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Comment by Scott S on January 10, 2009 at 12:47am

You're absolutely right Don. You can never let it affect your thinking or you wouldn't be able to do the job properly. I work in emergency dispatch now and the same rule applies. I deal with jacka**es all day long but I can't take one rude caller and hold that resent for the next caller. My motto is take every call as if it's my first in that way i'm not holding any grudges or resentment. Same I did with firefighting treat every call as if its your first since no call is the same, nor is every victim.

Comment by Don Vuletic on January 9, 2009 at 9:50pm

It dosent matter how hard you try people will be rude and not polite, not always, but sometimes. I've learned to just do my job and ignore the not so friendly rude neighbor. I piss them off more by not paying attention to them. Ya, I'd like to slam them but I remember two things One Someone complained and two its my job to correct the situation. If they don't like me or the FD I could really care less. I am proud of what I am doing and I will not drop to thier level.

Comment by Scott S on January 9, 2009 at 9:31pm

Yea if it weren't for the officer there to step in I think a few of us would've been in trouble with the beer comment. The other problem we had was being a volunteer department living so close to NYC people didn't know what a volunteer FD was. When we'd get called for an alarm or something alot of times I'd show up at the scene in my POV. I'd talk with the owner and they would ask in a rather rude way where is the fire truck. When I explained its a volunteer FD and the apparatus was on the way,they would lose their minds. Welcome to the country!!

Comment by Paul Montpetit on January 9, 2009 at 8:13am

Hmmmm...sounds like someone forgot her medication that day.....As for your your irate homeowner Scott...I would have been in trouble after his "Beer" comment...I would have politely told him..."No, we din't run out of beer, BUT, our resident asshole quit...would you like to take his place..?"....(Never was politically correct...) Stay safe and always remember to keep the faith......Paul

Comment by Matthew Cosgrove on January 9, 2009 at 4:43am

I think medical calls can be the worst, its like people know that you will only be there for a few min, and they must get 30 years of hard feelings in that small opening.

Comment by Dustin J. Millis on January 9, 2009 at 2:49am

Well, I dont remember too many fires where the homeowner or any neighbors got pissed at us. There are always the few drunk guys having a campfire that get upset when you tell them to put it out but we see most of our problems on EMS calls. Its crazy that some of these people call 911 for whatever reason, then you get to their house, AT THEIR REQUEST, and all they do is bitch at ya for doing your job wrong or taking too long to get there, or being rude to them, etc. I understand that these people are all having bad days when they call 911 and I keep that in my mind so that I can just take the comments with a grain of salt, try and do my job, and wait for the next one.

Comment by Scott S on January 9, 2009 at 12:35am

We got called out to a similar call. Report of small brush fire behind a residence. I showed up found a small pile of logs burning behind the house very obvious that it didn't start itself. I advised the chief and incoming units what we had and that the fire was unattended. We spoke to the owner who played dumb and said he didn't know how it started. We proceeded to put it out with the homeowner complaining about us pulling the brush truck onto his lawn, whick brought the attention of the police department. Once we finished putting it out the neighbor yelled across from his deck to the owner " whats the matter did they run out of beer at the firehouse". Needless to say I was pissed. Unfortunately history of our department was known for alcohol, but that was in the past, you get tired of rude comments like this. He'd be the first person to request the fire department for burnt toast causing smoke in their homes.