i started working as “gym manager” (essentially running basketball and volleyball tournaments, set up and tear down equipment, work with game officials, deal with injuries, accidents, parents, etc) at my former school when i was 15 years old and got my first work permit. i worked that job until my early 30’s. during that time running the gym at a parochial school i dealt with more than my fair share of shitty parents with bad attitudes, loud mouths, and a failure to understand that 5th grade b team volleyball isn’t the fucking olympics.
throughout all of those years i never once raised my voice to a shitty parent; never once cursed; defintely never threatened to attack or injure someone, much less actually do it. do y’all know how entitled 40 - 60-something rich people are? how goddamn uppity west austin sports parents can be? and yet it was my responsibility, at 15, at 30, on my best day, on my mentally ill worst day, to keep the peace, to be the adult, and to handle the situation in a calm manner, even when a rich, snobby, entitled parent is screaming across the gym at the scorer’s table about the score being wrong (it’s not), or getting in an official’s face over a call they disagree with, or because i asked their shitty kid to stop punting volleyballs all over the gym.
i just want to ask everyone here who is making excuses for these dipshit cops why they hold these LEO’s to a lower standard than the one i was held to while running sports games for 11 year old rich kids and their loudmouth, entitled parents? why should i, specifically me, even at the age of 15, be asked to/able to be more of a calm, rational adult at such a low stakes job, than the LEO’s who carry badges, guns, and nearly unfettered power over all of us? seriously. think about what you’re saying, what you’re trying to justify. you’re holding the most powerful people to the lowest standard. be better.