If you asked the average person what they thought about the time emergency responders spend between calls, you would generally get one of two opinions. One being: “Man I know you guys never get no breaks. 911, 24/7 baby, wooo.” Or the other: “You are so lucky, I wish I could get paid to just sleep and watch T.V all day.”
These are both examples of unfortunately true public misconceptions. There is some truth in those statements though. There are some places that well go weeks without a call, while others average over twenty runs a shift. As you know, call volume is dependent on a lot of factors. Location, Population, Time of day, Time of year, Weather, Resources, the list goes on. And even when you try to calculate all of the above, sometimes it still doesn’t make sense.
But no matter where you work, there is still downtime at some point. There is however a time when having a break, can becomes a burden. The time when you don’t want to workout, You’re not tired enough to sleep, You’ve had it with Mythbusters and UFC, and you have even considered (dare I say ) asking dispatch for a transfer just so you could do something.
This is a list of some of the more creative things I have done when reaching this moment.
- I have made two wallets out of cloth tape.
- I scrubbed the shower and toilets. (twice in the same day)
- I wrote a comic book staring my station mates.
- I made a superhero costume out of disposable sheets.
- I once made a cheesecake from things I found in the station’s kitchen.
- I have worked on cars.
- Attempted to learn how to ride a unicycle.
- Assisted in the arrest of a drunk driver.
- Did yoga in the park.
- Played in Toys R Us.
- Initiated an impromptu in service training.
- With the help of three other people, stared at a light switch, and tried to move it with our minds.
- Went to the beach.
- And even massaged my station mates. ( I was a certified massage therapist for two years before I went to EMT school )
This a just a slice of some of the things that have kept me entertained while the city is safe. To be honest, I’m not proud if everything I have done when left to fend for myself. Nothing was illegal, and nobody was hurt, It just wasn’t the most professional I’ve been. This job affords you many freedoms, and they are easily abused. Down time is nice. But like most things in life, use in moderation.
FYI light switch moving is a four person project. Unless one of them is a Libra. Then you will need at least 7 people. Of course that is when you are actually trying to move the wall plate. If you want to move the switch to the on position or to the off position. Then you need five people, one of whom most have had a chef boy ar dee product for lunch. And the average age of the group needs to be withing 13.57 years of 37. Good luck.
Leave it to you to have all the answers. I’ll try to remember that for next time.
message therapist, eh? GenMed needs a masseuse on staff then. *ahem*
I can’t imagine you playing around in Toys-R-Us though. Oh wait, yes I can. Stealing your Ray-Bans: just one more thing in the list of pwapwazaz conspiracy.