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azzalea_gw

Do you Have to worry about your Husband

azzalea
14 years ago

when he goes to work? What kind of dangers does he encounter?

Mine is a cutman (utility bill collector). He spends part of the month in the most violent city in the country, asking people for money they probably don't have, and taking away something they see as a 'right' (their electric and/or gas) when they can't pay.

It's always been a worry to me to know he's wandering around such a dangerous area, carrying money--sometimes large sums--but these days things are so much worse. He's been attacked TWICE and had to call the police in the past week. And believe it or not, this didn't happen in the city, but in very well-off neighborhoods. Actually, those are often some of the most dangerous people. The perennially poor are used to the bill collectors turning up and doing their job, but the newly poor (or those who are experiencing new reverses of their economics) are often those who just don't know how to handle themselves.

One of the incidents he had this week, though, was in our own town. The customer was extremely threatening and lived only 1 block from a grocery store we go to frequently.

Just yesterday, a customer let her dog loose to attack one of the other collectors. He was hurt.

I know a lot of this is the result of the bad economy, but really, don't these folks realize that the collectors are just doing the work their bosses give them? that there's nothing whatsoever personal about it--unless the customer MAKES it personal themselves. My husband is the oldest man in his dept. Several years past retirement age, but he likes the job usually, and we certainly can use the money--who can't. But at this point, I'm really trying to convince him it's time to think about retiring and maybe looking for just a little parttime job to supplement his pension.

Maybe we could share some of our fears about our husbands and their work--won't keep them safer, but at least we'll know we're not alone worrying about them. I'm sure many of our spouses have jobs that involve danger in one form or another. (hey, and I didn't even mention the customers who offer to pay their bills with sex--that happens every now and then!)

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