Random Fail: First World Problems

[Acevalefor]

Brill! What is the secret code phrase I need to say to get instant help from Pittsburgh AAA in such a situation?

"My tires are on fire"?

Call a AAA contractor directly. They will work hard to get you in between AAA dispatch calls and some of them even run back-up trucks to field the direct-calls. If you mention anything that could trigger an emergency escalation, you could get police and fire on the scene and have to explain to them why you needed 6 firefighters to change your tire while police directed traffic around their big ass truck.

[Acevalefor]

Yeah it was dead yesterday. Sadly we're getting fucking crushed today. The storm moved in overnight on our WV and OH areas. It's now hitting metro Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas. We're sitting on over 400 active calls. 80 calls are in our queue holding for over 30 minutes and we have over 100 calls abandoned(people getting stuck on hold then hanging up.) The weather combined with the standard post holiday call volume is crushing us.

To put in perspective on a typical Wednesday at this time we usually have about 100 - 120 active calls.

We hit the magic 1500 call volume a few years ago when we got buried under 3 feet of snow right before Christmas. It was 1500 calls in a 24 hour period. I think we hit like 1506 exactly. Every available desk was filled at the dispatch center and every driver for every contractor was in a truck on mandatory 24hr shift. It was hell....I feel your pain.

[jmc]

Worked my normal shift (4pm to midnight) christmas eve, and then worked midnight til 8 am christmas morning for a friend so she could be home for her little ones in the morning.

Worked on the phones both shifts, and night was going smoothly until the 2nd shift. Suicidal male on a bridge, talking to me on a 911 call. So I was talking to him for a good 5-6 minutes before units arrived, and once they showed up male jumped while on the phone with me.

Yup, merry christmas.....

[Acevalefor]

Worked my normal shift (4pm to midnight) christmas eve, and then worked midnight til 8 am christmas morning for a friend so she could be home for her little ones in the morning.

Worked on the phones both shifts, and night was going smoothly until the 2nd shift. Suicidal male on a bridge, talking to me on a 911 call. So I was talking to him for a good 5-6 minutes before units arrived, and once they showed up male jumped while on the phone with me.

Yup, merry christmas.....

How do you deal with shit like that? I can handle a lot of stuff but being helpless while listening to or seeing someone at the end of their rope would be horrible. There is nothing I can do to help them then I have to replay the events in my head over and over.....I would need to help a lot of kittens out of trees and homeless ladies with children before I could feel good about my job again. At least it wasn't your friend that had to go through that.

[shidobu]

phone with me.

Yup, merry christmas.....

yo dayum

[jmc]

How do you deal with shit like that? I can handle a lot of stuff but being helpless while listening to or seeing someone at the end of their rope would be horrible. There is nothing I can do to help them then I have to replay the events in my head over and over.....I would need to help a lot of kittens out of trees and homeless ladies with children before I could feel good about my job again. At least it wasn't your friend that had to go through that.

Lots of time with the family, working out to burn off stress.

And just generally not letting it stick with you, almost letting it roll off your shoulders. Holding stuff in will just lead to burn out with this stuff

[Acevalefor]

Lots of time with the family, working out to burn off stress.

And just generally not letting it stick with you, almost letting it roll off your shoulders. Holding stuff in will just lead to burn out with this stuff

Leather skin indeed. Good LEOs deserve a lot of respect.

[Brill Weave]

We hit the magic 1500 call volume a few years ago when we got buried under 3 feet of snow right before Christmas. It was 1500 calls in a 24 hour period. I think we hit like 1506 exactly. Every available desk was filled at the dispatch center and every driver for every contractor was in a truck on mandatory 24hr shift. It was hell....I feel your pain.

I usually do 1200 calls on my shift alone. Daily. But we cover 1/2 of Pennsylvania, 1/2 of West Virginia, 1/2 of Ohio, and 1/5 of New York State. We've suspended home towing now. Friend of mine in Public Works for the city said they got caught with their pants down. Only 1/4 of their trucks were ready to go. The rest are just now being fitted with plows and loaded with salt. Should make getting home really interesting.

[jmc]

I usually do 1200 calls on my shift alone. Daily. But we cover 1/2 of Pennsylvania, 1/2 of West Virginia, 1/2 of Ohio, and 1/5 of New York State. We've suspended home towing now. Friend of mine in Public Works for the city said they got caught with their pants down. Only 1/4 of their trucks were ready to go. The rest are just now being fitted with plows and loaded with salt. Should make getting home really interesting.

What is your average talk time for a call?

