We all have busy periods at work. Whether that surge of craziness takes place on days, swings, or graves all depends upon the agency and in my case, the season. Dispatchers are masters of the multi-tasking environment and it takes a lot to get us rattled.
But we're human and stress can build up. Sometimes all it takes is a bad call or a less than helpful caller saying the wrong thing to put us in an off mood.
Case in point. It's been a while since I took a vacation. Too long, in fact, for a few reasons, but my name is scheduled for a nice long one later in the year. I am to the point now when I'm ready to start X'ing out the days. I'm trying to stay focused. really, I am but with my co-workers taking time-off of their own, each of us are spending time in dispatch without the full staffing. To be fair, my time will come around. Lately, the phones don't stop ringing, calls stack up, units are busy. Where does it end?
So I'm going back & forth from the radio to the phones, keeping busy all week. This time of year the animal activity picks up: big game hunting is in full swing which leads to poaching issues while our large mammals are on the search for food to build up fat reserves to get through the winter - especially the bears. Emotions run high when animal calls are reported. Folks either love 'em or hate them.
A man calls to report a problem bear. After a quick explanation, he goes on to tell me how much his home costs and who his neighbor is. I don't care about name dropping. I'm not impressed by high-priced fancy homes. I do care about real problems.
Unfortunately, his tactics just pushed a button.
After first getting his contact information, my evil twin took over the call. While I was hopeless to interfere, she went on a rant. "Sir, bears do not care where you live, they don't care how much you paid for your home. Bears are equal opportunity animals, looking for food anywhere they care, whether that be at a house of a poor or a rich person. It doesn't care who you know. All that matters to a bear is building up a enough fat to get them through their hibernation phase" The man was quiet for a moment. He said "Okay." and said he would wait for someone to call him.
I'm doing a snow dance. The sooner the bears go to sleep the better.
And I think I will cross off the days leading up to the first day of my time away.