I have been absolutely miserable at work for more than a year. I dreaded going in for every shift because of the rampant nepotism and toxic work atmosphere. I felt as though I had a target on my back and stayed out of sight at the station with very little interaction with the leadership. Add to that the difficult calls I have had recently and I was angry and dour in and out of work. It didn't take much to set me off.
That has all changed with the change in leadership. I have been given additional responsibilities and tasks and actually thanked and praised for just doing my job and for doing extra stuff. The nepotism is gone and the progeny's "authority" is now been reigned in. The schedule is going to change from a topsy-turvy clusterfuck to a work week with regularly scheduled duty days, and as senior FF/EMT I get first choice of days. There are also plans in the works to get rid of the age-out bylaw that has currently short-circuited my retirement plan. A couple of my co-workers (Millenials) aren't too happy but they just need to adjust and buck up. I talked about it with my wife last night and she agreed I have been an angry prick lately but things are getting better simply because of my work environment. I will be on shift this coming Friday and while it is still a work day I would rather be off, I am not dreading it.
It really sucks when the job makes you miserable , it affects your whole life .I am a big believer in leaving work at work . Sometimes it is hard to do. Glad things are improving !
ReplyDelete@Ruggles: I've had shitty jobs before. The company I worked for from 2011 to 2016 always gave me an outstanding performance review, but not one penny in pay increase. No one got a pay increase there EVER! Even the first job I had in high school paid me more than minimum wage and I got raises regularly. The next hideous job was driving a truck. 3X a week to NYC and a traffic manager that would pile on extra stops fucking up my entire route. I left the yard every day at 03:30 and sometimes not get back until almost 8 PM with the fork lift driver sitting there waiting to load me for the next day. An Asian woman in NYC attempting suicide by jumping in front of my moving truck cost me that job because I hit a pedestrian and the company didn't care about the circumstances. It all got thrown out when NYPD reviewed security footage at the intersection and saw what really happened. It was after that I went back to the FD and have been here since March 2019.
ReplyDeleteNormally tough calls happen and then fade away. But I've had a run of them since spring and the cumulative effect was getting to me with the latest one being written about here.
https://75mpop.blogspot.com/2026/07/therapy-of-words.html
That last one just made me real sad. I can at least read that post now without tearing up.
Welcome to the gestalt of EMS. I spent 26 years hauling injured skiers off of ski slopes. Along with 11 years ambulance and fire in a tourist town. Along with 20 years ER nurse.
ReplyDeleteI retired 5 years ago and I can safely say it took me 4 years to "calm" down.
I have headhunters calling me up and offering mucho dinero to get back into it.
Nope, nada, stick it, is my usual response.
Glad the powers that be pulled head from ass! Nothing worse than nepotism.
ReplyDelete@ Jeb Texas: The powers that be didn't smarten up, they left. I had to stop by the firehouse yesterday afternoon to do some Workman's Comp paperwork and came upon quite the discussion at the hang out table in the bays. They actually uttered the "M-Word".... MUTINY! Nepo-Baby is doing quite a job feathering his nest and fucking everyone else making up the schedule. I laughed when the Deputy Chief who is a GWOT combat wounded Marine made the motion of pulling the pin and throwing a grenade. I related the story of myself and another fireman being accused of stealing supplies from the W.B. Mason delivery. Come to find out... oops; W.B. Mason forgot to ship part of the order. But the damage was done with the first thought that jerk had was to accuse employees of stealing. I just kind of said out loud to whomever was nearby to hear, "That's the kind of shit that got Second LT's fragged in Vietnam. Unfortunately the person that needed to hear it didn't have a clue what that meant.
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