Burglaries and People are Made of Fail
Jan. 7th, 2009 09:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annundrielThis evening I figured I could either bitch about people or post fanfiction. I normally don't like to complain too much, but there are certain things going on here that I think I need to just let go and write about.
So. Vent now. Fic later.
Last night I attended another city council meeting. This was actually the shortest council meeting I've been to so far, running just over an hour. (The shortest meeting ever, though, goes to the last school board meeting. Fifteen minutes! It takes me that long to drive there. I wasn't even gone from home for an hour. Out here, that's really nice.)
But the primary subject at the council meeting was upsetting. There have been a serious rash of burglaries the last couple of months in the town and the surrounding areas. A couple of weeks ago, they caught a couple of teenagers. (And recovered a lot of property, though they're having trouble getting it back to the owners as no one knows what brand of DVD/TV/camera/etc. they own.) They've been released, but even then the break-ins continued. Most of these are happening during the day - before noon generally - and they're not even checking to see if the doors are locked. They just kick in the doors and do what they like. One family at the meeting last night had their house destroyed. Whatever the burglars didn't take, they trashed.
It's terrifying. Whoever is doing this is someone who knows the area. They're watching people's houses and taking advantage when they leave. Sometimes breaking in while they're at home. Many people have looked out of the window to see someone suspicious looking back. And the worst part is that a majority of people have a pretty good idea about who's doing this. They're just too scared to say anything. If a neighbor sees something suspicious going on next door, they won't call it in because if they do, and these people find out, their house will just be hit that much harder.
It's frustrating and understandable and scary.
Plus, I will be on my own in the house in a couple of weeks. I will be jumpy.
And that's not me bitching or venting. I just needed to put that out there.
But now I'll bitch a little.
The usual secretary/financial director was not at last night's meeting. The other secretary was. I've never met her before, and after the meeting I approached her with a small clarifying question which she either did not understand or thought I was a moron for asking. Her attitude, which I was not impressed with, came off a little of both, leaning toward "who is this moron?" I hate that.
These meetings are all recorded. Usually, since she works in town and it would be pointless for me to make an extra trip, my mother picks up a zip drive with the recording on it. We have had no problems with this. Today, though, Mom went in and this other secretary says, "Oh, I haven't had time to do that today. She can come listen to it here. That's what [the editor] used to do." Which doesn't necessarily come off as annoying when you write it down, but judging from the way Mom relayed it to me, well. I like having a copy to listen to at home while I'm in the process of writing the article. And I may be young and fairly new at this, but I've received plenty of compliments from community members over the detail and clarity of these articles. I'm going to continue doing what works.
I can't wait for the other secretary to come back.
So what I'm going to do this week is use my notes and call it good. That's what I do with all of the other meetings I go to. And thankfully this was a shorter meeting without so much technobabble and legalese.
There may be other stuff, but I've lost momentum now. Probably for the best. On top of everything, though, last night I started really feeling the winter blahs. Today has been shaded by that feeling you get after you cry - physically and emotionally - except there has been no crying. It's not fun. But tomorrow I'm working in Mattawa tomorrow, so that should give me something tangibly productive to do.
I am not going to feel bad about using the "people:idiots" tag. Because they are. Even if they scare me.
So. Vent now. Fic later.
Last night I attended another city council meeting. This was actually the shortest council meeting I've been to so far, running just over an hour. (The shortest meeting ever, though, goes to the last school board meeting. Fifteen minutes! It takes me that long to drive there. I wasn't even gone from home for an hour. Out here, that's really nice.)
But the primary subject at the council meeting was upsetting. There have been a serious rash of burglaries the last couple of months in the town and the surrounding areas. A couple of weeks ago, they caught a couple of teenagers. (And recovered a lot of property, though they're having trouble getting it back to the owners as no one knows what brand of DVD/TV/camera/etc. they own.) They've been released, but even then the break-ins continued. Most of these are happening during the day - before noon generally - and they're not even checking to see if the doors are locked. They just kick in the doors and do what they like. One family at the meeting last night had their house destroyed. Whatever the burglars didn't take, they trashed.
It's terrifying. Whoever is doing this is someone who knows the area. They're watching people's houses and taking advantage when they leave. Sometimes breaking in while they're at home. Many people have looked out of the window to see someone suspicious looking back. And the worst part is that a majority of people have a pretty good idea about who's doing this. They're just too scared to say anything. If a neighbor sees something suspicious going on next door, they won't call it in because if they do, and these people find out, their house will just be hit that much harder.
It's frustrating and understandable and scary.
Plus, I will be on my own in the house in a couple of weeks. I will be jumpy.
And that's not me bitching or venting. I just needed to put that out there.
But now I'll bitch a little.
The usual secretary/financial director was not at last night's meeting. The other secretary was. I've never met her before, and after the meeting I approached her with a small clarifying question which she either did not understand or thought I was a moron for asking. Her attitude, which I was not impressed with, came off a little of both, leaning toward "who is this moron?" I hate that.
These meetings are all recorded. Usually, since she works in town and it would be pointless for me to make an extra trip, my mother picks up a zip drive with the recording on it. We have had no problems with this. Today, though, Mom went in and this other secretary says, "Oh, I haven't had time to do that today. She can come listen to it here. That's what [the editor] used to do." Which doesn't necessarily come off as annoying when you write it down, but judging from the way Mom relayed it to me, well. I like having a copy to listen to at home while I'm in the process of writing the article. And I may be young and fairly new at this, but I've received plenty of compliments from community members over the detail and clarity of these articles. I'm going to continue doing what works.
I can't wait for the other secretary to come back.
So what I'm going to do this week is use my notes and call it good. That's what I do with all of the other meetings I go to. And thankfully this was a shorter meeting without so much technobabble and legalese.
There may be other stuff, but I've lost momentum now. Probably for the best. On top of everything, though, last night I started really feeling the winter blahs. Today has been shaded by that feeling you get after you cry - physically and emotionally - except there has been no crying. It's not fun. But tomorrow I'm working in Mattawa tomorrow, so that should give me something tangibly productive to do.
I am not going to feel bad about using the "people:idiots" tag. Because they are. Even if they scare me.
