Buddy Love Us. But He, He Hate Us.

Buddy is a motor officer for the troopers. He love us. He comes by the station all of the time, we laugh and joke. His wife works for a large grocery chain. She gives Buddy all kinds of goodies that are near their "sell by" date, he brings them to us.  We gave Buddy the combo to the gate and to the back door, so he can come in any time he wants, whether we are in quarters or not. Buddy will do some of his paperwork in the station, use the head, or just come in to get out of the rain/heat/cold. 

Every once in a while, Buddy will pull an overnight O.T, then ride his regular shift. On those occasions, he might forgo lunch and take his "7" in one of our recliners. I have come back come a call and found Buddy sound asleep in a recliner, his duty rig on the floor next to the chair. After a short while, Buddy is refreshed, puts his duty rig back on and hits the street. I actually feel kind of good knowing he feels comfortable enough with us that he can let his guard down for a little while.  We have met Buddy's family, they stopped in once while he was in the house. His wife seems real nice, it's too early to tell with his daughter. They are all nice at 18 months old.

We have never met Buddy's beat partner. I asked him about it once. Buddy told me "watch out for him,. he hates you guys."

"Really?" I inquired,. "Why does he hate us, we're nice guys?"

"I don't know, but he futhermucks you guys all of the time and brags when he can give one of you a cite."

I know who this guy is. Although I have never had a problem with him, I know that he has cited some guys at the next station up the hill for some pretty B.S. stuff. He is not a friendly guy on scene (at least not to me) but I can deal with that. I just wanna know, why does he hate us so?

We maintain a good relationship with most of the troopers, though we might fuss a little over lane closure issues once in a while.We get along with most of the coppers that we deal with, although one of the P.D.s from a city that we protect tends to get pissed with us around election time. Something to do with candidate endorsements.

I may ask him someday, if I get the chance. It will likely be a total waste of time, he will probably deny the issue even exists. Of course, he may actually tell me. Although my question would be answered, my reply to his statement might not be appropriate and then we could have an even bigger issue. Who needs that?

If I had to guess, I would say that the underlying cause of his displeasure is the different nature of our jobs and the public's perception of them. People tend to be happy to see us, not so with our brothers in blue. People tend to be honest with us, EVERYBODY lies to the Po-Po. We tend to have a better schedule, get more overtime and rarely get shot at. He just might believe that everyone loves us and that most people hate them.

Or, maybe the Evil Medic used to date his wife.

Regardless, I hope this thing doesn't get out of hand, no one needs conflict. It's bad for business.

Thanks for reading,
Schmoe