Tom Reynolds has had a slow month, and was moaning blogging about it.  From his post:  Watch the ambulance crew after a 'decent job', they'll be standing outside the ambulance bay at the hospital chatting to their colleagues. They'll be animated, they'll be interested in their job but most of all they will have a sense of satisfaction of a job well done.

What a great description, and I can relate.  When we get dispatched on a routine call (interfacility transport), we moan and grumble, and mope our way to the ambulance, but when a 'good call' (cardiac arrest, head-on car crash, or the most popular - shooting) comes in, we're jazzed up, almost running to the rig.

It was the same when I was firefighting.  I can remember coming out of a house fire that we had just extinguished all pumped up.  I'd high-five my partner(s) and we'd relive the moment.  On occasion, I'd glance over and see the family.  They didn't understand what we were so fired up about.  All they knew is that everything in the house was gone, and it was a tragedy for them.  It took me a couple fires to catch on to the fact that what we were doing, while understandable, was not appropriate and certainly not appreciated by the family.  It seemed that we were celebrating their misfortune.  We had to retrain ourselves to hold off for a more opportune moment.

So you non-emergency responders out there - we are not celebrating your misfortune (at least not most of us).   As Tom said, I don't want people hurt, but I do want something interesting at work that will stretch my skills.

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