Stupid Traditions

There is a phenomenon which only occurs in the hallowed ranks of the EMS. Well to be sure my observation is that it occurs to employees and volunteers in EMS but happens off the clock. It seems to be a tradition, albeit a stupid one, that EMT’s/Firefighters/paramedics wear their T-shirts with the department logo on it everywhere they go. This is not a crack on how they do their job but how they comport themselves off the job.

Let me ask the question of “why” this way. What would you say if you were at the movies and a butcher came in wearing his work cloths blood stained apron and all? How about a postal employee in full regalia. We’ll assume it’s in Phoenix in the summer so they might be sporting a pith helmet, shorts, short sleeve shirt, ugly black boxy shoes with black socks, and an AK-47. Would you welcome them to sit in the seat next to you and your kids?

What is it EMS workers are trying to accomplish by wearing a T-shirt with the department logo on it everywhere they go? I’ve even seen EMS workers wear their T-shirts to church for Sunday service. I have no problem with that if they are on duty but if they just got up on their day off and were going to church anyway why wear a uniform T-shirt?

I should point out that I have never seen one of the genders participate in this ridiculous exercise. That gender would be the feminine one. Just guessing but there could be many reasons for EMS workers wearing their uniform when they are off duty. The first thing that popped into my head is that they are trying to cover up for an inadequacy elsewhere since it’s only men who do it. After checking with the spousal unit who was a paramedic for 14 years I am still in the dark as to why men wear uniform shirts everywhere when they should not.

The spousal unit relates that many of the men she worked with wore their T-shirts off duty to impress their wives and girlfriends. Yes that’s a plural as many of the EMS workers had both owing to ignorant sluts who constantly chased them. The spousal unit related that many of the men acted one way at the station when their wives were present and a totally different way when their girlfriends were present. I’m not saying that every EMS worker who wears his T-shirt everywhere is two-timing his wife. I’m saying that from an unbiased source with 14 years of experience it does happen in some cases.

What is another possible reason for wearing ones uniform shirt everywhere you go? How about an inflated perception of ones importance and an inflated ego that has started to believe what others tell them about the job. It’s the job of EMS to package patients quickly and efficiently and transport them to the nurses and doctors at the hospital so that we will have a chance to save their lives. Is wearing your shirt at the local Safeway grocery store going to make a difference in this respect? The stunningly obvious answer to this question is NO. Why then are you wearing the shirt?

Are you getting freebies that I’m not getting because you have a T-shirt with a department logo on it? Do you think you’re a babe magnet because you have a T-shirt with a department logo on it? When you look around do you see other professions wearing their uniform shirts in public on a routine basis when they are not even working that day? I can’t think of one example of a member of a profession who routinely gets up in the morning on their day off and decides to put on their uniform and go out in public. I’ve never seen a physician walking through the mall wearing his stethoscope as he shops but on countless occasions I have seen people wearing fire department T-shirts walking through the mall with their families.

It’s doubly difficult for me to understand this shirt wearing behavior because nurses have a culture of not telling other health care workers they are nurses until we witness them screwing up or have a serious complaint. The exception to this is CNA’s who have a habit of telling real nurses that they are nurses when they are not. They think that we will treat their family member better if they tell us they are a nurse. In 14 years I have never had a patient or family member tell me they were a nurse and have it not turn out they were a CNA. If they are a real licensed nurse I have always had to drag it out of them.

EMS is primarily male gender driven while nursing is primarily female gender driven. Does this have more significance to this question than I am able to discern? I have to ask the question, is the T-shirt with the department logo on it an extension of their penis? Are they wearing these shirts so that everyone in the community can see what a big dick they have or at least pretend to have? Whatever the reason I will continue to point and laugh at the idiots who wear their department T-shirts everywhere while off the job. Grow up kids and peruse the Lands End Catalog. There are some great Polo shirts for sale and they don’t cause me to laugh hysterically at you.

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit