things you will never live down

c-spine

Forum Lieutenant
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We've all got those stupid things we've done or said that someone remembers. Those stupid things that we will NEVER live down.. What are they?

Last year in my basic class, my partner and I, (before the b***h abandoned me); were in the cardiac station. My "patient" was having difficulty breathing, so my first thought -> Respiratory! (Granted, the name of the station was cardiac). I get the bright idea - Ok... let's give him a neb! My partner looks at me like I'm stupid. My patient is trying to not laugh at me, and I'm adamant about the neb treatment.

My patient is now my best friend, and every time something goes wrong (with my car, or I'm angry/upset about life); his suggestion?

GIVE IT A NEB!!
 

gradygirl

TROUBLE
626
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Not that I mind, but I will never live down my tat. Of course as soon as I showed it to a few close friends on our squad, every other responder made me show it to them as soon as we ran into one another. And at our general informational meeting for new interests, my friends made me strip and show everyone the tat. It's even been suggested to me by my partners to flash it at a patient once in a while.

Oh, and the fact that I'm friends with or talk to most of the EMT/medics, PD, FD, etc. who we work with on scenes promptly got me labeled as having "boyfriends." And the title of Uniformed Emergency Personnel W***e, which actually evolved from a few other nicknames on a similar line...jerks...
 

BrandoEMT

Forum Crew Member
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At my service when I first started a couple months ago we have two types of rigs.....new one's and old one's....

The new one's don't require to turn on a battery to start or use the patient compartment electric...so just get in, turn the key and go!

The old rigs...only need the battery turned on to run the patient compartment, lights and such...get in, turn on battery and turn key and go!


One day we're going to an MVA with multiple persons involved, have to drive through busy traffic, traffic lights and then along county roads...anyway, I'm driving jump in the rig and leave...hit the siren and as I'm going through the intersections I tell my partner our Opticom isn't working...

I flip the switch on and off trying to get it going and no luck...now, no one is pulling over for us and I'm hitting the air horn along with the siren and people finally move....we get to the scene about 15-20 miles away and I get out....the lights aren't on....

All my partner asks is, "Did you turn on the battery?"

I won't live that down.....

One quick cool time....I got the rig airborne going through an intersection....didn't mean to but it was AWESOME....also didn't set off our drive cam either!
 
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c-spine

c-spine

Forum Lieutenant
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lmao!! I hope the rigs on my service (once I **find** a service) don't have extra battery things

Airborne, ey? sweet!!
 

Jon

Administrator
Community Leader
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Airborne is BAD - Gravity exists for a reason.

On occasion I've forgotten to turn on the battery switch. It happens... Although, our sirens and radios are on the same switch... it soon becomes obvious that I missed it.


What will I never live down:
Checking oil on a rig I'd never been in before during the pre-shift check and grabbing the wrong handle. I didn't realize I'd actually moved it. 35 Gallons of Diesel Fuel went out the "fuel line water drain" opening over 30 minutes. Said Diesel Fuel than went down Storm Drain and was tracked down 4 city blocks by trucks using the loading dock we were parked next to.

Yeah... that was a bad day.
 
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c-spine

c-spine

Forum Lieutenant
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wow - sounds like a really bad day.
 

akflightmedic

Forum Deputy Chief
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Hmmmmmm, where do I even begin with this one???

I am bored, so sit back and laugh and I will share as many as I can recall.

1. Early in my career, returning from water rescue training in the EMS Bronco which has a lift and a way too heavy winch mounted on a steel bumper up front so the weight distrubution is way off, I am also towing the rescue boat. I come around a blind corner known for kids playing close to the road, however this day a chicken and her babies ran out in front of me. My first reaction was to tap the break cause I did not yet register what was in front of me...once I realized it was chickens, I had already left off the break, however I sent myself in a sideways spin that I could not recover from. Luckily there was no oncoming traffic as I took up both lanes. I went off into a ditch, the Bronco went up on two wheels hit a tree and then came back down...the boat trailer broke off and rolled. Henceforth for quite a while I was know as Chicken Man and even recieved a rubber chicken award at the Xmas party.

