NY EMT Dispatcher Spends 8 Hours on Phone to Locate Patient
This is a great article. It shows that we dispatchers work very hard to help people. And even save lives.
But the last sentence raised my hackles:
"The department has been petitioned for Hilman-Payne (the wonderful dispatcher this article is about) to receive some sort of special recognition for her work and Long (the FDNY spokesman) said the petition will be taken under advisement."
What?!?! Excuse me?!?! What advisement?!?! Taken under "advisement"?!?!
That man should be kissing the feet of Hilman-Payne for the great work AND the great PR she just brought to that department.
If it had been a fireman, there would, no doubt, be a ticker tape parade under discussion. BUT (and I see this with every law enforcement or fire department) when it is a dispatcher that goes above and beyond, when it is a dispatcher that saves the life (of citizen or officer), EVERY law enforcement or fire department thinks long and hard about what, if any, acknowledgement they will provide.
After all, it is their thinking that WE (all dispatchers) are just doing our job.
E-X-C-U-S-E M-E?!?!
It will be interesting to see if the heroine of this article, Joann Hilman-Payne, will receive any department recognition. My guess, she will be told she got her name in the newspaper and that she will receive a little pat on the head, without witnesses of course.
My hat is off to you Joann Hilman-Payne. You were showing yourself to the world as an "A" Game player in the world of emergency communications. And if I could, I would buy you a sash to wear that read, "#1 Dispatcher".
Monday, June 17, 2013
Friday, June 7, 2013
Like... ah... You Know?
Major pet peeve time.
Received a call from a young lady who was seeking information. But it takes her, no joke, two solid minutes of slipping into phrases and words of "like... ah.. you know.." every few words before she was capable of giving me a drift of the information she was inquiring for.
Though we glorious dispatchers also receive phone calls of 4-letter words sprinkling a question or comment, it drives me around the bend to hear "like... ah... you know" several times in a short conversation.
And then, this word seeking lack of vocabulary speaking young woman, asks a question but doesn't allow me to answer, because she has started talk, like, not sure, ah..., like, how to get the, like, you know, who to contact, like, maybe we should, ah..., but then, like...
You get the picture.
I happen to know this young female is a college student. Her diatribe brought forth that little piece of information nugget. What a waste of good money! Clearly she is not an English major. Maybe a art history major looking for a husband? Cruel, yes. But so irritating to listen to.
But it also took me back to my days of working for a very large agency and their large dispatching unit. Listing to fellow dispatchers who repeatedly say, "okay?". Clearly things are not okay if people are calling you in the first place. But to continuously through a conversation or the providing of information, "okay" is not something that needs repeating numerous times.
Okay? I mean, like, it is so, ah, you know, a bother to work through. Okay?
Received a call from a young lady who was seeking information. But it takes her, no joke, two solid minutes of slipping into phrases and words of "like... ah.. you know.." every few words before she was capable of giving me a drift of the information she was inquiring for.
Though we glorious dispatchers also receive phone calls of 4-letter words sprinkling a question or comment, it drives me around the bend to hear "like... ah... you know" several times in a short conversation.
And then, this word seeking lack of vocabulary speaking young woman, asks a question but doesn't allow me to answer, because she has started talk, like, not sure, ah..., like, how to get the, like, you know, who to contact, like, maybe we should, ah..., but then, like...
You get the picture.
I happen to know this young female is a college student. Her diatribe brought forth that little piece of information nugget. What a waste of good money! Clearly she is not an English major. Maybe a art history major looking for a husband? Cruel, yes. But so irritating to listen to.
But it also took me back to my days of working for a very large agency and their large dispatching unit. Listing to fellow dispatchers who repeatedly say, "okay?". Clearly things are not okay if people are calling you in the first place. But to continuously through a conversation or the providing of information, "okay" is not something that needs repeating numerous times.
Okay? I mean, like, it is so, ah, you know, a bother to work through. Okay?
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