First time in twelve years, thanks to leap years and shift changes. Sure doesn't feel that long since Halloween of '94. I still feel like I'm a   sometimes, even though I'm in the top 1/4 of seniority.

Making the crew steaks and taters for tonight.


And after the chief leaves at 4 I'll issue my (latest) unofficial rant about ineptitude in management...

You got married on halloween?

Quoted: First time in twelve years, thanks to leap years and shift changes. Sure doesn't feel that long since Halloween of '94. I still feel like I'm a   sometimes, even though I'm in the top 1/4 of seniority. Making the crew steaks and taters for tonight. And after the chief leaves at 4 I'll issue my (latest) unofficial rant about ineptitude in management...

Sounds like someone asked for the day off...

Quoted: You got married on halloween?

Yeah... to my "other woman"... the FD.

My wife hates that bitch.

Quoted: Sounds like someone asked for the day off...

Actually no; sadly, it's completely unrelated.

[rant]

In our county, you accrue training for the county "special teams" over the course of the calender year. If you have only one tech rescue discipline (trench, confined space, high angle or structural collapse), you need to attend 3 county level drills for that discipline; if you have more than one discipline, you have to attend two drills per discipline.

HazMat is a whole different issue. They want you to have 40 hours just with the county team drills, and they don't count the drills you do as a department unless they're "blessed" by the county. But due to whatever, HazMat was listed under "special rescue" with trench et al, even though it has a completely different training guideline.

A few years ago, I didn't make the required hours for HazMat. The chief didn't want to send the (routine) form letter requesting my readmittance to the county team, so I got dropped. I was listed with a few other guys that were bounced for non attendance - my listing (as I remember) said "Tango7 - not active in special teams-hazmat due to lack of hours"

He assumed that that removed me from tech rescue participation with everything the county does.

I went back over my session logs and proved that I was still active with tech rescue, just not HazMat. I even had the Chief in charge (from another department) fax a memo stating that, to his knowledge, I was still active in technical rescue.

He only remembers my "being dropped from special teams last year", and today laughingly said "Mister Tango, we've been through this before" as he walked away.

I successfully resisted the urge to say "And I proved you wrong before, you f*in' idiot" .

As such, when I tried to organize a drill for the county team here in town, he vetoed it, and told the City liason I'd been sweet talking into allowing the drill that "I wasn't authorized since I didn't participate in County Teams". Funny, I've been to three of my six required drills this year.

If he's basing it on my not submitting Training Time (straight time, thanks to the contract ) slips, I don't bother anymore, since they consistently get rejected, claiming a "lack of money". Funny, since the guys working his pet project of fire prevention never seem to be turned down even though they're earning time and a half.

He's never given a shit about tech rescue. It's a foreign concept to him, so he doesn't recognize that it exists. He forgets that two of us tech guys extricated a worker from the water plant after he broke his leg in a pit several years back using (gasp) tech rescue skills and tools. To him it's just "guys screwing around" and not doing busywork or cleaning, so we're never cleared to go on duty either.

He used to give us the lecture about "giving something to the department" when we put in training (straight) time slips. Well, it's bigger than that for me now. My side job pays me a fair amount more an hour than I earn working OT here... even though, as we all know, it's not simply about $$. If it was, I would have bounced from here several years ago.  

So, if he wants to throw the "sacrifice" spiel at me, I can tell him that, at $40/hour and 3 hours/drill I've donated over $720 to the department, plus gas costs.

As tempting as it is to R.O.D. and say FAYAMF until he retires, it's more of a hassle for me to get back into the tech stuff on a county level if I quit. I just gotta stay motivated and count down the days till he retires, because if I don't I turn into the type of guy I used to hate.

Although, if they were going through a similar "leadership moment experience" I can understand why they did what they did.

And on top of that, in a continuing sign of knowing your guys he didn't even acknowledge that my 12 year was today . (We've only got a 30 man shop, so I doubt he lost track in the multitude) He's a real "people person" can you tell?

Funny, since I still remember him accusing me of being a "rich suburban white kid who's going to steal all the training and skills from the poor City before I leave and go to some other department" my first week on the job.

It's been 12 years here, "chief". And I'm still repulsed by your "fear and intimidation as a leadership tactic" methods.

Thanks for teaching by example... of how not to lead and inspire.

[/rant]

Quoted: Quoted: You got married on halloween? Yeah... to my "other woman"... the FD. My wife hates that bitch.

ahhh ic

I guess its better than mine, 9/11

Remember the definition of the word CHAOS.  Chief Has Arried On Scene.

Quoted: Remember the definition of the word CHAOS.  Chief Has Arried On Scene.

Amen, Brother.

Just gotta keep positive until he retires. Then we can start reconstructing what's left of the Fire Department as more than just a city department.

Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like someone asked for the day off... Actually no; sadly, it's completely unrelated. [rant] snip. [/rant]

Sorry. Sounds like being denied a day off would have been better.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like someone asked for the day off... Actually no; sadly, it's completely unrelated. [rant] snip. [/rant] Sorry. Sounds like being denied a day off would have been better.

You got it...