is to find out which laws, state or federal that govern your career field and get familiar with them.
As a sailor the most common law enforcement body I came in contact with in my career was the Coast Guard. They enforced the federal Code of Regulations (CFRs) pertaining to the shipping industry.
Knowing the rules and following them can keep you out of trouble.
Occasionally you are going to come to a conflict with your employer, a customer or an outside contractor.
Office conflicts are usually small in nature. For example someone may call you and ask you why you have not been answering your phone for the past two hours. My answer was generally "Because I was where I waas supposed to be. I was on deck."
Then he asked why my second didn't answer it and I said, "Because he was where he was supposed to be. He was asleep because he's been up all night."
Something like that generally ends it. There's not much anyone can say because you are in compliance with the rules.
I once had a dispatcher that complained to my port captain about not having the phone answered immediately 24/7. The port captain, who knew my style, told him that when we are loading and pumping we are usually on deck because that's where we are supposed to be. "You want them on deck during critical times." he said.
Another time I had a pretty good run-in with some middle management type at a customer's dock. He wanted to board us while I was topping off the last tank. The CFR clearly says I am supposed to pay undivided attention to that operation. I politely said i was topping off a tank and he shot back he didn't care what I was doing and he wanted to come aboard now. The dockman was standing close to him. I pointed at him and said in a commanding voice, "Stop pumping immediately and bloc me in!"
The dockman pushed the greeen button turning it red and walked over to the manifold and shut it. I walked over to my manifold and shut it.
Then I returned, lowered him a ladder and he came aboard demanding to know why I had shut the operation down.
"Because according to the federal code of regulations I am supposed to give my undivided attention to topping off. Undivided means undivided. I can't do two things at once. I have a copy in the office if you don't believe me. Why are you up here? What is it you want to know?"
"When you are going to be finished," he said, somewhat sadly.
"We would be finished right now if you had not interupted us," I replied.
"Well, finish up!" he snapped.
"As soon as you clear my deck," I replied. "You can wait in my office or go ashore. Your choice."
He went ashore, the job was finished and he came on board with the dockman. He had some dumb questions and said something about me questioning his authority.
"Mister, out here we play by the rules. You want us to play by the rules. Because if we do there are no headaches. Had I left my post and we had a spill both of our companies would go under the microscope and you can bet your boots I would have personally dragged you into it. The Coast Guard would have a field day and most likely you would have been answering a few questions in court." I said, confidently. I was confident because I knew the regulations and was in compliance with them.
His face clearly showed me he was stunned. The dockman next to him was supressing a smirk. He went ashore quietly, the dockman followed.
I reached for the phone and called my port captain and told him what happened. "I got this," he said. I went out on deck called the dockman and we finished up.
Then the dockman, the inspector who had arrived and had steered clear of things sat down and completed he paperwork.
Later my port captain told me he never got a call from him which surprised both of us. Then again, when you play by the rules you have a lot fewer problems.
The Coast Guard is the regulatory agency I dealt with and they were actually pretty good. There were times they were actually your friend even though they were feared by a lot of the guys.
The nonunion company I worked for the past 20 years was pretty good. The first company I worked for would throw an employee to the wolves to save 29 cents. They talked a good game but considered their employees to be rented arms and legs.
I had an incident where the first company I worked for wanted to throw me to the wolves. A pipe had burst and made a mess. The dock panicked and called the Coasties who arrived and in about ten minutes after their arrival declared me to have done nothing wrong and put the blame where it belonged. It was faulty maintenance by the company.
The leading petty officer, a Chief, quietly advised me to make copies of the maintenance records for my file. I did and quietly replaced the originals with the copies and took them home in case something came up.
When the company legal team arrived they took the maintenance records with them. Later when some pogue in the office tried to blame me I pointed out that I had been exhonorated on the spot by the Coast Guard and I had copies of the records to prove it. He turned ashen and I never heard about the incident again.
Actually my experience in dealing with the Coasties is the first thing I do is look at the rank. You do not want to be dealing with a new ensign or a new third class petty officer with the ink not dried yet on his promotion orders.
If an officer is a full lieutenant he's generally going to me OK. Same holds for enlisted. You can generally relax if a chief petty officer shows up and if a warrant officer arrives on scene you're good to go, assuming you have done your job and played by the rules.
One of my favorite sea stories was a guy that got written up for installing a scupper plug improperly by a new third class petty officer.
He was given the option of paying a $450 (IIRC) fine and no criminal charge or going to court. The third class had been a jerk about it and my shipmate quietly lost his temper, formulated his battle plan and decided to go the whole mile and represent himself in court.
In court the petty officer claimed the plug had been installed improperly and my shipmate under cross examination asked him how he knew the plug was installed improperly. The Coastie said he had used the 'kick test'.
My shipmate asked to approach the bench and handed the judge his copy of the CFRs and asked him if it was current. It was.
Then he handed it to the Coastie and asked where it said anything about the 'kick test' in it. The Coastie started to stammer and stutter.
The Coastie said, "That's what we use..."
My shipmate said "You're supposed to use a flashlight."
Case dismissed.
That was a VERY rare incident. FWIW the Coasties in general don't do stupid like that hapless third class. They're very seldom chicken$hit. I wonder what happened to him after the incident. Coasties for the most part are pretty professional.
Still, the point is that if you go into a trade don't learn the tricks of the trade. Learn the trade.
Play by the rules and CYA.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this:
http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
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