I got a call from an FBEU member last week, and he reminded me of an important part of our culture that is fading fast. He’d heard a few new firies talking, and saw some stuff online too.

We hear it at BBQ’s, at nightclubs and pubs. Now we see it on facebook too.

When asked what we do at work, do not tell people:

– you worked 4 days on, 4 days off
– you got a big overtime payment last week
– you slept all night
– you watched pay tv all day
– etc, etc

Don’t even joke about it. The online stuff is the worst – we should be genuinely concerned this is shaping what people think.

Tell people the truth:

– you worked 5 days on, 3 days off (what other industry works the first 8 hours of the day and call that a ‘day off’?!)

– you only work overtime because the Govt won’t staff fire stations properly

– you worked all night, were away from home, ready to respond, and trained and skilled to do whatever was required on that night shift

– you worked all day, if it wasn’t fire calls, it was training and PR.

Seriously guys and girls, I know we all love the job we do, but we have to stop talking it up and pretending we’ve all got some cushy job with great pay – it isn’t and we don’t. We are the face of every request for a pay rise – own it.

We wouldn’t run a business and tell people the product we are selling is overpriced and unnecessary – and that’s exactly what we do when we joke and make these statements.

Do me a favour, bring this up in the mess room – because you may be the only one on your shift who’ll read this!

Cheers all….

 

Darin Sullivan

President 

FBEU