I'm Not Out To Get You! Please Understand That

One of the most annoying things that I've found about writing for TNH is that people are afraid of the media. They hear that I work for TNH and instantly think that I'm out to get them or make them look bad. Honestly, I'm not, so please calm down.

Of course this doesn't happen all too often, but when it does it frustrates me. When I had to call the police for the fake snowball fight mentioned in the blog post below, they were not all too willing to talk to me. They wouldn't even let me explain what I was calling about. The second I said that I was writing an article for TNH, one dispatcher interrupted me. "We don't talk to TNH!" she blurted out. I tried to explain, but she kept cutting me off before rudely hanging up. I only wanted to ask if they had records going back to the 70s. It was a simple yes or no question.

Another police station I called let me explain the situation, but said that there was an older woman I could talk to who would remember, but that she wasn't currently available. They gave me her name and I called back the next day. I asked for her and when she answered she quickly freaked out when she heard the word TNH. She began stammering that she couldn't talk to the media. She said she wasn't allowed to or she'd get in trouble. I asked her to please listen for a moment, but she just repeated that she couldn't talk to me. She then quickly transferred me to a police officer. It was really annoying to have to deal with.

When I called the first police station again, the dispatcher just transferred me to a police officer who she said could answer my question. The voicemail of Paul Dean picked up, who I and many other people know is out for a surgery and he has been for a little bit now. The dispatcher just transferred me to him because she knew he wasn't available. At that point I was getting angry and wished that someone would give me a second to explain myself.

I've learned from this that not everyone is going to be patient and understanding. I have to mention that I'm with the paper though, so it's hard to get them to listen sometimes. In the future though I might wait a bit longer to mention it, but at the same time that makes it seem like I'm trying to fool them. It's a hard situation and I guess I'll have to ask someone what to do before it happens again.