Welcome to a new series on this here blog that no one reads, in which I will chronicle actual conversations that actually happen at my job which I shall proudly call: Conversations on The Job.
I don't want to brag or anything, but...I got ghetto cred.
I'm not proud of this.
I would much rather be a kept woman for some rich man, driving around in his Jaguar and wasting away my days getting my nails done, drinking champagne and complaining about poor people.
BUT NO EARTH, that is NOT my life...yet... (*side-eye* to any rich, jaguar driving, man who may be reading this blog whilst simultaneously looking for a lazy housewife...*wink wink*)
Sadly, my ghetto cred occurred by accident and I really couldn't help it. So I have decided to embrace it for what it is.
I drive a 13 year old Toyota Corolla-becauseI'm poor I have ghetto cred (not because i'm poor).
My car is missing a hubcap and has a large crack in the windshield that stretches from the driver's side to the passenger's side, makes a very loud banging/clanging noise when running, has a bumper sticker that says 'I "heart symbol" Shih Tzus' (if anyone knows how to insert heart symbols into blog posts hit me up in the comments section THANKS!) and it's pretty dented upbecause I've hit lots of stuff to increase my street cred...because I'm cool like that.
Ok fine. I hit shit. DEAL peeps.
I'm not even gonna try and pretend like I have an excuse for hitting things such as poor vision or ADD or texting and driving or something.
I don't need texting to make me a bad driver, NO MA'AM.
I am a horrible driver all on my lonesome thankyouverymuch.
Seriously, I would not drive with me if I were you.
No joke.
Though you may be inclined to assume that the following is an exaggeration, IT IS NOT.
I really do hit lots of stuff. My current car is the FIFTH car I've owned on account of how I hit REALLY BIG stuff with my previous four cars. I hit stuff A LOT.
Just off the top of my head I've hit some light poles (4), a few hedges (6), a tree (or 3), a tricycle (unoccupied), two minivans (both of which were parked at the time, 100% my fault), a coffee table (at a garage sale, put waaay too close to the curb, 100% not my fault), several sedans (moving targets therefore only 45% my fault), more curbs than I can count (who designs those things so close to the street anyways, wtf?!), a pigeon (natural selection), a fire hydrant (long story), two arm-chairs (at ONE garage sale, so that counts as the same accident), two racoons and one possum (all were already dead but I couldn't swerve in time to avoid the carcass), 12 orange cones (in the same day during the same 'defensive driving' course therefore they should all only count as ONE cone), a "One-Way" sign, a "Stop" sign, a roundabout planter, and one human male (this was more of a tap, but I was dating him at the time so that doesn't count anyways).
One time, back when I used to drive an ambulance for a living, I hit a fire engine with my ambulance (in addition to a list similar to the above which included several more light poles...for some reason light poles are harder to see in an ambulance than when in a Corolla). Ok, actually I a fire engine TWICE-actually two different fire engines one time a peice, but one of those times doesn't count because the fire engine was old and the crew didn't care that I put a "new" dent in it and also I may or may not have been sleeping with one of the firemen on said engine at the time which doesn't matter because the bottom line is that it wasn't "reported" and therefore it DOESN'T COUNT. I also hit a police cruiser with my ambulance once, but I was "dating" (or whatever) the police officer inside of said cruiser and he was cool with it so that doesn't count either).
I'm about to get real politically incorrect and probably contribute to some horrible negative stereotypes or something equally offensive in a hot second, so if you're easily offended you should just move along.
Go ahead, I'll wait.
Are all the pansies gone now?
Good.
The county where I work is the 7th largest county (of 58 counties total) in the state. It's a BIG space. Just like any big space, there are widely varying degrees of socioeconomic status depending upon which part of the county you're in.
At my work, our case loads are divided geographically, although "management" denies this. I put "management" in quotes because there is some question as to who exactly has any authority whatsoever at my workplace, not to mention concerns surrounding their emotional maturity, general ability to serve etc etc....NOT that there are any clear hiring standards at all-OBVIOUSLY peeps hired me so, DUB TEE EFF-but frankly, any moron looking at the case distribution would be able to see that, CLEARLY, there are geographical divisions to case load assignments.
For example, 2/3 of my clients live in a 48 square mile radius OF THE GHETTO in a county that encompasses 821.15 square miles total. A short hop-skip and jump over to someone a few cubicles over from me and you'll find that 75% of their client's also live in a similarly small radius OF THE NON-GHETTO.
The fallacy of "geographic parameters" aside, who gives a shit?
As far as I'm concerned, there is only ONE official delineation.
MY area of the county and EVERYWHERE ELSE I'D RATHER BE WORKING.
And just so we're clear, I'm not talking about RACE, I'm talking about crime and poverty which, for you racists, are two TOTALLY DIFFERENT things.
You see, it just so happens that my "catchment" area includes the neighborhoods that are make the news on the daily for someone being shot/mugged/robbed/kidnapped/raped and/or for some riot/1% rally/occupy movement that occurred and created mass panic and chaos.
