Anyone who has ever worked this job knows you joke around a lot. Some call it a defense mechanism to all of the things you see and hear at work. That being said, there are certain things that I find funny that the regular person wouldn’t. It’s not that I’m uncaring. It’s just part of this job.
I’ve always joked saying the Heisman Trophy looks like a pedestrian right before a collision occurs. Since I can’t put the Heisman in the drawing I have to use a Stick Figure Guy.
Last night I was finishing up a report involving a pedestrian who was hit by a car. The pedestrians in my drawings are always stick figure guys with their hands in the up position. There’s no particular reason why their hands are in the up position. That’s just the way I’ve always done it.
When the drawing was done, I looked at the computer screen and I wondered what the stick figure guy would look like with his hands down. But in reality, what pedestrian has their hands down when a car is about to hit them.
The hands in the up position as the pedestrian says, “Oh shit” was more believable to me.
Then I thought about turning in the report with the hands in a different position, like one up and one down. I clicked on the hands and it reminded me of John Travolta in the movie Saturday Night Fever. A Bee Gees song from the movie flashed in my head as my stick figure guy’s arms assumed the disco position.
Of course, this was funny to me for no other reason that just because. I guess some things are funnier at 2AM.
After that I wondered what other ways I could draw the stick figure guy in my report. That’s when I came up with the last stick man with his legs and arms bent in different positions.
I actually laughed when I saw it. That stick figure guy was probably closer to what we see at collisions when people look like human pretzels. Maybe after almost 6,000 crashes I’ve become a little twisted. Like I said, I find humor in stuff the regular person wouldn’t.
Be safe out there and don’t become the stick figure guy in a drawing. Watch for cars when you cross the street.
We did accident drawings on paper reports using a plastic template with appropriate openings for cars, trucks, straight lines and curves. The curves never matched the actual scenes so seldom got used (I still have it in a box somewhere). And the stick figures we drew freehand. Some guys agonized over even that simple task. After a long and uneventful midnight shift I was dispatched to a no injury two car crash twenty minutes before shift change. A new record was set. Drivers interviewed, insurance information exchanged, citation issued, repot written (including the by hand drawing) and back to the station by shift change. Overtime was less important than a couple of early morning beers and bed.
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I still draw with the plastic template and pencil. That particular drawing had more work so I did it on the computer.There’s nothing like the good old pencil.
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This is nothing. I used to hang out with a bunch of morticians. We’re talking humor at a level that would make the most stalwart SNL actor cry.
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Haha. True. but I didn’t want my audience to run away if I told other stories.
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Depends on what audience you’re going for. Personally, I’d target the ones you get the biggest kick out of. Life is short.
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…sounds like a second blog opportunity to me… http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/016/925/498ed76be651cffb6bb9bac6a9bb75c3.png
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That’s awesome! I love dark humor (defense mechanism and to decompress). I just need to remember my audience. Citizens look at me like a mental patient of her meds if I’m not careful.
And EVERYTHING is hilarious at 0200. I find myself still giggling about unfunny stuff hours later. I tend to amuse myself only though. 😝
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Meant to read ‘OFF her meds’
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You had me laughing when I read this. You’re right. Everything is funny at 0200.
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