As the World Turns

When I was 18 and had just graduated from High School I got a job working at the police station in Calgary. I had grown up in a small town so this was a real eye opener for me. I worked in the Identification Section. This is where they fingerprint and take people accused of a crime mug shots. I was the receptionist. My job was to greet people sit them down and fill out their forms including asking the accused if they had any tattoos or abnormalities. This was in the early 1980’s and very few people had tattoos at that time. What was shocking to me was when people from my home town came in accused of shoplifting or drunk driving. They were really embarrassed to see me. One day a man came in who wanted to register his hands as lethal weapons. He would not take no as an answer. Another day after a women had been fingerprinted the fingerprint tech said to her “wash your hands and pull up a chair” she though he said “wash your hair” so she went to the sink and proceeded to wash her very long hair. It was one of those -40 days of course. I really loved that job but had to give it up after 5 years when I got married and moved back home.