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ATTITUDE VS. APTITUDE

Which is more important. Obviously you need to have both, but where
should your attention be.

You are the best firefighter in the world.  They could make an IFSTA
manual by just following you around all day. You eat breath, and sleep
fire service. But you aren't the nicest most personable guy. This will
get you a front row seat to watch the guys with minimum skills with a
good attitude, get and keep the good jobs.

We can take just about anyone off of the street and make them into a
firefighter in a year, as long as they can go into a burning building
and see someone bleed. But we don't have good luck hiring someone with
the skills and a poor attitude. Usually a poor attitude is a long-term
thing. Attitude is your rudder through life.

Be aware most departments already have enough people working there with
an attitude problem, and don't need any more. My department met its
quota of Asses in 1983 and we don't need any more.

Let me paint a picture for you. I am working with a newly hired
firefighter.  He's working through his probation and has a great
attitude. He won't sit in the recliners in front of the T.V.  Never. If
we watch a training video he brings in a kitchen chair. You see he is
aware that perceptions of others are very important to your reputation
in the fire service. An engineer, from another shift was working with us
and told him to relax nobody would care. Not 15 seconds latter he began
telling us that someone else just hired was spending all their time in
the easy chairs. I asked him if he'd seen this. He said no, he'd just
heard about it. He proved the point right there.

You could do something once and have someone see it, tell someone else,
and suddenly your " Easy chair Charlie". Probation is hard enough. Don't
make it harder than it has to be. As Captain Bob says " You can do hard
time or easy time.  The choice is really yours".

Also understand, they will start talking about you long before you start
on shift, and long after your off probation.

"Attitude is such a small thing that can make such a huge difference."

CAPTAIN ROB (Thank you)

NRTC@SONIC.NET
http://www.eatstress.com 

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