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Lyza_Beth
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Name: eBeth
Country: United States
State: Washington
Metro: Seattle
Birthday: 8/10/1970
Gender: Female
Interests: Drums ... Coffee ... Jesus. What else do I need?
Expertise: I am an expert in nothing. I struggle, live, laugh and am constantly craving.
Occupation: Crisis management
Industry: 911 - South KingCounty
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  xoxoeBeth
ICQ:  26318011
Yahoo:  eBeth0870
Member Since:
9/3/2005
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So, in the last 2 months I haven't had to deal with the weekly dread of a test that could potentially have ended my career. I'm not gonna lie... it's been nice to not have that hanging over me from week to week. I am just 2 days away from possibly the end of training and the big step into flying solo at the console. I go in to work bright and early at 4am tomorrow and Monday, then I spend the next two days sitting with someone completely new to me and their job is to objectively look at how I do and see it they feel I'm ready to handle things on my own. If I get the green light, then I'm officially not a trainee anymore. If they have concerns, I'll get another week or so with my trainer and then will try the solo flight again at a later time. There's no race, and the supervisors all about releasing you when you're ready - but I'm pretty sure I don't want to try and have them say "uh, sorry ... no". It's like I'm at the point where it all makes sense and I think for the most part I can do it - and it's not like I'm going to be released and then be isolated from any help I might need - but I think the safety net has gotten pretty comfortable and I'm afraid of not having it under me.
One of the girls in my class decided not to show up for work on Thursday. Just didn't come in. No call, no warning .... just a no show. At first I think people were worried about her and were thinking something had happened, but then when it was discovered she was feeling pressure and just decided not to come in, she pretty much had made some enemies. Training is hard, there is no question about it. It's easy to feel pressured and scared and frustrated. It's easier for some people to project those feelings onto others and make their own issues someone else's fault. Honestly, I don't understand that and while I can totally understand the pressured feelings she must have been dealing with - - you can't just not show up to work! Not in any situation is that ok, but especially in a job like this where people are relying on you to be available to keep your commitments because other people's lives can literally depend on it. Of course someone else is going to cover a shift when someone doesn't show up... but I really don't get how someone can be that selfish and mad and yet that cowardly at the same time. If a job is making you so miserable that you need to quit, then quit. Why makes yourself look bad and get a reputation and a horrid recommendation down the road by just skulking off into oblivion? Believe me, I've thought about it. Not for a while, but early in training it was miserable going in there and feeling like I was doing nothing right. I just chose to handle it differently and even I had a rocky couple of days because I maybe didn't choose the very best way to handle something, but it got dealt with, I moved on and now I'm facing the big one known as ... "Phase Four". < cue scary music >
My hope is that it will be 2 days of business as usual and, while I don't expect to impress anyone, I want to be able to confidently do what I know to do and not feel pressured to the point of making mistakes that are uncharacteristic of me. I don't need to be perfect, but I want to be competent and relaxed. I love what I do and I love a lot of the people I get to work with. I have resources and training behind me to help solve problems I may encounter, and I want to be able to remember all of that when I'm facing those 20 critical hours. If you think of it, say a prayer sometime between 6am and 4pm on Tuesday and Wednesday. Once Wednesday is over I'll be heading up to camp until Friday, so the next time I post here, I may officially be out of training. Such a journey it's been.
Later ~
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Let's see - April, May - JUNE. I have officially gone long enough without updating something that I likely have lost anyone who was crazy enough to subscribe to my very own blog. When one's life takes on such a drastic change (as mine did starting back in February) part of what changes is the availability of time to update what is going on, and also anything interesting actually going on. My days have become a collection of sometimes tragic and often ridiculous calls from people who think the problem they are having right in that moment is the most important thing. I get up at 2:15, leave by 3:15 and start taking calls at 4am. You'd be surprised to know how much trouble is actually happening in the wee hours. Someone wise once told me "sin loves the darkness" and that is so true. When someone calls to tell me her son and his girlfriend are in the driveway fighting and she's afraid of waking the neighbors my first response, in the privacy of my mind and safety of my mute-switch, is "Why is your 13 year old son outside at 4am?? Tell him to get the hell in the house!!" People's lack of brain cells still baffles me. Other people who have been in this line of work are less surprised by the idiocy but also less compassionate. I need to already start guarding myself - I don't want to become so cynical and stop showing grace, but it's hard to do.
