No good deed...

I looked at the schedule. Chief was off. Sergeant was off. Rookie was scheduled to be on, tonight, by himself.

On New Year's Eve.

Huh.

I checked the schedule again. Plenty of overlap between me and the guy that I relieve later in the week.

My family are out of town. I'm scheduled off, but I'm not doing anything tonight but watching instant downloads of Battlestar Gallactica on NetFlix.

I called my sergeant. "Hey, how about I come in at 2200, or so, and help out our rookie until about 0200, and I can just shave the time off my shifts later in the week?" 

I kind of thought that he would be tickled to have the extra body on, and figured that it might save him a butt-chewing from our chief, who comes off vacation next week.

"Yeah, okay. Just email me the hours you worked tonight, so we don't have you going into overtime," said my sergeant. "Oh, and hey! If you're going to be out there, be busy!"

Great.

So I guess I'll go see if I can find a drunk driver, here in a little bit. Please don't let it be you, or yours. Protect those that you care for.

And please have a happy new year, friends.