So I'm a female EMT. For the most part its not hard. I'm just an EMT. At least that's the way I see it. But for some reason there are those that like to point out that not only am I an EMT but I am also a female. Yes, I am aware that I am a female but never has it been such an issue at the work place. It really ridiculous. There have been a lot of problems at the place I work because of it. But I will not lie there are some that have been my fault. I'm not so childish that I can't admit that I have f%#@!% up.
Soooooo...I recently worked at 24 hour shift and it happened that I was to work another 24 hour shift after. That makes 48 hours straight. Please let if be known that there is some down time so I'm not working the 48 hours without rest. However, this particular time it was a little different.
My first 24 hours were a little bad. After clocking in at 6 am I proceeded, with my co-workers, to clean the station and our rigs. It was work as usual. By the time I got done it was around 7:30 am. I then decided that since no calls had come in I would take a quick nap. So I napped for about 1.5 hours. I think it was around 9:00 when I woke up from my nap. After having some breakfast I started to study (I am also a student). Around 11 a call came in and my partner and I went out. We did not get back until 7 pm. You see that is the life of an EMT. You don't know when, how, who or how long.
After getting back to the station at 7 pm I had a quick chat with a co-worker and was out again at 8pm. We didn't get back until 10 or 11 pm, can't really remember. Another call came in at midnight and we went out and then another at 4 am. So only got 3 hours of sleep in between the two last calls.
Yup, only 4.5 hours of sleep. Plus a quick 10 min nap in between two calls. It was awesome!!!
I finally hit the hay around 5 or 5:30 am. However, I was woken up by a big push from my next partner. He said that our supervisor wanted us to get up and go fuel up all the rigs. I was obviously a little out of it and told him that I was too tired and couldn't. He told me that he would let the supervisor know and I said ok.
Mind you this was around 6:30 in the morning.
I'm not opposed to doing my job. I was not refusing to do what was being asked of me. I was just unable to at the time. I was tired. Do you understand? Tired!!!
Well I guess my supervisor found it a good idea to get more people involved. So my dispatcher called me and asked me to go fuel up the rigs. I then proceeded expound on what I had told my partner earlier. That I couldn't drive because of lack of sleep.
If you're an EMT you know that your safety is number one, your partner's is next and the patient's comes after.
This is not because we are selfish it is because we don't want to create more casualties.
As a good dispatcher would do. He asked me if I was refusing to do what I was told and I said no. I told him that I had worked a full 24 and that I hadn't gotten enough sleep and shouldn't drive. It would be dangerous. He then asked me if had worked the whole 24 hours because if I hadn't there should be no excuse. He then threatened me and said that if I didn't do what he asked me to do then he would be forced to do something about it. I asked him what that was and he said that I didn't want to know. I asked him not to take it personally. This was not me trying to defy him. This was me being tired and not comfortable driving. I then told him to do what he has to do that I understood and that I would not be upset by him doing his job.
After the supervisor showed up at my bedside and finally (i say finally because it should have been him from the beginning if not secondly) asked me to go fill up the rigs. I then again explained that I was too tired and shouldn't be driving.
"Well if you don't get up and do what i'm telling you to do i'm going to have to ask you to clock out and leave"
"Are you serious? I'm not refusing to do what you do i'm telling you I can't, I am unable to"
"Well if your unable to do the task just grab your shit and clock out"
At this point I got mad. How dare this person speak to me this way. How dare all these people come and bombard me with their attitudes. Why is it that they are taking this so personally and getting to worked up about this?
Since when has it been wrong for an employee to tell their supervisor that they are unable to do something? And when did that warrant being sent home with no pay? When is it appropriate or accepted for a supervisor to yell and curse at an employee? These are the questions that ran thru my mind as my supervisor continued to go on his power trip.
I hate that in these days we fear losing our job because there are no jobs. How much should we be taking? When is enough, enough?
Well this is my story for the day. Lets hope no more BS goes on today. But I fear that now I am only in this supervisor's cross hairs.
Living the dream,
A female EMT
