Can you call "On the road, In service"?

S

Simusid

Forum Captain
Messages
336
Reaction score
0
Points
16
We run 2 911 trucks for our town. We're paid/volunteers and run 12 hour shifts. Like many places there is a lot of down time. There is some boredom and it's often relieved with food. So this means that it is not uncommon for crews to call "on the road, in service" while they drive a truck out to pick up pizza, burgers, or even go to the food store to get food to cook.

Usually, this stays under control. But sometimes 5 minutes down the road can turn into a half hour at the mall and that might include a personal errand. This is getting excessive and unfortunately it means that management is going to fix whatever policy we have now and probably come down a bit heavy handed.

How much leeway do you have to take a truck out on the road? Can you get food and do small errands if you keep it under 10 or 15 minutes?
 
Simusid said:
We run 2 911 trucks for our town. We're paid/volunteers and run 12 hour shifts. Like many places there is a lot of down time. There is some boredom and it's often relieved with food. So this means that it is not uncommon for crews to call "on the road, in service" while they drive a truck out to pick up pizza, burgers, or even go to the food store to get food to cook.

Usually, this stays under control. But sometimes 5 minutes down the road can turn into a half hour at the mall and that might include a personal errand. This is getting excessive and unfortunately it means that management is going to fix whatever policy we have now and probably come down a bit heavy handed.

How much leeway do you have to take a truck out on the road? Can you get food and do small errands if you keep it under 10 or 15 minutes?
Click to expand...

We have to stay in our first due, and we are not allowed to eat in at any restaurant. We just have to be reasonable about personal errands. I think mall trips are a little sketchy because of the increased elapsed time from dispatch to wheels rolling to the address.
 
Sure, as long as we stay in our zone and have our Nextel with us anytime we leave the vehicle. I wouldn't go to the mall, as I need to get back into my rig quickly if called- we don't abuse the privilege of being mobile.
 
We have to stay in or near our "still" (first in area). We have no restrictions with the obvious exceptions of no bars/clubs and such. For us, If your errand is nearby, go for it :p
 
Provided we weren't too far from the truck, we didn't even have to call in if we were getting out while posting.
 
We are system status so we are always "in service, on the road".

We can go pretty much anywhere within a mile of our post (read: street corner except for a few hard posts with an office we can go in)

If we want to stray a bit farther than a mile we call dispatch on a landline and they either say yes or no.

If you are repeatedly missing your "chute time", which is 1 minute from dispatched to wheels rolling, you will get written up and talked to by a supe.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks. For the most part the privilege is not abused. Today was an exception where a truck was left idling 45 minutes at a store. We are definitely in service though. I'm told by others that it is a public perception problem "oh why are they there, they shouldn't BE there for that long", and "they're using a $200k ambulance as their private vehicle".

I'm afraid the new policy will be very heavy handed and inflexible so I am definitely interested in hearing how others handle it.
 
re

Work 72'S here. As long as the partners are together its fairgame as long as station chores are done.
 
Simusid said:
I'm told by others that it is a public perception problem "oh why are they there, they shouldn't BE there for that long", and "they're using a $200k ambulance as their private vehicle"
Click to expand...
Have their been complaints to this effect or is management simply worrying about non-existent problems?

As long as we're within 5 miles of our station we're good.
 
Simusid said:
Thanks. For the most part the privilege is not abused. Today was an exception where a truck was left idling 45 minutes at a store. We are definitely in service though. I'm told by others that it is a public perception problem "oh why are they there, they shouldn't BE there for that long", and "they're using a $200k ambulance as their private vehicle".

I'm afraid the new policy will be very heavy handed and inflexible so I am definitely interested in hearing how others handle it.
Click to expand...
yeah, and??? it a public perception that the crew is in the truck doing public relations, being out in public and interacting with members of the communicty. They are out in public, ready to respond rapidly.

if the problem is that the truck is idling for 45 minutes, then shut the truck off. and if there is a policy not to shut the truck off, than tell any who complain that the truck is left running since it's agency policy.