2. I was responding up the bypass for an MVC and obviously traffic was backed up. I was making goor progress for a bit, then I came to a stop. I opted to hit the median not remembering it had rained earlier that day. Needless to say, I mad it about 50 feet before bogging it down to the bumper. Good Stuff! A dump truck pulled up behind me and pushed me out so I could continue to respond.

3. Ok disclaimer...this one was so long ago I can not remember if I put gas in a diesel or diesel in a gas ambulance, but either way everyone made fun of me for quite some time.My truck was the last of our gas units(yes, youngins, ambulances used to run on gas, much faster too)lol. Anyways, I had been in diesel for a few shifts then got switched back to gas. So I made a mistake at the pump..oops.

4. Split pants...need I say more?
Unforunately I have split quite a fe pair of pants in my day, all that damn proper lifting technique,etc.
Anyways, we were called for a lift assist. A 450lb woman had slid out of her chair and could not get up off the floor. So when we get there, I squat down in front of her and there is such a loud rip from crotch all the way to the belt loop. We did not finish the lift as I immediately retreated to a bathroom. Her family looked at me funny but no one said a word, very odd I thought. I get on the radio and call for the engine to go en route, I also asked them to contact me orivately before going en route. Well typical of this crew they just went en route. All I wanted was them to bring my pants out of the locker. So now since they are en route I have to call them on the radio and ask them to return to get my pants. My batallion chief was also listening and he keys up wanting to know whats going on with the engine and all the radio traffic, blah blah blah. Anyways, the engine crew finally brings me my pants, I change and come out of the room. At this point, the patient and her family start laughing, cause this whole time they thought I had farted and crapped myself since I retreated to the bathroom and didnt come out. We all had a good laugh on that one.

Ok thats enough for now...there are many more, but the moral of all this is remember to never take yourself too seriously in this business. Have fun and enjoy life, its the only way to guarentee you will survive past the 5-7 year burnout rate for EMS professionals.
 

Epi-do

I see dead people
1,947
9
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I was a fairly new EMT, and we were dispatched to the scene of a possible suicide/woman with a gun and told to stage away from the scene. We arrive at the apartment complex and the street the address is on is filled with police cars. They still haven't secured the scene, so we are looking for a good place to stage, find it, and I get on the radio to mark that we are "On scene, staging at the funeral home." Boy, did I hear about that one for quite a while afterwards...
 
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c-spine

c-spine

Forum Lieutenant
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"On scene, staging at the funeral home."

LMAO!! Sounds like something our medics here would say - intentionally - just to be funny. -.-
 

Ridryder911

EMS Guru
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There are so many...that I won't have the space to write them. But, my partner who just got his P-med patch .. have found out it comes with a price. On his first day as a medic, we get called to a funeral home on a <LOC... as he was attempting to get her to talk, he said " hey.. wake up, your not dead!".. gulp.. yeah a crowd of about 200 watching... I looked up and the F.D., P.D. was all snickering... yep, he will never live it down.

R/r 911
 

sarahharter

Forum Crew Member
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my first call

i am in the military and that is where i got my first call. i was in the E.R. doing my clinicals for my AFSC (my job thingy, if you have q's about hat i'll answer later) anyway and we get called to the BX for a woman experiencing abdominal pains. i volunteered to go cuz i thought it would be fun. Yeah was i wrong. We get there and my preceptor was like go talk to her, do your job think of your training. well let me begin with i hate, hate, hate OBGYN problems! that is what i got for my medical when i did practicals for my NREMT, and i cryed when they gave my the scenario. anyway, i am talking to her and she let out a scream, and i said okay can i look and see what is going on. we are in the employee break room and it is private only me the pt and my preceptor now. well i looked, gulped and just about fainted. we were going to deliver on scene. So i was shaking getting stuff ready and by the time i had the kit out she had sneezed and out came a baby. i just stared and fell on the floor. i was grossed out like i had never been before. Well my preceptor is checking out the baby and i forgot that something comes after the baby, ohmygod did i scream and run the other way. i didn't relize the door was closed smacked right into it and gave my self a nice concusion. well the mom started laughing and we had to call for a second rig because i was passed out on the floor. we get back to the hospital and who is waiting for me when i wake up but my class laughing their butts off with balloons and stuff saying it's a girl that the mom sent down for me because she felt bad and later she came down with the baby to see me. but ever time i go back to that hospital to see people well i see a picture of me in the back of the rig with my preceptor laughing because he never had anyone freak out like i did.
 
