What have I done...

[MarilynEagle]

My biggest fear became real today. I started volunteering with a small town ambulance service a few months ago. They average about 300 calls a year. I typically volunteer 60 hours a week and I have not ever missed a single shift.... that is until today. The calendar has 2 boxes for each day stacked vertically. I somehow put my name on the top box (day shift) when I meant to put it on the bottom. At about 5pm I double checked the schedule to make sure I was working tonight and then I panicked because I realized that I put my name on the day shift and I was 30 minutes away from the station all day... I called my manager immediately and apologized. I have always been a great employee and never been late or missed a shift. Luckily there were 2 other people on and they have not had any calls all weekend so they would've been fine but still.

Did I loose a reference and all respect from fellow volunteers and management? I can't stop beating myself up about this one. I feel absolutely awful.

 

[gonefishing]

My biggest fear became real today. I started volunteering with a small town ambulance service a few months ago. They average about 300 calls a year. I typically volunteer 60 hours a week and I have not ever missed a single shift.... that is until today. The calendar has 2 boxes for each day stacked vertically. I somehow put my name on the top box (day shift) when I meant to put it on the bottom. At about 5pm I double checked the schedule to make sure I was working tonight and then I panicked because I realized that I put my name on the day shift and I was 30 minutes away from the station all day... I called my manager immediately and apologized. I have always been a great employee and never been late or missed a shift. Luckily there were 2 other people on and they have not had any calls all weekend so they would've been fine but still.

Did I loose a reference and all respect from fellow volunteers and management? I can't stop beating myself up about this one. I feel absolutely awful.

Accidents happen. We're all human.
I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

 

[hometownmedic5]

If you think this is the only time this is going to happen to you, or the first time it has happened to your agency(or any other), you are adorably nieve. It happens. People mess up. The more employees an organization has, the more often it happens to them.

You didn't force anybody to hold over and miss a liver transplant or their kids first words. Nobody died. Apologize, try harder to keep your chedule straight and move on. I guarantee you your boss and co workers will have forgotten about it long before you stop beating yourself up.

 

[hometownmedic5]

Oh, and as an aside, if you get away with a mistake with nobody knowing about it, repress the urge to hop up on the cross and grab a hammer. If you get caught, you own it; but when you slip one past the goalie, you dont go chasing someone down to apoligize for it.

 

[E tank]

OP...don't ever, ever, ever do that again...not misread the schedule...don't ever drop a dime on yourself like that when there was no harm, no foul, lost to history.

....very wise words, hometown....

 

[Jim37F]

Since you said you're a volunteer I'm assuming you have a regular, non-EMS job that provides your primary income (side note, how on earth are you managing 60 hours a week at the ambulance??) I'm sure your regular co-workers have called in sick, used vacation days, otherwise not been at work because they're humans, not robots.....When Joe calls off, do you really think about it that much? Does it affect how you work with him? Heck, you may not have even noticed if no one pointed it out to you. Nothing is magically different about the ambulance.

Sure if you're THAT GUY who does it all the time, people will notice....once isn't even enough to blip most people's radar, even at a paid full-time agency with set schedules that assume you don't have another job that you need to go to pay the bills and would take precedence....

 

[SandpitMedic]

Lighten up, Francis.

 

[mgr22]

To the OP: Did anyone try to contact you to find out where you were? I'm guessing no, because it sounds like you didn't realize your mistake until the shift was almost over.

So, there were no calls, and nobody missed you -- or they decided it wasn't worth bothering you at home. I mention that because it might help put this in perspective for you.

Also -- and I realize you didn't specifically ask about this -- the combination of volunteering 60 hours a week plus stopping by the squad, just to check the schedule an hour or two before you're due to show up, paints a picture in my mind of someone who might need a little more balance in their life.

I think volunteering for its own sake is noble and worthwhile. However, based on your reaction to your missed shift, I'm thinking you might be in a little too deep. What do you do when you're not volunteering?

 

[DrParasite]

OP...don't ever, ever, ever do that again...not misread the schedule...don't ever drop a dime on yourself like that when there was no harm, no foul, lost to history.

....very wise words, hometown....

with all due respect, she no call / no showed from a shift..... it is completely appropriate to call the boss and say the she goofed on her schedule. this isn't like calling the boss because you were 10 minute late..... she was 10 hours late, and had there not been 2 people there to cover shifts, it could have been an issue, especially if the agency missed a call as a result. Imagine if she was a paid employee, if she had gotten paid for those 10 hours, she could have been terminated for falsifying her timesheet.

OP, you didn't do anything wrong, other than goofing on your schedule. It happens, and once you identified it, you made the proper notification. When I used to work part time on the ambulance, I was a per diem employee, and as such, didn't have a set schedule. Over 5 years, I think I had 2 or 3 shifts that I picked up, and they didn't make it in to my calendar, so I either double booked myself, or was woken up by the supervisor asking where I was (and once when I was put on the schedule in error, where I told them I wasn't available to work and they scheduled for me anyway). It happens when you don't work a regular schedule. And while it is frowned upon, it isn't the end of the world, especially if you don't do it on a regular basis.

But a once in a while scheduling snafu? I bet by next week no one will even remember it happened.

 

[hometownmedic5]

with all due respect, she no call / no showed from a shift......

At a volunteer agency with no station manning requirement where no calls were missed as a result of their absence. In other words, they got away with it. Theres no sensible reason to volunteer for the gas chamber when nobody even knew the crime had been committed.

But hey, agree to disagree.

