coming out of the car. He took his flashlight out aimed it up and put his hand on his gun. I didn’t do anything wrong.. nothing should happen.

My fiancée’s brother rolled the window down ” Problem officer?”  (… that’s right bro.. poke the bear.)

The officer jumped and looked around the truck. All he could see was a senior woman, the brother in the back and my fiancee and me in front. He aimed the light in my eyes. I squinted and he removed the light. He said that he saw us go up to the church.

My fiancée’s brother said he worked at the church and that he went to make sure it was locked. The cop aimed his flash light at the trunk area. He repeated to the cop..” what was the problem?”

The cop took his hand off the holster and said there had been robberies in the area.  He was checking out who might be going up to the church this time of night. I saw you turn onto the street… he explained this is  just a routine traffic stop.

“Well she made a wrong turn but she didn’t do it illegally….”

There was more chatter. The brother was explaining the owner of the church lives on the property, he can verify us if you call.. etc..etc .. etc..  but by now I was so nerved up it would have taken a crowbar just to pry my hands off the steering wheel.  The cop sternly said it was just a traffic stop and now  he knew everything was okay.

At some point the cop took my id, looked at it and handed it back. He had satisfied his curiosity and left. It took everything I had to not gun that Blazer out of there, but I’ll let you imagine.. just how fast out of dodge I ‘really’ went. ( That night I learned Blazers are not too heavy to  launch and can fly great distances easily…)

I had a major melt down when we got home. My future in-laws did not understand my meltdown. You were safe, you hadn’t done anything wrong they kept reminding me. On the other hand my dad understood and I wound up getting a pill sedative and a liquid sedative.

Every traffic stop I had ever had either with my folks as a child and growing up into adult hood were laced with not so great encounters.  The ol’ your rear tail light is broken was not just an opening line to a series of jokes for me growing up.   It was an excuse to be pulled over and given a personal PSA… don’t stop anywhere  in this town for the next 80miles. Vacation money meant saving up for the inevitable expense of miscellaneous tickets. ( Now that franchises litter the freeway, some of those towns have changed their tunes remarkably. We get everything from free casino perks to discounts on merchandise if we should decide to come through.) TxDoT, I think, was doing us a favor when they paved new freeways that bypassed the towns. Many of the new freeways don’t include exit lanes but rather exit ramps that take you further out the way. Rendering formally undesirable towns inaccessible, despite their reformed hospitable ways.

My future brother in law would understand it later why I freaked out. Our friends would recount tales of his subsequent horrific traffic stops with the same cop and then his own horrible routine traffic stop moments out in the  Louisiana boonies and another in California by a angry, glazed over law enforcement officer.  Nothing like being stopped  late at night in the middle of nowhere and not understanding why you were pulled over. He was with his family and suddenly a feeling of powerlessness can over whelm you.. but ” you didn’t do anything wrong .. and it should be okay..” suddenly is not a good enough statement to soothe the feeling that at anytime for anyreason someone may pull you over for a ticket you might not be able to fight or pay.  If he didn’t have understanding then,  he has currently come to understand why I responded the way I did. Fear comes when a situation that should easily be worked out takes a left turn into  Wrongville.  I continue trying to keep my understanding. It was just the weirdness of a very stressful situation, that should have been a routine stop, in a neighborhood that sees more trouble from mailbox vandals or pranks played on that church than actual crime. ( The crime stats for this particular town jumped to an all time high of  8 thefts, 4 assaults, and 0’s on everything else…) The crimes were done by residents living in the area.) I don’t know whether to say keep up the good work or put the effort you use to watch outsiders to good use on the neighbors, too. But either way, the town’s safety can be attributed to the creepy, vigilant cop and  tag teaming-tailgators.

Who knew quiet small towns could be so .. intriguing at 5 in the morning.

Lately, the towns have grown along south beltway 8. Inner city cops now share responsibility in patrolling the growing towns. Many of the tailgating complaints made by residents have decreased significantly and my experiences with cops have been more positive. ( It has grown into a lovely relationship.. you don’t bother me.. and I won’t bother you.)

Experiences like these have taught me that its time I start doing a bit more digging on how to prep for traffic stops. In hind sight the cop had been by the church and had seen where we had been all night before the movies and after the movies.  His judgement to have me turn off  to the middle of  an isolated street was bad…. I should have gone to a more public place.  Now that I am older I believe there are smarter ways to coöperate during one of these traffic stops. The best ways I found was through various Texas Law blogs,Nolo lawsites,  FlexyourRights.org, and WiseGeek.org .

If you do the wrong thing these sites can’t help you, but if you’re trying to continue on the right path, these are excellent resources.

” …sprinkle some crack on [them] and let’s get outta here.” – Dave Chappelle.

Not Enough Signage For Traffic Ticket

Going under a bypass and about to merge onto a major freeway, I saw a trooper on the shoulder. I continued on past him and he proceeded to follow. I saw him in the rearview mirror and just as I looked up he flicked his lights on .. D@#$%^&!!!!!!

We pulled over in front of a mechanic shop and mini grocery store.

