CHANGES

GREAT NEWS EVERYONE! THE COMM CENTER COMMANDER HAS FINALLY DECIDED TO STEP UP AND WORK ON THE ONGOING ISSUES IN THE COMM CENTER. SADLY, HER FIRST ITEM ON THE AGENDA IS TO TRY TO CHANGE THE DRESS CODE. HOW SAD IS THAT. INSTEAD OF WORKING ON CURRENT AND MORE IMPORTANT ISSUES, LIKE OFFICER SAFETY, THE DRESS CODE IS HER NUMBER ONE PRIORITY. HAS ANYONE TOLD HER THAT THE YETIS' IN THE COMM CENTER PROBABLY ALREADY HAVE THEIR DOCTORS' NOTE READY? PLEASE EXCUSE THIS PERSON FROM WEARING REGULAR CLOTHING AND SHOES. BECAUSE OF EXCESS FAT, PAJAMAS AND FLIP FLOPS ARE RECOMMENDED. HOW LONG IS THE NEW DRESS CODE GOING TO LAST, I GIVE IT 1 WEEK.

THE NEW COMMANDER REALLY KNOWS HOW TO SHAKE THINGS UP! NOT! SHE LACKS THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE, AND WHEN SHE DOES, SHE GOES THROUGH DD TO DO IT. I DON'T KNOW WHO WAS WORSE, HER OR PM.

Dear Dispatcher 1,
Please seek employment with another agency. Life must be real bad when you have to wear a polo shirt and khaki pants.

Dispatcher 2

Can anyone tell me why some of the dispatchers look as if they are walking the green mile when they board the elevator to go upstairs. You say hello to them and the just look at you like they are going to a euthanization appointment. In fairness, this has only been the case with a few I have seen. Most of the others look and act normal.

It's a circus when you enter the doors. Some personnel thrive on back stabbing and doing what they can to humiliated others. Making lives of others difficult is thier goal and priority in life. Some don't like to be involved but need a job. The pay is above average, but you have to have a thick skin. Everything is everybodys business. Equity is a sore subjuct also. A few are best friends with a particular supervisor. I could go on, and on. Pull one of the frowners aside one day, or take them on a ride along and ask the what's going on. This is a great job for those with little or no education, nor ambition. So they come to work loving their job but go home with wounds every night. I bet you are sorry you asked now.

If the city needs to make budget cuts, they should start in the Comm. Center. Turn this debacle over to PCSO. This will provide the officers and citizens of clearwater with a safe a professional environment.

Polo and Khaki's were supposed to happen over a decade ago when the Comm Ctr gave away their uniforms (a cost to the city, not the employee) and received nothing in return for giving up the benefit. Long ago, employees wore uniforms and dispatcher badges (and looked nothing like a cop, more like an EMT) but certain employees complained that they were 'afraid' when they went out to lunch that someone would mistake them as cops and shoot at them. (Like when has that ever happened?) Alas, the dress code went out the window. I always hear how horrible comm ctr employees are, yet I also hear road units say they couldn't do it. If ya show up, do your job, care about the units on the road, and not about the gossip, or attempt to get to know the officers you work with, you'd become more of a team player. If you want PCSO to take over dispatchers all the way from Ulmerton Road, what would officers have to complain about? They couldn't see who was doing what in the Center, and the dispatchers would know no more about you than your unit number, and care even less. Anytime someone on the road wants to go sit in the chair and take over the radio, I'm sure you'd be welcome to prove how wonderful you are to everyone. All you'd have to do is ask and the chair is yours - you'd know it all, so there'd be no need to sit with anyone. When you don't feel like riding around all night, taking the calls the City pays you to take in your assigned zoned, contact your Sgt and see if you could just work the radio that night instead.

Dear Tuff Life,
YES, move all the dispatchers to Ulmerton Rd. Please clean house while doing so. Tkae the personnel with under 5 years, as they are still trainable and can the rest. Sorry I sound so cruel but make them walk. Well okay, there would be a few senior people i'd keep but no one married to a Sergeant pr anyone married to the PIO. Dispathcer 1 must also go because I want first looks at vacation bid.

Dispatcher2

When will people in the Comm Center realize we are our OWN WORST ENEMIES? Get over it already! So we MAY have to start wearing polos and jeans or khaki's...so what? And yes, there are THOSE people who will continually bring in a doctor's note to excuse them from just about anything., i.e. ..adhering to the dress code, can't sleep during the day when you work mids even though you KNEW this was shift work when you took the job. Oh, and wasn't there one person in there who had a doctor's note to work day shift because she was trying to get preganant? So suck it up, no one is perfect and everyone has flaws. The more we complain and bicker amongst ourselves the worse we make ourselves look. No wonder we are the laughing joke of the CPD. Just remember that lovely saying "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" As for Dispatcher2 stating this job is for people with no education and no ambition, this job is hard; even for people with an education. If you feel this way why are YOU working here? You must have no ambition and/or no education. I agree the pay is good, so good at times that I make more than my friends who are working in the private sector with their college degrees...so can you explain that? I could go out tomorrow and find another job with my degree but I won't start anywhere near what I make here.

Hey dispatcher1, do us all a favor and just quit already...I'll never understand how someone can show up for a job that THEY applied for and just piss and moan about everyone and everything. I've never seen so many grown adults act like 5 year olds since I started here. If you're that miserable of a person, just go away!

Seniority Has It's Privleges. Do your time, and one day you too shall be able to bid the vacation and shifts you deserve after 18 or 20 years. Don't walk in the door thinking you'll get 4 weeks vacation any time you want along with the shift of your choice. I'm sure they told new hires that they'd have to be there a while before that happens. That' means longer than 'after your released'. Only Mommy and Daddy gave you what you wanted, when you wanted it - This is the real world.

I maintain that if Life is so Tuff sitting in an air conditioned room talking to officers, the public, and if you have to, each other - then I'm sure there are other places who'd love to hire you because of all your experience and knowledge. CPD isn't the only Law Enforcement Agency in the Land - you took someone elses spot when you were hired, and I'm sure there are people out there willing to take yours so you really won't be missed. Actually what happens after you leave is "remember that one dispatcher, what was their name again?" or better yet, you weren't a stand out in anyone's mind (except your own) so no one even brings you up in conversation days or weeks or even years later.

I guess I'm still waiting for someone to post which agency is so different, so wonderful, and stands out amongst the rest that no one ever leaves it, and it's dang near paradise to work in. Soon as that location is given, make sure you apply for it. Like before, I read the Dispatcher Thread and the departments that post there have all the same problems, issues, schedule pains, vacation gripes as we do, just different names in different departments.

Euphoria must be out there, please don't hesitate to go looking for