By CANDACE MIERS

clm049@latech.edu

 

Curse words flying, bank accounts dwindling and tempers flaring — all in a day’s work.

Though Tech ticket writers have been the object of student and faculty contempt over the years, they are just people trying to make a paycheck.

“I think we pay enough to the school already that [ticket writers] shouldn’t walk the parking lots every day making us pay extra money for parking somewhere,” Chris Doolittle, a sophomore business economics major, said.

Rachael Bowen, a former ticket writer and a sophomore biology major, said there were aspects of the job she did and did not like.

“I actually loved walking around the campus,” she said. “It was great exercise, and I got to see so many people.”

But it was when the walking ended and the writing began, Bowen said, which made work unpleasant.

“I absolutely hated writing tickets,” she said.

“I always felt guilty thinking of all the broke college students having to pay for parking fines on top of everything else.”

Bowen went on to describe more of the everyday run-ins as a ticket writer.

“It was ‘wonderful’ to have people come up to me and curse me for being a ticket writer,” she said. “It never was someone I was actually writing a ticket for, just anyone who saw me and felt like telling me what they thought of me [as a ticket writer].”

Students like Tyler Breed, a recipient of several tickets and a senior wildlife conservation major, said he has gotten close to telling the ticket writers what he thought.

“I don’t like [ticket writers] because they irritate me,” Breed said. “There are better things to do around campus than hide out in the bushes of Wyly Tower [of Learning] and wait for people to park in the wrong place.”

Breed said it is not only ticket writers hanging around that bothers him, but the fines are horrible as well.

“Besides, I don’t always have the money to pay the fines, so I get a hold on registering for classes and all because of something stupid like tickets.”

Ashley Wilkinson, a sophomore elementary education major, said while she hates tickets, there have to be rules on parking.

“I don’t like getting tickets or having to pay for them, but there has to be some way to enforce parking regulation on campus,” she said. “Without any kind of parking regulations, Tech’s campus would be chaotic.”

Bowen said tickets are definitely the worst part of the job, but working for the Tech Police Department was not bad at all.

“The ticket writers swapped out days working at A.E. Phillips [Laboratory School] crosswalk to help the children leaving school get across the street safely,” she said. “I always enjoyed seeing the sweet kids, and you can tell the parents really appreciated what you were doing. It was a very rewarding part of the job.”

Other parts of the job she was fond of was working with the officer, Bowen said.

“The police officers were super nice and helpful, and I absolutely love Lt. Craig because he was always more than understanding about my pressing schedule and knew I wasn’t making ticket writing a career,” she said.

Bowen said, for the most part, she enjoyed her time at the police station.

But, with http://facebook.com groups like “Anti-ticket Writer Association” with its 26 members and another anti-ticket writer group with 86 members, students like Doolittle and Breed are not alone in their disdain.

Breed said, “It sucks to get a ticket,; I bet a ticket writer wouldn’t want to pay one.”