Originally posted by ladder13:
Originally posted by G-Mac:
Let's clarify a little bit further. Silvercorvette is a displaced New Yorker, living in South Carolina, that now bashes New York every chance he gets.
Frankly, it's getting old.
I earned every penny of my pension, and suffer ever day from the accumulation of bangs bumps and bruises I got while I was earning it. But I don’t regret it, I loved the job and would have stayed on past my 20 if injuries didn't force me to retire.
As far as money goes, the job was not about money, I started off making $7,000 a year. I worked all the holidays that were part of my schedule. When we had a day off on a weekday we couldn't go anywhere if we were scheduled for court. We were expected to stay home near a phone on our day off waiting for a call to appear in court. If we got the call we got paid for going to court on our day off, if we weren't called we were stuck at home on our day off without any compensation. So even the few days off weren't our own time. I worked shift work and changed my hours every week. Try working 8AM to 4PM one week 4PM to midnight the next week and Midnight to 8AM the next. and we didn't get much time between shifts to adjust. If we finished a midnight Friday we had to come back in midnight Sunday. 20 years of changing every week will really screw you up, there was a study done that links changing shifts to a shorter life expectancy. Probably the reason we get that pension is they don’t expect us to live long enough to collect it and if we do we won’t live long enough to collect much of it.
The reason I was able to buy a house in NY and sell it to buy a house in SC was I worked two jobs. Working two jobs probably didn't help my health either. So whatever I have here in SC was earned from working an extra job and I would gladly give back most of the pension I have if I could trade it to get my health back. I wouldn’t exactly call my situation living in comfort, my body is so mucked up that I have to deal with constant pain, I wouldn’t call that retiring in comfort. By the way I know a lot of cops that never lived long enough to collect a penny of that generous pension you speak of.
Some people look at others that have managed to acquire nice things and think it would be great to have those things, but what they don't consider is all the stuff the person had to go through to get it.
When I first started as a cop I couldn't believe they were paying me to do something I loved to do, it was a job I looked forward to going to, and even thought I got my share of getting banged up I accepted it as part of the job. I know Suffolk cops make a lot of money with a lot of benefits now but as I mentioned money wasn't the reason I became a cop I sure as heck could have made more money elsewhere and maybe I would not be so much of a physical wreck today.
I don't begrudge anyone on this forum that has been able to earn a good living because I know how much work it takes to earn it. But don't start counting the money in my wallet because I earned every penny of it.
The funny thing is even knowing the price I paid in the pain I suffer from every day, and the holiday gatherings I missed, parties I missed and failed relationships because some woman wouldn’t accept the fact that you couldn't be with them on Christmas or other important days, I would still do it all over again.
And even thought the cops today probably earn more than I can dream of, have more days off, don’t have to change hours every week, have better equipment (we didn’t have bullet resistance vests back when I started and in the summer time the cars weren't air conditioned, in the summer it got so hot we couldn't sit in the car, we would park under a tree open all 4 doors and stand outside the car for a few minutes to cool down) I don’t begrudge the new guys they because they earn it. But I don’t apologize for my pension because I earned it
PS I object to you calling me a legend in my mind, and being untruthful, personal attacks are not allowed
To say nothing of the generous NY State pension, which he wouldn't have gotten in SC(I know, I'm also getting a very nice NY pension). And you sell your "shack" up here and buy the Ponderosa in SC.
I don't begrudge anyone doing well, but don't trash the place that allowed you to retire in comfort.
