It’s been a hectic week.
The company finally announced to the staff that they were closing the station. It wasn’t much of a surprise to anyone, except a cabulance driver, who stood stunned in the bay, sobbing, as the President of the company bluntly announced our closure. I mean, the station chief had been blabbing it to almost everyone since the beginning of the month. Or, at least all of the “chosen people”. The folks that weren’t going to be part of the transition didn’t know about it ’til it leaked. Two weeks ago, one of my partners got a call from a buddy on the other side of the state asking about it. The word has been out, and most of us were just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
It seems that as the station closes, all bets are off. Apparently, someone in the upper management structure spoke with my station chief about a confidential conversation I had with the HR department. So now it looks as if I’ve been blackballed from joining the “chosen few” who will be employed by The Borg. A week ago I was being recommended as a supervisor, now I’m persona non grata. Hmm. Very interesting, isn’t it?.
I guess the take away is this; if things are getting stolen, crew members are doing drugs and shit is going sideways at the station, it’s better to keep your mouth shut? Ok. Lesson learned.
In reality, I’m not really upset about not going to The Borg, as it turns out the deal the new employees are getting is kind of crummy. The Borg is hiring enough people to run the IFT calls and they’ll be doing that exclusively for at least the next three months. After that, they’ll take a “integration course” and be able to bid an available shift, but there won’t be a real shift bid open for a while. So, most people will be stuck with running the same old IFT calls. I bumped into some of the current Borg employees at a facility where I was doing a transfer and they’re royally pissed that new people are being hired full time, when there are part timers who have been promised FT slots when they open. Awkward. Also, I found out just how much of a douche bag the Station Chief is, and if he’s going as a supervisor, I’m not interested in hitching my wagon to his horse. I give him 90 days before he’s out on his ass for gross incompetence.
The worst part is many of the current IFT employees are not on the “favorite list” so they’re in limbo. They were told that they would be getting jobs with The Borg (or another company), but it may “take a while”. Really, the whole thing kind of sucks. At least the company (IFT) is doing the right thing. They’re paying a month of severance and 100% COBRA for all full time employees for 3 months. That’s way above and beyond the norm. I applaud the owners for stepping up and taking acre of the crew members. Most of them are living pay check to pay check…so that severance is really going help.
Anyway, as I mentioned in a couple of previous blog posts, I had already given my notice to head to the other ambulance company. Orientation for that job starts the second week of May. So, I’m ok. I’ll be running BLS 911 and I should be on a 24 hour car by mid June.
The weather has been great over the past few days. Lots of sun, which is rare for the PNW. I’ve been working on my EMT-I class and studying for the Paramedic entrance “EMT Knowledge” exam on the 27th. I’ve been using JB Test Prep to make sure I’ve got it knocked. I think I’ll do ok.
Good luck on the paramedic entrance exam!
Thanks sir.