On July 1st and 2nd I will spend my shift without a trainer by my side, but will be watched by a trainer who hasn't spent any time with one-on-one me yet. They want an impartial and objective opinion I guess. When you sit for 10 hours a day with someone there is a friendship that develops and they need a neutral party to do the final phase. The goal of those 2 days is to be able to show in 20 hours of call-taking that you are capable of handling what could come your way. If it goes well, I'm officially released to fly solo and I will have successfully completed a pretty rigorous training program. What I like is that I'm at the point where the book knowledge and the protocol are now making sense enough to feel natural. You can read about something you know nothing about and learn enough about it to pass a test... and then you can practice routines of process until they become habit, but when those two things are combined with an understanding of the why behind them and the outcome of the proper application - it makes something that has seemed often too much for me to grasp feel like something I can do with confidence. I believe this is called learning, and no matter what your age, it feels pretty good when you accomplish it.
For now I am starting the new grieving process over the loss of my summer. For the first time in 14 years I won't get to be the camp nurse for 6+ weeks. Giving that up to someone else...giving up the freedom of summer in general and accepting a new reality of my schedule and responsibilities is hard. Moving on to something new, better, or just different - - changing what you've done or what you've been expected to do because you're choosing to walk a different path - - it's all life. People get disappointed by choices others make when those choices force them to have to change something as well. Life can't be lived effectively on the expectations of others. Growth can happen with a careful laid out plan, but it can also happen when we jump into the unknown of something and see where it takes us. I'm not talking about flipping a coin or asking the psychic hot line - but finding something you think you might want to do, pursuing it, committing to it and following it where it leads can be a simply fantastic ride. I'm nearing the end of an endeavor that was really harder than I thought it would be and that upset the lives of some people who didn't understand why out-of-the-blue I was going into something like this ... but it's awesome, and to anyone else who is about to jump and not sure how the landing will be ... take a leap of faith and try something. If it turns out not to be what you thought... try something else. And if it turns out to be horrible and you need help, call 911!! :)
Peace out and happy summer to all. I'll update more often... I promise.
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| Yesterday was another one of those milestone moments here ay ValleyComm. The 5 girls I have grown to love spending time with all successfully made it through their practical exam and I was the only one left to participate in the tortuous event. I likened it to a long walk to the gas chamber as I walked into the training room for the last time as a student. The process had been making each of the girls physically ill and emotionally unstable. I wish there was a way I could articulate the process and do it justice. Hearing how it works, people think " oh... so you're taking 12 fake 911 calls. Big deal. " Yes, that was the structure, but the setting and finality of it all brought a dimension to it that made it the hardest thing to date. Memorizing all the facts and names and rules of addressing and type codes and policies was hard at the time, and pulling those facts out from memory once a week for a make or break test was the hurdle to clear each week, and the culmination of the final exam was pretty huge... but the practical brings with it stories of classroom-successful call receivers who simply couldn't clear the last hurdle. As I walked into the room I could hear the echo of the voices of seasoned workers here that had been reminding us of those who fell at the last part. Encouragement isn't a gift everyone has, apparently. I won't go into the calls I had to take, but I was sweating, nauseated and on the verge of throwing up the whole time. Once finished, the 4 facilitators had to meet together and score everything I did or didn't ask... what I typed and how I typed it... how fast or slow I was ... if I chose the appropriate priority level for each thing... basically everything except what I was wearing. So I sat for nearly 45 minutes not knowing if I passed or not, but with the knowledge that if I didn't I would have to somehow shake that off and go through the process again in a last-ditch effort to save my job. When Lori walked into the com room where I was sitting with my Valley Com-assigned mentor for support, I was as close to publicly vomiting as I have ever been while not pregnant. She simply hugged me and said "Congratulations" ... and I promptly burst into uncontrolled tears and was overcome with the relief of the stress I have apparently been carrying around. It was weird and wonderful and very surreal. I went into the bathroom and called my mom who said, as she has been saying for 3 months now... "I had no doubt you were going to do fine." I kind of hate that saying, by the way. So -- all that to say: I am officially finished with the academy part of my 3 month 911 career. The remainder of my training will be 8+ weeks with a one-on-one trainer who will ease me into the reality of live calls and the crapshoote that happens each time you answer the phone here. Depending on how I do, it would be just 8 weeks, or as many as 12. As this point I don't really care... I MADE IT THROUGH ACADEMY!!! | | |
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Oddly enough, at my still-fairly-new and super-grownup job... it's Spirit Week! This is actually National Telecommunicators Week, so you should all be a little more mindful of and generally thankful to the people on the other end of the phone when you dial 911. I don't mean me... at least not yet. The highlights of the week have been eclectic, for sure.
* Monday: Hawaiian Day - I got to type my first non-training 911 call next to a trainer. she talked... I typed. It was scary as CRAP, but frighteningly fun
* Tuesday: Sports Day - I got out of my pj's and into some really comfortable sweats and a hoodie for the day. I learned that KFC takes pot pie reservations
* Wednesday: Pajama Day - i slept in sweats and then got into pj's for the day. I attended an awards ceremony for a couple of call receivers and was impressed by their accomplishments and proud to work at the same place. The King County Medical Director was there, and a Fire Chief, and KING 5 news... and I was in pj's. There goes my award chances.
