# Tell us about your most colorful co-worker..or ex-co-worker.



## mycrofft (Aug 8, 2008)

Despite the button-down lawyered-up unilithic EMS scene today, we still have to be a little nuts to keep with it, and some of us are hanging a little looser on the branch than others. So, tell us tell us tell us, to paraphrase Holly Hunter.


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## mycrofft (Aug 9, 2008)

*Oh, well...thud.*

I worked with a guy who used to shoot Viet Cong tax collectors.........h34r:


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## firecoins (Aug 9, 2008)

I used to work with a Viet Cong tax collector.


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## mycrofft (Aug 9, 2008)

*So YOU're the one!*

He was an ex-Ranger, got blown up in Nam, extemely neat guy to work with. I may have posted about him cutting a man out of a wrecked car with his Buck knife when the Jaws wouldn't do.


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## BLSBoy (Aug 9, 2008)

mycrofft said:


> He was an ex-Ranger, got blown up in Nam, extemely neat guy to work with. I may have posted about him cutting a man out of a wrecked car with his Buck knife when the Jaws wouldn't do.



Wait, wait, wait. 
You are saying that your boy cut a person out of a wrecked vehicle with a _knife_, since the Hurst tool couldn't do it?

I'm throwing the challenge flag on this one.


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## mycrofft (Aug 9, 2008)

*I love it! Thanks!*

The patient was in an old (early Sixties) heavy duty stationwagon rammed on the driver's side by a van going maybe 45. Knocked the wagon for a 360 and over a ten inch curb (old part of Lincoln Neb) onto a front lawn. Wife next to driver dead on scene, probable  C1 fx they said later. Driver's foot was trapped by the firewall being bent up and to the left (port) under the steering column, trapping his foot against the left side of the car interior...all metal. He additionally had a parietal head lac, impact fracture and rupture-lac of left humerus/upper arm. The FD had opened the driver's door with the Jaws, and was firing up the K-12 saw and revving the Jaws and even thinking about using a winch and cribbing-standoff to somehow unbend this metal, when my driver/coworker crawled in, took a close look, whicked out the blade, cut the carpet, and lifted the foot out still in its shoe and attached to the owner.

He said if it looked too tight, he would have cut the shoe, too. He was definitely all about thinking outside the box.


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## BLSBoy (Aug 9, 2008)

So he cut carpet, not disassembled the car?
For a second there, I thought you were gonna say you worked with Chuck Noris....

Oh wait, he was Delta, not a Ranger...


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## firecoins (Aug 9, 2008)

BLSBoy said:


> So he cut carpet, not disassembled the car?
> For a second there, I thought you were gonna say you worked with Chuck Noris....




There is no 'ctrl' button on Chuck Norris's computer. Chuck Norris is always in control. 

Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird.

When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.

When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.

Chuck Norris’ hand is the only hand that can beat a Royal Flush.

Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water AND make it drink.


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## mycrofft (Aug 9, 2008)

*My coworker was a Phoenix.*

ooooooooo............h34r:........aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.........


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## ffemt8978 (Aug 10, 2008)

firecoins said:


> There is no 'ctrl' button on Chuck Norris's computer. Chuck Norris is always in control.
> 
> Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird.
> 
> ...



There's more of these in this thread: http://www.emtlife.com/showthread.php?t=3337


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## firecoins (Aug 10, 2008)

there is a whole website devoted to those. Chuck Norris just lets everything else exist


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## firetender (Aug 10, 2008)

*Now that you're getting me started...*

How about a guy who was so bad at late night calls, as soon as he'd drive us to the scene, I'd hop out and go in to the house and he'd nod out! I'd go out and get him only if I needed him.

or...

the guy who, dispatched to a cardiac arrest walked into the house with me, asked directions to the bathroom and didn't come out until me and the FD got the pt worked up and loaded.

or...

my best extricators were two good ole' boys who drove a tow truck. They could do more with a saw, come-along, crowbar and shears than I ever saw got done with the Jaws of Life.


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## MedicPrincess (Aug 10, 2008)

firetender said:


> the guy who, dispatched to a cardiac arrest walked into the house with me, asked directions to the bathroom and didn't come out until me and the FD got the pt worked up and loaded.


 

Sounds like a case of having a Big Mac for lunch!  When it hits you, you gotta go!!

