Saturday 16 May 2009

Christmas Come Early

I've been busy and am trying to add up the hours worked. I've clocked up a 22 hour day followed by a 19 hour day followed by 2 hours off before a recall off nights and another 12 hour shift later in the day. There's still more work to be done. Sleep has been a stranger to me and my body and mind are weak, hanging on in there.

I suppose I would be entitled to claim a host of expenses for extra meals and subsistence, but the coke and chocolate machine's don't give out receipts. They are also dearer than anywhere else I've seen. 65p for a can of drink, ridiculous! I've been living on shite when I've been able to grab some food. Thank God for the Golden Arches and The Colonel, you've sorted me out this week and kept me going. There was a green thing in my Big Mac meal, no five a day this week. Don't judge and tut when you see me trudging back from the fast food outlet, that's the only hot food I'm getting today. I won't fill out any expense claim forms, just like everybody else those are a thing of the past. I will swallow the expense myself - There is no charge to you and no paperwork for me - a fair trade.

Of course I've incurred overtime payments, but even then I've done a deal and have worked outside of police regulations, saving the job some cash. Half of the extra hours I've done go in tax anyway, but what's left will go towards a new bed for the little man, who is getting bigger. I furnish my own house at my expense through hard graft.

I don't have a second home or even the luxury of an office where I could get my head down, but I have benefited from the taxpayer funded cell as I never made it home one day. Should I declare this anywhere? Will others see the inside of a cell when they did better than me over the expenses thing? I doubt it.

It's not about the money, any extra I get usually goes on university fees anyway. Every year in December I raise a glass to those I've put away in jail. That's why I do it.

Christmas might be coming early this year.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know that we deserve people like you to look after us, but there's no doubt at all that I'm grateful for it.

McNoddy said...

All this and you guys down south even have to deal with Jacquie Scrooge's antics over non-deferred pay rises.

Officer Dibble said...

Crashing out in a cell is a sign of desperate exhaustion with nowhere to go!
I have slept curled up on locker room floors, under desks in a squad office,in a room set aside for returning lactating mothers but a cell...!
Fair play, but if your cell block smells like mine,that heady,humid mix of BO, piss and cheap disinfectant, then my hat goes off to you!

Stressed Out Cop said...

Noddy

I'd settle for the "no top fees" at present that up way north benefit from.

I'd die up there with all those deep fried Mars bars !!

Dibs

Crashing at 7am no good for the offices and the expressing room had one of those lock codes. We've got loads of cells and the crash pad was an overflow - actually rather calming - gaoler got a shock and actually locked me in on finding the door open.