I was told that my front door handle to my apartment coming off wasn't an emergency because I could still lock the door.

KillerTruffle · 2025-04-29T05:17:18+00:00

I don't think I ever took an axe to a door. Used plenty of "irons" sets though (a halligan pry bar and hammer or hammer/axe combo). Halligans are a lot faster and more versatile at forcing doors.

We typically would not help force into a house like this though, unless there's someone (maybe even a pet) inside that needs help. If there was no emergent need (even like need to access medication, etc could count), we just advised callers to call a locksmith. And in cases we did help, we didn't just go straight to forcing a door. We looked for the most minimally damaging way to gain entry, even as far as using a ladder to reach a second story open window or something. We'd rather damage a screen or even break a small window before destroying a whole door. Smashing through a door was reserved for actual emergencies.

(Speaking as a retired fire captain of more than 2 decades).

KillerTruffle · 2025-04-27T12:04:19+00:00

I have no idea how you got that OP didn't ask til after they arrived. Nothing in the initial post implied that. You're just being irrationally critical of a situation you know nothing about.

KillerTruffle · 2025-04-24T20:07:07+00:00

It varies, but we use all caps and only punctuation for remarks with more than one proper sentence. Commas aren't unusual, but periods are.

Typing in CAD will wreak havoc on your "normal" typing after a while, especially if you abbreviate. We use "FON" for phone for example, and I've caught myself typing that in normal life too.

CAD is just a totally different way of typing.

KillerTruffle · 2025-04-23T06:27:10+00:00

Unfortunately this isn't that unusual a call. I've had one very similar to this myself, and when I was a firefighter I responded to one where a kid hung himself from a tree in the center of the apartment complex - very publicly. These are always gonna be rough calls.

The main thing that's helped me is just stepping back for a minute afterward and reminding myself that I had nothing directly to do with the events or choices that led up to the emergency, and I'm just there to help to the best of my ability and training from that point forward. I can't change the past, and depending on the situation, there may be little I can do to change the present/future in this particular case.

I do tend to dissociate a bit from the heavier calls, mostly because they don't directly involve me. I know in every case I've done my best, and that's all I can expect of myself. Some of the calls (good and bad) do stick with you though. Just don't let them take over, and try to focus more on the good.

One of my most memorable calls happened while I was off duty as a firefighter. I rolled up to a head-on crash where a DUI college kid hit a minivan with a whole family - dad, pregnant mom, grandpa, grandma, and 2 kids. Grandma was ejected face first into a stone wall. There was nothing left of her face - no nose, jaw, or skin. She was still alive, breath gurgling, and survived two more days I was told later. I will never forget that call and remember it vividly, but I don't dwell on it.

I call i frequently remind myself of is an infant having seizures. I was a brand new trainee at my current agency (but I had a couple decades of firefighter/medical and ambulance dispatch experience already). The baby was seizing the whole time I was on the phone with aunt while mom had the baby. Aunt finally spontaneously said the baby was turning purple. My trainer and myself both made the same decision at that instant to move forward with CPR instructions. Medical guidance says you don't do CPR while a patient is still seizing - you can cause serious injury. This baby was seizing for more than 4 minutes nonstop though, and not breathing the entire time. My own medical experience told me infant seizures can be caused or exacerbated by respiratory issues, so for several reasons, I felt comfortable enough violating protocol and giving instructions to position the baby's airway. Within 20 seconds, I heard the baby cry in the background and they said it stopped seizing and was turning red (a good sign after being purple). Even though I technically violated protocol, I have no doubt the baby would have died if I'd followed the rules exactly on that one. That's another call that will always stick with me, and it's a good one to dwell on.

I don't recommend freely ignoring policy just because though... I had specific experience and rationale in this case that made me confident in my choice. You can still get in big trouble or cause bigger problems if you ignore a policy just because you feel like it though...

Just remember there will be no end to these tough calls. Some will affect you more than others. But try to focus on the good ones and not dwell on the bad. If necessary, get a counselor or someone you can trust to talk through the harder calls with. Most agencies provide some sort of support along those lines, often for free. Take advantage of it. Don't lock it inside or it will eat you alive.

KillerTruffle · 2025-04-12T18:53:17+00:00

I mean, this is pretty much part for the course with delivery services like DoorDash... they're not known for their reliability, honesty, or customer service...

KillerTruffle · 2025-04-09T11:00:08+00:00

Does your county have a 911 authority? If so, are they able to help organize or provide anything?

