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Is it just me
Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed the high level of incompetence shown, (especially where the young guys are concerned), in the arena of grammer? Dare I say spelling, but I am a lousy speller as well. Sister Virginia would kick my ass if she thought I was killing the English language the way these people do. As would most of the other teachers I've had, not to mention my mother! How does a person make it through life without the ability to communicate? I fear we as a society will be overrun by a culture of profesional communicators that can only say correctly, "Would you like to supersize that sir'? Am I just an idiot for noticing this or should I be happy that my son will grow up with the ability to speak and write? Or is that speek and rite?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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Mel:
I just chewed out our chief for not taking opportunities with the media to send a positive message.
Three out of four of our last fires have been structural and in all three cases, they were GREAT saves.
TV stations there, but the chief doesn't want to do on camera. I flipped.
We have gotten significant grants in the past couple of years. No coverage. We have added new firefighters and new trustees and no press.
I guess I will have to get more involved with the public info side, since it is very apparent the chief doesn't want to let anyone out there know what's going on.
And with the rest? The "fractured" English? If we don't watch it, we will have to "dumb down" our communication.
I agree with the post about railing on immigrants who can't speak and yet, people born in this country and have had the benefit of an education struggle with it. So I have to ask: lazy or stupid?
If you're lazy, you need to go back and fix it. It matters more than you know and not just to me.
If you're stupid, then take a class. You can get help with poor writing skills.
If you don't think good communication skills are not important in this business, then God help the future of our fire service. Ask any leader and they will ALL tell you that it all starts with clear and concise communication.
Does it make you a better firefighter? You bet!
TCSS.
Art
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Permalink Reply by ILDisasterEMT on
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I have a question:
How would a person who is fairly low the totem pole (or ladder as the case may be) within a fire service or other agency go to those higher up who may often find themselves acting as the de facto public information officer and say "Hey...I'm pretty good with the whole public speaking and communications thing, how would you like it if I served as PIO since you don't really seem to like doing it anyway?"
Recently, we had some flooding in my area due to shifting ice pack and rain. There was a voluntary evacuation of several city blocks. The responding department did a great job of wading up to their knees in frigid water and between several hundred pound blocks of ice to go to every single door to let people know that it would be safer if they moved to higher ground. Total press coverage: a few mislabeled photographs in the internet version of the local paper the next day. Can you imagine if a well-spoken individual who looked like he hadn't just fallen off the turnip truck had spoken to the news media. These are the stories the public loves to hear and they don't forget it the next time you pass the boot or have a pancake breakfast. They love knowing that there are people out there putting it on the line so that the citizenry can remain safe and then when it comes to referendum time or when we ask the public to make donations for gear, apparatus, man-power or so we might be able to, God forbid, pay those rescuers a little something for getting out of bed in the middle of the night to secure the public safety, the public tends to open their wallets a little wider. Unfortunately, in the volunteer service, we can say its not about the money all we want, but when it comes down to being able to get more high tech equipment or two more firefighters or some new beds for the bunk room, unfortunately, it really is all about the money and people tend not to want to give their money to someone whose favorite word is "Um..."
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Permalink Reply by Jim Seargent on
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"How would a person who is fairly low the totem pole (or ladder as the case may be) within a fire service or other agency go to those higher up who may often find themselves acting as the de facto public information officer and say "Hey...I'm pretty good with the whole public speaking and communications thing, how would you like it if I served as PIO since you don't really seem to like doing it anyway?"
Seems to me as though you just did a pretty good job of it right there. Accompany it with your most handsome smile and comment on how photogenic you are as well. A little assurance that you wouldn't say anything that wasn't first approved will go a long way as well. Don't forget a clean set of station wear or gear to appear in stowed in jour jump bag.
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I feel that a fire department should take every opportunity to get their face in front of the public. The quickest way is to get some press. I asked our chief after our last fire why he didn't interview on camera. He said, "it wasn't a big deal; just a grease fire in the kitchen of the truck stop"! EXCUSE ME? What was the potential? It could have burnt to the ground. So, instead of treating it as "no big deal", I would have been on camera, telling the reporter: "This fire could have very easily gotten out of control, but because the fire department arrived quickly, conducted an aggressive interior attack, we were able to contain the fire in the room of origin and minimize the damage to the structure. After a thorough cleaning and inspection by the Health Dept. with minimal interruption to the business, it should be business as usual. I cannot commend the actions of the fire department enough. They did a geat job."
Yeah; pat yourself on the back when you have the opportunity.
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YES!! BY ALL MEANS. We hear time and again people talking about how there was 30 firemen standing around doing nothing, (never mind the crews inside busting thier asses to save something). Give the public the truth. We made the stop, saved the cat, saved the family photo albums and worked in the public interest. When someone sees something they percieve as good they will tell someone. When the same person sees what they think is bad, they tell everyone. We are our own mouthpiece.
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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on
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When the public see's a officer with spotless turnout geat and firefighters working around them in blackened gear it isn't always the best picture to show for the camera. The public will get the image that the person speaking doesn't do anything but sit outside and bark orders. Wear the set of gear you normall would and maintaining a professional atmosphere throughout the interview will have more of an impact than a clean set of turnouts anyday. The chuckleheads who ramble, don't have information and or use false information are the ones we can pick out as the ones who shouldnt be in front of the camera
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Permalink Reply by Tiger Schmittendorf on
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Welcome to the club.
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Shouldn't oughta said that..........
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Permalink Reply by Mary Ellen Shea on
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Kids were getting hooked on them.....
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