Friendly Kingston Employees

I received a rather disturbing email from a Kingston resident:

I was on my way home from work at about 6 pm when I had to cross East Chester St. To get to my house. It is important to note that I live on a one-way street, so my house is only accessible by crossing East Chester Street. I came upon a number of DPW employees, completely blocking the street (the asst superintendents jeep was parked blocking the lane of traffic). Here is where it gets interesting. An employee walks up to my car after about 5 minutes of me sitting there and asks me where the hell I think I am going. I explained to him (politely) that I lived on the one way street and I needed to get to my house. He advised me that I would have to go around and drive up the street (yes, he told me to drive the wrong way on a one-way street). I told him I wasn't comfortable with that, and he told me sounds like "it's tough shit for you". It was then that I asked him if I could talk to a supervisor ( I figured there were one or five there since there were 10 employees on the corner watching the 2 pave, again did I mention it was 6 pm, my guess is we are paying all of these guys overtime.) This employee yells to his supervisor/foreman, "Hey Mike you wanna get over here and talk to this chic, the fucking bitch is cursing at me" (say what?!?!) I wasn't cursing at him.... anyway "Mike" comes over to talk to me telling me that he is going to "do me a favor" and let me get to my house tonight, but tomorrow through Wednesday, I will not be able to get to my house, and if they catch anyone driving over the pavement they will be charged to fix it.... When asked what we were supposed to do if we lived on the street, the explanation I got was either drive the wrong way up the street (?!?!?) or to find someplace else to park and walk home... I love this latest suggestion as I am 6 months pregnant and have a small child, I guess I am supposed to carry him home too from the arbitrary street that we parked on, instead of the city actually paving a main road in the city in small chunks so people can actually get to their homes.
I wonder how Mr. Mayor is going to like it when someone decides to follow the advice of the DPW employees and actually drives up the road and gets hit head-on. I am sure the taxpayers in the city are going to LOVE having to pay for that lawsuit...
UGH is all I can say... UGH...

Okay, it's one thing to block off someone's street. These things happen and residents need to be flexible when repairs are necessary. At the same time, the city should canvass the neighborhood and let residents know what's going to be happening -- even if it's an emergency repair. Print up some flyers (I would assume Kingston has computers equipped with MS Word, and a copy machine) and go door-to-door if need be (it would also give those idle employees something to do). It doesn't take much time and shows residents that local government is concerned for their well being.

But being a jerk is not cool. If this incident went down exactly the way the person describes (not saying anyone is lying, merely that people sometimes remember events differently), then the employees in question need to be reprimanded and instructed on appropriate behavior when dealing with the public. I would also think the mayor's office should offer this woman a formal apology. She did nothing wrong and should not be subject to abuse simply for trying to get home.