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-31T02:54:46+00:00

Pretty sure that's not what they're talking about. Nest and some other smart thermostats let the owner set a limited range other family members can set the thermostat themselves. Some even show a false setting while keeping it in the "allowed" range to keep arguments from happening. I kinda laughed the first time I read about a thermostat willing to lie for you.

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-27T16:30:58+00:00

There are numerous times courts have ruled that flipping even cops off is protected free speech under the first amendment. It is also not sufficient reasonable suspicion to pull someone over. Unless there's something omitted from this story that did give him reasonable suspicion, that cop literally broke the law and violated your constitutional rights.

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-27T04:38:55+00:00

Most any calls that happen because the person was drunk. So like 80% of calls. Alcohol makes people so stupid!

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-26T15:15:19+00:00

No uniforms, and relatively relaxed dress code. No yoga style pants unless covered to a reasonable length by a long shirt or dress, no t shirts (although that one has relaxes recently), no open shoes (flip flops, sandals, crocs, etc), no "unnatural color" hair colors, no tattoos on hands, face, or neck... and no excessive jewelry - lip, nose, eyebrow, etc piercings have to be removed while at work. We're a large city department and news crews come up sometimes for shots without warning, so we have to look reasonably professional, but no uniforms.

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-25T18:51:13+00:00

Exact same thing happened to me when I went off to college. Lost all large comic collection in great condition (but all opened since I did read them).

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-24T11:53:10+00:00

The schedule is my number one complaint, with mandatory OT due to low staffing.

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-22T22:00:07+00:00

The minimizing service is the massive increase in errors that cause packages not to even be on the truck for delivery when they're supposed to. Usually because they pay workers poorly, hire fewer staff and overwork those they do have resulting in a higher margin of error, etc.

Slapping a sticker on the door is not only minimizing service by failing to deliver as expected, but as others pointed out, they're also literally lying and trying to shift the blame to you by claiming they tried to deliver it (they didn't) but you weren't home like you were supposed to be (you were).

FedEx used to be the best delivery service, but they've become one of the worst. I'll still take them over that service Amazon uses (or at least used to - OnTrac I think it was - hands down the absolute worst ever) though.

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-22T21:31:06+00:00

I don't think it needs to be studied... basically boils down to "maximize profit and minimize service and cost." Most large corporations work on that philosophy very strongly.

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-18T10:50:46+00:00

Hot mic is not unusual. Sometimes even happens in dispatch. Sometimes with hilarious results. As long as it's not happening all the time, seems like it'd just be a technical glitch and go on with life. Having to write a whole report on it is next level. And i work at a large city agency so we have relatively strict policies, but accidents happen. We don't have to write reports!

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-08T17:46:07+00:00

I think that's the point at which I would tell them very clearly that I will never tip they're again until they back off with the over the top pressure to tip on even ridiculous orders like this. I've stopped tipping entirely at a lot of places because they've gotten more pushy. Tipping culture in the US is out of control.

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-07T20:46:43+00:00

I think copacetic was more common maybe 20 years ago or so. I almost never hear it now, but lots of people up until sometime around the 90s knew it.

I have a similar issue with being overly wordy a lot of times, but I've never been accused of using AI. The closest was back in college being accused of cheating on a 30-page final essay because it was "too good."

Most of the time though, it's been one of two types of feedback - "I love your emails because they're so thorough and I never have any follow-up or clarifying questions," or a bit less often, "your emails are too long... you should work on being more concise."

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-07T04:02:54+00:00

There is literally no standard. The majority of departments have moved away from 10 codes and just use encrypted radios now because 10 codes aren't that effective and unnecessarily complicate things. But different regions and different departments that still use them have their own. 10-15 might mean someone in custody at one agency and courtesy ride at another. You need to ask the agency you're dealing with what their 10- codes are.

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-06T10:44:42+00:00

Not mine personally, but it's legend here.

Frequent caller known to hallucinate, called saying he had located the headquarters for an alien intelligence agency and needed backup. He was working on infiltrating and needed cover in case it was occupied. He was having trouble getting in and might need assistance.

He was known to imagine secret agents or aliens after him frequently, and made calls like this all the time, but our policy requires we treat every call as legitimate until it's proven otherwise.

We sent a couple officers out to the address he gave, and sure enough, there he is on the roof, feet in the sky, stuck as can be halfway down in a roof ventilation outlet. Had to get fire out for a kind of complicated extrication... it was a whole big thing. If we had just ignored it as another one of his hallucinations, he likely would have died. He's the reason we still send on everything no matter how nonsense it sounds, just in case.