[Acevalefor]

I usually do 1200 calls on my shift alone. Daily. But we cover 1/2 of Pennsylvania, 1/2 of West Virginia, 1/2 of Ohio, and 1/5 of New York State. We've suspended home towing now. Friend of mine in Public Works for the city said they got caught with their pants down. Only 1/4 of their trucks were ready to go. The rest are just now being fitted with plows and loaded with salt. Should make getting home really interesting.

Heh...Portland doesn't even have any plow trucks. We have to borrow from ODOT when we get snow. Our dispatch center only covers the Willamette valley. There is only about 2.7m people in the entire valley. That's only part of the population of a single city in the northeast. Also, most of the people are very resourceful and will solve their own problem if AAA is backed up. Everyone has a friend or an uncle that has a big truck and is willing to come to the rescue.

Which reminds me of this:
I believe this was in Raleigh Hills which is on the west side of Portland.

http://youtu.be/Q1qJ5IT72Aw

Edit: How do you embed?

[Cail]

Worked my normal shift (4pm to midnight) christmas eve, and then worked midnight til 8 am christmas morning for a friend so she could be home for her little ones in the morning.

Worked on the phones both shifts, and night was going smoothly until the 2nd shift. Suicidal male on a bridge, talking to me on a 911 call. So I was talking to him for a good 5-6 minutes before units arrived, and once they showed up male jumped while on the phone with me.

Yup, merry christmas.....

we had a 2-car, 2 fatality extrication this morning. guy was going the wrong direction on the parkway and hit another car head on. both drivers were killed, and 2 passengers in the car going the right way got transported. one of the state cops that was on scene, was his 4th night on the job fresh out of the academy

[jmc]

we had a 2-car, 2 fatality extrication this morning. guy was going the wrong direction on the parkway and hit another car head on. both drivers were killed, and 2 passengers in the car going the right way got transported. one of the state cops that was on scene, was his 4th night on the job fresh out of the academy

Rough way to break in the rookie.....

I'm gonna assume DK?

[Melena]

we had a 2-car, 2 fatality extrication this morning. guy was going the wrong direction on the parkway and hit another car head on. both drivers were killed, and 2 passengers in the car going the right way got transported. one of the state cops that was on scene, was his 4th night on the job fresh out of the academy

Bleh, reading shit like this makes me have a real soft spot for first responders and dispatchers. Friend of mine does 911 dispatch for San Francisco and i've lost track of how many suicides, gun shot victims and babies he's delivered in just a little over 4 years.

[Brill Weave]

What is your average talk time for a call?

Good CSR's take 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 minutes at the most. Shitty ones 4 - 7 minutes on average. Most of the people I have on today are new/not very good which is contributing to the extreme delays in taking the calls. Also just got a phone call from the next shift manager. He's having trouble making it in. If that fucker decides to call off guess who gets to stay and pull a double.

[AoE]

Who?

[jmc]

Good CSR's take 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 minutes at the most. Shitty ones 4 - 7 minutes on average. Most of the people I have on today are new/not very good which is contributing to the extreme delays in taking the calls. Also just got a phone call from the next shift manager. He's having trouble making it in. If that fucker decides to call off guess who gets to stay and pull a double.

Rookie #2!

[Brill Weave]

The shitty second shift manager who actually is a rookie. Sadly I've been here 14 years now. Started when I was 20.

[NynJa]

The shitty second shift manager who actually is a rookie. Sadly I've been here 14 years now. Started when I was 20.

My god youre old

[Qeomash]

Bleh, reading shit like this makes me have a real soft spot for first responders and dispatchers. Friend of mine does 911 dispatch for San Francisco and i've lost track of how many suicides, gun shot victims and babies he's delivered in just a little over 4 years.

As do I. My boss is a volunteer firefighter/paramedic. Around this time last year, he was closest to be able to respond to a suicide via car accident. The guy drove his truck into a huge tree going upwards 75 MPH. My boss was the first on the scene. The driver of the truck was one of his best friends from high school.

[Sepukku]

My god youre old

I was thinking the same thing.

Brill no KIDDING they got caught with their pants down. I sat on Parkway West outbound for 2+ fucking hours today cause 10+ tractor trailers jackknifed and/or stalled/spun tire on the hill up from Fort Pitt Tunnel to Greentree. Throw in 2 fender benders with regular vehicles and I moved a whole 50 feet in 90 minutes. Also saw 1 wreck on the way to work on 51, 1 on 376-business loop road, and 2 more wrecks on I-76 inbound on the way home. Unbelievable how unplowed/unsalted the roads were today.