911:: soft uniforms (fashion?? NOT)

[Guest guest]

Boy am I on my soapbox tonight, I suppose these threads have simply struck

me at the right moment.

Speaking of uniforms. First of all, I am against the employees of the

communications center her in Salem County NJ having to wear uniforms at all.

We are civilian employees, and our building houses nothing but our Comm

Center. There is never a real need for any public safety personnel to pass

through our center (although many visit, but for no official purpose), and

we are several miles away from any public traffic, so except for scheduled

tours, the public never sees us. So why in the world would you require the

employees to wear a uniform, especially a police style uniform that all

employees have expressed their discomfort with??

Ok, on with my point. Several years ago our " uniform policy " was simply

this; navy blue police style uniform shirts and trousers, comm patch on left

shoulder, badge optional (but the style was specified if wanted.) And that

was fine until some people decided they wanted to test the limits of

management. People began wearing pink shoes, purple shoes, colored socks,

any array of colored undershirts (which show from the front of the

unbuttoned collar of the shirt, we don't wear ties.). Big flashy hats were

common too. Because there was no policy against these items, they could wear

them.

NOW, .... you should see our uniform policy now! Very specific, right

down to the smallest detail. Many grievances have been filed, all lost by

the Union. And none of this would have been necessary, and we'd all probably

be a bit more comfortable, had it not been for a few knuckleheads wanting to

make a statement and push the limits of our management.

What a pain ....

J. Fred

Salem NJ