{"id":5533,"date":"2013-06-03T00:00:57","date_gmt":"2013-06-03T04:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gadflyonline.com\/home\/?p=5533"},"modified":"2013-06-03T11:20:59","modified_gmt":"2013-06-03T15:20:59","slug":"when-i-tried-to-become-a-9-1-1-operator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/when-i-tried-to-become-a-9-1-1-operator\/","title":{"rendered":"When I Tried To Become A 9-1-1 Operator"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"911_Operator_585x585\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was desperate for a job.\u00a0 I wanted out of retail.\u00a0 Temp jobs were not meant to last.\u00a0 I gave in and applied for government exams.\u00a0 My father drove me down to the city, where I took the exams, and then I waited.\u00a0 Months later, a letter arrived.\u00a0 I was accepted as a 9-1-1- operator, and I thought the job was mine.\u00a0 I just had no idea of the hoops that I would have to jump through to actually get that job.<\/p>\n

A stack of paperwork piled up beside me.\u00a0 It was my life, every job I had, and the pile grew.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t realize how lost and desperate I was until I saw that tower lean closer.\u00a0 Did I really want this, or was this just another mistake?\u00a0 I wasted so much time, money and energy to chase the possibility of having this job, but did I really want it?\u00a0 Could I handle the responsibilities or consequences that it came with?<\/p>\n

The last step was a psych eval.\u00a0 I hated those people.\u00a0 She never opened the folder on her desk.\u00a0 She asked me one simple question.\u00a0 My mind was already in turmoil, knowing now that this was a mistake, and I thought about that.\u00a0 I looked at her finally and gave her a simple answer.\u00a0 The job interview was over, and I was sent home, desperate to find another job.\u00a0 But I was grateful not to have this one.<\/p>\n

In my video, Hope Over Tragedy, I said that monsters do exist.\u00a0 They do.\u00a0 We just never notice them until it\u2019s too late.\u00a0 We\u2019d rather live in our perfect, glass bubble, but as I sat back in the movie theatre, watching \u201cThe Call,\u201d I could feel that bubble break.\u00a0 Monsters exist like the man bent on tormenting and killing girls, but all anyone saw as they drove by him was a normal guy.\u00a0 Then, I came home to find my front door unlocked.\u00a0 Was a monster trying to get in while I was away, enjoying my \u201cperfect\u201d life?<\/p>\n

I remember when I cruised the subways, going back and forth to temp agencies, looking for work.\u00a0 I went downtown and uptown.\u00a0 I was in parts unfamiliar to me, and as I walked through one subway station, I was unaware of the man walking closer and closer behind me.\u00a0 I stopped walking, and he nearly barreled into me.\u00a0 I turned and made eye contact with him.\u00a0 He backed away, staring at his feet, and his hands curled into fists.\u00a0 Like the fox with sour grapes, he slowly turned and walked away, but I knew.\u00a0 I knew he was up to no good, and if I had just walked past that dark stairwell, who would have said what he would have done?<\/p>\n

I remember another incident on the subway.\u00a0 It was during the morning rush hour.\u00a0 This man sat across from me and started to shout about the \u201cwhite man.\u201d\u00a0 He went on and on, making the girl near him burst into tears.\u00a0 Nobody could get away from him.\u00a0 We were crammed in like sardines, and he knew it.\u00a0 And he went on with his tirade.\u00a0 As he did, he tried to make eye contact with me, but I continued to stare over his head, counting the stops until mine.\u00a0 When I got off the subway, I reported the incident, but I was told that an actual incident had to occur before something could be done.\u00a0 And my glass bubble once again shattered under disbelief.<\/p>\n

We want to live in a perfect world, but there is no such thing.\u00a0 Monsters do exist.\u00a0 In television shows such as \u201cCriminal Minds,\u201d our eyes are open to what exists beyond our normal, ordinary lives.\u00a0 We don\u2019t want to know, so we change the channel.\u00a0 We wrap ourselves up in false protection, but the truth is out there.\u00a0 We\u2019re not safe.\u00a0 Whether we\u2019re hanging out at a mall or going into the city for job interviews, we need to be aware.\u00a0 We need to know, and we need to check our doors and windows at night.\u00a0 Otherwise, sleep will never find us again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was desperate for a job. I wanted out of retail. Temp jobs were not meant to last. I gave in and applied for government exams. My father drove me down to the city, where I took the exams, and then I waited. Months later, a letter arrived. I was accepted as a 9-1-1- operator, and I thought the job was mine. I just had no idea of the hoops that I would have to jump through to actually get that job.<\/p>\n

A stack of paperwork piled up beside me. It was my life, every job I had, and the pile grew. I didn\u2019t realize how lost and desperate I was until I saw that tower lean closer. Did I really want this, or was this just another mistake? I wasted so much time, money and energy to chase the possibility of having this job, but did I really want it? Could I handle the responsibilities or consequences that it came with? READ MORE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":5681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,218,201,219],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5533"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5533"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5684,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5533\/revisions\/5684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}