Everything’s a Crisis; Everything’s an Emergency—Who’s in Control?

 by Kirk Palmer, Master Code Officer (GA), COSCI, COSS

“Speak when you are angry and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret.”

Ambrose Bierce, American Journalist and Civil War Veteran

Recently, I went out on a call and allowed my temper to get the best of me. In those few minutes, I forgot all of the verbal judo I had ever known and reverted to the ol’ “Bull in a China Shop” mode. You’d think after twenty-eight plus years, I’d know better, but on this day, I’ll admit: I blew it. The ironic thing is that the guy I “blew it” on was not the reason I lost my temper, and truthfully, he really didn’t do anything. I was allowing a situation with another person to control my behavior, and to be frank, that’s dangerous. Rather than de-escalating the situation, I was escalating it and hoping this guy would “do something”, so I would be justified in “ringing his jaws” as my grandmother use to say.  Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and the issue was resolved without further spectacle. Later, I apologized to the guy and everything was good. As my grandfather use to say: “there’s a lesson in here somewhere…”

What did I do wrong and where was the danger?

Allow me to start from the beginning. The whole week, my boss and I had been dealing with the self-proclaimed spokesperson for the neighborhood in question. She had initially complained about a resident having “junk in the yard.” Upon investigation, the “junk” turned out to be twenty plus scrap tires, which the resident promptly disposed of, and the case was closed. The complainant was not happy with my response because she felt there were other issues (not against code) and I had ignored them. She then called the district commissioner and told him, “She had reported an issue, and we had told her, ‘we ain’t going to do anything about it’.” Needless to say, the commissioner fired off a nastygram to my boss and me, and we had to explain ourselves. That didn’t set well with me; did I mention I despise “Karens”?

 

  

Two days later, the complainant came out of hibernation and reported that the owner was “moving a mobile home onto the property without a permit.” She added, “If I don’t see the code officer out here in ten minutes, I’m calling the commissioner and county manager!” I quickly confirmed no permit had been pulled for a mobile home relocation and headed to the location—angry, and I’m sad to say—looking for a fight. It was then that the scene mentioned in the opening paragraph played out.

Again, I ask: What did I do wrong, and where was the danger?  To begin with, I allowed someone else’s behavior to control my behavior. In doing so, I had decided that someone was going to pay for the complainant’s impertinence one way or another. To put it bluntly, I had lost control of my emotions and projected that anger on the guys moving the mobile home. After calming down, I found out the movers had consulted with planning but had been given erroneous information. Time to eat, Crow... As code enforcement professionals, we deal with people “under the influence” nearly every day. I’m not necessarily talking about drugs and alcohol; I’m talking about anger, frustration, fear, impatience, apathy, defensiveness, and anxiety. For some citizens (complainants), like the one mentioned above, everything is an emergency; everything is a crisis that must be dealt with now!

Where was the danger? My loss of control had put me in a situation where I was ready to “throw down” with four guys, one in particular. Nothing good would have happened if I hadn’t stepped back and reevaluated the situation. I could have been hurt; they could have been hurt; all of us could have been hurt; I could have been sued; I could have gotten the county sued; ad nauseam—you get the picture. The lesson is simple: keep your emotions and ego in check. We’re professionals and it’s just a job – nothing personal (although it feels that way sometimes). Think before you act or you’re liable to make the best speech you’ll ever regret. Practice Verbal Judo and dispense with the Verbal Karate! Until next time, stay alert and don’t get hurt!

 

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About the author: Kirk Palmer, COSCI is a Master Code Officer (GA) with 28 years of public safety experience. He is currently the Senior Code Official for White County, Georgia. In addition, he is an Officer Safety Instructor for the Georgia Association of Code Enforcement Officials (GACE), specializing in Extremist Groups and Gangs.