 

[DrParasite]

At a volunteer agency with no station manning requirement where no calls were missed as a result of their absence. In other words, they got away with it. Theres no sensible reason to volunteer for the gas chamber when nobody even knew the crime had been committed.

But hey, agree to disagree.

sorry, I saw there were 2 other people on, and assumed they were at the station. Need coffee to improve monday morning reading comprehension......

If no calls were missed, and you weren't expected to be there, don't worry about it.

BTW, if your manager is even halfway decent, his exact response is "thank you for letting me know," and he will not give it a second thought. I'm betting he has already forgotten about it.

 

[hometownmedic5]

I may be assuming facts not in evidence. I'm under the impression that, if the OPs presence was required at the station, they would have gotten a call long before 10hrs into the shift.

I'm guessing its your typical volley squad. People who have nothing better to do and can't bear the thought of missing a job manning recliners waiting for the bell.

 

[MarilynEagle]

Thanks for all of the responses. I feel much better now. I agree it would've been easy to just let it slide, but because I live 25 minutes out I borrow the portable and pager from the station. Everyone else on the service that lives in town has their own. If the manager was in during the day he would've noticed that I didn't take either with. We use Active911 but it isn't relied on to respond through (I have not seen anyone respond with the app). There was 30 minutes left of the shift and just one other person signed up (the third person signed up the night before) so I wanted to make sure it was covered the last 30 minutes. You are all right. I make it to 99.99 percent of my shifts so they probably won't care that it happened once.

 

[EpiEMS]

I make it to 99.99 percent of my shifts so they probably won't care that it happened once.

Definitely not. Plus, you're a volunteer - they count on you only insofar as you are willing to work for free. If they are upset about a mistake, then they're not the kind of people you should be working for (for free, especially)!

 

[CALEMT]

I've had dispatch call me and ask if I were coming in to work (30 minutes after my shift started). Apparently I forgot that I picked up a shift... part time problems... it happens, nothing to worry about unless you're a habitual offender.

 

[DrParasite]

I'm guessing its your typical volley squad. People who have nothing better to do and can't bear the thought of missing a job manning recliners waiting for the bell.

As opposed to paid agencies where you have "nothing better to do and can't bear the thought of missing a job manning recliners waiting for the bell," while getting paid to sit in said recliners?

Plus, you're a volunteer - they count on you only insofar as you are willing to work for free. If they are upset about a mistake, then they're not the kind of people you should be working for (for free, especially)!

With all due respect, whether you are being paid or not, if you don't show up for a shift when other people are counting on you, you hurt the entire system. I've seen volunteers get terminated from various organizations (and not just EMS), usually for good reason. Its shows poorer leadership to allow a volunteer (or anyone really) chronically skip out of their responsibilities, because it means everyone else needs to pick up the slack, especially those who don't skip out.

The last time you volunteered was when you handed in the application. Since then, you became a non-compensated employee of the agency, who agrees to abide by the rules and regulations of said agency. Don't like them? there is the door, no one of forcing you to stay. But if you don't like them, and refuse to follow them, don't be surprised if they show you the door. But that's another topic.

But in this case, I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

 

[hometownmedic5]

There's a difference. When you're on the clock, they are paying you to be there. If you have done your chores, made your rack, checked the piece and so on; then it is actually your job to maintain readiness at the station, and barring a policy against it, a recliner is a suitable place to do so.

If you're a volunteer or on call(in an unpaid status), then maintaining presence at the station is most likely not mandatory. You could be doing any number of things not at the station, but you choose to hang out there. It doesn't make you a lesser person, but it is a choice.

If, when reading that, the image of a particular person or persons didn't immediately jump into your mind, then you might be that guy who thinks nothing of spending your "you" time hanging around the station waiting for a call because you want to be on the first piece out the door.

 

[DrParasite]

If you're a volunteer or on call(in an unpaid status), then maintaining presence at the station is most likely not mandatory. You could be doing any number of things not at the station, but you choose to hang out there. It doesn't make you a lesser person, but it is a choice.

If, when reading that, the image of a particular person or persons didn't immediately jump into your mind, then you might be that guy who thinks nothing of spending your "you" time hanging around the station waiting for a call because you want to be on the first piece out the door.

Maybe where you are from, but my first volunteer EMS agency only handled about 4000 calls in a 25 sq mile area....... we staffed our station because it got our trucks out quicker, and it prevented the delay which could have a negative patient outcome.

In the county I live in, four agencies provide EMS coverage, two of which agencies are combination departments and have volunteers..... True, they only answer about 90,000 calls a year, but you shouldn't be looking down on them because they are actually dedicating x amount of hours to be at the station in order to do their job professionally.

BTW, I haven't been on a volunteer ambulance in more than 10 years, and have worked in fulltime paid and combination agencies. But I never looked down on someone who was doing the job as a professional would.

I know of many (and hear of many more) that still do the "pager goes off, and everyone run to the station." Many of them have realize that actually staffing their stations with assigned crews is safe and more efficient. I encourage you to go to the DC metro area, and tell their volunteers that you look down on them because they are willing to staff their station for no pay..... they probably answer more calls that you do anyway.

 

[EpiEMS]

Its shows poorer leadership to allow a volunteer (or anyone really) chronically skip out of their responsibilities, because it means everyone else needs to pick up the slack, especially those who don't skip out.

You're right, but in this case, as you say, it is a different story - this is once, not chronic.

 

[DrParasite]

You're right, but in this case, as you say, it is a different story - this is once, not chronic.

agreed 100%. the above statement was a general statement, not directed to the OP at all.