The Journal Times Online - Racine, Wisconsin

Stories by Dan Zak, Washington Post

We started the month with Labor Day weekend, and we paused to think about work. Now, halfway through the month, let’s pause to think about people whose work attracts the suspicion, dismissal or loathing of the general public:

• The auditor — pickpocketing our hard-earned money.
• The used-car salesman — passive-aggressive liar with a glinting Rolex.
• The criminal defense attorney — slimeball in a suit, standing up for nefarious creatures.
• The ballpark umpire — blind, deaf, clearly on the other team’s payroll.
• The parking enforcement officer — "For the love of God, $40 for going two minutes over the meter?!"

Prejudiced generalizations, surely. Auditors and umpires are merely convenient targets for our personal frustrations. Car salesmen and defense attorneys are stock villains in pop culture, not necessarily bad guys in real life. And without parking enforcement, our streets would be jammed with scofflaws’ cars.

So this week on the WorkLife weblog, we’re going to appreciate their work and the nonsense they have to put up with by virtue of their titles. Today, read about a parking enforcement officer. Tomorrow, an IRS auditor. Friday, a used-car salesmen. Next week, look for profiles of a criminal defense attorney and a baseball umpire.

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WASHINGTON — Cheryl Wilkins, 42, walks her beat like a regular cop. She knows the neighborhood’s faces and cars. Residents have invited her in for meals and turned to her to solve certain mysteries. She’s all smiles, but she means business: She will ticket your car if you’re one minute over the parking limit. Furious drivers have hurled every kind of invective at her, but the law’s the law. Her job is to enforce it.