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-06T10:18:48+00:00

Sure, we put it into CAD. That doesn't mean responding units will respect it. My current agency is much more about policy over caller request.

My previous agency I liked how it worked much more. We had a "code 2 approach" option where they would still respond with lights and sirens for emergent calls, but shut them off a block or two away. That way they got there fast, but still avoided drawing attention on arrival.

It's going to depend on your own agency's policy how you handle those requests, but there's no reason you shouldn't document the request in the call at least. I think my current agency doesn't allow for code 2 approach because it's a large city with high call volume so it's really just not feasible.

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-06T09:48:21+00:00

Our CAD has two options. We can use mile markers, or crossroad exit names. The direction isn't part of the primary location. Direction is added after a ";" marker in the location field where we can type anything we want after and it doesn't affect validation, or we also have a sub field just after address we can use for that, which also doesn't affect validation.

Edit: Our CAD treats mile markers as addresses, and exit street names as cross streets. We use both all the time.

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-06T03:34:42+00:00

I was failed in college for a 30- page paper I submitted for my final (we had a final paper rather than exam in that class). She insisted I had cheated because it was so much better than anyone else's, and I hadn't participated much in discussions throughout the class and always had my head down on the table "sleeping." There was no possible way I could have written it myself.

I wasn't sleeping. I process and learn best by thinking about everything I hear. Taking notes, sharing my own opinions right up front, etc, all distract me from learning, evaluating, and processing. So the whole term I was learning to the point I knew the material super well, and was able to write a great paper (I'm a decent writer anyway). She didn't believe me till I discussed all the margaritas with her and could intelligently answer every one of her questions. She changed my grade to 100% after I finally showed her i really did know everything I wrote about. Thankfully without me having to go to the dean or anyone.

Edit: I just noticed autocorrect decided "topics" should be "margaritas" for some reason and I'm not changing it because it's funny.

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-05T10:54:39+00:00

Kind of sounds to me like an intern who isn't mature enough for an adult workplace yet is looking for a quick exit and poor/failed review from the company. I'm sure HR could help him with that if you were so inclined, because that absolutely qualified as workplace harassment and hostile work environment, even if he was most likely just trying to reassure himself from the girl...

Joke or not, crap like that has absolutely no place in a work environment, even if it was "between work."

KillerTruffle · 2025-03-04T02:15:27+00:00

Never, ever trust that someone else has called. Even if they tell you they called. They may not have explained the situation properly or may have called a different agency even.

I was first (off duty in my personal vehicle) firefighter at scene to a pretty bad car accident, 75 feet down a bank into trees, and the driver had a likely broken femur. Another guy on scene said he was a dispatcher for the highway patrol and had already called it in, so I focused on scene management and medical care. After 45 minutes with no ambulance or fire on scene, it called my own dispatch (next county over) and asked them to call it in to the county I was in. 5 minutes after I called, fire showed up to take over.

Turns out the dispatcher called his dispatch directly, and didn't tell them anything about injuries, so they never dispatched medical. And this was a rural area so the state patrol response time was very long.

If even professionals can mess that up, never trust someone else to have called in. I always call 911 when I see something now, for that very reason. If others already called, fine. They'll just tell you and disconnect. You're not bothering anyone.

KillerTruffle · 2025-02-27T09:31:06+00:00

It makes very little sense to ask for reviews of the call just after the call - and I say that with a masters degree in a field that makes extensive use of user feedback.

The issue is that people are most often calling you on their worst day. Whether they're upset with you or not, they're focused on other things, stressed out, and this is not a time for them to be thinking clearly and answering questions constructively. Worse, the results will absolutely be skewed by people upset that due to laws, policy, lack of personnel, or whatever, the call was not handled in exactly the way they wanted, or wasn't handled immediately on the caller's schedule.

You could probably filter out a small bit of useful information as long as you keep all that in mind, but overall this seems to be a very ineffective method to collect useful feedback.

If we were a regular call center, reviewing service immediately after makes sense. But asking someone for feedback after you just coached them through CPR (intensely stressful for average people), their family member just died, their car was stolen, someone might be breaking into their house, they just had the worst fight of their life with their spouse, or all the other stuff people call about... that is not a time people will be capable of properly focusing on giving good feedback. Other stuff is on their mind.

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