I was riding with my latest trainee last night--and thank everything that he actually does have experience so I can sit back a bit and relax--and a Pearl Jam song came on the radio. I usually listen to the alternative/modern rock station during work; their playlist usually includes groups like Staind, Fuel, Saliva, Metallica, Rob Zombie, Nickelback, Creed... you get the idea. Well, the Pearl Jam song came on and he said, "Hey, that's some old school music!" I looked at the young man (he is a mere 23) and said, "Pearl Jam is not old school. STYX is old school. Paradise Theater!"

"Paradise who?"

I swear, at first I thought he was joking. "Tell me you've heard of STYX!"
"Ummm... nope."
"Journey?"
"Nope."
"Foreigner?"
"Nope."
"REO Speedwagon?"
"Doesn't ring a bell."
"Air Supply?"
"Nope."
"Queen??" I was growing depserate.
"Oh, yeah, I've heard of Queen!"

I grow old... I grow old...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Last night was the night for people to come up to me and say, "Do you remember me...?" Which always unnerves me slightly when I don't immediately remember them, because I wonder if I am supposed to remember them because I arrested them at some point, and do they now have some sort of revenge planned.

Fortunately, none last night were of the revenge variety. However it continues to amaze me that people can get annoyed if you do not instantly remember them and also remember every detail of the call where you encountered them. Do they have any idea how many people I encounter on any given shift? Sometimes they'll give me a helpful clue like, "Yeah, you came out when my car got broken into." Ummm... yeah... I only did one of those last year... NOT.

We were busy last night, but only because we were pretty shorthanded. Also our computer system is completely fucked up, thanks to an extremely unsuccessful upgrade to a new report writer/mobile data system. Used to be we could write reports on the laptops in our cars and then take the laptop back to the office at the end of the night and upload the reports to the server. (The advantage of this, of course, is that it enables us to spend more time patrolling and being visible in our assigned area.) The intended upgrade was supposed to make it so that we could upload reports straight from our cars utilizing the "new 'n improved" mobile data system. (We have radio modems in our cars so that we can run vehicle tags, DLs, and also receive dispatched traffic on our screen.) Well, Someone or Something fucked up because not only can we not upload from our cars, but now we are also unable to get onto the server from our laptops, which means that everyone has to go back to the office and type reports at the office and upload from the TWO computers there. There are 10-12 people on a shift on any given shift. On a reasonably busy shift it is not unheard of for each person to get anywhere from 2 to 4 reports during the shift. A simple report takes about 20 minutes to knock out, and anything involving an arrest can take about 45 minutes to get done properly. (And this is for someone who is a halfway competent typist.) The office is not centrally located, either. Did I mention we only have TWO computers at the office?

In other words, it's a major pain in the ass, and it doesn't look like it's going to be fixed until after the first of the year.