shop with a cop

after getting a call shortly before having to be in to work yesterday morning, i found out i was getting switched to the night shift...which on the one hand meant i could just go back to bed for a bit, but on the other meant i was going to have to shoot the annual "Shop with a Cop" assignment for what felt like the umpteenth million time! Drat!
Don't get me wrong, it's a good event, a good program....but 7 years of the same of anything can make you a bit cynical i suppose.
This officer was a good trooper - no pun intended, nor offense, since he's not a state trooper, but a city police officer actually - the 2 kids he took shopping were so hesitant to pick out items or anything too expensive. After nearly an hour, this little girl still had almost 70 dollars left to spend! He was about ready to just start throwing things in the cart - heck, I was about ready to start getting her things, too! It's kind of sad, because it speaks to how they've probably learned not to be able to have too much, and so the concepts of "you can have anything you want" and "it's Christmas - SPLURGE!" were pretty much beyond them...
i didn't submit this photo to run, because even though i know the back-story to it, i think it could be misread that he's bored, doesn't want to be doing this, which is very much not the case, particularly with this officer, as he's one of the organizers and is just a really nice guy in general. He was just a little dumbfounded by how hard a time they were having. "I've never seen a girl have such a hard time spending money!" he joked.