The Torture

I have been doing in-service training for the last few days, and have two more to go. There has been a few very bright spots, one yesterday, and three more of them were today: Instructors who know their shit, clarify shit, and get you excited about the shit.

Yesterday we started with some boring shit taught by someone enamored of the sound of their own voice. I detest it when an instructor adds unnecessary words to what has been covered by the students simply because they feel the need to re-affirm the fact that they are teaching the class.

It was mercifully over in a few hours and the next instructor took us into the CPR and other life-saving stuff. He has some videos meant to chill the blood and has the fantastic delivery method of the natural teacher with years of real world experience dealing with the subject matter.

Today we started with one of the best instructors I have ever had. He was one of the instructors for my academy class ten years ago. He was awesome then, and was again today.

He was followed by a guy who has always impressed me with his talent and intelligence. He was hired about the same time I was, and has done a lot since for the department, getting his law degree and then defending sometimes undeserving officers through innumerable pitchess motions. He kicked ass and took names, despite being ill and being challenged early on by a jackass also training with me.

Then we went to lunch.

We came back to no instructor. Instead we had a State-mandated and created video on racial profiling. This shit was about one hour and twenty minutes long. And that was seventy-five minutes longer than it needed to be.

After the fiftieth misuse of the English language by persons who should know better, I asked if someone would please hit fast forward. No luck. In the end I was literally banging my head against the table, begging for someone to put me out of my misery. It was especially painful given the luminaries teaching us this morning.

Eventually the next session started. Slowly the urge to vomit subsided... This instructor also knew his ass from a hole in the ground. Useful stuff, mercifully concise in delivery.

Next guy was purely interested in getting us all the information in the shortest possible time. Hamstrung by being placed last in the line-up, he still managed to communicate quite a bit to us.

Here's hoping the next two days contain less stupid, and are gooder. Much gooder.