With a very stern look on his face he asked me for license and registration. He had not told me why he had pulled me over and this began to make me a bit nervous. I kept my hands on the wheel and told him I am going to look in my purse.  That’s fine ma’am he said. While I searched, he slightly leaned into my car and looked around. My toddler got nervous. “Who is that mommy?” she began to cry,”.. why is he looking in our car.”  He lightened his look and proceeded to tell my daughter who he was.

I asked,”.. what was I pulled over for.”

He pointed at the bypass and said ,” Ma’am were you aware that you were speeding?”

“No I said.. the sign said 55mph, I had not gone over that….”

“Well you’re suppose to slow down to 35 on the lane that goes onto the bypass. there are speed limit signs… Is there any reason you didn’t do that?”

By now I found my ID and insurance and gave them to him.  He didn’t really seem interested in my response. He left my car and went to his. He stayed gone for a few minutes.

When he returned, he said  everything checked out. ( Thank God, I had just moved and pride in my new residence was the only reason I had my new address placed on it.)

He then asked me the question again. I nervously responded, ” I just came from the U- turn, merged from the surface street (feeder lane) onto the bypass that both had a speed limit of 55mph…. ”

He scowled, interrupted and said the street’s speed limit was 35mph.

” I timidly asked where was the sign for that, did I by chance miss it? ( Where the surface street ended at an intersection, cross traffic was indicated at 45mph. I thought I had missed a sign…)

The  small street was not even the length of  2 neighborhood blocks. There were only four signs; a stop sign, (2) 55mph signs and a freeway sign. I was on my way to film a game for work… and was armed with my camcorder, my camera and my cell phone ready. If there was going to be a ticket issued.. I was prepared to get more than enough visual evidence for my case.

The cop looked over at the street to study it. As he looked he said, “… that everyone else had slowed down as they had seen him on the side of the road. I pulled you over because you picked up speed. ”

I said, “I just came out of the u-turn and picked up speed as indicated by the sign. The bypass indicated 55 mph. The street signs on both sides of the road indicate 55mph. ”

He crossed his arms and leaned onto my door. My daughter had started to whimper to the point she was crying.

“Its okay sweetie,” I said. ( No, really it wasn’t. A frowning stranger was leaning and  peering into our car.)

By now the ‘simple traffic stop’ had attracted some on lookers. Three older mechanics came out of the repair business and stood at their door front.

” Yeah, its okay”, he smiled.  He told me that the street was supposed to be 35mph (even though it indicated 55mph) and that he was going to let me off with a warning.”

He left the car with an odd look on his face. I waited for him to clear the parking lot first.  The men, watching from the store front, seem to be waiting for him to leave, too. When the unit left the lot, the men had gone back inside. I calmed my daughter down. There wasn’t an answer I could give her that made that incident less intense for her or me.  I always tell her don’t do anything that will make incidents like this happen.. I guess mommy will have to alter what she says.. maybe somewhere along the lines that stuff, like this, is unavoidable… ???

First thing I did when I got to my destination was review the laws for  signage and learn more about being stopped. After talking about the stressful incident, I was encouraged to speak to other officers for an answer.

All I could find to confirm what I remembered from driver’s ed was: the law regarding statutory speed limits in unmarked areas. 30 mph in an urban district Tran. Code §545.352(b)(1). When there is no sign indicated drive 30mph on the surface roads and 55mph(nite) and 65mph(day) on highways. (source – nhtsa.gov)

The constable I spoke to  was a friend and he called me when he heard about the matter. He was understanding and  informed me that the pull over really should have not occurred, but you never know what may have happened to warrant the reason for pulling over your make and model… his equipment could have even been malfunctioning..etc. If we eliminate what we don’t know and stick to what we do know… He said he knew the area and the only way the speed limit would see 35mph is if there was a sign indicating it. There is more than enough signs to make it clear that 55mph is the posted speed limit. If there was not a sign present, then you have to travel at 30mph.  My source further explained if cops have made this a popular traffic stop point then its just best  not to feed the beast…and avoid the area.  There were other routes to  resolve the matter but he said choose your battles wisely… chalk it up to experience and move on. You probably could advocate it…but you will have to choose whether its worth your time and frustration.

In the days after the minor incident, construction had forced more drivers to frequent the area. As a result, two units were placed there to catch more drivers, that were ‘speeding unaware’.  Another unit was hidden under the U-turn. Other drivers  that were stopped did have the time and resources to pursue the matter. There are plenty of new and old affluent neighborhoods in the multiple bordering small towns. Before the diverting construction was finished, 3 more signs posted on the surface road.  The 55mph sign had been moved onto the bypass lane k-walls, a 35 mph exit sign had been posted on the shoulder and an intersection warning sign was posted.  The two cops that had been posted were removed and re-posted to the school zone on the other side of the freeway. Apparently, this area rarely sees action. The cops sit for hours watching 25mph traffic.  During breakfast, you could sit at the local diners and watch them not move for hours.  And after all, isn’t that the way it is suppose to be..fair cooperation to prevent traffic violations…

” Gee, I’m sorry officer, I didn’t know I couldn’t do that…” – Dave Chappelle, comedian.

