Volunteers

So I had an interesting conversation with one of my fellow volunteers in the emergency medic organization I am apart of at my company. Now this is in regards to an entry I made a couple of weeks ago. Keep in mind I have enormous respect for those I work with or for both in their skills medically as well as their leadership talents. One of her concerns is as a volunteer organization we do not give directives we make requests to our fellow volunteers. Well this brought up some questions with me.

A volunteer Firefighter who is not paid but part of a professional trained organization takes directives or orders if you will from whoever is in charge of the incident. Same with volunteer auxiliary police, etc. So what about us. We are a group of highly trained volunteers in an group that is sometimes placed in situations that can be life threatening. It is our position to help protect each other as well as the people we work with. So the question is do we always have time to make requests and explain them to our fellow volunteers?

Now I know I have a very strong personality, especially when the adrenalin is coursing the veins. So I am sure I have at times been much more direct that the situation probably warranted and that is something I will have to work on. But also to some extent as a semi-professional volunteer organization I would also hope we would all be aware we are under the same stress of literally lives at stake.

Overall this did present a new view point and something I will really need to watch in the future and try to be more understanding of certain personality traits.

Ok new subject. I have officially placed a security deposit for a new apartment in the grand ol’ city of San Francisco. Officially it is in the Upper Market/Castro district. It is in a fun neighborhood yet also very close to the highway I will need to traverse to get to work. Little nervous but definitely excited about the prospects of living in the city. The culture shock will be compounded by the fact I am moving from a 2 bedroom apartment into a studio, but hey how much room does a guy really need? I think it just feels good to finally have a plan and have a place to move into. Anyone want to help me move, yeah I didn’t expect to see all the hands go up at once. Pictures of the apartment to follow.