I am usually the most energetic person in the service.  When someone asks about me, just about everyone that knows me will says something along the lines of  MAN She has a lot energy!  But generally, we all have fun when I am around.


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## yowzer (Aug 10, 2008)

BLSBoy said:


> So he cut carpet, not disassembled the car?



He said it was with a buck knife, not a leatherman. :lol:


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## mycrofft (Aug 10, 2008)

*MedicPrincess is everyone elses's most interesting coworker!*


Read "Population 485: Meeting our Neighbors One Siren At A Time" to hear about some strange ones.

Our company's business manager would drive code three, starting in the garage and down the steep incline to the street, in the Caddy with a regular cup of coffee in one hand, steering and occasionally manually downshifting the auto trans (when he needed some warpspeed) with one hand and his knees. He would turn around and leave a scene when the pt was a repeat deadbeat.

One of his co-owners concluded one of his periodic beer bashes at his house by literally dangling one of the EMT's by the ankles over a second floor parapet over the driveway. Very big guy, that owner, played for Nebraska once.

His brother was much like Jamie Hieneman on Mythbusters and was a reserve deputy. He was capped when sent to a domestic by a husband as he stepped in the door.


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## BossyCow (Aug 11, 2008)

We had an old farmer fr that was known for 'thinking outside the box'. He came up to the paramedic who used to do our EMS training and got into a very serious discussion about how to go about using a car battery in place of a defib. Medic is like.. "NO! Don't... You can't do that!" FR ... "But how 'bout if.... Medic: "NO! Never!".. FR: "But if you don't have anything else, it would be better than nothing!" Medic:"NO! It wouldn't be better than nothing.. never do that!"

The medic never felt that the FR was convinced and lived in fear that someday, on some call this guy would use a car battery to spark some poor cardiac pt.


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## BLSBoy (Aug 11, 2008)

That ain't colorful. Thats just stupidity at its best/worst.


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## emtashleyb (Aug 11, 2008)

this probably isnt colorful but my emt partner from class cracked me up quite a bit. He would do the I gotta pee dance and the omg hand wave whenever he got flustered which was quite a bit. He wasnt cut out for trauma situations and is now working with a private ambo company thank god. Other than that we had alot of firefighters at my old volley house who loved to play with too much gas and lighter fluid and never had a full set of eyebrows


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## mycrofft (Aug 11, 2008)

*Colorful is stupid plus time minus casualties, sometimes.*

We were trying to persuade a structural and crash driver, Swede guy named Big Swannie (we had a Little Swanson also), to join the rescue truck crew on base. We took him out to the old F-100 crcasse and let him tear off bits with the Jaws (and put humongous nicks in the blades trying to cut the canopy struts), when we had a call. I jumped behind the wheel, he got in the jumpseat behind me in the four door Powerwagon, and we were off acros the field, bounding and banging..and then something got tight around my neck. I slowed down, the squeeze eased; I sped up, it got worse.
He had invented the Swannie Ten Finger Governor.


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## mycrofft (Sep 7, 2009)

*OK, new crops of readers and experiences....craaaaaazy coworkers?*

I went into the field with a medtech supporting a five day exercise which of course got extended to six. Being the medics, I made us "First in, last out". This tech panicked when she saw we were to bring up the rear, sun was going down over the star thistle etc., we were about three miles (THREE MILES!?) away from the base hospital, we would not be alone but in the last convoy, and she started in with "I gotta get home! I gotta get home!". I sent her back with the SP's and she deserted the unit thereafter.

Wonder if she would have passed the mandatory drug testing stating the next year?:glare:


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## surname_levi (Sep 8, 2009)

i once worked at a spencer gifts, and my first day there this man was ranting about how his finace left him. later on, with he took one of the paddles we sold and told me he was going to spank me. i thought it was strange but i went on with the day. at the end he called the fiance a "bas-turd". it all made sense from there...


oh, you must of meant a different kind of colorful :blush:


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## Hal9000 (Sep 8, 2009)

I had a partner that always demanded a moment of silence anytime we came in contact with a "pretty female."  Apparently, she didn't like it when other women were beautiful, so the moment of silence was really a moment of silent hate.  Then she'd break it and mutter, "Disgusting..." 

Had another partner that had a habit of screaming while we were driving ambulances when not on calls.  She'd yell and cuss at drivers that did even simple things, like checking twice at stop signs.  She also somehow went through three hubcaps in one day. 

