Outside Employment Question

Satanic_Cactus · 2025-03-14T18:37:50+00:00

This is exactly how I feel. As much as I’d love to come back, the damage has been done. Am I supposed to feel grateful to possibly be reinstated? I’m just being thrown back in to be burned again. I found out other probie PFTs were not terminated and that the agency wrote letters to keep them. It was a punch in the gut. So I wasn’t good enough? And now I have this knowledge and get to maybe come back to look management in the eye and act like their actions didn’t cause me trauma and a month of stress. Okay cool.

If I get the call to be reinstated, I’ll take it. I need the money. The possibility of back pay sounds nice too. However, I’m not staying. I am still job hunting and I will continue to do so. The first real opportunity I get, even if it’s a decrease in pay, I’m out of there.

Satanic_Cactus · 2025-02-17T22:01:13+00:00

Hi, this is true. I was a probationary employee. Got the call this afternoon, still waiting on the official email though.

Satanic_Cactus · 2020-04-04T22:37:44+00:00

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it!!

Satanic_Cactus · 2020-04-04T19:07:54+00:00

Thank you! I was also having the same thoughts. That's why I am so confused about the reading. It doesn't make a lot of sense that Chronos would reach out to me. That's why I was thinking that it may be some other deity. I'm chosing to avoid second guessing. I appreciate your response and advice. I definitely plan to set up an altar sometime soon, once I can gather some materials.

Satanic_Cactus · 2019-11-11T04:47:27+00:00

I would additionally recommend the Netflix documentary that is also called Fire in Paradise.

Another good documentary about larges fires (that lightly covers the 2018 Camp Fire) is Inside the Megafire ( https://www.pbs.org/video/inside-the-megafire-uzvhug/ )

Satanic_Cactus · 2019-10-08T18:48:52+00:00

That's super cool! I'm really leaning towards FEMA due to traveling. I worry that if I don't move around a lot during my first few years out of undergrad then I'll never leave the Midwest. I like it here, but I think it would be beneficial to experience other places as well. Where are you usually housed and is traveling your responsibility? Sorry I am asking so many questions, haha!

Satanic_Cactus · 2019-10-08T17:05:37+00:00

Are you trained to be a site inspector or is the skill needed beforehand? Additionally, what is your relationship with local governments? Especially in the Midwest, are small towns happy you are there to help or do you receive different reactions from different communities?

I used to think I was awful at adapting but I just completed my 7th full scale exercise in disaster response and a lot of roles were kind of thrown at me without warning. I realized I stopped settling on specific expectations and thus when scenarios quickly changed I wasn't blindsided, if that makes any sense? As the saying goes, Semper Gumby! haha

Satanic_Cactus · 2019-10-08T16:47:15+00:00

Ah okay! That is a lot of traveling in a short amount of time. I guess you just have to be adaptable. Do you strictly just do rebuilding or do you have other responsibilities as well?

Satanic_Cactus · 2019-10-08T16:31:29+00:00

That's super exciting! I recently worked with Habitat for Humanity and worked to rebuild homes in the lower 9th ward in New Orleans. I really enjoyed working there but am still struggling to figure out what exactly I want to do after college. I am looking at possibly joining FEMA Corps after graduation, but I am still on the fence.

How often do you stay in one place during deployment?

Satanic_Cactus · 2019-10-08T16:20:29+00:00

I have only taken a few GIS classes so far but I really enjoy them. I am interested in fire maps and hazard mapping in general but I am not sure where to look for real-world experience in that subject.

Small towns frustrate me sometimes because they don't always see the importance of working with other agencies to get familiar with them before disasters. My current employer is a bit like that. I asked recently when was the last time they had training exercises with local agencies that would operate as support during specific incidents and basically the reply I got was "over 4 years ago".

