I Really Like My Free-Lance Job, Except for Franklin County

I'm not sure if I had said this before but I do some free-lance work for a mortgage company. I collect statistical information from mortgages and deeds and upload them to my boss. I do have a boss, but as long as I meet my deadlines (or tell them to extend my deadlines when needed), she dosent care when I work or in what order. I usually work on Fridays since Jay usually has Fridays off. He works 10 hour shifts during the week so they dont work on Fridays unless they are on overtime. This not only gives him some much welcome one-on-one time with the kids, it also gives me a break. And I ABSOLUTELY LOVE data entry work.



Anyway all of my work is done at the county clerks offices, which are normally located in the court house. I service 11 counties in my area. They range from 12 miles to 100 miles away from my house. Most are your run of the mill county courthouses. They all have security at the front door, but I'm in and out so much that they all know me by name, and most of my family by name as well. Some of these police officers I have actually went to school with, or many of them know my parents or grandparents. Since I have been doing this for awhile everyone knows that I'm deaf and they are usually good about facing me when speaking and talk clearly. I usually have absolutely no problem going thru security. They look thru my purse and my backpack that I carry my computer in while usually me and the sheriff's officer joke and catch up on what's goin on with each others families. This is the norm, EXCEPT when I go to Franklin County Illinois. This isn't a county court house this is a federal court house. Why they don't have the county offices in a separate building from the federal court house is beyond me. Anyway, that particular security guard and I DO NOT work well together.



Now my parents taught me from a very young age about respect. Respect your elders and all who are in authority. Even if you do not agree with them, they at least deserve a certain amount of respect. Answer yes sir/no sir, don't sass, and watch your mouth kinda thing. They AT LEAST deserve this amount of respect. Also when it comes to authority figures, law enforcement and fire fighters, have an additional rule. Never joke around UNLESS number one you actually personally know the person and number two they KNOW that you are joking around. And I totally agree with this teaching.



Well,,,,,one day I forgot this lesson and I pay for it every time I go to work in Benton. Ok, the way the downtown of Benton is set up the courthouse sits in the middle and the road around it is in a circle. Off of this circle there are 6 different roads that go in different directions all around the circle. NO ONE HAS A STOP SIGN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And no one, including semi trucks, stops. And on top of that all of the intersections are blind corners, you literally cannot see what is coming till it is almost to late. This dosen't seem to bother anyone else cause they are all doing this a breakneck speed. So one day I was running late, almost got hit twice on the circle, and I forgot that I cannot bring my txt phone into this particular court house. So I go thru the metal dector, and it always goes off because of my computer. So like always they search thru my stuff. This is normal and I'm use to this. Well this particular security guard must have been having a bad day and promptly said "do you know the concept of no cell phones?" I totally forgot whom I was addressing and without thinking I said "do you know the concept of placing stop signs when 2 roads intersect?" Needless to say, this is not my favorite court house to visit.



With all this said most of my other counties know that I now have cochlear implants and that I cannot go thru the metal dectors. They are fine with this as long as they can still search my belongings when I come in, which is not a problem for me. Well since I'm not as close to this security guard as I am the others, I forgot to tell her that I can no longer go thru the metal dector. And guess which county is due Friday. I think that since I have an appointment with my audiologist in Champaign on Friday I will call my boss and have her extend the deadline on this county and just work in another county when I'm done with my appointment. But I know that I'm gonna hafta face this county soon.