Not sure if you are serious.

 

I believe he is...sadly in my life/work experience...it seems to be accurate.

 

Yeah, and what's a little lifelong PTSD when you can have a stable job in the civil sector! Nevermind the fact that budgets to federal government sectors not related to the military were gutted in years past, that most civil servants are overworked and vilified both by those they serve and people who have no idea what benefits they provide. Sure, enter the military and get your cushy government job for free.

Who knows, they might give you a free flight to Ukraine in the near future!

 

I know several people that conduct interviews and they've all told me that. Since PA in particular removed the civil service testing requirements a few years ago, "are you a veteran?" is one of the few remaining objective data points in the application process. Honestly, hiring in state government here has become really warped in the last decade or so. Sending entire departments/projects to India and virtually dismantling the civil service merit system opened the floodgates to more abuse than ever.

Slow down there buckaroo! Public sector jobs are some of the very few that offer any sort of pension plan these days. From the volume of hate that fixates on it, it must be a pretty damned valuable benefit. If it weren't, special interests wouldn't be constantly trying to steal or destroy them.

 

Just found out on Facebook that a dear friend/former coworker of mine from back in New Jersey (who I still kept in contact with there) just passed.  

 

Sorry to hear that I’ve lost a few former coworkers over the last couple years. Always makes me wish I done a better job keeping in touch with them.

 

Wow...the hits just keep on coming. A bit of back story to this one.

Last year, a few weeks into the new school year, my son was knocked off his bike by a bus. He was riding across a pedestrian crossing at a junction with his friends on the way to school, whilst the lights were green. Fortunately, my son saw the bus coming towards him and that the driver hadn't seen him as it came around the corner of the junction. So he tried to take avoiding action, and this is why he was knocked off his bike rather than being hit by the bus. He managed to jump clear as he went down, but his bike ended up being mangled under the bus.

He just had a few bangs and scraped and for that, I'm super thankful. But at the time, all I knew until I arrived on the scene was that my son had been in some sort of accident and that whilst he as a little banged up, he was ok, just a little bit in shock. I had no idea he'd been involved with an accident with a bus and when I saw the bus and the mangled bike; I was massively angry and in shock of what could have happened.

The bus driver first tried to claim that he saw the kids but they had crossed when the lights were red. Then he claimed that the kids were in the blind spot of the bus and there was no way he could have seen them/ But this was all BS because;

1. If the kids had a red light, then he would have had a red light on the corner. So he either ignored the red light or he was lying
2. My son and his friends were to the left hand side of the bus. That's not where the blind spot is. So he was either lying or he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings.

The bus driver has tried to contact us several times, largely I suspect on the advice of his lawyer and union rep. He apparently hasn't worked since the accident, as he keeps on having flashbacks and is too scared to drive a bus again. Personally, I've been of the view that this has been nothing but a ploy to try and lessen any sort of criminal & legal action against him. It would seem that I've been right about this.

We received a letter today from the state prosecutor stating that they wouldn't ben pursuing a prosecution, even though there was clear evidence that the bus driver was clearly in the wrong. We talked to the officers who were on the scene and handled the details of the case and the explanations went like this; the bus driver was clearly in the wrong. After examining his tachograph, he was clearly speeding around the corner trying to race the lights or keep to his schedule. He was either going to fast too see the kids on time, or he wasn't paying adequate attention to see the kids who would have been in front of him.

However, the prosecutor took into account the following. 1) our son was not badly hurt (but only because of his own actions). 2) The bus driver had suffered serious psychological issues from the accident and was unlikely to return to work. Prosecuting him would be seen as adding even more punishment on him and perhaps this was not a good use of resources.

What a load of BS! I'm not really that bothered about punishing the bus driver. My problem was the complete lack of driving standards from the driver who does this same route every day at the same time. He knows that there are kids on their bikes, going to school, and that he needs to be careful. There needs to be a legal case, from my view, so that the bus company (run by the town) makes its drivers aware of the issue, and that they train them adequately to maintain their driving standards, no matter how much pressure they are under with their schedule.

I also pointed out that the ONLY reason my son suffered minor scrapes and bumps was because of his actions. If he hadn't seen the bus or hadn't kept his cool and reacted as best he could, we would be having a very different discussion.

Don't get me wrong; I'm beyond thankful that my son is unhurt. But it could have completely different and my fear is that, given the lack of driving standards I've witnessed from various bus drivers over the years; this won't be something that is not resolved without some sort of legal fallout forcing them to do something about it. This will happen again, and the next time, the outcome will be a very bad one.

