What do you all think about rookie pranks? Thoughts and stories welcome. Just wondering how to take this subject I think that it is not that big of a deal I went though it and am fine. With all the HR rules the fire house seems to be changing. How has it changed your departments?
Permalink Reply by Rob on December 8, 2009 at 1:46pm
Pranks are played on people in EVERY profession. You just got to keep them appropriate for the time and place. Pranks should be done as a form of humor, for both the prankster and prankee.
The favorites at the fire house are the 'go get the water hammer from the neighboring department' prank, and the 'roll the quarter down your nose into the funnel sticking out of your pants' one.
Anything involving potential physical or mental harm would be dealt with in a severe way at my station.
" go change the blankets on the hose bed."
Unfortunately, we don't play pranks on new members. We may tease them a bit and mess with their minds, but that's it. When we have new guys come in, the majority of the time they are at the hall, they're training. We take that seriousely. We do have nights when we all get together, but it's pretty calm. Once in a while, one of "the old guys" will add extra weight to something that is supposed to be carried or dragged. Nothing crazy.
The one we normally do is during fire prevention week. We usually have one or two new guys helping out at the schools, they are the ones that wear the gear and come crawling into the classroom while the more experienced members give the presentation and talk to the class.
Usually for 1st grade just as we are finishing and after the new guy has crawled in and shown all the kids his gear we ask the class who wants to see the new guy do the fireman's dance. Of course they all do and start hooping and hollaring. So the new guy is pretty much shamed into doing some sort of little dance in front of the class.
The good thing is that the following year they get to do the same thing to some other new guy.
Pranks can be fun and a good way to let off some steam. You just have to be careful how you do it and make sure that nobody will be hurt. I pulled one a few weeks ago on a recruit. We had just got back from a run and he had to do some business in the bathroom. While he was in there I called dispatch from my cell and had them do a test page for us. When he came out his face was as red as our trucks. It was a classic.
Nothing wrong with a good prank as long as it's in good taste, I'd had a newbie looking for the hose stretcher for two weeks before one of the senior members told him there was no such thing!
its always been a way that you pass academy and get ribbed for one full year as probie thats life a few years back we had a chief who said "all probies hands off and they have names" i had to laugh at this cause the chief then was ex navy flyer and as former Marine i know he went through hazings worse then any fd ever does, anyway needless to say he is no longer chief barely finished his first year we now have our old chief back and our 2 newest grads are yes..PROBIES..as far as pranks they go on so long as no one gets hurt or to be politically correct their feelings hurt.lol yeah i follow that one..