Handicaptive

By Jeffrey C. Brown

Marc grew up with a hate of disabled parking privilege cheaters. Read and see how he dealt with them. There is intrigue and romance, sadness, and happiness. Most people who read this book will look at those who park in disabled parking spots differently, if they don't already.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9798985678710

Book preview

Handicaptive

Chapter I

Marc Hadley

Marc was so depressed about losing his dad at an early age that he just eked his way out of college with a degree in business. Marc would constantly sit in his lectures and daydream, or rather have day nightmares about his father constantly wheezing, his lungs always filled with the mucous that chronic cystic fibrosis brings. About taking care of his father, about reliving cleaning of his dad’s body functions, pushing his father’s wheelchair around and taking it in and out of the specially equipped van. All the things a young boy should not be doing instead of being outdoors playing and bonding with other children.

At twenty-four years old, Marc Hadley, Junior was five feet and ten inches tall, thin, and kind of lanky, with dark hair and horn-rimmed glasses. The black oxford shoes he wore were always polished and always had a party and invited his pants cuffs to come down to meet them because his pant legs were fashioned too short. Marc constantly dressed conservatively, ever since he was able to dress himself. His closet was filled with tan chinos and white long sleeve shirts. Marc considered it daring when his white shirt was short sleeved.

When Marc was a teenager with a new license and even more as an adult, he hated when he drove his dad around and all the disabled parking spaces were taken. Marc always had to park far from the entrances, whether it was at a mall, or the various places that his dad had to go to. Some people had disabled persons parking passes without obvious disabilities. Marc always hated when he saw what he thought were fully able-bodied people who he believed borrowed someone’s disabled pass or who hoodwinked their doctor into signing for one, when they had no obvious disability. It made him really angry. As far as Marc was concerned people were only entitled to disabled parking passes if they could not walk or had trouble walking. Marc would always call the local authorities, and they were always too busy to handle what they considered nuisance calls. His blood pressure would spike, and he would turn red with rage. Marc always wondered what disability the people had who parked in those spaces. His mind would race, and he wondered if there were not enough disabled parking spaces or if doctors were signing up, much too easily or frequently, people who did not really need the special parking permits. This thought was always in Marc’s mind, constantly torturing him like a scornful voice inside his head. Where does the universe end, and what is holding it up for support? Marc thought about things that could drive a person crazy, much too often as his mind spun and spun.

Marc had always taken immense pleasure out of sharing the occasional football or baseball game with his dad. Sometimes his mom had even joined them on those sojourns. Even at various sports arenas, there was a problem finding disabled parking spots. It was certainly one of Marc’s biggest frustrations.

Here come the voices again, he thought.

Having grown up as a loner, a mild touch of schizophrenia had led to Marc being so angry about misusing disabled parking that he heard voices about it. Just like a devil sitting on his shoulder, Marc tried to fight those voices at every turn.

Out of college, Marc floated around in a few local management jobs, like working for fast-food chains or self-storage conglomerates. He would constantly check the internet for New Jersey civil service jobs. One day he read an advertisement for a manager’s position with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) in Eatontown, New Jersey. Marc met all the requirements, customer service experience, education, etc. So, he applied. He sent in a résumé and a nice, detailed cover letter. Like most civil service jobs, the job advertisement stayed open for a few weeks, and then one day Marc was called to come in for an interview.

He was called in to the MVC headquarters in Trenton, New Jersey, to a white brick office building that was constructed in the sixties, that did not look so ominous to him.

He went up in the elevator and was politely greeted. He sat down, picked up a magazine to read, and he waited. After about twenty minutes, his name was called. Marc was introduced to an older African American woman named Melinda Peters who led him into her office and politely asked him to sit down. She started firing questions at him right away.

Why do you want to work for the MVC and what can you, specifically, bring to the role? asked Ms. Peters.

I am someone who can work to extremely high standards, can collaborate seamlessly with others, can carry out lots of tasks all at once, and I am also able to embrace and adapt to change as and when required. I believe that working for the MVC will allow me to fulfill my career ambitions, and I would look forward to spending many years within the agency, if I am successful at this interview today.

Are you skilled at implementing new systems?

I would definitely consider myself as open to change. I am quite good at implementing new systems and technologies.

Can you manage multiple people at once?

Yes, I am completely used to having multiple tasks with multiple people going on at once. At the start and end of each workday, I reassess everything I need to do. I tackle projects in the order of significance. This system works well for me.

Tell me about a time you had to collaborate with a challenging coworker.

When I worked for a chain of McDonalds restaurants, I was assigned to the short-term project of introducing a new product. Our job was to introduce the new pork barbecue sandwich. While I was excited about this new product, one of my workers was not. She complained about every step of the process. I asked to talk to her in private. I politely let her know that her poor attitude was bringing down the rest of the team. She revealed to me that she was Muslim and offended by the pork product. I offered to take over her portion of the project and let her do something else. Her attitude instantly improved, and we ended up having a successful campaign.

How would you help an underperforming colleague?

The first thing I would do is help them realize what areas they are struggling in. I find that a performance review is a great time to go over areas for improvement. I find that regular feedback and praise can help someone get motivated again.

How would you avoid conflicts of interest?

I would avoid these situations by always striving for what’s best for the agency and community rather than what’s best for me. I would also make sure to carefully follow any policies or regulations that my department has.

And so, the interview went on and on with the interviewer asking questions for another hour. Marc never let Melinda see him sweat, even though inside he was more nervous as a prize turkey was in November. He walked out though all proud with shoulders back, feeling like he aced the interview. He headed for the parking lot in downtown Trenton, New Jersey, behind MVC headquarters, and sure enough, the first thing he noticed was a perfectly healthy-looking woman energetically getting into her newer model Mercedes, parked, of course, in a disabled spot with a placard.

