Ok, traffic warden here, south of the UK. Let's clear up a few things!
We don't need to wear hats, we do have them - two baseball caps, one wooly hat.
We don't (in my town) work on commission.
If you are friendly we are FAR FAR more likely to leave you alone and be reasonable. We give, what we get. If you treat us like dicks, we'll do it back to you.
We dont need to put the ticket on the car for it to "be real". The paper ticket these days is purely to let you know you got it. You also can't invalidate a ticket by attempting to block photos. They are, again, a formality to show we did it.
We can give you a ticket if you are in the car.
You generally get "5 minutes" anywhere, this isn't a law thing, it's the 5 minutes we have to have you under observation (see below).
Abuse, it varies, the most common form is drive by name calling that we barely hear, usually lads in cars trying to look hard. Abuse to our face is different, it's more serious but we all know it's reflected anger - anger that the recipient has been caught doing something wrong and they now want to shout at someone because they are embaressed.
Real abuse. Very rare. In over a year I've had it once (liquid thrown in my eyes).
Serious, physical, hospital grade abuse, never heard of it in my town. People do generally realise that a crime is a crime and you'll loose your job, life and everything when you end up in prison.
Here's how you get a ticket.
We log you in, we stand there for 5 minutes, then we issue. Once the ticket is printed (after 5 minutes) we can't alter it or reverse it. If you return during that 5 mins, we'll cancel it as our job - get this - is to solve the problem YOU are causing. If you get a ticket, you don't have to move! Problem hasn't gone away. The other type is the more serious "instant PCN" where you are parked somewhere you really shouldn't be so the 5 minute wait is not needed. Examples: disbaled bays, police bays, zigzags on schools, zebra crossings.
Finally, we are generally normal, decent people. We do a job that maay be unpopular but I've never met one person who "gets off" on the power (ha! what power?!). We do get abuse yes and it's usually off the obviously less intelligent, who have had it bred into them to "hate" certain groups. It's very rare to get abuse off well spoken people. So why do we do it? Because we need money to feed families and ourselves and all that stuff everyone else does.
Finally, and here's something you'll hate probably. The most problem group? Parents dropping off and picking up at school. You break each and every law and act like your kids were born with parking permits in their mouths - the crap I've heard from mothers defies belief. Give us a choice between a school at 3pm or a road full of gobby builders? Builders, please!
Thanks for reading :)