I had another medic partner that was always funny to work with.  She referred to IRs as "Mission Failure" forms.  I once told her that I had a headache and probably needed some vitamin I.  She looked at me...stared...and then muttered, "Jesus, I've never even heard of that."  I then informed her that was my way of saying ibuprofen.  I had to laugh that she thought she didn't know a vitamin.


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## Dominion (Sep 8, 2009)

Hal9000 said:


> I had a partner that always demanded a moment of silence anytime we came in contact with a "pretty female."  Apparently, she didn't like it when other women were beautiful, so the moment of silence was really a moment of silent hate.  Then she'd break it and mutter, "Disgusting..."
> *
> Had another partner that had a habit of screaming while we were driving ambulances when not on calls.  She'd yell and cuss at drivers that did even simple things, like checking twice at stop signs.  She also somehow went through three hubcaps in one day. *
> 
> I had another medic partner that was always funny to work with.  She referred to IRs as "Mission Failure" forms.  I once told her that I had a headache and probably needed some vitamin I.  She looked at me...stared...and then muttered, "Jesus, I've never even heard of that."  I then informed her that was my way of saying ibuprofen.  I had to laugh that she thought she didn't know a vitamin.



I'm so bad at road rage.  I'll get angry at drivers who do things I perceive dumb


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## HotelCo (Sep 8, 2009)

Dominion said:


> I'm so bad at road rage.  I'll get angry at drivers who do things I perceive dumb



get yourself the iGun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlzoL-wQwio


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## Akulahawk (Sep 9, 2009)

I had a partner who smoked like a chimney and drank coffee out of a 7/11 44oz cup... He did put in just enough ice to keep from scalding himself while sipping from the straw... He'd pick up the coffee about 7 am... and be done with it by about 8:30 am... if he's not thirsty.

The only time I've ever NOT seen him smoke or drink coffee was on calls... or when he ran out of cigarettes or coffee. He only smoked with coffee and only drank coffee when he smoked...

Later, he became a paraglider instructor...


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## Seaglass (Sep 10, 2009)

I'm in an area with lots of rednecks, but I run with one guy who's the ultimate embodiment of the stereotype. Cigar hanging out of mouth at all times whether it's lit or not, and he chews tobacco. All he talks about is hunting, guns, and the old trucks he owns that he keeps planning to fix. 

Another coworker is a nudist hippie. No nudity in the station, but that didn't stop him from telling us all about his latest nude cruise. 

I'm not sure if this counts as colorful or just plain asinine, but I sometimes run with another EMT who likes to constantly lecture me on how my health problems shouldn't exist. His greatest hits include "you can't have liver problems because the liver heals itself," "allergies all happen because moms don't breastfeed and keep their kids from germs," and "pain can all be managed if you want to badly enough." He's a great example of why I usually don't tell people I have health problems. He treats chronically ill patients like this, too. I think he thinks he's House...


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## rescue99 (Sep 10, 2009)

Seaglass said:


> I'm in an area with lots of rednecks, but I run with one guy who's the ultimate embodiment of the stereotype. Cigar hanging out of mouth at all times whether it's lit or not, and he chews tobacco. All he talks about is hunting, guns, and the old trucks he owns that he keeps planning to fix.
> 
> Another coworker is a nudist hippie. No nudity in the station, but that didn't stop him from telling us all about his latest nude cruise.
> 
> I'm not sure if this counts as colorful or just plain asinine, but I sometimes run with another EMT who likes to constantly lecture me on how my health problems shouldn't exist. His greatest hits include "you can't have liver problems because the liver heals itself," "allergies all happen because moms don't breastfeed and keep their kids from germs," and "pain can all be managed if you want to badly enough." He's a great example of why I usually don't tell people I have health problems. He treats chronically ill patients like this, too. I think he thinks he's House...



Gosh, sounds like a guy I know! Polyamourist and resembles a biblical figure too by any chance...lol


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## Seaglass (Sep 10, 2009)

rescue99 said:


> Gosh, sounds like a guy I know! Polyamourist and resembles a biblical figure too by any chance...lol



He's got the hair, but I'm too scared to ask about the sexual preferences...


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## Chelle (Sep 10, 2009)

My favorite is the guy who wigged out at our last meeting.  He flipped a classic 2 yr old tantrum and dented a steel door as he stormed out.  Came back in raging.  Fingers pointing, screaming, the whole psycho shebang.  Guess what happened to him?  Yep.  Nothing.


