Breaks and leaving the PSAP

[MrJim911]

BOLO SIGNAL 44 mentioned this briefly in another thread and I thought it would be a good topic. Length of breaks and where your allowed to go.

We get a 30 minute lunch break and 2 additional 15 minute breaks. We are not allowed to leave the building to get a meal. (Just in case the sh*t hits the fan they dont want to be under minimums.) If we want anything we have to bring it or have an officer go get it for us. We have a kitchen with everything but an oven and dishwasher. 99% of the people take their breaks at the console because we have a large table near everyone. And we have some great officers who will do food runs for us!!

We should be moving to a new building in 2003 or 2004 and we've asked for a full kitchen/break room with all of the needed appliances. :)

[Birky]

I work for a university PD in VA and we give our dispatcher a break whenever they call and they get a thirty minute break where they can go wherever they like. I don't mind doing it since it keeps me from unlocking somebodies office when they forget their keys.

[BOLO SIGNAL 44]

We have no set lunch time limit at my agency. We are allowed to go outside the center to buy our meals, but for the most part we eat out meals at the console. Man would I like to have a penny for every cold meal that I have eaten at the console.

We try to make it quick if we have to go and get our lunches. There are sometimes that the public will behave themselves while one of us is gone, but then there are times we just get slammed as usual.

[Duckie911]

Okay - 30 minute breaks??? eat somewhere other than a console?? We are allowed 3 ten minute breaks - since there are usually 6 or 7 of us on a shift, one might go get everyone somethng to eat. Kitchen?? we have a fridge and a microwave. Officers bringing us food? only for christmas - or sometimes when we have a pregnant dispatcher. There are a few that might on occasion pick us up something - rarely tho. I tend to get lucky because my other half works for our EMS and can run me up dinner.
When one of us wants to get up - a calltaker will sit at that radio console, I refer to it as playing "statio sl*t". Mostly we dont go by the 3 ten minutes - as long as its not wild and not taken advantage of, no one really cares how many breaks one takes.

[DispNowCopL8r]

We work 8hr shifts, and get 4 15 min breaks, we can take at anytime, and together or seperate. IE 1 1hr break, 2 30 mins breaks, that kinda thing...

We sign up before shift, first come first serve, so we don't have the whole comm center taking off at 2000 hrs to watch what happens on Friends, we can usually have 3-4 people off at one time. We have our own break room, that we go too, and can usually leave the comm center, to run across the street to get food, but not really allowed to go anywhere else w/o permission first. Usually we end up eating at our desks if nothings on TV, and sometimes have big potlucks that everyone gets in on. And sometimes cops bring us in food, usually for like x-mas or b-days that kinda thing. however recently a Krispy Kreme shop opened up on the main hy into town that the cops take when they bring susps to jail, we have been getting a lot of donuts recently. :D

[MrJim911]

I think the universal law is that when dispatchers get their food all hell breaks loose. :(

[ladymoonlite]

Oh, officers have a sixth sense about when the food is ready, no doubt about it! It's a given that the moment you lift a sandwich or fork to your mouth, three units will go out on traffic stops, even if it's 0430 hours.

My agency allows one 30 minute lunch break plus two 15 minute breaks, but we're very lenient on how one takes them. If you are a smoker and prefer to take four 15 minute breaks for that, it's up to you. Even though we pay 8 hours and have the right to restrict TCs from leaving during those hours, if it's quiet and I can relieve someone to go get food, I allow it if we're not at minimum (but we're on mids so pretty limited to White Castle or Steak & Shake!). If we're at minimum, well, then you eat out of the "ptomaine turnstile." :sick: We do have a full kitchen with microwave, toaster oven, full size fridge and dishwasher, so everyone can prepare pretty much whatever they like.

[KYEMT325]

We get no breaks. I am the only one in communications, and I get a break whenever I grab a handheld radio and open up the microphone speaker and go to the back door to smoke a cigarette...of course when the phone rings I have to run up the 5 stairs and back into the center to answer it, which is a pain in the rear.