Being pulled over with your child in the car is about as fun as having your teeth pulled without benefit of painkillers. I try to remember they are doing their job.. however the best plan is to stay off their radars to begin with and having a plan that will decrease  chances of further contact. From various Nolo law org sites, its likely you will encounter an armed officer with high emotions and you don’t want to unwittingly light the fuse to a powder keg.  On an optimistic point…being informed and exhibiting self-control can contribute to hopefully improved service in the future and decrease the incidences that more than likely wind up in the media.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harris County Toll Road Headache-updated

Tonight, I think I traveled off the map and into the fifth circle of heck known as the Harris County Toll road.  Normally, Beltway 8 has feeder roads but not on the stretch that turned into the West Park Toll Road, that I manage to stumble butt backwards onto.

At some point, West Park Toll Road decided to become EZ tag only. If you do not live in this area or use these roads, news more than likely has not reached you that toll booths  no longer exist and that there are no exits between two  Ez tag drive through areas.   ( I don’t live in the area and depended on signage. which was inadequate in my opinion.)  There is also no sign near the Fondren and Gessner areas that say Toll Road entry only or dead end.

There are surface road signs and, only after you have been cut off from the feeder, prosecution signs for violators.  Are you a violator or a trapped driver forced to take services you didn’t want?

There was no way off through several cameras that we could see and feeder roads were incomplete. Even if we did get off we would have to get right back on….  :T

After doing some research, I found out from the website that ‘violators’ are very frequently accidental tourists that are charged the $1.25 for riding through these zones.. and ” Administrative Fees”.

There are complaints smeared across the internet regarding cashless toll roads,  lack of signage and numerous cases about car renters preyed on  by cashless, invisible toll roads.

Cashless toll road victim tells her story after rolling through an invisible cashless toll road in Florida.

update-1

Called the Harris County Toll Road  and explained what happened. Talked calmly.  I was referred to  a representative and told an invoice will be sent out. It should be no more than a $1.25 or . 50 depending on where the computers report the violation. There are currently No administrative fees because its not a ticket or in collections.  ( Should I have gotten that in writing?) She said sometimes  it ( accidental traffic ) happens but getting it paid resolves the matter in a timely manner and is better than racking up fees, fines and penalties against the vehicle.

Gleaming Useful Info from Rate Sites…On Employers and Businesses

After having some bad luck with businesses in my new zip code, I  started using rate sites to gauge how good nearby services are. I could tell which customers were just acting a fool and berating a business for not putting up with shenanigans. However, I really started appreciating the sites for good customers that explained in detail what was great or harsh about their encounters.

On some of the sites, customers were so traumatized their same stories reappeared. Even when companies retaliated, if other customers paste and copied their information, government investigations and if their was even several  chronological entries of who, what and when.. I tend to lean on the side of customer.  Got to love the ones that video recorded their calls to customer service on YouTube.

Seeing the same complaints over and over made me understand which companies had a pervasive problem and which were actively working on correcting their issues.

Customers that reported they had a problem usually logged back into say if the company had miserably attempted to appease them, couldn’t make anything work or went above and beyond service to help them.

After being burned by a phone company for the better part of a year, I have started using these sites for my consumer needs and have recently started using them for employment needs.

Not every place is a good fit. It helps to know the work environment before committing to an interview or even an application. During my career I have had a few  good long-term jobs,I heard by word of mouth. Good employees that loved their jobs often referred me. As my education and career direction took a turn from the general bachelor degree jobs, I had to start relying on research and what ever I could gleam from interviews, websites and etc to land a job in my specific career zone. .

What I have started learning to look for are jobs that invest in their employees responsibly. My husband is in management and he has started training his weakest employees to be strong employees. Employees that have trained under him have used what he taught them to pursue the ladder up into management. Some of his entry level employees have gone on into management in other places. They still keep in touch with him and vice verse. His first team mates were like family and invested a lot training and knowledge sharing into all of their employees. Their objectives and goals were met because of it.

The rate sites have been very good about honestly detailing strengths and weaknesses in their employment settings. I am pretty sure most employment places would not like their companies rated for a myriad of reasons. They seem only pleased when Fortune 500 lists them as the best places to work.

However, these rate sites can work to their advantage. If companies don’t like to invest in training, then their comments will reflect that. Then they can attract workers that will know what is expected first hand and won’t feel like they got tossed under the bus or to the wolves when the lack of training comes back to bite the department.  If office politics is something that runs rampant, those that are savvy (manipulative) will be drawn in and will swim like magnificent sharks in the turbulence. Or a company can take the useful information and instead of raining unholy heck down on the heads of the still loyal employees.. could find simple ways to iron out the kinks and improve work flows. Employees from some of the largest tool companies are not surprised by the good and bad comments of their employees. They also don’t retaliate for any slights. With each I see the comments increase towards a positive skew by incoming employees and those that have been retained. .. unlike some companies where profit is lost through high turnover and unhappy work environments.

While a good majority of  businesses may believe rates sites are their worst enemy and seek to sue them into oblivion with defamation allegations. .. it just might be the frank dose of honesty they were paying good money to have a stats and social science major to translate for them.