The sad truth of the world is that no matter how much you love a job, the chances that it (and the people who run it) will love you back are slim to none.
The world just isn’t like it used to be.
OP was a volunteer firefighter in a small town where there was never enough help.
I used to be a firefighter for a volunteer department. The town was small and nothing happened on most days. But I was young and single and I loved the job. I showed up every single time I could.
The only person who was there more than me was the chief. As many volunteer firefighters know, when Grandma falls down at 3am, you get one or two people.
But if there’s a fire? People you haven’t seen in months suddenly have enough time to show up!
Anyway, that department was a mess. People were always smack talking and backstabbing. Training was a joke- you were lucky to get a PowerPoint once a week.
Stuff was stolen often. There was once a whole political coup for some reason. Somebody really wanted power in a small town department in the middle of nowhere.
Despite this – and OP always showing up – things went from bad to worse.
I learned it was best to just stay quiet and do my job, and that was helped when I went to night shifts at my real job.
I was working 12+ hours shifts, sometimes 5 or 6 days a week. I still showed up to every run I could, but after seven years there, I was just done with it all.
Everything came to a head when I was scheduled 28 twelve hour shifts out of a 30 day month.
I was still the second most active member out of thirty people, but I wasn’t kissing the appropriate rears, and the management kept trying to get me in trouble.
They once threatened to fire me for not turning in some paperwork, and I had to point out that paperwork had been sitting in their mailbox for three days.
OP was already about done when he started getting needled by other firefighters.
They eventually decided to add a stupid new rule. You were now required to sit at the station for 40 unpaid hours a month. Not doing so could lead to discipline and termination.
I didn’t bother. I was about 24 shifts into the month and I did not care about their dumb rule.
But I realized that I could make it, so I left work, grabbed a change of clothes, and I went to the department.
It was about noon, which was midnight to me since I worked nights. I tried to sleep on the rock hard beds they provided.
Not 30 minutes went by when the training officer kicked the door in and demanded that I get up and help with “training.”
My role? I sat on a hose so it didn’t move while somebody else practiced the pump controls. A sandbag could have done just as well.
They told him to think about what he wanted…so he did.
An hour later, training finished and I tried to go back to sleep. I was told off again. I ended up hiding in the TV room so I could have some peace and quiet.
They found me again and wrote me up (first time in years) for what amounted to not being enthusiastic enough about the job. I endured a lecture while trying not to fall asleep where I stood.
I finally got to go sit down, when I got a text from the boss at my real job. They wanted me to work that night and wondered if I was available. I thought, “you know what? I am available.” And I left.
A few days later, I got a nasty email from one of the guys who wrote me up, telling me they didn’t like my attitude and that I needed to think about what I wanted.
I thought about it and I realized I didn’t want to deal with their crap anymore.
So I wrote my resignation letter, went back to the station, gathered my personal effects, and I never went back.
Is Reddit going to think this is malicious enough? Let’s find out!
The top comment says OP should have learned how to say no.
This person doesn’t see how things ended up this way.
Seriously, you might think firefighters would be better trained.
They say it’s not like this everywhere.
There are always people who just want to watch the world burn.
It’s hard to believe that people would expect somebody to work THAT many unpaid hours.
That said, you can feel how mad he was through the whole thing.
If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.