A Day in the Life of Firefighters

by NightWriter357

Fantasy heroes wear capes. Real life heroes don firefighter gear. Like any public service job, fire fighting is a civic responsibility to aid and protect. Medical emergencies requiring quick responses are the bulk of firefighters’ duties. The firefighter is a paramedic, rescue and disaster worker, trainer and safety technician. Most of us only see snapshots of these men and women at work, yet a great deal of training is required and administered beyond what the general public is privy to.

The 109-year-old Compton Fire Department Headquarters, “Station 1” is one of the busiest in Southern California. Averaging almost 11,000 calls a year with a four-minute response time, the staff of 11 includes Fire Captain Shelia Hopper, a 24-year veteran and the first and only female firefighter in the city of Compton. Hopper’s duties include supervising the safety of an all-male crew. She is responsible for trainings and oversees fire and medical emergencies that her team is called to. “I observe the firefighters, including how they handle patient care, and I delegate what needs to happen at the scene,” says Hopper.

When they’re not fighting fires, the day-to-day responsibilities of firefighters include the maintenance of equipment coupled with scheduled hands-on trainings. This includes drill practices. Some of the immediate drills are hosing procedures, as well as proper use of chainsaw equipment, which is used to cut through roofs. There are also fire tact offensive and defensive mode practice on how to safely enter and exit a burning building. Other continuing education includes emergency medical services (EMS) training. Occasionally, videos and other staff presentations serve as refresher courses on CPR and other safety precautions.  

Firefighter Jesus “Armando” Lopez is a seven year employee at the historic Compton station. He loves the challenge of being a firefighter and one of the things that he finds instantly gratifying is assisting others in distress. “In medical emergencies, knowing that I helped someone who wasn’t breathing at first to start breathing again makes me feel good,” he says. “As firefighters we get excited about fighting fires because we get to do our job and use our equipment,” he exclaims.

While sanitation, cleaning and cooking are all the usual daily duties divvied up between firefighters, Lopez explains what occurs before the start of every 24-hour shift. “One of the first things that we do upon arrival of every shift is to check out our gear, this includes personal protective equipment, such as the breathing apparatus, mask and other fire intervention tools,” he says. Some of the apparatus fits in the different-sized pockets of the fire workers’ retardant jacket and hood.

Other work attire, he further explains, “such as boots and gloves must be kept in good condition at all times.” Firefighters also have to test their radios and the different channels in intervals throughout the day to ensure that there always working properly. All of the firefighter gear is then placed on the truck where it is easily accessible in case of an emergency or medical call.

“After our daily routine prep is complete we’re sometimes allowed to go work out at the gym,” beams Lopez who says, “It’s up to the captain on duty.” Hopper laughs and chimes in, “Yeah, you really have to work out with this type of job.”        

Untraditional Employment

It Pays to Shop
By NightWriter357

What if someone paid you to eat at one of your favorite restaurants? Would you sight-see at a museum for free? How about shopping for groceries that you don't have to pay for? These scenarios all sound unusual, but they are typical jobs that a mystery shopper would do.

Mystery shoppers are people that are paid to evaluate the services of businesses, companies, employees and employers under the guise of not revealing their identity to the person or people they’re observing. Companies and businesses hire mystery shopping companies (also known as product and market research companies) who in turn solicit individuals to perform these jobs.

Most mystery shopping jobs require that a potential shopper take a basic reading and writing test.As a mystery shopper, your job performance weighs heavy on these two things.

Mystery shopping occurs in a number of places, such as hotels, banks, car dealerships, bars, restaurants, grocery stores, apartment complexes, amusement parks, museums, retail outlets and even online businesses utilize the service mystery shopping companies offer. Imagine mystery shopping in places like these consistently, every week or every month and receiving compensation of $5-$200 for each job satisfactorily completed.

Anyone wanting to get gain employment in this field should visit the Mystery Shopping Providers Association website at www.mysteryshop.org. MSPA is the largest trade association for mystery shopping companies world-wide. Here a shopper will find the names, phone numbers and websites of mystery shopping companies as well as potential opportunities for mystery shopping jobs.

MPSA also has online mystery shopping trainings for those who want to take their mystery shopping skills to a professional level by obtaining special shopper certifications that are highly recognized and well respected by many mystery shopping companies. In addition to MSPA, there are websites like Shadowshopper.com where they list mystery shopping job opportunities.