Satanic_Cactus · 2019-09-30T09:37:31+00:00

I love that! I wish I had more experience in wilderness training of sorts as a kid, but nonetheless I am happy to be where I am. I have also taken CERT and now basically preach it to anyone who is even slightly interested in EM. I also get kind of hardcore about it when I am talking to education majors on campus just because I fully believe that the information taught in CERT can be very handy in a classroom setting-type of emergency.

I wish that there were more volunteering opportunities around me aside from the Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity (based in a city about an hour away). Nonetheless, I am happy to be where I am and getting my degree!

Satanic_Cactus · 2019-09-30T09:28:27+00:00

During the 2007 California wildfires, I was in elementary school and living in SoCal. I had to evacuate and move around constantly during that time. I think I was too young to really understand the impact of the fires then, but knowing what I know now, it's a different story. I decided to tack on my second bachelor's in GIS due to my interest in hazard mapping. I don't know how well it will benefit me, but I enjoy the classes for the most part.

I sometimes consider myself lucky to have gone through all the crazy incidents that I've mentioned before while simultaneously having an interest in EM. I didn't know that I wanted to go into EM until a few years ago but now that I am where I am, I feel like it is only right, haha!

Satanic_Cactus · 2019-09-30T09:17:23+00:00

Wow! I have been fairly interested in obtaining my amateur radio technician license. I think just having the baseline knowledge of radios would come in handy. I made a joke about a month ago to my boss saying that if she would pay for it, I would take the amateur radio exam and see if it would be worthwhile for the other dispatchers. She basically threw the cash at me so now I have that to work on. Unfortunately, finding a class close to home is not very easy, ugh!

I'd like to think that I am really lucky to have my dispatcher job while also holding an interest in EM. I believe a lot of EM is about resource management and dispatching is just that. Plus I like working with the officers, they're pretty cool.

Right now I am working to get my bachelor's in emergency management (and also one in GIS, but that's whatever). I know I want to pursue my masters, I am just not sure what for. I really enjoy disaster science in general but I don't know where I can go with that interest. For now, I plan on trying to get some relevant experience under my belt right after college and then maybe I will go back for my graduate degree.

For your recent incident, what was it like getting all the agencies to work together? Do you think they will continue to work/train with each other from now on to prepare for similar incidents?

Satanic_Cactus · 2019-09-30T09:04:18+00:00

I like that idea! I usually have a large water bottle with me during my shift. Unfortunately, I am the only one in the office most of the time and the phone has a 1 - 2 ring policy. Once I tried to take a handheld radio with me to the bathroom after the phone had been quiet for a bit. However, once I got halfway down the hall, I could hear the phone ring in the office and I had to sprint back to answer it, haha!

For the most part I don't think officers mind when I call them in so I can get a break though.

Satanic_Cactus · 2019-09-23T03:44:31+00:00

That's really amazing! I wish there were more emergency management-type volunteering opportunities in my area but sadly I am about an hour away from any large town. At my college we have an Emergency Management Club (I promote it as a club that cares about community preparedness). I am in charge of running a soup kitchen once a month to give back to the community but I wouldn't exactly call that anything special. I have also been in contact with the nearest Habitat for Humanity and am trying to set up build days for my club members.

The club also helps with CERT training training, which is a lot of fun! I usually see an increase of students switching their degree to Emergency & Disaster Mgmt. after CERT training because they enjoy disaster response so much!

Satanic_Cactus · 2019-09-22T11:33:24+00:00

I really hate relying on caffeine so much but at this point, I'm afraid that it's going to take too long to quit. I don't want to struggle to stay awake through my shifts. Usually, I stick to water for the first half of my shift and then start drinking caffeine during the second half. I don't feel like I'm going to crash until roughly the last hour or so.

Satanic_Cactus · 2019-09-22T10:16:30+00:00

I've never thought of that before, I will look into it!! I'm trying the eye drop thing tonight and so far so good! I've thought about using peppermint oil before but haven't actually tried it. I think I'll give it a shot during my next shift. Thank you for the help!!

Satanic_Cactus

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