I am feeling pretty mad

The day started off well. I got a couple things around the house done, including the dishes. I went to Colfax to help Ingalls with his computer. I made a ton of stops in Pullman to get my checks deposited, got a new garbage can, and got my turn outs from station thirty-one. They were on Rescue when it was taken down to the station for work.

I got to Colfax and talked to Parks about my letter about OC training. He said he is going to write something up. I should have it tomorrow. I am stoked about that. I really don’t want to get sprayed with pepper spray again. I talked to Poffenroth about her computer and got the check as repayment for the parts I bought for her. I also got my license tabs renewed. I was on a roll.

I went to Ingalls’ house and worked on getting his new computer set up and all the data from his old computer to his new one. That took a couple hours in all. He only has a dial up connection so it took us a while to download anything.

We were finished as dinner was being served. I had some babyback ribs, potatoes, and corn. That was good stuff. I had to run because of the EMS training in Steptoe. I got up there just in time for training to start. The training was part of the training van. It was OTEP trauma training.

When that was done I was thinking about whether I should stop to see if House is on or not. It turns out it was, but I didn’t stop. Ryan hit me up online and let me know that House was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. That should be interesting to see where they go with that.

I also saw an e-mail from Heston. He wrote:

I am getting some negative feedback again that the reserves (specifically you) are not happy with the progress of the rescue equipment placement. I have heard it from three different career people this week. Before we started this project I asked for your input and help and got some but did not hear any further. I assumed that you were good with the direction we were going with it. I am confused as to why I am hearing this from other people and not through your liaison person Michael. The equipment on the unit will be in limbo for a little bit while brackets are made and attachments are ordered. I would appreciate you to squelch any negative issues in open discussions with other members of the department. Just like the officers and as a crew leader I expect and demand you to control these issues and discuss them in the appropriate arenas. I cannot allow these types of negative discussions to continue from any department member especially from a crew leader. It is not productive or healthy to the department and if it continues any further, I will be forced to make a change in your status with this department. I hope you are hearing me on this.

You can imagine my surprise on this. I was mad when I read it. The first time through I missed the part about him threatening to fire me. Then I saw it and was even more mad. I was going to write an e-mail to explain things, but I wanted a face to face so I asked for a meeting.

He said that three career guys came to him with the same message that I was mad about the changes. First off that is not true. When three people come to you, what makes you think they did not hear it from the same source or at the same time. I have not talked to the career guys about Rescue. I don’t talk to them about that kind of stuff. So I know that is not coming from me. Therefore someone is taking what I did say out of context.

He uses that as a basis to say that my negative comments are not welcome especially from a crew leader. Then when I read the part about the change in my status, I was not sure if that was to demote me or fire me. I would think it would be to fire me.

As you can imagine I am not happy. I also had Chapman come up to me and say I was mad at him over it. I said nothing was further from the truth. So it is clear someone is putting words in my mouth and they are making their way around the department and it is getting people mad at me and making me look bad.

The only thing I did say was “I wish someone would have let us know.” I don’t think that is anywhere near being mad at Chapman and complaining about the movement of things around Rescue. That comment was made in relation to the fact that the new tools were getting new brackets build. But when they were unable to finish it all the old shelves were gone. Therefore all the equipment had to be put on the bottom of the cabinet and it was just stacked on each other. Letting us know ahead of time would have just been keeping us in the loop. I think that is a reasonable comment. I am not sure how it is getting so stretched from what I said.

When I meet with Heston I want to let him know that, plus I want to track down the source of the comments. Because everyone is hearing it from one source. Once we get to the source we can re-educate him as to what I said and that is not not right for him to spread information that is false. You can see I am mad.