I know this is off topic, but bear with me just this once.
Funny you mention “minimum wage”. When I worked for Event Medical Services (EMS, great initials, yes?), this was 2001-2003, we paid our guys a whopping $7/hour. Straight. No overtime, straight pay. Wow. You can really support a family on that, right? Anyway, We covered “events”, hence our name. Shifts could be 4 hours or 14 hours. We didn’t pay for mileage, either. Your pay started from the time the shift started until the shift ended. If you were coming from the San Fernando Valley and working an event at Coors Amphitheater in Chula Vista, you weren’t paid for the 4 hour down and back up and the 150 miles each way it would take you. The boss was a cheap SOB, what can I say? He said they were “independent contractors”, not “employees”, so they had to keep track of their own mileage and expenses and “deduct” them later on their taxes.
Since I was “management”, the boss said that if there was an empty slot, or someone didn’t show up, that I’D have to go. See, it was my job to get the slots filled with willing volunteers. It wasn’t easy to convince someone to do some of these long and far-away events for that $7/hour. Many times, the boss told me, at 4:30pm, as I’m about to wrap up for the day, that so-and-so called and said they couldn’t make it, or just didn’t show up at all, down at Coors, and that I’d have to go. So, I’d call the wife and say I’d be home late. Like, really late. Many times, I pulled back in at close to 4 am. Being salaried, I didn’t get any extra pay for that. It was “part of my job”, the boss said.
Turnover was a big problem for us. Most of our guys would stay for a few months, and then leave because 1) the boss was an *** and 2) no money in it for them. Some, as soon as the Fire Academy called, they were gone. Sure, why not? We had a few reliable “lifers”, but even some of those would turn down work because of the boss. They’d say, “I’d do it for YOU, because I like you, but I’m not doing it for HIM, so I have to say no.”. Thanks a lot. And I had another event I’d have to do.
But, Rank Has Its Privileges, as they say. Because I was “management”, if there was an event I wanted to see, for my own personal reasons, I’d go in uniform, with my ID and just walk in and see the show. We had Arrowhead Pond and Cerritos Amphitheater as two of our venues. At the Pond, I went and saw Paul McCartney and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Yes! AND Young. At Cerritos, I went up to the First Aid Room, which overlooked the stage, and saw The Smothers Brothers. So, sometimes, I made out. But even though the job paid horribly, and the boss was an ***, I loved DOING it.
Shortly after I left, he lost his ambulance license (we had about 8 ambulances, give or take). Oh, right. The guys would get an extra $2/hour if they took a “driver” assignment. Sometimes an event, such as a sports event or a County Fair, would want an ambulance on site. Anyway, he lost his ambulance license and went back to being just an equipment supplier, which I think he’s still doing.
