Complaints.

Complaints.

Complaints are inevitable. I am probably involved in an average of 50 calls of service per week, whether dispatched to them or self initiated. That works out to roughly 2,500 calls per year. I'm human, have good and bad days, sleep well some nights, not so well other nights. Just like anyone, I have personal successes and personal struggles. The goal in terms of my work interactions after the number one priority of safety is to be consistent, courteous, and professional. 

I recently got a complaint. Maybe like many people and probably unlike many people, doing something wrong or feeling like I'm in trouble consumes me. 2,500 calls a year and a single complaint swallows my identity. A complaint in the business world is shielded by ego, not only the ego of the employee but of leadership and the business in general. In law enforcement a complaint is researched, dissected, and dealt with, thoroughly.  It's also completely documented in an officer's records. It's not fun.

Without getting into details. I was at the end of my shift after working a long week with overtime, lack of sleep, and dispatched as primary on a call with like a half hour before the end of my shift on my Friday. So, I was impatient and on edge before even arriving on scene. My fatigue blurred my self awareness and I was less than compassionate. A person was working at a store. A subject stole a couple drinks from the cooler and walked out of the store. The worker pursued the subject out of the store and confronted the subject. This is in an area where crime is dense in the city. 

I pointed out to the worker it was not worth risking his safety or life for any product in the store, especially drinks. The worker was understandably still worked up from his encounter and snapped at me for seemingly admonishing his loyalty to the store. I should have just apologized for making the comment about his safety but felt I needed to get into it with the worker to make certain he understood what I was saying. Dumb. As my supervisor lucidly pointed out later, I was attacking the worker's reality. The worker believed what he did was right and that is the truth to him. It's not my place to question what someone believes is truth. 

The sad part is I'm a compassionate person and typically put myself in others' shoes. But I failed at it that time.

Law enforcement is under such a microscope now that every word, movement, action, and detail is scrutinized. Some departments amplify the scrutiny internally to the point where employees are like dogs kicked for every misstep and rarely ever praised for doing something good, or just doing a good job regularly. Motivation by fear of being scrutinized. Obviously, there are leaders who are better than others, more enlightened. Even with my vast and varied life experiences, I am still learning quite a lot from those leaders. This complaint showed me how to recognize when I'm fatigued or simply not as sharp as normal and to think about my words before they get vocalized in those situations. 

I ended up going back to that store a few days later and apologized to the worker for being impatient with him and not showing more understanding.