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c-spine

c-spine

Forum Lieutenant
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hehehe... that's something I would do, minus the running away part. I'd probably pass out; but not run away. I almost failed the OBGYN part of my registry test. I hope I NEVER have to deliver a baby - I'd drop it with my luck. I'd turn a healthy, screaming baby into a PNB in no time.... :S

It's sweet that she brought baby down to see you though!
 

Jon

Administrator
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Yeah... I did the pants thing, too... that was embarrasing.
 
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c-spine

c-spine

Forum Lieutenant
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I haven't yet found a service, and the only pair of emt pants I could find that aren't 40$ per pair were on ebay (Gall's pants; way too big in the crotch); so the splitting of the pants wouldn't happen with those. The crotch hangs halfway to my knees. -.-;
 

IaEMT

Forum Ride Along
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Did that just happen

I'll bump ya one on the ripped pants category. I responded to a call, where as with yours, it was a very heavy person FDGB. As I squatted to help my two female partners lift this patient, my pants split...more like exploded. It was almost like the inseam through the crotch was velcro all the way down to the knees on both sides and up the zipper seam in the front and the ...midline... seam in the back. The only thing holding the lower pants up was the outside seam.

Embarrasing...right? Well.....to add to the humiliation....I am a Marvel Comic nerd......and....(are you ready?)......I was wearing my brand new Spiderman boxers.....and it was extremely apparent, from any angle. So.....now..my team at random times will just call out and say, "Hey Spidey, how's it going?".
 

mikeylikesit

Candy Striper
906
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I have had my belt break on a stretcher i don't know how many times. Once we were moving fast so i had to waddle to the back of the bus in front of about ten people in my sponge bob boxers.
 

sarahharter

Forum Crew Member
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ok lets just start with im a clutz and well very accident prone. i have had my moments and well this one was the best of them all and my company still brings it up esp. during evoc classes.

ok we got a call and i started to go responding and the truck would not start. than the lights started going crazy and the radio was going nuts. so we went to get out and i missed the step and fell right out onto my knee. it hurt like hell. i felt it pop and crack. so im laying on the floor screaming and laughing cuz im just in so much pain and cant believe i just did it and i dont know what to do. so my partner is laughing and says that looks like it hurt. so i go to get up and i grab the door and the lights go again and the siren goes off. i turn and slam my knee between the door and truck and fall again. my partner starts to laugh and is almost in tears about o pee herself. so im screaming this time cux damn did that hurt. so i get up and hop to the other truck and go on the call. which was hard to do when i couldn't really walk. so we get bakc from the call and i have to call our supervisor and he gets there and doesnt know what to do but laugh. so in the end i cracked my knee cap and damaged the tendons and :censored::censored::censored::censored: in it. i was out of work for like forever. so not to long ago i was assisting with an evoc class. during the class they make me tell the story and the instructor says now this is what not to do when getting in and out of the truck. it is funny to think back on now but damn does it suck when people start talking about it and bring up my other clutz days which is just about everyday but that by far is the most memorable.B)
 

el Murpharino

Forum Captain
424
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I got drunk at a fire dept banquet and sang the 'ding, fries are done' song at the karaoke machine. That video still gets sent each year at the dept.

**EDIT** I didn't realize this thread originated 3 years ago...wow!
 

BossyCow

Forum Deputy Chief
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I got drunk at a fire dept banquet and sang the 'ding, fries are done' song at the karaoke machine. That video still gets sent each year at the dept.

**EDIT** I didn't realize this thread originated 3 years ago...wow!

My kids sing that sober! And where does a fire dept allow you to serve liquor at a banquet. Ours had to stop.
 

Sasha

Forum Chief
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When we were starting IVs on eachother, I hit a vein, slid the cath in, forgot to pop the tourniquet or tamponade when I removed the needle and it was like a fountain of blood spewing forth from the cathater. Instead of reaching up and popping the tourniquet, I just slapped two hands down to hold pressure.

I have since been known as The Blood God! And have not lived it down.

I've also fallen out of the ambulance at one of my ride sites, and have been reminded everytime I've been back since to watch my step! :p
 
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