A student’s reaction to a Department of Public Safety officer depends on the situation.
But there is one situation, however, where students almost always react negatively to a person with a badge: when that person is holding a little yellow parking ticket envelope.
DPS Officer Frank Lewis, 26, said people try a variety of methods when attempting to fool officers and avoid getting tickets.
“Once, in the windshield, there was one of those numbers you put at the end of your table at a restaurant,” Lewis said. “Or they’ll put an old ticket envelope under their windshield wiper to try to make us think we’ve already been there.”
People take advantage of the fact that the one-day passes DPS sells requires the purchaser to indicate the day for which he or she is going to use it.
Lewis said he has seen cars with permits where the correct day is barely indicated. He said these people hope to keep them and use them again on another day.
In contrast to many people’s jobs, the duty of writing parking tickets is not for the thin-skinned. For these people, coming into work each morning carries with it the knowledge that they will, at some point, be called a name.
Maria Velazquez, a parking meter attendant for the city of Eugene, said she has been called a “parking Nazi,” among other things. Even though she said most people’s reaction to seeing her are negative, Velazquez calls it “a fun job.”
“I see a lot of my friends on my route,” she said. “And I’ve given them tickets before.”
Most people who check parking meters seem to have a pragmatic view of their jobs. DPS officer Thiago Valle, 23, is one of them. Valle’s philosophy is that “somebody has to do it.”
Because others’ view of his job is often negative, he said he hopes people remember two things about his role on campus: Checking parking meters is just one of his duties, and DPS officers are people, too.
Nearly every day, he helps students jump-start their cars or retrieve keys locked in the vehicle.
Valle looks forward to this aspect of the job because the gratitude he gets helps balance out the negativity.
Valle understands that much of the swearing and name-calling he experiences is more than likely just an expression of people’s daily frustrations.
He recalls one incident, however, which stands out in his memory.
“I gave this lady a ticket once, and she was upset at me,” he said. “As she was driving away, she said that she wished I had a really, really bad day. I felt like that crossed the line.”