Re: 911:: Newbie Concerns

[Guest guest]

Hey there and welcome aboard one of the most exciting jobs there is out

there...the great world of 911 dispatch. Here, not all two calls will ever be

exactly the same...and while you will find some things mundane at your

job...the calls will always keep you thinking...

As for talking to people about your job...I assume you mean folks outside of

your place of work. My rule...that I find works well....is not to ever

mention a name related to a call...in fact, I rarely, if ever, talk about

work at home, or to friends....If I do, it is veiled and the names held to

protect the civilians....For example...I might say I had a horrible accident

call...etc....or....Had a humongous fight call...etc...many arrested...blah

blah blah....no names mentioned. You would be surprised how many people know

the people that either got arrested, hurt ...etc...etc...etc....You can save

yourself a lot of grief, law suits and plain embarrassment by being very

general in conversation....

Of course, you will always have the call that you have to vent about....do

so...but be careful to whom you divulge it too....besides...only in this line

of work will you find humor in the most horrible of situations....It takes

someone with thick skin and a soft heart, I believe, to do this job....best

of luck to you and hang in there...you can always vent here.....Take care....!

Cin in good ole Ohio

[Guest guest]

Welcome Guy,

Sounds like you need to talk about something - go ahead, change the names, no

one here cares about names or places... it's situations that we deal with the

best.

Writing out your concerns is good therapy. We (the list members) will offer

up our suggestions/ideas/simular situations.. seldom is anyone alone in this

group.

And if you don't feel like sharing,.... don't worry about it, you don't have

to!

Kathy

[Guest guest]

911:: Newbie Concerns

Hi All!

I'm new to the group.

I can't tell you how happy I am to see that there is a

forum (of sorts) for people in this particular line of

work to share our thoughts and ideas..

Still being a relatively new

call taker/rescue/911/dispatcher, I am deathly afraid

of talking to people about what I do or go through at

work. Partially because I know the majority of the

population has no clue what we have to put up with or

how the decisions we make affect our state of mind

(sometimes long after the night is done), but mostly

because it is difficult to find people to trust with

my thoughts and concerns. How do I find comfort in

what I say or post in knowing/believing that those who

read/hear it won't try to use it to thier advantage if

they were ever in my city? (assuming it's not a LEO)

How much information is too much information? How many

days/weeks is it safe to wait before trying to explain

the inner workings of a major call that has weaseled

it's way into the news?

Argh. Sorry for the long post, just need to talk and

not having much luck around here finding trustworthy

people (outside of the agency). will post my dept name

when I'm more comfortable.

Guy Nunnelly

Am I the only one on the list that is having trouble understanding this? Guy,

just what is it that you are paronoid of? As I see it, if a call is that major

that it will be a newsworthy event,

then dont discuss it till you are free to do so if ever. This list is made up

of some very fine people with some darn good heads on their shoulders. I hope

ypu are not insiuating that as a group we are not trustworthy. I guess what I am

trying to say is unless you work for the CIA or NSA than lighten up a little and

BTW welcome aboard

Al

Bay County Michigan

E 9-1-1

[Guest guest]

At 04:46 PM 04/10/2000 -0700, the new guy, Guy wrote:

>Hi All!

>I'm new to the group.

>I can't tell you how happy I am to see that there is a

>forum (of sorts) for people in this particular line of

>work to share our thoughts and ideas..

<emphatic nod and smile of welcome>

>Still being a relatively new

>call taker/rescue/911/dispatcher, I am deathly afraid

>of talking to people about what I do or go through at

>work. Partially because I know the majority of the

>population has no clue what we have to put up with or

>how the decisions we make affect our state of mind

>(sometimes long after the night is done), but mostly

>because it is difficult to find people to trust with

>my thoughts and concerns.

-------------<snip>-------------

Acquaintances have opinions they're only too happy to provide. Friends

offer suggestions without understanding our individual agency's policies,

or the work load, or the types of calls we DO handle regularly, not just

the spectacular ones, all that. Loved ones just worry about us and share

their concerns, again, often without knowing everything they could - but

don't and shouldn't - about what we go through in our Comm Centers.