He was enraged but stayed cool outwardly and thought, I really hate when that happens. I would love to somehow punish these lazy people someday.

Marc headed for the gym. He had joined an upscale gym just before the pandemic but could not use his membership because restrictions closed them down for a long time. So, like everyone else stuck indoors, he got paunchy, gaining weight. The freshman fifteen had found his midsection. Now that restrictions were easing up and the gym reopened, he wanted to start to use his membership again.

When Marc parked his van, he noticed a muscular young guy parking his Corvette in a disabled parking spot, jumped out, and ran at a healthy pace into the gym. Upon going into the gym, he noticed the same guy already lifting heavy weights rapidly. The man was wearing a muscle T-shirt and black gym shorts, Marc didn’t see any visible reason this muscle man would qualify for a disabled parking placard for his vehicle. Marc, feeling bold, but trying hard to be coy, started using the machine next to the man and struck up a conversation,

It’s great to be back working out, isn’t it?

It sure is, the muscle-bound man said.

I noticed when you parked your ’Vette outside. Nice car. What year is it?

It is a rare 1994 C4 Corvette Grand Sport. My pride and joy.

Are you a disabled vet? I noticed the cavalry sticker on the back.

Yeah, I served in Kuwait during Desert Storm.

Thank you for your service, Marc said. He went on to say, It’s none of my business, but you look really healthy and fit. I noticed you had a disabled parking placard.

It’s okay that you asked. I really don’t mind telling the story. An IUD went off near me during a fierce battle in Desert Storm. I get tinnitus sometimes. My doctor signed off on a disabled parking form because I asked. The least I’m entitled to as a war veteran is some convenient parking, Mr. Universe said laughing.

Marc went silent and started pumping away furiously at his elliptical training machine. He was really disturbed that this middle-aged brawny man was taking advantage of parking spots that are really designated for physically disabled persons. Marc quickly got off the machine when he could hardly breathe anymore and exited the gym.

He had respect for the man being a veteran, but Marc felt the man was taking advantage of the fact that his disability did not stop him frow walking to the gym, and Marc saw it as taking away from someone who had his walking impaired. He took out the keys to his van, clutched one of the pointy brass keys tightly and thought about scratching the paint on the right side of the muscle man’s cherished Corvette, but having respect for the man’s veteran status, Marc just let the air out of one tire in order to be a nuisance without doing damage. Marc arranged to go to a different location of the same gym franchise from then on because he feared retribution if he wound up at that gym at the same time as the Corvette owner who might put two and two together.

Chapter II

A New Job

A month went by uneventfully, and Marc received a letter from the New Jersey MVC. He had been invited to an onboarding interview. He got the job! Marc called his mom and excitedly delivered the good news to her.

Mom, I got the dream job with the state that I applied for. Now if I keep busy and follow directions, I should be set for life. I know you are happy for me. Do you need your driver’s license renewed? Marc said happily joking.

Marc enjoyed his weekend, spending hours in his new gym, trying hard to get in shape for his onboarding interview. He was so proud of his new position, happy to have such a responsible, executive, civil service job, with health benefits and a pension.

Monday morning, Marc headed right over to Trenton and up to MVC headquarters. He met his trainer/mentor. A burly African American man, six feet tall, pushing sixty years old, and overweight around the middle, and wearing his pants below his big belly.

The man started by explaining, The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission is a government agency of the state of New Jersey. The equivalent of the department of motor vehicles in other states. It is responsible for titling, registering, and inspecting automobiles, and issuing driver’s licenses and driver license tests.

Marc was hired to head the Eatontown branch of the NJMVC. There were six regional offices of the MVC, and the MVC created six new offices during the pandemic in order to cut down the number of people and transactions each regional office had to deal with. The regional offices offered to request information regarding driving records, points for driving violations, and insurance surcharges. The Eatontown branch office also offered road tests and had inspection facilities. Running it was a huge responsibility for Marc and a hectic job, taking care of the many angry customers. Many customers were upset just because they had to be there, many got mad at themselves because they did not have the right paperwork and took it out on all the MVC employees. The main responsibility that Marc faced was cutting down the waiting time which made customers the angriest.

So, Marc dug in for the ongoing, onboarding process and learned what all of his responsibilities were going to be and how to handle those responsibilities. He went for weeks of intensive training classes and some firsthand experience practicing by shadowing the people at the regional MVC service center in Trenton, New Jersey.

Marc learned about all the forms that he would have to deal with when running his motor vehicle branch. He especially focused on learning every detail of the application and procedure for obtaining disabled parking placards and plates. He discussed with his trainer how those forms needed to be more stringent.

Marc said, I really think that doctors need to swear on the form under penalty of perjury, that their patient is disabled enough to warrant these plates and passes. The doctors and the patients should face some sort of consequences if they cheat or lie.

The trainer said, It will never happen. With HIPAA laws being what they are and the doctor’s lobby being so strong. We’ll never see consequences for lyin’ and cheatin’ on these disabled parking applications.

Marc took the speech with a grain of salt, while the symbolic steam quietly came out of his ears with anger.

Chapter III

Meet the Staff

A month of training went quickly as Marc absorbed every aspect of the job he would perform at his Eatontown branch. Then, it came time to unlock and open his branch for the first time. He stopped at Dunkin’ for a box of Joe and two dozen assorted donuts. He unlocked and opened the employee entrance enthusiastically, anxious to do so, ten minutes early. Marc introduced himself and greeted the employees one by one, as they entered the Eatontown branch.

Even though it was a going to be a busy, bustling branch and everyone needed the time to set themselves up at their stations, he called everyone together for the five minutes before the branch opened and said, "I need you all