Mad About You

Having a Job That Ticks Off Everybody Isn't as Bad as You Might Think

It's Labor Day weekend, so we paused to think about work. Then we started thinking about people whose work attracts the suspicion, dismissal or loathing of the general public.

The auditor: pickpocketing our hard-earned money.

The used-car salesman: passive-aggressive liar with a glinting Rolex.

The criminal defense attorney: slimeball in a suit, standing up for nefarious creatures.

The ballpark umpire: blind, deaf, clearly on the other team's payroll.

The parking enforcement officer: For the love of God, $40 for going two minutes over the meter?

Prejudiced generalizations, surely. Auditors and umpires are merely convenient targets for our personal frustrations. Car salesmen and defense attorneys are stock villains in pop culture, not necessarily bad guys in real life. And without parking enforcement, our streets would be jammed with scofflaws' cars.

Instead of appreciating our work today, we're going to appreciate their work and the nonsense they have to put up with by virtue of their titles.

Interviews by Dan Zak

The Parking Enforcement Officer

Cheryl Wilkins, 42, walks her beat like a regular cop. She knows the faces and cars of the people who live on N and O streets NW between 19th and 21st. Residents have invited her in for meals and turned to her to solve certain mysteries. She's all smiles, but she means business: She will ticket your car if you're one minute over the parking limit. Furious drivers have hurled every kind of invective at her, but the law's the law. Her job is to enforce it.

Wilkins, a mother of two who lives in Northeast Washington, has worked for the city's parking enforcement administration for nearly three years. She has developed a thick skin for both the weather and stormy attitudes. We spent an hour with her on a beautiful August morning to get closer to that heretofore faceless entity who leaves that nice pink slip under our wipers.

What tricks do people pull to avoid a ticket?