And by "occupy movement", let me be clear that I am NOT referencing peaceful beatnik protests nor the original, passive "occupy movement" occupiers who literally "occupied" something by sitting there and mediating peacefully whilst displaying home-made posterboard signs that said something like "equality for ALL" over a rainbow with puppies on it.
No.
The "occupiers" in my neck of the woods are the mean, angry, jaded occupy movement-ers who break storefront windows with giant rocks and cause bodily injury to innocent bystanders as an expression of their rage occupiers, burning trash cans, setting off molotov cocktails, shooting AK-47's at the police, and rallying against "THE MAN" whilst simultaneously collecting tax-payer funded benefits and failing to see the irony in any of the above.
Our "occupy" movement-ers SCOFF at the other occupiers .
You're not a real movement if the National Guard doesn't get called out.
#BoomBitches.
Twice in the last year the mayor of my catchment area has ordered a "lockdown" and I had to BEAT IT out of town like my ass was on fire so as to avoid getting caught up in violent riots.
My point being that my catchment area is the straight-up, hide-YO-fancy-shit-ghetto.
Again, not for RACE you racists, for CRIME.
The bulk of my time is spent visiting my "clients" in their homes which are (mostly, see above) in the poorest, most crime-ridden neighborhoods in the county so my 13 year old , dented, hub-cap challenged, Corolla fits right in.
One time my car was in the shop and I had to borrow my dad's 2010 Kia.
I got all kinds of weird looks that day, and the two clients I visited were all like, "ooooo GIIIIIRRRRLLL, is thatcho caaarrrr?" and I had to be all, like, no dude...those my DAD's wheels yo.
It was awkward for all involved.
I don't want to brag or anything, but...I got ghetto cred.
I'm not proud of this.
I would much rather be a kept woman for some rich man, driving around in his Jaguar and wasting away my days getting my nails done, drinking champagne and complaining about poor people.
BUT NO EARTH, that is NOT my life...yet... (*side-eye* to any rich, jaguar driving, man who may be reading this blog whilst simultaneously looking for a lazy housewife...*wink wink*)
Sadly, my ghetto cred occurred by accident and I really couldn't help it. So I have decided to embrace it for what it is.
I drive a 13 year old Toyota Corolla-because
My car is missing a hubcap and has a large crack in the windshield that stretches from the driver's side to the passenger's side, makes a very loud banging/clanging noise when running, has a bumper sticker that says 'I "heart symbol" Shih Tzus' (if anyone knows how to insert heart symbols into blog posts hit me up in the comments section THANKS!) and it's pretty dented up
Ok fine. I hit shit. DEAL peeps.
I'm not even gonna try and pretend like I have an excuse for hitting things such as poor vision or ADD or texting and driving or something.
I don't need texting to make me a bad driver, NO MA'AM.
I am a horrible driver all on my lonesome thankyouverymuch.
Seriously, I would not drive with me if I were you.
No joke.
Though you may be inclined to assume that the following is an exaggeration, IT IS NOT.
I really do hit lots of stuff. My current car is the FIFTH car I've owned on account of how I hit REALLY BIG stuff with my previous four cars. I hit stuff A LOT.
Just off the top of my head I've hit some light poles (4), a few hedges (6), a tree (or 3), a tricycle (unoccupied), two minivans (both of which were parked at the time, 100% my fault), a coffee table (at a garage sale, put waaay too close to the curb, 100% not my fault), several sedans (moving targets therefore only 45% my fault), more curbs than I can count (who designs those things so close to the street anyways, wtf?!), a pigeon (natural selection), a fire hydrant (long story), two arm-chairs (at ONE garage sale, so that counts as the same accident), two racoons and one possum (all were already dead but I couldn't swerve in time to avoid the carcass), 12 orange cones (in the same day during the same 'defensive driving' course therefore they should all only count as ONE cone), a "One-Way" sign, a "Stop" sign, a roundabout planter, and one human male (this was more of a tap, but I was dating him at the time so that doesn't count anyways).
One time, back when I used to drive an ambulance for a living, I hit a fire engine with my ambulance (in addition to a list similar to the above which included several more light poles...for some reason light poles are harder to see in an ambulance than when in a Corolla). Ok, actually I a fire engine TWICE-actually two different fire engines one time a peice, but one of those times doesn't count because the fire engine was old and the crew didn't care that I put a "new" dent in it and also I may or may not have been sleeping with one of the firemen on said engine at the time which doesn't matter because the bottom line is that it wasn't "reported" and therefore it DOESN'T COUNT. I also hit a police cruiser with my ambulance once, but I was "dating" (or whatever) the police officer inside of said cruiser and he was cool with it so that doesn't count either).
I'm about to get real politically incorrect and probably contribute to some horrible negative stereotypes or something equally offensive in a hot second, so if you're easily offended you should just move along.
Go ahead, I'll wait.
Are all the pansies gone now?
Good.
The county where I work is the 7th largest county (of 58 counties total) in the state. It's a BIG space. Just like any big space, there are widely varying degrees of socioeconomic status depending upon which part of the county you're in.
