Dollars

Ah well… another day, another dollar.

But it was tough…

Right after lunch a constituent came in who is in the “difficult, and possibly risky” category. I have spoken to him twice before when he has phoned from prison, and he is quite open about having cheated the system when They tried to have him detained under the mental health laws.  

The way things turned out I had to deal with him today, which would have been fine except for the way colleagues responded - or didn’t (in that kind of situation the role of the colleague is to keep out of the discussion, be totally attentive without appearing to be, and be ready to phone the police if necessary).  

It took me about an hour to talk him down and get him out the door, including a lengthy call to the Lord Advocate’s office (he/she is the chief prosecutor in Scotland.) He did nothing remotely threatening, but as with many who have spent time inside, he can (and did) create an intimidating atmosphere quite subtly. 

Before all that I was at the library over lunch. I got a Blip and returned my books on time. Win-win.