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## johnrsemt (Sep 10, 2009)

Be careful with the Igun:  it is a good stress reliever; but I have a coworker who had it on their  phone and was written and had job threatened because of a complaint from another coworker:   "She threatened me with it"..


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## Dominion (Sep 10, 2009)

johnrsemt said:


> Be careful with the Igun:  it is a good stress reliever; but I have a coworker who had it on their  phone and was written and had job threatened because of a complaint from another coworker:   "She threatened me with it"..



That would be one write up I'd refuse.  But then again I'd never use it/show it to someone I didn't know at least somewhat.  That video though is fantastic.


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## mycrofft (Oct 14, 2009)

*Heard about one, flew HH43 PEDRO rescue helo in Japan*

Capped many colorful episodes, including nearly bombing a boat of fisherman in Okinawa with a five foot length of telephone pole, by taking his chopper down and chasing a dog off the golf course and into base housing, barking at it through the PA speaker and blowing laundry and leaves everywhere.


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## johnrsemt (Oct 14, 2009)

had a lady that I worked with that would come in with different colored hair every monday;   alway had to wear a hat due to it,  but it was always funny to see what was next.     
  had pools going to see what she would do next.


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## CollegeBoy (Oct 14, 2009)

Working mainly part time I've met alot of real nut heads. Probably none as bad as me, but still. My ride along probably takes the cake.

I had known the pair I did my ride along with for years. Because of our close friendship they felt it their duty to make my time a living nightmare:

They made me do the truck check not once, not twice, but three times just because we are from a rural area that gets very few calls, hence lots of time to kill.

I had to wash the truck after every run, including the 2 mile round trip to subway.

They also "did not know" my name, therfore I gained the nickname Student. They were not afraid to use it. Subway, CVS, Gas Station, anywhere we went I got addressed as "student" (at least until the tones dropped).

One of the requiements of my ride alongs was for me to take the BP of the crew. The medic had after years of practice perfected the art of driving his BP and pulse up and down. Needless to say, he had fun :censored:ing with me. 
"What? 202/178 that can't be right! Do it again STUDENT!!!"
"Are you stupid?!? You went from 202/178 to 90/60!!! DO IT AGAIN STUDENT!!!"


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## Medic744 (Oct 15, 2009)

The private comp I used to work for had a husband and wife team (him EMTP, her EMTI) that were batty as a cave.  She was heavy into Wicca (Im all for religous prefrence) and when we were partners we had to make at least one trip to the local Wicca store.  He was all about World of War Craft and re enactments (middle age).  He would make his own chain mail at work and on his days off hire a babysitter for their 2 yr old so he could play his game for 24 hrs without interuption.  They were a little off center but extremely entertaining to be around.


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## Aidey (Oct 15, 2009)

I haven't had any co-workers that are that crazy. Which makes me worry I'm the crazy co-worker...hmmm. :wacko:


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## MrBrown (Oct 15, 2009)

I worked with a guy who was on the run from a motorcycle gang


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## mycrofft (Nov 8, 2009)

*Hey, if she can post about Spencer's I can post abot FF.*

Let's call this guy "Possum" becuase his nickname was "Sugar Bear" but I don't want that to get out, ok?

In the course of four years he had the following admissions and incidents:

1. Caught eating other people's lunches when I put methylene blue into my grape jelly throwdown PB&J.
2. Drove the P2 crash truck out of the station with a side compartment door gullwinged open, tore off the door and put one BIG exterior station door out of sevice all of one Nebraska winter.
3. Would unthinkingly throw cigarette butts and coffee grounds out the window of the pumper, which the windstream would fling back on US on the tailboard.
4. Hunted squirrels by shooting wintertime nests like his pappy taught him.
5. When a distraught woman came home screaming "Where's my puppy?!" to us overhauling her burned out apt. , he was ambling out the front door about fifteen feet away with the sizzled pooch dangling by one leg.
6. Was so excited by his impending second wedding that he did the P2 trick above, plus bought _himself_ a new Harley Sportster.
7. Was discoverd to have only a "three-level" training when a "five" was required to drive the vehicles off training status...as he had been doing for four years already.
8. Worked a flame thrower in 'Nam.

But the sweetest-dispositioned man you ever worked with and trustworthy when the chips were down.


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