At my work, our case loads are divided geographically, although "management" denies this. I put "management" in quotes because there is some question as to who exactly has any authority whatsoever at my workplace, not to mention concerns surrounding their emotional maturity, general ability to serve etc etc....NOT that there are any clear hiring standards at all-OBVIOUSLY peeps hired me so, DUB TEE EFF-but frankly, any moron looking at the case distribution would be able to see that, CLEARLY, there are geographical divisions to case load assignments.
For example, 2/3 of my clients live in a 48 square mile radius OF THE GHETTO in a county that encompasses 821.15 square miles total. A short hop-skip and jump over to someone a few cubicles over from me and you'll find that 75% of their client's also live in a similarly small radius OF THE NON-GHETTO.
The fallacy of "geographic parameters" aside, who gives a shit?
As far as I'm concerned, there is only ONE official delineation.
MY area of the county and EVERYWHERE ELSE I'D RATHER BE WORKING.
And just so we're clear, I'm not talking about RACE, I'm talking about crime and poverty which, for you racists, are two TOTALLY DIFFERENT things.
You see, it just so happens that my "catchment" area includes the neighborhoods that are make the news on the daily for someone being shot/mugged/robbed/kidnapped/raped and/or for some riot/1% rally/occupy movement that occurred and created mass panic and chaos.
And by "occupy movement", let me be clear that I am NOT referencing peaceful beatnik protests nor the original, passive "occupy movement" occupiers who literally "occupied" something by sitting there and mediating peacefully whilst displaying home-made posterboard signs that said something like "equality for ALL" over a rainbow with puppies on it.
No.
The "occupiers" in my neck of the woods are the mean, angry, jaded occupy movement-ers who break storefront windows with giant rocks and cause bodily injury to innocent bystanders as an expression of their rage occupiers, burning trash cans, setting off molotov cocktails, shooting AK-47's at the police, and rallying against "THE MAN" whilst simultaneously collecting tax-payer funded benefits and failing to see the irony in any of the above.
Our "occupy" movement-ers SCOFF at the other occupiers .
You're not a real movement if the National Guard doesn't get called out.
#BoomBitches.
Twice in the last year the mayor of my catchment area has ordered a "lockdown" and I had to BEAT IT out of town like my ass was on fire so as to avoid getting caught up in violent riots.
My point being that my catchment area is the straight-up, hide-YO-fancy-shit-ghetto.
Again, not for RACE you racists, for CRIME.
The bulk of my time is spent visiting my "clients" in their homes which are (mostly, see above) in the poorest, most crime-ridden neighborhoods in the county so my 13 year old , dented, hub-cap challenged, Corolla fits right in.
One time my car was in the shop and I had to borrow my dad's 2010 Kia.
I got all kinds of weird looks that day, and the two clients I visited were all like, "ooooo GIIIIIRRRRLLL, is thatcho caaarrrr?" and I had to be all, like, no dude...those my DAD's wheels yo.
It was awkward for all involved.
Don't get me wrong. There are those afternoons where, ghetto cred or not, I feel embarrassed and know I need a new car because small school children flinch and duck for cover as I approach. ...
Sorry kids, can't hear the noise over my Li'l Wayne mix tape...
Wait, WHAT?!?!
Tape decks aren't standard anymore? DAMMIT.
But most of the time, having a car that looks like mine does works in my favor.
Recently, I visited one of my clients and he insisted on walking me to my car. And, while we were in a particularly bad neighborhood, I was a little bewildered because a client offering to walk me to my car does not happen neverever and, coming from this particular client, it at first* seemed very out of character.
*I say "at first" because this is a client I am actually a little afraid of on account of how, not only is he a REALLY violent felon who has spent most his life in prison, but on the occasion of our first meeting, he casually described how he "beat the shit" out of someone using a baseball bat on the way to said meeting because this random individual "was having words" with "a lady" which my client found to be so inappropriate he felt it reasonable to indulge in a homicidal rage using a baseball bat. But then I realized, that was my client demonstrating CHIVALRY (though in a violent, felonious way), and I felt less afraid of him walking me to my car. THE END.
Upon arriving at my 13 year old, dented, hubcap-missing, shih-Tzu loving Corolla the client kept walking.
Me: Oh, hey Bob this is me. (I said gesturing to my car).
Client: (incredulously) This?
Me: Yeah.
Client: This yo ride?
Me: Yup.
Client: (staring at me incredulously)
Me: What?
Client: I thought you drove a Range Rover.
Me: A what?
Bob: You know, one of them fancy cars
Me: Nope
Bob: *staring at me incredulously*
Me: Bob, I don't even have a hubcap let alone a Range Rover.
Bob: Really?
Me: Nope. See? (gesturing to said hubcap-less tire)
Client: So...this yo ride? (more incredulous staring)
Me: Umm...yeah.
*LONG pause*
Bob: Aight...that's cool.
Bob seemed to accept this alternative reality, but I noticed he stood there on the sidewalk as I got into my car and drove several hundred feet to the end of the block with my clanging/banging dented, hubcap-less, shih-tzu loving car before making a U-turn heading back up the street toward the freeway.
Bob was waiting for me when I got back up to the corner of the block.
He stuck out his hand and waved.
I waved back.
And that's how I got Ghetto Cred, folks.
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