There were people there who didn’t like yer dad. And there were people there who didn’t like me. But right away, me and your dad? We were friends. Right away we knew. It’s like that with people you know right away.
JR was frank, open and warm as he talked about his friendship with my dad.
No, your dad would go above and beyond. Sure, he’d take some risks. It worked out ok. But there were some… They didn’t like going along with him. Yer dad’s a brave man.
My throat choked up. I know how brave my dad is. It was really disarming to hear his buddy talking about him this way though.
JR smiled as my dad entered the shop: Isn’t that right Jimmy? A lot of the guys were not nearly as brave as you were.
That I never understood JR. If you sign up to be a fire fighter, and you know how to put out the fire and you’re given all the tools to do it, why would you not want to try to put the fire out? Why would you want to just stand around outside and spray water at it?
My dad shook his head with scorn.
They paid me to run into burning buildings, not run out. I go to work to put out fires, not stand around and make a show of spraying.
When I asked what happened, JR chortled: It’s clear what happened: Human Resources. They happened.
My dad picked up where JR left off: …too concerned with safety, more of them in the office than firemen on the job… They become too concerned with how things looked to the public and to council. They stated hiring for appearances, instead of hiring brave men willing to get the job done.
I was puzzled. Let me get this straight: Near the end of your careers, you weren’t required to really do your job properly so things got easier?
You would think that wouldn’t ya? JR hesitated for a bit. No. That wasn’t it. Near the end of our careers, we wanted to quit because management didn’t let us fight fires properly anymore and the job wasn’t as exciting. Things weren’t as fun.
So we left, and now the cowards are in charge, my dad added wryly.
How do you conduct your life - do you take measured risks like a professional firefighter?
Or are you a human resource parasite manager?
Do you hide behind statistics, regulations and the disease of ‘safetyism’ in order to protect others from dangers that you have no direct experience with?
What happens when people with no practical experience in what you do attempt to manage your behaviour?
How do you tell these well intended, but chicken hearted turds to go eat a bag of dicks without getting fired?