So, I hate being a supervisor… I took the position because I needed to make something near a liveable wage in a state with high cost of living. I am not the supervisor who sits at a desk all day, I still ride the truck and treat patients but have the added responsibility of being the fall guy if something goes wrong and some light paperwork. I do not forget where I came from and try to make my employees lives as easy as I can, when I can. If people need coverage I’ll help them find it when it’s technically not my responsibility. I try my hardest to be a good boss. I have no say in their wages but I get to hire them and do all that paperwork eye roll.
Im still paid like shit but it’s slightly less shitty than my employees. I’ve been doing this 10 years, and my pay breaks down to about 30 an hour. And no, there’s no such thing as an ambulance driver on state licensed agencies, everyone has had the same training and rotates who does patient care for those who think an ambulance driver is all people are in EMS.
So the other day I was just looking through social media and a local restaurant was offering 25/hour cash for dish washers. And as a powerless ‘boss’, I was like what is stopping all these people from leaving the trauma of this job behind? The amount of death and horrifically mangled people from accidents etc and why not just throw some headphones in and go wash dishes for 6-8 hours…
When I first started in 2016 we were getting paid 12 dollars an hour to have the responsibility and expectation to the Public to save lives, obviously that’s been increased, almost doubled since then. t I’ve become privvy to the amount billed to people for an ambulance since I’ve become a boss and to make the pay we do is fucking ridiculous.
Nationwide EMS is paid like fucking garbage and it’s not to say a dishwashers job isn’t important by any means or demean that, I’m saying the amount of residual trauma we can’t leave at work and just move on to the next day is not worth the money.
I’m rambling now but fuck the healthcare system in the US.