Was reading an interview of an officer who said an interesting thought. One of the things she actually likes about her job, "Being a peace officer, you experience crazy, abnormal behavior on a daily basis." It could easily read, "Being a dispatcher you experience crazy, abnormal behavior on a hourly basis."
Which, means to me, the abnormal behavior is our normal. How sad is that?
Think about it. Abnormal behavior is deviating from normal or acceptable behavior. Usually it entails in our world the breaking of a law, the committing of a crime. Acting out aggressions and anger in a destructive manner.
But those of us who work telephone land know that abnormal thinking, not just the behavior, is part of too many of our phone calls. Thus, abnormal thinking and behavior is really part of our norm.
And I wonder, how does it begin to twist our thinking? It is scary when you talk to some of these people and can actually follow their reasoning. Even when it is disjointed. And how we start labeling certain classification of people because of the minuscule contact of a certain group.
Don't think enough of us take time to remember that what we are seeing and hearing is abnormal. We become so acceptable of the behavior and thought we consider it normal to hear and see people behave and act out.
Is it any wonder officers and dispatchers burn out? That they drink too much? Or try to damper the inner conflicts with drugs? Thus, we start our own abnormal actions to find balance with what our work world considers normal.
What an ugly twisted mind game we play. And try to thrive and work through. And continue to try to help through normal channels in a world surrounded by abnormal thought and behavior.
