Old and Boring

Last night I was self reflecting...UGH. Next month I will turn 37 and I was thinking back to when I was younger and had so much energy and so much FUN and was HAPPY!!! Now, that grace period from teenager to young adult has passed and I'm in full blown adulthood and it SUCKS. I have no desire to do ANYTHING. Nothing. I used to love baking and dancing and even exercising! Now, I think about doing those things and the following thoughts cross my mind: "Ugh." "Too much sweat involved." "The clean up is a bitch." I will be that old lady that is fat and lazy and has a permanent scowl on her face. I can feel it coming on already. And I'm more miserable than I am happy. Maybe I need to drink more.

$2,113.58

$2,113.58 That is an actual number reflecting my "income" from working at JC Penney for the year 2012. Yes. I work there very part time. However, nothing depresses me more than realizing that I wasted a ton of my year for $2,113.58. Would you accept a job that paid you $2,113.58 per year? That's $40 per week...before taxes. After taxes...$32 per week. Things I can do to make more than $32 per week: clip coupons, mow someone's lawn, shovel a driveway, wait on 1 table consisting of 6 adults and Denny's, cash in loose change, return used games to Best Buy, sell 3 scarves that took me a total of 4 hours to make, sell my blood, drive to NYS and return cans for recycling...do you see where I'm going with this. Most importantly...things I can do for more than $40 per week BEFORE taxes...WRITE ONE BAIL! One. Time to seriously consider the time I spend working for a company ranked as the most hated in the country that has done nothing but take away from their staff.

Sometime you look back and say, "DAMN! That was a close one!"

In my line of business you don't really get a full background of your clients. If you ran a full background check on every call, you'd never bail anyone out of jail. Now, we run our prospective clients on the New Jersey Dept. of Corrections website, but that only shows people within the last year. Sometimes we run a Google search and sometimes you're out of the office and get a call and just have to hope for the best. Last month I bailed a guy out in the middle of the night on a Contempt of Court charge from 3 years prior. He failed to make his time payments as set up by the court. His grandmother was the one bailing him out and told me repeatedly that he's a nice boy and has never really gotten into trouble. After 3 hours of waiting for him to get released and doing his Defendant paperwork he told me that he just got out of State Prison where he'd been for the last 3 years. Thus, the missed time payments. Well, all clients have to check in once a week whether it be on the phone or in person. Due to his small bail, he only had to call in. Its not unusual for first timers to forget they have to call in. So my co-worker called him to remind him. His father answered the phone and said that his son was back in jail in Passaic County. Standard procedure when a client is in custody again is to call the jail and get the details of the bail and the charges. So I called over to the County Jail to verify the bail. He's being held on $1 million Cash Only bail on charges of: Murder, Attempted Murder, Possession of a weapon, Unlawful possession of a weapon, Possession of a weapon-person not allowed to have a weapon (need I go on?) Yup. He's a good boy. He's never really gotten into trouble. Thanks Grandma! Fast Forward: $5,000 bail for possession of drugs. No history in the past year on NJ Dept of Corrections. Google search? Aggravated assault on his wife, kidnapping his daughter which led to a manhunt and, oh yeah, he and his friend shot a cop. Luckily, the officer didn't die!! So....DAMN! That was a close one!

Well, 2013...we seem to be off on the wrong foot!

Like most people I was ready and willing to embrace 2013 with open arms. In return, I have so far been greeted by a dirty armpit. It all started on New Year's Eve. What would normally be a 5.5-6 hour drive from visiting my family in Upstate New York turned into 9 hours of hell. Thankfully it wasn't a snowy day because, as I learned on the drive up in a snow storm, I don't have tires that are suitable for snow. The first 15 miles were me following my mother as she drove 57 MPH on the 65 MPH highway. We stopped for lunch to meet her friends were I listed to one of them bitch about my father and tell me how much I am like him. Obviously, I responded with a smile and a very, VERY proud "Thank you". I held back from saying, "Bless your heart!" 9 hours later, we are literally 4 miles from our exit and 5 miles from our house, my mother needs to stop for gas. What? WHY??!!!! NOW??????!!!!!!! At that point I lost it and left her in the dust. I arrived home to find a ton of food and awesome New Year's decorations and the house ready for our own little New Year's party! It was so great! We played games and did karaoke and watched the ball drop! I went to bed...and it all went down hill from there. I was on call New Year's Day and took a few calls. Set up a few bails and then my morals kicked in. I got a call on a big bail, but recognized the name. It was a previous call and it wasn't my bail technically. So I did the right thing as passed it on the agent it belonged to. The other two calls were set up for the following day with the premise of "Call me when you're ready and we'll set it all up for you." Wednesday morning: (ring ring) "Miss Tania. You're bail is here are you on your way in?" Ummmmm....WHAT? NO! I'm naked in the bathroom from just getting out of the shower! Shit. "I'll be right there." Insert every red light along the way, slow drivers, and literally, a little old lady crossing the road with a walker...as the light turns green. Well, I managed to get that bail taken care of with minimal issues. Of course, I forgot something in the van and had to go back out through security at the court house, then back in through security. Oh yeah, and I forgot to fill out how much the bail was on the bond. (Whoopsie.) I called my other bail that was set up but they had no mode of transportation and would call me back when they found a ride. (Fast forward two days and the guy has a NO BAIL detainer pop up out of Pennsylvania. Guess who's not getting out of jail anytime soon?) Now, for the past week and a half I have been working on a big bail. This has been a nightmare. Short version: I got into a disagreement with the Prosecutor after he insulted me and made me cry. Then find out the family is all a bunch of liars. We pull the plug on the bail and I get yelled at, again, by the defendant's uncle. I hung up on him. I've been trying to pay my car payment for a month now and the money won't draft from my account. They close my internet access to their website due to 3 insufficient funds. Ummmm. WHAT???? The money had been sitting there! Let me get this straight. You have my phone number, my email address and my physical address but you never once felt compelled to tell me that you are unable to draft my account due to an ERROR!!!!????? So, one late fee and $8.55 later, the money was wired to them and will be for the next 12 months because that is how long I am forbidden to make an online payment with them due to 3 unsuccessful attempts to draft my account. Oh! And I got the letter from them TODAY saying they can't draft my account due to an error. Yeah. Thanks. Got it. Glad I can pick up the phone and call you to discuss this cuz you sure as hell can't seem to do it for me! Now...let's talk about Bail Source Inquiries. A bail source inquiry is required for certain charges in the state of New Jersey. This means I have to fill out an 8 page form about the defendant, the co-signer for the bond and where the money came from to pay for the bond. In 2012 I have filled out probably 3. In 2013...I have filled out one already, my co-worker has filled out one already, I have another one to be done on Monday, and there's another one pending on another call. So you fill this out, the client signs it, then it gets delivered to the Prosecutor to review. Once it gets delivered, the Prosecutor has 72 BUSINESS HOURS to approve or deny it. If they deny it, you have to go to court for the approval and plead your case before the judge. So yesterday, due to the past 2 weeks of holidays and sentencing at the court house, I had to kindly tell 2 clients to "sit tight" for the weekend and maybe I can get you out on Monday. Like THAT'S something you want to hear. Did I mention the basement in the office is flooded? Again? So here I sit on a Saturday afternoon with the plumber. Wow, what a long post for only 4 days worth of activity! I'll try to KISS next time (Keep it simple, stupid).