Vices and Training

So lately I've developed this strange craving, which is the strange desire to start smoking. I have no idea where it came from but for the last month or so it's been everything I can do not to go to the corner store and buy a pack. I've never really smoked before, well once when I was seventeen and curious but hey I think I coughed up half a lung from not doing it right and it wasn't even a full one. It's weird because I find myself thinking about it when I'm bored at home or at work after hot calls. There are these little pirouline things that I bought, which is just a wafer like chocolate thing but it's like a stick and seems effective at putting the cravings at bay, it's just sad that I have to play pretend to get rid of them. Like I said, I have no idea where this craving has come from all of a sudden, but I hope it goes away soon.

One of the girls on my old shift came in, she had been off on maternity leave, with the two little boys that she had adopted. They were ... 2 and 3 ...4 I think but they were sweet. It's so funny to see people that I know are quite, bit jaded and tough just go to adorable mush around kids and pets. My OM, had one in chair and was wheeling him around the centre, he even bought them both candy from the vending machine. These kids also had a liking to our highlighters so we didn't have one in the centre until they were gone.

I'm on a break this cycle from my CPIC training, as we were too short for me to be off of calltaking but I'm enjoying the break. I like both positions and really don't care where I sit. It's just last shift there I made a few mistakes which I hate. I'll admit it first, I'm a perfectionist when it comes to myself so I don't really like training. I don't like knowing that I'm not as good as I should be and hate making mistakes. Needless to say it's a stressful time for me because I'm getting more mad at myself then my trainer, actually he's never gotten mad, he's pretty laid back. They are not bad or big mistakes but I'll miss type a code and have to do it all over again or I'll forget which of the several new codes I need. I know it'll take time to do it fluently, I just hate not being there yet. I keep thinking it's not fair to the officers who are used to asking a request say for someones CPIC and CNI and getting it back in within a minute and me who might take two minutes.

There is this sergeant who calls up and every female that answers the phone she thinks is Katie, every male she thinks is James. I've been told it's not that I don't sound like me, it's that I don't sound like James. Great. Oh well, maybe if I make a mistake with her, Katie will get the blame, ha ha ha ha!

Me: Calling back abandoned cell phone *secret number*
Rapper: Bah da da da
Me: What?
Rapper: Yo yo what up all the dawgs! I ain't home but yo! Yo! Yo! Crazytown! Yeyyy!
Me: *starring blankly at my computer screen* Are you drunk?
It then goes into a recorded message saying that my improv rapper that I had been calling back was wanting me to lave a message after beep. Fo sho, aiight

Going into my last night shift tonight, got my two Rockstars keeping cool in the fridge. My second and new vice. I love those things and they do wake me up. I can time them apart and when the crash should be so I get the second one when I'm just getting home. It's an art. It's funny because I got lectured about it from this one coworker, who I think is a prude (rock music the root of all evil, don't dare say nipple and I've never done anything wrong or impolite kind). My comeback was though, she smokes like a chimney. She told me it was bad for my health, so do cigarettes. It's bad for you heart, so are cigarettes. They'll stop you heart, cigarettes will destroy your heart. This went on for a little bit as I sipped my Rockstar and she eventually gave up and went out to have a cigarette. We all have our vices, it's just about our vices not having us.

Dispatcher Bitch aka CPIC

***for some reason, blogger is not keeping my paragraphs when I post, sorry for the long stretch of words.*** So I'm looking at flights on line, going to Ottawa in the summer, checking out some prices, you know, all that stuff. So I wondered if I was allowed to bring my own food on or if they'd be like a movie theater and only want you to eat their stuff. There is a spot to check for it and a little drop down list. No where does it say food but it has informed me that I cannot bring a catapult on board. Damn. Some of the rules seem silly and I wonder who in their right minds would be bringing some of these things. I suppose the rules are for people, who are in fact, not in functioning minds. Last cycle during my night shifts I started my CPIC training which is exciting. Before I was simply 911 and non emergency police and fire. Now I will be on the radio as well, getting tow trucks, running people, vehicles for officers. If an officer needs a phone number of a business or if any dispatch just in general needs someone called, I do it. I turned to a friend and informed her, that essentially I was the dispatch bitch. I don't mind, but I draw the line at getting coffee and doing someones dry cleaning. It also means I am one step closer to dispatching as well. It's where I want to end up. I don't know if I said it before but in our centre we have calltakers (answer 911, alarm, non emerg police/fire) and dispatchers (Fire=Handles radio/needs for responding fire crew, Police=handles radio/needs for police of all sub agencies Cpic=dispatch bitch, lol, jk, already described) Most people get trained in 3 areas, so three skills, others get trained in all and have 4 skills. Last night shift I ended up going back to calltaking because they closed CPIC down at 3. We had members/call takers/dispatchers going home earlier (most earlier then this) and we were short staffed. We had a member that passed away so they were going to the funeral the next day. Some very considerate people came to our watch to fill in while we did this, so thanks! My last call of the night was a woman who sounded rather calm, but that was not a reflection of her situation. Me: 911, What is your emergency? Girl: I'm upside down, please help me. Me: You're upside down? Girl: My car went off the road. It flipped. I'm upside down. So, I got help to her, while's she dangling down. Someone stopped and was able to get her out. She wasn't hurt at all, which is very lucky. I instructed her to just sit in one place, if it was safe to do so and not move until the paramedics or firefighters instructed her. Throughout this whole time she is calm for the most of it, once or twice getting a bit hyper, but really that was awesome. She knew where she was and she was willing to listen to me and do what I was instructing. When she thanked me, it was one of the most sincere thank yous I have had in this job. So tomorrow is my first day back, off to make some blue jello for first day shift. It's a sudden and intense addiction, lol. Oh and post #60, man I talk a lot.

Russian Roulette 911 Style

Ok so picture this, there are five of us sitting in a room, 911 rings and the caller hangs up and goes straight to the 'abandoned' queue. It didn't light up any ones name so technically it's any ones and every ones. Normally these can ding a few times before someone will grab it. This time, four out of five grab it at the same time. It should not have worked but it rang on all our headsets, we're all looking at each other, realizing we all grabbed it. "Who's going to be the luck
y winner?" I got an error message. Woo! Slowly until the last one standing got the caller and yes, the person was a charmer, lol. Ha ha!

We also have this game which is very bad if the tape ever goes to court. It's how we deal with the frustration of pocket dials (someone dialing 911 in their pocket). It's always a mistake and the call never goes anywhere, still, some of play the accent game. When we call back we do our script but we do it in an accent. I like doing British and a coworker is excellent with the good ole southern charm. Sometimes it's fun to even make fun of ourselves, saying about like aboot and saying eh a lot. I find this game happens a lot on night shift, right around three ... three thirty.

Today was steady and man people did not want to place nice with each other at all. Assaults, weapons, disturbances, argh. It's Wednesday morning people, hump day. Go hump or something. Tomorrow is st. paddy's day and I know there will be some classy people staggering around the streets around 11 in the morning. Job security folks.