Can anyone explain this to me?

So I want to throw this out there, see if anyone can explain this to me in a way that it may make sense. So the other day I am sitting at a local hospital, just dropped off a patient cleaning the rig and another crew pulls up, it is a local full time department. I work for a private ambulance service currently, we have two 911 contracts but like most privates we handle most of the nursing home and hospital calls,what not. So I say hello to the crew as they are passing be, no response, ok they are taking their patient in no big deal. My partner walks out the same time the other crew does, and "hey hows it going" nothing again but rolling of the eyes. One of the medics comes up to the back of the rig and says "don't you get it...you work for a private, you do not deserve our respect of hello, or any conversation for the fact...get a real medic job then you will earn my respect." I just sit there how do you respond to that. I don't deserve respect because I work for a private ambulance service. I wish that I could say that was my first experience of that nature but it wasn't..in fact I have become quite accustomed to that type of response. Driving down the road you can wave at on coming crews no wave back, when getting supplies or bringing a patient into the hospital they should get there job done first there more important our patients can wait. I guess I just don't understand how me choosing at this time to work on a private ambulance service makes me any less of a medic, or that I deserve any less respect. Kind of like in a prior discussion posted paid vs. volunteer. Last time I checked we all go through the same training, my license is not any different then a city paramedic, does not say private ambulance medic. And unless i am missing something we ALL got in the field because in one way or another we wanted to help people, because we are compassionate people who don't think twice about putting another's life or family before our own. We all go to work and when those tones drop one thing is on our mind. So why is it that I made, that the people I work with, and other employees of private ambulance services are made to feel like we are less of a person, that we shouldn't have the same loyalty or respect that everyone else does.? I guess in a way that it is disappointing, hurtful, I don't know maybe even to the point of disgraceful that the brotherhood(and sisterhood) and loyalty that are one in the same with fire and ems only applies if you have a big red truck, or a town, city , or township, sprawled across your rig...
(I am not trying to offend anyone, and I am sorry if I have...going from a fire house to a private is a big change but I embrace the opportunities, and I guess regardless of where I worked I would never tell another medic firefighter, or EMT that they didn't belong or that the were a less of a person because of where they worked...) Thanks for letting me vent, hopefully someone out there might be able to put this in prospective for me...and I am in no way...by the way saying that this is every department...I know that is not the case...thank you...

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Permalink Reply by mike wright on September 21, 2007 at 7:05pm

WITH ALL THE COMMENTS BEING MADE ONE MORE WON'T HURT. THIS PERSON HAD NO RIGHT TO TALK OR TREAT YOU OR ANY PRIVATE COMPANY THAT WAY. SINCE THE BOTH OF YOU TOOK THE SAME TRAINING YOU IN MY BOOK ARE EQUAL. HE THINKS HE IS KING SHIT. ONE DAY HE WILL BE PUT IN HIS PLACE BY SOMEONE. MAYBE THAT PERSON WILL BE YOU. WE HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM IN THE FIRE SERVICE. WITH THE FULL TIMERS AND THE VOLUNTEERS. JUST DO YOUR JOB THE BEST YOU CAN AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT THEM. IF HE DOES IT AGAIN JUST KICK HIM IN HIS MANHOOD AND SAY FIX IT YOURSELF MR. SUPERIORITY.

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Permalink Reply by cap479 on September 23, 2007 at 10:50pm

Well it appears to me that this is a long running problem in a lot of cases, where people sit around discussing how bad it is there and how the other department gets all the breaks, more pay, better working conditions etc. But then again, if they are that dissatisfied then maybe they should look else where for work. It seems to be the norm for other agencies to try to find something to talk about involving other agencies if not for boredom, tben to try to make themselves look better. It is just like an old adage, People say other people are crazy to make them look sane. I have never had anyone or heard of anyone coming up to another person and telling them that they don't deserve the respect of anyone else because they don't belong. Just take it with a grain of salt. Look at where it is coming from, and realize that it is something that stems from something in the past that you probasbly warn't even aware of or involved in. And hold your head up high. If you are doing a job, any job, and you are proud of what you are doing, and you are doing it in the best professional manner that you can, then you deserve respect for it. Hold your head high and carry on.

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Permalink Reply by Joel C Kelley on October 3, 2007 at 7:21pm

Sounds like you are stuck in a derivative of the old "paid Vs. Volunteer" rivalry. There is no explanation, nor is there any excuse. When I worked in New Mexico, we were the second class citizens as volunteers even though we ran ALS busses and heavy rescue. Then I went to work for a private, in addition to volunteering. The hostility was less obvious, but present nonetheless. The boys on the city rigs acted as though we were somehow taking food out of their children's mouths by doing nasty unpleasant nursing home and hospital transfer calls. Yet they got paid the same whether they sat in quarters or rolled on rigs. We worked the same shifts, and lived the same lifestyle, but were somehow inferior becuse we didn't have the gold lettering on our rigs. I don't know where this bitterness comes from, but it has no place in our industry.

We are all in it to help people in times of need, and you are the better person for taking their nastiness and working through it than they are for having the crass balls to say such a thing in the first place. If working for a private eans you don't have to work for clowns like those, HURRAH!!! You're better off.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Brierton on October 3, 2007 at 8:12pm

Heather,

First let me say that you are doing something I could never do and that is being a professional paramedic. For that I say you are definitely a better person than I am since I only went as far as EMT-B.
As for the morons who refused to acknowledge you as it has been said here numerous times, kill them with kindness.
Stay safe and continue doing the good work.

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Permalink Reply by Cheri on March 6, 2008 at 7:49pm

I agree with you. That was rude of that person to say you didn't earn their respect. Well, I have worked for private and taxsupported/paid services and you know what, I don't see that there is a difference in the people that work at either place. All went to a school to become a medic or EMT, and if you passed your state test then yeah you deserve respect for having a job where you can be yelled at by doctors and nurses, cursed at by patients and patients families; bit, scratched, punched, kicked by patients; growled out and bit by dogs. Your life is just as important as theirs is.

You are performing a service to people; you went to school so you could take care of sick / injured people, and if you enjoy what you are doing -- more power to you, that's great! If you are a person that has gotten to that point that you think you are better than other medics and EMT's because of where you work, think again. Just because you may get paid more, the MI you take care of is the same as mine, the gunshot victim you take care of is the same as mine, the respiratory distress you may have at 5 in the morning is the same as the respiratory distress that I take care of at 5 am. Sorry this is so winded, but I am a firm believer that you should be considerate to people, ESPECIALLY when they say hi to you.

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Permalink Reply by ANDREW PARKS on March 6, 2008 at 9:05pm

I AM SORRY THAT A VOLUNTEER CREW WOULD DO THAT IT IS DISGRACEFUL THAT IT HAS COME TO A POINT IN TIME THAT BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN THE SAME JOB CANNOT HAVE THE RESPECT FOR THE PEOPLE OUT ON THE ROAD THAT ARE DOING THE SAME JOB AS THEY ARE NO MATTER WETHER THEY ARE PAID VOLUNTEER OR PRIVATE