Jake’s Life

Well, the other day I was called into work to have a meeting about the situation a few months ago. I won’t go into detail about it in a public post, but it wasn’t good and included many bullshit allegations against me which have continued through the voices of one (two counting the lovestruck lackey) even up until a few weeks ago. We set the issue to “Dead” and went on, but mouths kept going and things evolved into other issues, other allegations which had no involvement in the original situation. There have been several attempts to close the book on this thing, but it kept getting brought up, other things were accused, and all of them determined to be the last straws that people felt they needed to grasp onto.

Anyway, I met with the person who was looking over all of the documentation and deciding disciplinary action. To make a long story short (it was a 4.5 hour meeting…on my day off at that) I was told every small policy–relating to the situation or not–that I have broken since I have been promoted to a supervisory position. Many were issues which are part of the “office culture” if you will, things that evolve and develop as time goes on finding that following the “pick your battles” philosophy goes are small taters. For example, technically at the end of our shift we are to clear out belongings from our patrol car to leave a vehicle ready to go for the next officer. I work several days per week in the same car as the only driver, so I usually leave my duty bag and seat organizer on the passenger seat. While this was in no way related to the investigation into the allegations, it was brought up.

As the meeting went on, I noticed a printed copy of several weeks worth of my blog in the file. I was itching for someone to bring something up about it because I have never used my employer’s name, other officer’s names, I always blur out my badge and vehicle decals in my photos, and have ever violated anyone’s privacy surrounding any incidents I have been involved in. Once the person reached that section in the file she told me that there were several things which originally caught her eye in my blog, but after re-reading it, looking at policy, and a little something called the First Amendment, that nothing would be done about that. She told me that a few entries included references to people who believed it was them and complained about it. Whether or not I was speaking about them, or they just have a guilty conscience, that’s not my problem and she agreed. Overall, as far as jakeslife.net goes, I don’t need to do anything differently (which I already knew). She even commended me as to how much I was already aware of the legality of blogging and the steps I had taken to protect privacy even before this issue came up.

All in all, it was a beneficial conversation on some levels, and bullshit on others. But…I know where she was coming from. She let me air my frustrations about the impact that these mouths have had on my work environment, causing it to be hostile according to EEOC standards, and my personal feelings about what went on. I won’t go into what was said after the meeting outside of the building, or the other things in the works, but all-in-all it was a positive experience in itself. And I got one more reader to my site!