I have personally be called things I wish not to repeat based on my job, how did these rumors start ? I am aware that the Fire Service is very family orientated. For fun what is the stereotype you hate the most ?
being paid doesn't make you a professional........being paid makes to "career" its what you do while working that determines if you are "professional" or not
nice to know you can handle... your own hose...
but I am much more interested in how well you can handle my gear
and how skilled you are at coupling - when you take the hydrant ;-)
Well they don't see all the training we do, they don't realize that we may sleep but we also work 14hr shifts at night for some dept's, and for volunteer dept's you work all day, get home, go to a call, then come home, go to sleep, and get woken up at 2 in the morning. Then back to work in the morning. We aren't paid to sleep, we're paid to remain alert and ready to respond and for what we know, not JUST for what we do. Can't stand people that say things like that either John.
the sad truth is PAID guys KNOW they can get their ass FIRED from the job, much more easily than the Non-Paid Volunteer - I am sure this impacts them when they are thinking of not showing up for work, or showing up intoxicated, or doing some stupid shit on scene or off.
Since it takes so long to train a new firefighter, even paid guys don't get fired as fast as they should in some departments, compared to the average U.S. work force in other fields.
I am sure for some "employees" a PAYCHECK this increases their professional attitude and effort. And for others, I am sure you have met them, they work for the PAYCHECK, not the love of the job; therefore, the volunteers who LOVE the job reflect a higher level of PROFESSIONALISM, since they are in it to win it... not in it to get a paycheck !!!
The damn estrogen would just make firefighters want to talk about feelings and what someone is wearing,
"it's great that we all coordinated our outfits before leaving the station today. We're all dress in (yellow) and (black) helmets. It looks fabulous! Now if only we can get those show tunes steps down, we'd look amazing on scene!