It's a small world after all...
Seriously, Logan and Sweeney and I really shouldn't work the same shift. I adore them both, but somehow our shit-magnets all magnify each other exponentially.
I can't remember the last time I worked a shift with EITHER of those two troublemakers, let alone BOTH, without dropping tones on at least a Priority 2. Granted, our call volume Thursday didn't get too crazy until after I left, but even at that..,
This one was actually sort of a cool experience from a certain angle, though.
Everybody in this business dreads getting location info and realizing the address is their own, or showing up on-scene to find themselves working a friend (or for dispatchers, hearing a friend's shaken voice on the other end of the phone). That morning, when I heard the name of the building I work in, my guts started twitching a bit preparatory to tying themselves into a knot. One of my coworkers is pregnant and one's an elderly cancer patient, so my first thought was, "Oh, God, (anonymous) and the baby..." followed by, "Or (anonymous) passed out or fell..."
You couldn't tell it from listening to the call, though. We all get pretty good at unplugging whatever connects our emotions to our voices.
Fortunately, it wasn't either of my people, nor was it anything critical (urgent, yes; critical, no). The caller, though, was our building receptionist, a very sweet lady from what I can tell from our occasional but limited interaction. She handled the situation calmly and competently and managed to deal with me on the phone while still giving random people directions to things in the background, and I don't think any of the bystanders figured out she was mid-emergency. That's not something your average RP is usually capable of, and I was impressed. This lady should look into dispatching!
The really cool part was that I was due for an afternoon shift at Boring Day Job as soon as I got off dispatch, so I got to drop by her desk on the way in and let her know that the patient was all right and tell her what a great job she had done. It seemed to brighten her day. We stood there complimenting each other like silly people for a couple of minutes, and I wandered off feeling a bit more chipper myself.
I can't remember the last time I worked a shift with EITHER of those two troublemakers, let alone BOTH, without dropping tones on at least a Priority 2. Granted, our call volume Thursday didn't get too crazy until after I left, but even at that..,
This one was actually sort of a cool experience from a certain angle, though.
Everybody in this business dreads getting location info and realizing the address is their own, or showing up on-scene to find themselves working a friend (or for dispatchers, hearing a friend's shaken voice on the other end of the phone). That morning, when I heard the name of the building I work in, my guts started twitching a bit preparatory to tying themselves into a knot. One of my coworkers is pregnant and one's an elderly cancer patient, so my first thought was, "Oh, God, (anonymous) and the baby..." followed by, "Or (anonymous) passed out or fell..."
You couldn't tell it from listening to the call, though. We all get pretty good at unplugging whatever connects our emotions to our voices.
Fortunately, it wasn't either of my people, nor was it anything critical (urgent, yes; critical, no). The caller, though, was our building receptionist, a very sweet lady from what I can tell from our occasional but limited interaction. She handled the situation calmly and competently and managed to deal with me on the phone while still giving random people directions to things in the background, and I don't think any of the bystanders figured out she was mid-emergency. That's not something your average RP is usually capable of, and I was impressed. This lady should look into dispatching!
The really cool part was that I was due for an afternoon shift at Boring Day Job as soon as I got off dispatch, so I got to drop by her desk on the way in and let her know that the patient was all right and tell her what a great job she had done. It seemed to brighten her day. We stood there complimenting each other like silly people for a couple of minutes, and I wandered off feeling a bit more chipper myself.