Geezch!
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 12:44 am
I go away for a week and mega posting occurs!
All I gotta say about what I have read (and it took me almost an hour) is that
IF you guys directed as much energy comming (yea I spelled it that way on purpose ) up with
NEW ON TOPIC things to post, We'd be a "high traffic" board too
Seriously, I'm in a motel tonight with WiFi and I have forgotten how s - l - o - w 56k dial up is!! I was at my sister in laws last night, she has dial up...wow! how did we ever get along with that!!
I might expand further on this in my Blog, but I have been interviewing to try and get back into public safety dispatching....Boy, how things have changed!
Now, I have kept up on the tech involved, but people have gotten even more "selective" with all the lack of jobs out there.
I applied one place yesterday where not only did I need a valid in state drivers license , just to apply, but I HAD to have residency in the area BEFORE applying! ( they didn't tell me that before I drove all the way down here)
Another place was a county wide 9-1-1 center, as part of my interview I had to "dispatch" to a series of pre recorded tapes using real radio traffic. I passed the test - they had a fire request that almost nobody got right - I did, the Fire Officer had a heavy New England accent, and requested a "quint" and a "tender" Which are not terms used by the mostly rural volunteer fire depts. here. ( A quint is a term for a ladder and a tender is also known as a tanker - or water carrier )
The down side was that I just missed their minimum WPM for the typing test.
I have one more interview out here in the "dust bowel", then stop back "home" Friday to re-apply at my old home Dispatch Center ( where I worked when I met Kim and the others I draw and write about).
Things that have changed:
You can no longer walk into a police or fire headquarters and just walk up to a dispatcher.
TV cameras, intercomms, or armed desk officers, behind bullet proof glass are the norm now.
some places ( like where I was today ) are not even located in a marked government building. It was a small place about the size of a 7-11 store, tucked in the back of a manufacturing district. The only thing that might give it away was the microwave dishes on the roof, and a small antenna tower ( used for back up in case the microwave links fail)
At another place, the dispatch center was the old fallout shelter in the basement of city hall.
they even had a "blast door" that would roll over the stairway, sealing it off during the shift.
Now, when the dispatchers are out of public view, they no longer wear uniforms.
in fact I asked about that and at one place was told:
"we don't want the dispatchers targeted by terrorists, so they don't wear uniforms, in fact our police officers and fire fighters come to work in regular clothes."
(This is a county in central Missouri!! - total population about 65,000 )
I did apply and interview this morning at a place in southern Iowa that had a county wide dispatch center, in the county courthouse, in a glass walled room, where everybody wore uniforms, but I don't think I'm going to get that one...they pay 12.00/ hour to start, and you have to also type 75wpm+ as to do double duty as data entry for county government.
Tomorrow, I'll be in Nebraska, Thursday is a travel day , and Friday I have two interviews in Chicago suburbs...then I'm spending the weekend at my sister's before going home Sunday night....
Play nice now!
Blue,
I'm so glad my art and stories are set in the 70's and 80's...women wore uniforms back then...not combat clothes!
NP ( on the road )
All I gotta say about what I have read (and it took me almost an hour) is that
IF you guys directed as much energy comming (yea I spelled it that way on purpose ) up with
NEW ON TOPIC things to post, We'd be a "high traffic" board too
Seriously, I'm in a motel tonight with WiFi and I have forgotten how s - l - o - w 56k dial up is!! I was at my sister in laws last night, she has dial up...wow! how did we ever get along with that!!
I might expand further on this in my Blog, but I have been interviewing to try and get back into public safety dispatching....Boy, how things have changed!
Now, I have kept up on the tech involved, but people have gotten even more "selective" with all the lack of jobs out there.I applied one place yesterday where not only did I need a valid in state drivers license , just to apply, but I HAD to have residency in the area BEFORE applying! ( they didn't tell me that before I drove all the way down here)
Another place was a county wide 9-1-1 center, as part of my interview I had to "dispatch" to a series of pre recorded tapes using real radio traffic. I passed the test - they had a fire request that almost nobody got right - I did, the Fire Officer had a heavy New England accent, and requested a "quint" and a "tender" Which are not terms used by the mostly rural volunteer fire depts. here. ( A quint is a term for a ladder and a tender is also known as a tanker - or water carrier )
The down side was that I just missed their minimum WPM for the typing test.
I have one more interview out here in the "dust bowel", then stop back "home" Friday to re-apply at my old home Dispatch Center ( where I worked when I met Kim and the others I draw and write about).
Things that have changed:
You can no longer walk into a police or fire headquarters and just walk up to a dispatcher.
TV cameras, intercomms, or armed desk officers, behind bullet proof glass are the norm now.
some places ( like where I was today ) are not even located in a marked government building. It was a small place about the size of a 7-11 store, tucked in the back of a manufacturing district. The only thing that might give it away was the microwave dishes on the roof, and a small antenna tower ( used for back up in case the microwave links fail)
At another place, the dispatch center was the old fallout shelter in the basement of city hall.
they even had a "blast door" that would roll over the stairway, sealing it off during the shift.
Now, when the dispatchers are out of public view, they no longer wear uniforms.
in fact I asked about that and at one place was told:
"we don't want the dispatchers targeted by terrorists, so they don't wear uniforms, in fact our police officers and fire fighters come to work in regular clothes."
(This is a county in central Missouri!! - total population about 65,000 )
I did apply and interview this morning at a place in southern Iowa that had a county wide dispatch center, in the county courthouse, in a glass walled room, where everybody wore uniforms, but I don't think I'm going to get that one...they pay 12.00/ hour to start, and you have to also type 75wpm+ as to do double duty as data entry for county government.
Tomorrow, I'll be in Nebraska, Thursday is a travel day , and Friday I have two interviews in Chicago suburbs...then I'm spending the weekend at my sister's before going home Sunday night....
Play nice now!
Blue,
I'm so glad my art and stories are set in the 70's and 80's...women wore uniforms back then...not combat clothes!
NP ( on the road )