<nodding again> Ummm hmmmmm. Even our partners in the field think they

understand, but unless they hang out there and TAKE some of those calls

with us on a regular basis, they don't know either. Not really.

Gotcha.

> How do I find comfort in

>what I say or post in knowing/believing that those who

>read/hear it won't try to use it to thier advantage if

>they were ever in my city? (assuming it's not a LEO)

You don't. ANY public forum - and this IS an opt-in, public forum, however

geared towards our profession it may be - offers risk of information

abuse. (Hell, our profession suffers from this within the Comm Centers,

despite disciplinary action and rules and threat of termination!)

Before striking that " send " key, you need to be very cognizant about what

you are willing to suffer for your statements. Is what you have to say

true? Is it spiteful? Is it confidential? Is it informative, helpful,

supportive, well-considered, or a plea for understanding, sympathy or just

to share a giggle? (I feel necessary to add, Is it literate?)

>How much information is too much information?

Names of individuals, details of an identifiable incident for which

litigation and/or criminal prosecution is pending, addresses, phone

numbers, all those sorts of things are not appropriate for this sort of

forum. You may have to wind your own way through the furrows of what is or

is not appropriate to disclose to this list, but the items I just mentioned

are pretty much things folks shouldn't share here.

>How many

>days/weeks is it safe to wait before trying to explain

>the inner workings of a major call that has weaseled

>it's way into the news?

Welllll..... I would suggest discussions about such things be kept to the

bland nature of " I felt this way " or " I wished we could have done this " or

" it's more complicated that this " when discoursing upon major incidents

under review in the media. There are events I've never discussed in this

forum because they don't belong here... but those are clearly confidential

issues to me.

And yet the current list-members know that I, personally, have a lot to say

about a ton of stuff. <shrugging>

>Argh. Sorry for the long post, just need to talk and

>not having much luck around here finding trustworthy

>people (outside of the agency). will post my dept name

>when I'm more comfortable.

Well, here's a alternate viewpoint: over a year ago, I used to have my

agency name in my signature line, and I got my butt chewed royally for it.

Someone took offense to one of my posts, someone who wasn't even a

subscriber, but who got a copy of one of my posts - which was part of a

topic string, commented to a news article quote! and taken out of context -

and wrote a freakin' snail mail letter to my lieutenant, complaining about

it. Who was I to have such an opinion? Look, there's her job title and her

agency name and location, and why should [my agency] have any right to

comment about what [the " target " agency] was doing? And, by the way, is

she doing this on agency time and with agency equipment? (I wasn't.)

Yup, it was ugly and I had to write a letter to my commander explaining the

circumstances (but at least I didn't have to apologize to the jerk!) AND I

was ordered to remove agency affiliation from my personal signature line

" to avoid further instances creating a nexus to the department. "

You see, I was - and AM - very proud of my agency and where I work, and

what I do for my department. I wanted that known in my signature line.

That particular incident occurred just prior to my current captain taking

command here... And he and I had been e-mail correspondents for a while,

quite by accident. (He visited the Break Room long before he accepted the

transfer to my Area!) He suddenly noticed the change in my signature

line....

.... he often teases me about being proud to work " somewhere " and happy to

serve " somebody " - but he knows what it's about, now, and sadly conceded

that it might be best to continue to let the curious people ask for

bona-fides as necessary.

Of course, it's not hard to figger out who I am or where I work - not with

the volume of posts emanating from my e-mail accounts! - but the disclaimer

stands. <rueful grin>

Go ahead and lurk on the list (you won't be the Lone Ranger, trust me!)

until you get comfy. Then wade in as deep and as far as you feel safe,

but not before you've established your own dog-paddling point where you can

still keep your chin held high.

Happy to be here, proud to serve.

Olmstead

Communications Supervisor

~on the Central California coastline~

" Not presumed to be an official statement of my employing agency. "

Home E-mail: mailto:gryeyes@...

http://www.gryeyes.com/

[Guest guest]

thanx all, I didn't mean to insinuate that y'all

couldn't be trusted (for those that misinterpreted my

post). but thanx for the thoughts.. look forward to

posting more in the future.

Guy.

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