It's Kinda Funny, but...
Sometimes I really, truly love my job. I wrote this Tuesday night when I was working (Day 4 of a solid 5 day stretch without a break) and sitting in the living room at the station.
I'm looking across the room right now, and I'm struck by the total uniqueness of the interactions between people who work in public safety. There's no way that you can spend 12-24 hours with a group of people without caring about them, and earning an interest in their lives.
Tonight I'm sitting in a chair, watching the people around me, and it's just making me smile. Puddinhead is catching shit from me and the medic for picking the jalapenos off his nachos, the other truck's crew is laughing at the fact that their truck wouldn't shift out of third gear on the way to their last call, putting them in fear for their lives when they had to get on the highway. The TV is blaring (American Idol, of course.) The strange guy riding along with us today is laughing at the way we were all singing along with the "One Hit Wonders" on VH1, and we're all talking various smack about patients, co-workers, family members, and most of all- one another.
The truth is, we're a family, and we know it. We fight like one, laugh like one, cook like one, watch TV like one... there's nothing else like it. We know about each other's families, their friends, their kids, their spouses. We know about each other's medical problems, and money issues. We know who's living where, and who's sleeping with who. It's a network of people that actually care about one another, in some cases more than the individual's real family does.
Last but not least, and this is a little sappy, but so am I-
This is a little spiel that the volunteer coordinator at Cary EMS tends to give whenever we have someone interested in joining the organization. It's paraphrased of course, but it's close enough, and it's very true.
"You see a little bit of everything here. It's not just running a call. It's not sleeping sometimes, not being able to eat sometimes, not being able to go to the bathroom sometimes. It's going out in public and putting on a smile when you feel like total crap. You might be sicker than the patient, but you can't let them see that. You have to be everything to everyone. You've gotta be a psychiatrist, and a friend, and a hug when somebody needs it, and mean when you have to be. You've got to be smart, and confident, and willing to take charge. You have to know when to call the police when you need help, and the fire dept when you need help, and be able to admit that you do need help. It's very supportive, it's a big family, we look out for each other, we live together, we fight and we play together. It's unlike any other job, and there's nothing else I'd rather do."
And that's about it.
I'm looking across the room right now, and I'm struck by the total uniqueness of the interactions between people who work in public safety. There's no way that you can spend 12-24 hours with a group of people without caring about them, and earning an interest in their lives.
Tonight I'm sitting in a chair, watching the people around me, and it's just making me smile. Puddinhead is catching shit from me and the medic for picking the jalapenos off his nachos, the other truck's crew is laughing at the fact that their truck wouldn't shift out of third gear on the way to their last call, putting them in fear for their lives when they had to get on the highway. The TV is blaring (American Idol, of course.) The strange guy riding along with us today is laughing at the way we were all singing along with the "One Hit Wonders" on VH1, and we're all talking various smack about patients, co-workers, family members, and most of all- one another.
The truth is, we're a family, and we know it. We fight like one, laugh like one, cook like one, watch TV like one... there's nothing else like it. We know about each other's families, their friends, their kids, their spouses. We know about each other's medical problems, and money issues. We know who's living where, and who's sleeping with who. It's a network of people that actually care about one another, in some cases more than the individual's real family does.
Last but not least, and this is a little sappy, but so am I-
This is a little spiel that the volunteer coordinator at Cary EMS tends to give whenever we have someone interested in joining the organization. It's paraphrased of course, but it's close enough, and it's very true.
"You see a little bit of everything here. It's not just running a call. It's not sleeping sometimes, not being able to eat sometimes, not being able to go to the bathroom sometimes. It's going out in public and putting on a smile when you feel like total crap. You might be sicker than the patient, but you can't let them see that. You have to be everything to everyone. You've gotta be a psychiatrist, and a friend, and a hug when somebody needs it, and mean when you have to be. You've got to be smart, and confident, and willing to take charge. You have to know when to call the police when you need help, and the fire dept when you need help, and be able to admit that you do need help. It's very supportive, it's a big family, we look out for each other, we live together, we fight and we play together. It's unlike any other job, and there's nothing else I'd rather do."
And that's about it.
posted by C at 1:40 PM
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