Over the past couple of weeks I've started to feel sorry for the Inspector. We have found out that he is depressed over never having children and Fish won't even return his phone calls. And the last show I saw last week he asked Barney to help him pick out a mail-order Asian bride. Barney seems to be the only person in the world that the Inspector has to talk to. Barney has shown a lot of class and patience in listening to what he has to say.

Actually Barney has shown a great deal of patience with most of the people in the office. For two years he quietly put up with Harris and his cocktail parties, late lunches, movie deals, personal phone calls, and meetings with members of the literary world before finally blowing his stack and refusing to put up with it anymore. Barney was even understanding when Harris returned to the squad room drunk after the verdict came in concerning the lawsuit about "Blood on the Badge'. I think Levitt got on his nerves a couple of times but he wouldn't let it show until Wojo was missing after jumping into the river and he thought Levitt was going to ask about a possible opening in the department. So it is not surprising that Barney has shown great patience with the Inspector.

How come he doesn't have the same kind of patience with Dietrich? Dietrich doesn't cause him nearly as much trouble as the rest of the guys do and yet everthing Dietrich does seems to get on Barney's nerves.

Mandy

I never noticed Barney being impatient with Dietrich but if he is then it's possibly due to Dietrich's tendency to involve himself in "unnecessary conversations" as the field associate would phrase it. In the field associate's report we learned that Barney was willing to overlook Wojo's many late arrivals by not reporting them. Barney even was understanding when Harris arrived back after having too much gin.
Wojo: "Do you want me to type up a disiplinary report?"
Barney: "That's the proper procedure."
Wojo: "Well, what should I do?"
Barney: "Type it up and I will sign it."
Wojo: "And who gets a copy?"
Barney: "Nobody".

Barney actually was patient with everyone he met, even the suspects that were brought in. I'm thinking of a time where a 42 year old man brought in was training for the Olympic decathalon. He looked at Barney's flabby midsection and asked Barney if the police department had done away with fitness requirements. Rather than getting upset with the insult, Barney ignored it.

There was another time Barney had to endure unintended abuse concerning his spare tire around his waist. Harris was telling Barney that he was going to Jackson during his vacation. Barney thought Harris meant Jackson, Mississippi. Harris laughed and said he was going to Jackson Hole Wyoming but he understood that Barney could be confused because Barney didn't ski. Barney asked Harris what made him think he didn't ski. Harris glanced at Barney's flabby stomach and tried to make up reason. I can't remember what he said to get out of the situation.

The other night I did notice that Barney was impatient with Dietrich. Barney was annoyed because he felt Dietrich was trying to overwhelm him with his knowledge on a subject that Barney asked him about. Barney asked him to show a bit more restraint and humility when asked a question. Later Barney saw Dietrich drinking a cup of coffee and asked him if the coffee was hot. Dietrich answered that he didn't know.

Inspector Lugar definitely was not the most interesting character on the show. However I was wondering why he showed up so infrequently. From the shows I've seen, he may miss 10 or 15 episodes then be in a couple in a row then disappear for 10 again.

"Me and Foster, Kleiner and Brown..."