With the plight of the U.S. job economy and companies downsizing their staff, mystery shopping is becoming a growing profession and viable resource for people who have lost their jobs and for those who need or want extra money.

Pam, an employee of Kedren Community Health and Child Care Center in Los Angeles who does not want her last name revealed to ensure that she does not jeopardize any future employment with potential mystery shopping companies, said she doesn’t see mystery shopping as a main source of income, yet, she excitedly says “I do make extra money on the side as a result of shopping regularly.”

Pam is not only paid to shop various grocery chains on a rotational monthly basis, but, she also gets to keep the food she purchases, which is reimbursed along with the regular payment she receives for the jobs.

You don’t need a degree to become a mystery shopper. In fact, according to Stefan Doomanis, President of Dynamic Advantage, Inc., a local mystery shopping company in Burbank, two of the most important things about mystery shopping are that a shopper be reliable and dependable. Mystery shoppers have to be on time to their scheduled job assignments simply because the person, people or product being evaluated may only be available during specific time slots.

For instance, if a shopper is scheduled to observe a restaurant during happy hour only, then the shopper can not show up prior or after that specific time slot. Not only does that defeat the purpose of what the company wants observed and evaluated during that time frame, but a shopper will not be paid if they do not follow the specific shop details or guidelines.

Becoming a mystery shopper requires some detail attention to the following: Carefully reading mystery shopping leads, learning and practicing observation skills that are conducive to a shopper remaining discreet while on job assignments and writing grammatically-correct evaluations on what on observations seen, heard and witnessed during the shop.

A shopper will always know the context of their shop prior to doing it. Most mystery shopping businesses will initiate contact with a potential shopper via email by sending shoppers information about a job offer (lead), such as the location, time, the pay and what specifically needs to be observed during the assignment. If a shopper is interested in performing the shop, then a response is required directly on the mystery shopping company’s website.

Next, shoppers should always remain discreet in their observation of the product, person or people during the shop. Act natural. Staring or fixating on an object or person, boisterous behavior or outlandish or rude comments could cause a shopper to jeopardize not only their identity, but the shop can be a failure if whoever is being observed gets suspicious.

Lastly, mystery shopping companies operate and exist only on the written performance feedback that a shopper provides. In essence, this is what clients (the places you shop) pay the mystery shopping companies for. The evaluation is what constitutes a shopper being paid. Correct grammar and a detailed report of a shopper’s findings are essential to the client. This report is the only thing that the client has to go on in terms of productivity of their company and employees.

Some of the things that clients of mystery shopping businesses might want to know include time, descriptions, what was said, how it was said and who said it. Accuracy is extremely important. Doomanis attests to this by saying, “You can really monitor the operations of a business with a mystery shopper, and if there are certain things in place that are supposed to happen at certain times throughout customer interaction, a regular customer is not going to know about those things, but you can find out if it is happening with a mystery shopper."

Mystery shoppers on-the-job assessments are crucial to the clients who depend on valuable feedback to not only evaluate customer service relations, but also to ensure that their company standards and procedures are being practiced.

Generally, the more time you spend on some shops, the higher it may pay, but not necessarily in every scenario. An example could be a fine dining shop paying $100-$150 where the meal is coursed out over one or two hours versus a mystery shopping assignment at a bank that pays $35-$50 and could possibly take just as much time depending on the banker, the busyness of the bank and the questions and information being posed to the shopper.

Mystery shopping at a car dealership that pays $55 for a shopper to test drive and evaluate the sales person who is trying to sale the shopper the vehicle can end up being a potentially long conversation in which the shopper must sit and listen attentively and patiently while making mental notes versus a mystery shopper on a retail shop for the same amount of pay, but considerably less time is needed to purchase clothing and exchange dialogue with a sales clerk.

On the surface, mystery shopping can be a lot of fun. There are many perks as well. Amidst all the excitement of visiting several different venues on a weekly or monthly basis, it is still work.

Overall, mystery shopping is a win-win situation. The shopper, the company and client all work together to ensure that customer service is held at a high standard. After all, that is the goal. The professional mystery shopper makes that possible.


The following are websites of credible mystery shopping companies:

Prophet
www.archondev.com

SASSIE Mystery Shopping System
www.sassieshop.com

Mystery Guest, Inc.
www.mysteryguestinc.com

Sinclair Customer Metrics
www.ssanet.com

Dynamic Advantage, Inc.
www.dynamic-advantage.com

JM Ridgway
www.jmridgway.com