24/7

Being a PI is really a 24/7 job.
You never know when trouble happens....or is about to.
Whether you're on a surveillance, running a background, or banging on doors to find a witness, serve a subpoena, whatever...
so much of it happens in dark places after dark.
And here in the Pacific Northwest corner of the US...
which we also call the Great Northwest because it is truly great to those who love storms and moss on the soles of our shoes...
the work is often done under gray skies, soaked streets, teeming rain or black ice.
This is a land of water, evergreens, rivers, mountains and farmlands.
WA State is big and vast and my work territory is all of it.

On TV, PI work seems so glamorous.
Truly NOT.
It's not glamorous to step over a pile of pee in the hallway of housing unit run by a slumlord.
It's no fun being  a blond woman approaching or passing a group of male gang-bangers.
And it's not my idea of good time knocking on a door that could be answered by a charging pitbull...
or sitting on seat that could have a hypodermic needle on it.
Or talking to someone twenty years younger than you who looks twenty years older because of the drugs they've injected. 
Fortunately, you spend enough time at this business and you learn just how to handle these things.
And you learn when to say No. So sorry. No can,  No will,  Don't wanna',  think I'll pass.
That's because PI's can say no.
Police can't.

When I am sent somewhere by an attorney, or on a case that takes me off a main road...
into the northwest wilderness...
and the road is all mud and gravel...
the trailers I pass show indications of drug manufacture...
the signs along the way say "Go Away"....
I tend to go away.
Because I can.
I don't back down often,  however, it is my choice whether to deal with something uber dangerous or not.
Police don't have that choice.
They are told where to go, when.
They know every call, every stop they make, could be their last.
Yet still, they go in...
and that's why so many police die.
Protecting us, from ourselves.

PI work gives PI's autonomy and independence police don't have.
When we are self employed, we can say to our employers that powerful word, "No."
And when we say no, the worst thing that happens is they send another investigator in.

Still, the job never leaves our heads.
I imagine the head part is similar to  being a cop.
Being a PI is not 9-5 and never will be unless you go to someone else's PI Agency and work for them. Even so, you will be working odd ours.

The hard part is getting it all out of our heads when it is time to go to that place called "home."
Police have staff psychologists, therapists, stress consults.
PI's have nada except other PI's.
Or blogs, lol,

Be careful out there today.
And if you are  inside, warm and safe count your blessings.
Alot of people  out there are physically, psychologically, emotionally and financially hurting.
This is a time for compassion not capitalism...
It's a season for consideration... for respecting those who need respect the most.
The fallen.

24/7.... even when I dream...  I have someone in my head who hurts.
Or needs help, advice, direction.
A real PI's life is not like a TV show or movie you step away from.
You are one with the force, be it good or bad,  all the time.