The Angriest Rent-A-Cop in Saskatoon
10/17/2011
Generally I avoid offending law enforcement. Even mall cops. (Have you seen the flashlights they carry these days? They'll blind the crap out of you.)
However, the gentleman who picked me up at the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, airport to go duck hunting last week apparently does not share my policy. Initially I didn't suspect he had a rebellious bone in his body. In fact he exhibited great kindness, even pausing to chat with a sweet old lady who "looked tired and in need of a friend."
Therefore I wasn't surprised when we found a lost set of rental-car keys in the parking lot and he insisted on returning them. We drove back around to the terminal and he parked in the taxi lane near the rental car counters.
Almost immediately, an irate female Rent-A-Cop (is there a politically correct term for that?) emerged. Perhaps she could've inquired as to our intentions, or even politely asked us to move the vehicle. Instead she wailed hysterically, "You can't park here! You can't park here!" Unfazed, my ride walked into the terminal as if he didn't see her.
This sent the woman into a new level of anger. She screamed into her radio and flailed her arms and legs. She looked sort of like a kid trying to do jumping jacks who had the timing all wrong.
She began to write a traffic ticket just as her adversary returned. I'm sure she's seen many attempts to get out of tickets, but probably not this one: My ride calmly began to walk by the woman and, without making eye contact or breaking stride, he grabbed her pen, got in the truck and drove away.
As far as I know, he never received a ticket. Perhaps the woman was too embarrassed to tell her supervisor what happened. Can you imagine that conversation?
