Delayed, Scolded, and Enjoying it

Tonight was the weekly Friday night Sheepshead night at Fridleykins with Keem, DM, and Matt. Since the group always waits for me to get out of work, I always feel the need to make it to Fridleykins as quickly as possible.

You know Murphy's Law? The one that says if something bad can happen, it will? Well, sometimes I completely understand that law.

All week long, the bankers were off their calls at closing time and I could leave nice and quickly. Of course the night I have somewhere to go after closing time, a banker gets a call that goes past closing time. So I stick around, waiting for the call to be over before I can sign out of my computer and leave the building (to the dreadful cold outside). The banker finally ends the call and the last few remaining people in our call center get to leave.

I know I have to stop at the gas station before heading to Fridleykins and I'm already delayed. So I take off into the night, not concentrating on the rules of the road. I figure if I work the engine a little harder, the car will heat up quicker.

I turn down the road I take home EVERY single night, I see the police car parked where it is EVERY single night and then look down at my speedometer. As I look, the lights come on and I was pulled over. I found it hard to believe a cop was actually pulling people over when it was -7 outside, but hey, he's got a quota to fill, right?

For the record, I was only going 7 miles an hour over the speed limit and it was a place where the limit just dropped from 40 to 35 miles an hour.

I pulled over to the side of the road (right next to the turn to my dad's street), put my hazards on, rolled the window all the way down, turned off the radio, and put my hands on the steering wheel so the policeman could see my hands. I have heard that the police are weary when performing routine traffic stops of drivers who may be carrying weapons in their vehicles. I don't want to cause undue worry for law enforcement, so I put my hands on the wheel where the officer can see them. This seems to put cops in a good mood.

The officer approaches my window and I get my first good look at him. He's HOT! He was actually incredibly nice and cute and I almost want to speed past him every night. I won't do this, but I kind of want to.

He has already run my plates and knows my name. He says, "Beth, do you know why I pulled you over?"

Of course I admit I was "going a little fast?" He laughs a bit. He asks for my license and then says, "Do you have a clean record?" I do and he did verify this fact. He also said, "I know the speed limit just dropped so remember the Mounds View side is a little bit lower." He asked me where I was coming from and I explained I just left work.

He took my license and ran it in his computer. Then he came back, gave me my license, told me to drive safely, and then ran back to his squad car to take off after the car that just passed by a lot more quickly than I had driven down that stretch of road. He didn't give me a ticket.

I think I'm in love. (I am so kidding, but he is pretty cute.)

3 Comments:

At 9:33 AM, Rev thought...

~so I put my hands on the wheel where the officer can see them. This seems to put cops in a good mood.

~"Do you have a clean record?" I do and he did verify this fact.

So...do you get pulled over on a regular basis? (knowing that putting your hands on the wheel makes cops happy)...and then get off the hook with no ticket? (having a clean record)

Maybe I'm reading too much into this.

At 1:56 PM, brooksba thought...

Hi Rev,

I've been pulled over 5 times in my life (including last night). Once was for a curfew check (I was old enough), once was an actual speeding ticket when I was much younger (speed trap, oh well, and it's off my record now), once was because the cops got a call about a blue car leaving a bar next to the pool hall I had just been at (profiling here), once for not speeding but not moving over lanes (because there was a car in the other lane and it was icy), and last night. The hands on the steering wheel thing is actually something someone told me during my pool hall days. He used to get pulled over quite a bit.

Hope that answers the question.

Beth

At 12:10 PM, CarpeDM thought...

Yep. Beth and her life of crime. You're such a rebel.

Mmm. Hot cop. Mirrored sunglasses. Uniform.

Yeah, I'm having a moment.

Hey, at least I didn't bring up handcuffs!