* Thursday: Camo Day - i kept referring to this as commando day, and thankfully no one dressed accordingly. The big fat deal for today was that I took and PASSED MY WRITTEN FINAL EXAM!!! All 6 of us passed, and passed well. The 2nd to last hurdle has been cleared. I almost have successfully completed my training... and I am even starting to feel ready to the job.
* Friday: Police/Fire/EMS Day - today people will dress in their fire station sweatshirts and Bacon Bowl hats and show support for law enforcement and fire/medic services. I am dressed "business casual" today because 7 people from Admin (including the director of the center) are taking us to a 2-hour lunch to celebrate us passing and to officially welcome us to Valley Comm... now that we haven''t flunked out. I feel a little bit important today. :)
The weekend hold busyness and volleyball and a lighter study load that previous weekends. I'll be putting the finishing touches on my reference book that will be my lifeline and guide to get me through my practical exam on Tuesday. All of that is days away though. Tonight I will doing some semi-serious partying with the 5 other girls who have battled hard and totally earned the right to be called a big fat deal!! Don't worry ... they aren't at all offended by that.
PARTY AT DOCK STREET!!!!!!!
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I tried to go see a movie this weekend. What I saw isn't important and who I saw it with isn't either. What I want readers to take away from this post-film blogging of mine is a little bit of knowledge and some awareness regarding the unwritten code-of-courtesy that has all but disappeared inside the average theater. In order to avoid being totally bitchy, I'm putting it in somewhat of a biblical format so it sounds less like I'm nothing but irritated.
THE CINEPLEX-10 ... COMMANDMENTS:
1. Thou shalt not talk during the movie, except in an emergency situation.
Choking on your Junior Mints is an acceptable emergency (well, barely). Loudly discussing your dread of the impending WASL and how it will "majorly suck" is NOT. Standardized testing is a way of life for you and I am sorry for it, but whine about it Monday, please. By the way, Amber, I do not recommend texting answers to each other. It would not, as you are thinking, be "...so totally funny to get busted." For crying out loud... are you serious???
2. Thou shalt not rustle thy bag of popcorn/nachos/pretzels/candy more than is absolutely necessary to retrieve said vittles from their container.
Try to restrain your crinkling and ripping sounds to the noisier sequences in the film so other viewers can still hear what’s going on. I assure you I did not pay $12 to listen to you eat.
3. Thou shalt not take a seat in middle of a row if thou art plagued with a pea-sized bladder.
Sit on the aisle or invest in a catheter.
4. Thou shalt not use the movie theater as a garbage dump.
Other people are coming into the theater right after you. They have no desire to wade through your trash or get glued to the floor because you spilled your Coke-Zero and Milk Duds. Trash receptacles are your friends. Know them. Love them.
5. Thou shalt not engage in heavy petting and/or making out in a crowded theater.
Your exhibitionism does not impress me. In fact, it’s really unfair for you to distract me with your attempt at steamy romance when I paid good money to watch that kind of thing on the big screen.
6. Thou shalt not kick, pull on, or otherwise manhandle the seat of the viewer in front of you.
Perhaps your legs have atrophied from all that buttery popcorn you’ve been stuffing down. Is that why you feel the need to grab my seat and yank on it for dear life as you shuffle down the row on your fourth trip to the restroom?
7. Thou shalt not allow thy offspring to run rampant around the theater.
Seriously … I don’t care if they’re easily bored or adorably rambunctious. Make them sit it down and shut it up or someone else may do it for you since it takes a village. How about you consider the age-old practice of a babysitter? You can still get one for way cheaper than you paid to bring that herd in here!
8. Thou shalt not give away the entire plot before the film starts.
You’ve seen it 3 times already? Really? Guess what… I HAVEN’T. I don’t care how “totally sweet” you think it is. You are not employed as a movie critic, so zip it!
9. Thou shalt not taunt those who enjoy watching the credits.
If you have a burning need to get out of the theater as soon as the lights go up, do so quickly and quietly. Don’t just stand there looking stupid and blocking the view of people sitting behind you. Some people actually like to watch the credits, you know. Some people even see it as a sign of respect to the filmmakers. I know, it sounds lame...but so is that tramp-stamp of a tattoo you're pretending you're not trying to flaunt. Such a sad way to display an innocent Disney character.
10. Thou shalt not, under any circumstances, use thy cellular device during the movie.
This includes making or answering phone calls, sending text messages, or looking up interesting trivia about the movie you’re watching in an attempt to show off to your friends afterwards. You know all those “Silence Your Cell Phone” videos they show before every film? Those were made just for you, sweetie. Now… do as the pretty lights command you.
That is all. Sorry for my repressed rage.
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