Our policy is that as long as you don't leave your primary area, or are near your assigned post, you can do what you want. Go shopping, get food, run errands, it's all positive PR, because it shows that you are out, interacting with the public.

As long as they drop what they are doing if they get an assignment and go, what's the big deal?
 
DrParasite said:
As long as they drop what they are doing if they get an assignment and go, what's the big deal?
Click to expand...

I agree. The "problem" is a vocal minority of fussbudgets in a small town AND the absence of an actual written policy on truck usage. One comment I had today was that "no other ambulance can just decide to do an errand" and I think this thread has at least shown me that we are not in the minority of behavior.

Thanks everyone
 
Good God small town politics:rolleyes:...

Some of the best times I've had was working for a private and telling these same jackwagons that no, actually, their tax dollars DIDN'T pay my salary.
 
We pretty much do anything we want as long as we are within a mile from where we are posted. Walk around some museums, eat, etc. If a crew members house is within that mile we will post there and play games and watch movies. I've made trips to hardware stores for stuff I needed.

A long time ago we had a crew go into a theater to watch a movie. Something happened (I'm not sure what) so we can't do that anymore.

I'll normally post at a park and take of my uniform shirt and do some physical excersize.
 
So a few years ago, I'm working and my partner has to go to the bank to deposit his paycheck. He drove, and parked semi illegally by the entrance, since parking downtown in the city sucks, and in case we had a call, it would allow for a quick response.

Some lady came up to me, knocked on the window and said "I just want you to know that in these tough economic times, I don't think it's right that you are wasting taxpayer money by going on errands in the ambulance." I calmly responded "Ma'am, we are part of the hospital, and the city doesn't pay for us to provide the service, so it isn't coming out of your taxpayer dollars, and we needed to go to the ATM so we could get some money for food. Are we not permitted to eat?" She didn't have any response to that, only saying that her opinion hasn't changed, and she went on her way, and I never heard from her again.

So if 1 person in the city population of 55,000 has an issue with it, that's less than 0.001% of the population. it's a very small sometimes vocal minority that has nothing better to do with their time.

Note to self: next time find a better hiding spot.
 
usalsfyre said:
Good God small town politics:rolleyes:...

Some of the best times I've had was working for a private and telling these same jackwagons that no, actually, their tax dollars DIDN'T pay my salary.
Click to expand...

We are a "not for profit, using no tax dollars". I love telling people off when they tell me I "work for them".

I personally think it makes more sense for an ambulance to be out and about doing errands than it does for a big ol' engine or stick.
 
We have to stay a mile and a half from post, or ask permission to go where we want.

I went and got taco bell the other day for me and the sup. a guy came up to me and said "Do your bosses know you are here? If you are in here...who is out there protecting the citizens of *blank*".

He then called the sup later to complain. Which the sup wasnt very nice in explaining that we are human and get breaks too.

People are going to think what they want. Even if you are just sitting in a parking lot posted, we have haf people call to complain that we are on our cell phone.
 
The city I work in has FD based 911 response. Big, red boxes with "big city fire department" on the side. Our units are an obnoxious, neon...not red. We wear white shirts, they wear blue. No way we should ever be mistaken for one another.

Yet I've still managed to run across a couple of these busybodies that try to wave the "tax payer" flag about some horrible faux paux we've committed in their eyes. Usually an upper-middle class individual in their late 50s to early 60s.

What the hell is wrong with people?
 
Simusid said:
Thanks. For the most part the privilege is not abused. Today was an exception where a truck was left idling 45 minutes at a store.
Click to expand...

My 2 pet peeves:

1. Needlessly leaving the unit running.

2. Parking in a disruptive location. I don't care that it's an emergency vehicle, unless you're there on emergency business there's no reason to park in the red zone blocking traffic.
 
JPINFV said:
My 2 pet peeves:

1. Needlessly leaving the unit running.

2. Parking in a disruptive location. I don't care that it's an emergency vehicle, unless you're there on emergency business there's no reason to park in the red zone blocking traffic.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on these pet peeves.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top