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Here is my personal observations from life in the fishbowl aka comm ctr
Yes we can be moody but remember this:
99% of what we hear is grumbling by either department personnel or the public and we are to trained to appear as if it doesn't affect us in the slightest.
When things head south, regardless of the actions of the onscene units chances are WE will bear the burden of the blame.
Most of us went into the profession just like anyone else in the realm of public safety to make a difference and to help people, especially those who put out the fire, transport the victims or pat down the suspects.
We are your hermit inlaws tethered to a desk praying that you make it back home to your families and doing everything we can to ensure it.
We field your calls and play secretary when need be. We reassure your families and must answer to them when things don't go as planned.
We are underpaid and nonexistent to most of the "outside" population, except when their entire world is crashing down around them. When we direct you to their emergency we no longer matter.
We doubt ourselves regularly because we give so much and receive so little. We live for that one moment we make a difference and somehow it reawakens us and keeps us going when we are tired and fed up.
We are some of the most giving individuals you could ever care to meet we love our fire, ems, police and even our military and think of all of you as family. We are your biggest cheerleaders and are always there when you need us. So stop by and let us know you care once in awhile it makes all the stress worth it.
99% of what we hear is grumbling by either department personnel or the public and we are to trained to appear as if it doesn't affect us in the slightest.
When things head south, regardless of the actions of the onscene units chances are WE will bear the burden of the blame.
Most of us went into the profession just like anyone else in the realm of public safety to make a difference and to help people, especially those who put out the fire, transport the victims or pat down the suspects.
We are your hermit inlaws tethered to a desk praying that you make it back home to your families and doing everything we can to ensure it.
We field your calls and play secretary when need be. We reassure your families and must answer to them when things don't go as planned.
We are underpaid and nonexistent to most of the "outside" population, except when their entire world is crashing down around them. When we direct you to their emergency we no longer matter.
We doubt ourselves regularly because we give so much and receive so little. We live for that one moment we make a difference and somehow it reawakens us and keeps us going when we are tired and fed up.
We are some of the most giving individuals you could ever care to meet we love our fire, ems, police and even our military and think of all of you as family. We are your biggest cheerleaders and are always there when you need us. So stop by and let us know you care once in awhile it makes all the stress worth it.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John on
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Very well written. People truly don't understand what it's like to do our job unless they have worked a while at it. There is nothing like it.
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Permalink Reply by Steve on
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We are also the worst patients on the planet. We are infamous for not taking proper care of ourselves, not getting adequate rest, not eating right, not exercising regularly. We are the last to visit the doctor and absolutely the last to voluntarily go into the hospital for tests. We eat the Ring Dings and the onion rings and then wonder why we cant see daylight when we look down at out bodies. We step on the scale in the bathroom and wonder why the little window reads, "one at a time, please." We bitch and moan and whine and complain, and some of us feel like bus mechanics for the number of times we've been thrown under one. Yet the field personnel, especially the stars and bars, will tell us, Hey I dont want your job, or Hey I could never do your job.
Does your department have a program to acknowledge dispatchers? Why not? Do your dispatchers actively participate in the field? Ride-alongs? Deployment in time of disaster or large-scale incident, such as manning the command post or mobile field unit? How good is your union? Whats that, they suck and couldnt give a bleep less about you? Hmmmm... sounds like time for a change. What about continuing education?
Dispatch is the fourth profession. It is long past time for it to come out of the closet, up out of the basement, down from the crow's nest. Dispatchers deserve to stand beside their brethren in police, fire and EMS. Dispatchers have the power and ability, to keep it all together and running smoothly, or watch it disintegrate into a mess. Never, ever allow anyone to say to you, oh youre just a dispatcher. Youre never just anything. -
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