I guess I'm largely still angry about the incident itself. I was hugely angry on the day, and the driver had to barricade himself in his bus after I completely lost it and went for him. It's been a long time since I had felt a white-hot anger like that. It didn't matter that the Police were trying to stop me; I got them out of my way without a second thought and I'm extremely fortunate that they were understanding as to why I was so angry and shocked when I arrived at the scene. They defused the situation and reminded me that my son needed me right then, and to not see me being tazed & restrained.

I thought I had gotten over it, but after learning the decision of the prosecutor, I'm feeling that white-hot anger again. It's days like this that I regret not having a punch bag any more.

 

@ByteBack I know you said the state prosecutor doesn't plan on trying the case, but would it be possible to get a lawyer and go after him/the bus company through a civil suit? Might be something to look into when you've cooled off a little. I also can't really fault you for the way you were feeling and still feel about it. If something similar happened to either of my two kids I know that I'd have been fit to be tied as well. They may very well have had to taze me, to be honest. So you should be proud of yourself that you were able to think clearly enough at that moment to calm down.

 

I am going to cite a very good friend of mine who once said, "It takes someone truly special to be able to sit there all day, on the phones, talking to people while getting yelled at." You have to have a certain mindset and hearty mental state to be able to do that job long enough for it to be worth while monetarily. If not, you'll quickly realize why even at least half (if not more) of customer service agents who work for airlines (for example) are on strong anti-depressants when they weren't when they started.

Hell, of all the stories I have in my experience...I could make an Office Space 2 storyline.

Some Generals from my experience are some of the dumbest fucking people on earth. Hell for that matter, some lower ranking officers are worse. They're as incompetent as privates/trainees. How they have such degrees in education and a position in our military leading it...is beyond me. Not to say all officers are like that. I've had and served under damned good ones too. And as much as I can say, sometimes that "over bloated" budget doesn't get allocated to where they say it's supposed to go. And sometimes it's because of the afore mentioned incompetence and stupidity.

 

I had thought about that. But what would be the angle? What would be the aim? The personal damages were minimal, and my son has largely gotten through the incident unscathed. We managed to source a second-hand bike that was almost new to replace his damaged one that same day. When we offered to drive him to school for the next few days, he was adamant that he wanted to cycle to school and not let himself be scared by the incident. I suspect this was largely down to the new bike being rather cool and wanting to ride that.

It would be a lot of time and expense on our part for a personal case where the damages were limited. For it to be something that forces the bus company to make changes, it would have to be a larger class-action suit with a group of people who were involved in accidents with a bus. There was one child hit and killed by a bus a few of years back, but there was very little in the news about it. I suspect the town paid out handsomely for this and the family are bound by a legal agreement. The same goes for a couple of serious accidents where the buses totalled cars, injuring the occupants.

 

My parent buy me a really expensive and heavy duty umbrella. I use it the first time, I was amazed how it worked. I used it the second time, it breaks.

 

When I was 12 my parents bought me 3 watches plus a gift watch from my grandma, and I got two more that were free (a calculator watch and an LCD watch, both cheap quality). In the space of a few months I managed to lose them all one by one. One got lost on a trip to Los Angeles. I killed one washing the dishes. Another one just died and couldn't be resuscitated. The two cheapies died quick deaths as well - the watchbands broke and it wasn't worth trying to get them repaired. That left the heirloom watch from my grandparents and a calculator watch. The calculator watch went through the wash, and the heirloom watch got stolen out of my locker at school. (Yeah, I know, I'm a dumbass, but aren't we all at 12?)

Flash forward 18 years and my mom buys me another watch - figures I must be more responsible now. I had a job at the time working in a factory that made magazines and mailed them to Alaska and Hawaii. You may see where I'm going with this.... I was on the end of the line tossing magazine bundles into mailing bags and tagging them for transport. About half way through the shift... I realize my watch is gone... probably mailed to Alaska.

No one's ever bought me a watch since. Luckily cell phones have since been invented.

 

Life does indeed suck. I see now why some choose to leave it.

 

Just because life sucks now doesn't mean it will always suck. 23 years ago I was broke and homeless. Now I have a wife and a kid and a job I've held for 13 years. If you cut things short, you never get to see what might have been. I attempted suicide at 19. So glad I didn't succeed. There's a life that would never have existed if I had.

 

Good on you that you have such a great life.

 

Not my point. The point is you never know what life is going to bring you. While I can understand why people contemplate suicide, I still think it's a mistake. Possibly the worst mistake one can make.

 

I like to say giving up is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

This is coming from someone who had totally given up on life back in 2017, after my dad's tragic death, and cousin's suicide in 2016. Two dear friends dragged me from the abyss, and got me to live again.

 

You had 2 co-workers that you couldn't stand leave. That's as a win in my books.

I thought you were referring to escapism.

 

A win for work life yes. My own life, sick of it.