There is no structured lunch break, we either bring it in or an officer does a pickup for us. If we have to pee, or God forbid, #2, we have to beg an officer (preferably one who is certified in communications) to sit in communications for us so that we can go. I personally just do my own thing because I hate bothering them when I have to pee, so I grab a handheld, and if the phone rings then I clamp it off and run back (HAHA).

Whether this is legal or not I really don't know, no one has ever challenged it yet. My immediate supervisor says it isn't, but the administration in the department tells us that it was part of the job when we signed up and we can do nothing about it, and that if we complain to the labor board then we can forget about going to any training opportunities other than those required for us. How's that for breaks and lunches?!? LOL

However, on 3rds it's usually so quiet during the week (for the most part), that I get a lot of downtime to take breaks whenever I need them, and other than the bother of having to run back to the center when the phone rings, I don't really mind it.

[MrJim911]

You all brought up another point.....smoking. I honestly think we don't have any smokers at my agency. For one I've never seen them do it out of work and secondly they can't smoke anywhere while they are at work. I guess working here is a good way to quit! :D

[ladymoonlite]

I've quit smoking since I've been here, so it seems that I spend a LOT more time in the room! Fortunately we have the staffing to allow for short breaks for the smokers to feed their nicotine habits, but they have to go outside to do it. Last winter I decided I would NOT freeze through another season for a bad habit, so I gave it up. I now have only one smoker on my shift, and when she returns to the room, or for that matter just walks past my office, I can't believe how strong that odor is! Did I really smell like that all those years!? :rolleyes:

[KYEMT325]

OK...let's not play bash the smokers now, cause in this business as in fire, there's more of us than their are not from what I have seen, at least in this state.

I have tried to quit smoking at other jobs before and even at this one, and I found out that when I did, I got even fewer breaks that I get now (which is almost totally nonexistant). I found that around here, if you don't have a REASON to have a break, then they figure "why relieve him/her?". So, unless you need to smoke or are about to pee on yourself, you don't get one. Well, considering that I don't drink constantly while I am here (I don't carry a gallon jug around like some do), I don't pee a lot while I am at work.

So at least when I smoke I get some precious time to myself, away from the crap and headache of the job, and I find it to keep me much less stressed than my non-smoking counterparts. Actually in my comm center there is only 1 person who does NOT smoke, and she's wound tighter than you would believe at the end of her work day. When the rest of us go home, we feel fine.

Everyone has their own little stress relievers, and since I don't drink, do drugs, chew my fingernails (nasty), eat excessively, or chew tobacco...I guess smoking will be the next best thing for a while.

[ladymoonlite]

WHOA! Hold your horses, I'm not bashing anyone! And, frankly, I encourage my non-smoking employees to get OUT of the room as often as the smokers - I agree it is a very VALUABLE break "away from the crap and headache of the job" and you shouldn't only be allowed to have that if you are a smoker! BUT I also have to say that this is FAR from a one-person center, and we don't have to do the old "take the clipboard & the portable to the bathroom & hope 911 doesn't ring" pee-pee dance! With a minimum of four in the room (including a supervisor) at any time, we can always spare people for a break as long as it's not hitting the fan.

I know this is a sore spot for one-person centers, I've been there too, KYEMT325, and it's not fun. :(

[Duckie911]

Okay - I work for 2 agencies..one has 6-7 on at one time and the other is a one person dispatch. At the smaller agecy the only one allowed to smoke in the building is the dispatcher (just to keep us from calling in a unit so we can smoke), it has nothing to do with making dispatch life easy. If we have to pee (at the small agency) we key up on the radio and tell the units we are goin to be away from the radio for a minute, if a unit hapens to be there twideling thumbs, then he will listen or grab the phone. At the lil agency the guys wil usually bring us something to eat. Now the small agency I work at is in KY. and the other in Tenn.
We have smokers in the bigger comm ceter and they go out up to 5 times or more depending on traffic and how busy we are. Most don' take more than 5 minutes at a time tho, I don't mind sitting for most, but as always there are those who take advantage. I quit almos 2 year ago - I know how it can be.