Foibles from the firehouse. And in real life too.

It has been pointed out to me recently, several times, gleefully, by the lovely fellows I share a firehouse with, that I have a few quirks.  They take great joy in pointing these things out to me.  So, since I'm not at all shy about poking fun at others, I figured it was time to have a little laugh at my own expense.

And I'd like to take just a second to ask any of you that are brave enough to add any of the little things you do, for no rational reason other than some unknown compelling factor, in the comments either here or on the social media that brought you here.  C'mon now people, don't leave me hangin' (s/o to BVR) in the wind.  Participate.

For starters, at our station in the "high-rise district" a while back a small, table lamp showed up.  Kind of a Prairie style, maybe 15" or 18" tall and maybe 6" or 8" square, it's hardly noticeable.  I'm not sure where it came from; someone brought it in from home, maybe from another station, heck maybe it was garbage picked.  I don't know and I don't care.  When I get in to work it's usually early enough that the crew that precedes us is still bunked out.  The dayroom (where we watch tv for you non-firehouse types) is dark except for this lamp.  Photo credit to Bob Barc btw.

The lamp casts a soft, warmish glow around its little corner of the world as it does what lamps do.  It creates no havoc.  Just sits there adding light to an otherwise dark room.

Until I get there.  Because, invariably, the first thing I do is mutter something under my breath, walk over and unplug the lamp, grabbing it by the cord and setting it on the floor next to the table that acts as its home.

I don't know why.  The lamp never did anything to me.  As lamps go, it's a fine lamp, I suppose.  I just don't like it. This behavior has, of course, a consequence and in this case I've been assured that once I hit where ever it is I'm going to spend my retirement, the guys that work the shift before me are going to ship the lamp to me.  A parting gift I suppose.  I told them I'll either send them pictures of the lamp smashed and lying in a dumpster or send each of them a piece of the lamp after I smash it into oblivion.

Ok, one down.

This one became familiar to me a while ago.  I may have even mentioned it in one of my posts here, I'm not sure.  You know how dishwashers have a silverware rack?  Our machine has that device on the bottom shelf and it's positioned perpendicular to the door.  It has several smaller racks for holding silverware.  Without fail, the first two racks are filled, while the remaining racks sit unused and apparently unloved.  Until I voiced my displeasure at this.  Now it prompts either giggling or snark or both from the guys I work with or, in the event we've got a new guy cycling through, warnings to him that unless he wants to witness "Angry Joel" he should be careful loading the dishwasher.

"Angry Joel" is not a thing btw.  I'm one of the nicest, kindest, gentlest... oh hell, I can't lie to you like that.  Hey nobody is perfect, right?  At least I'm able to acknowledge my quirks, you know?

Also, "quirks" sounds so much nicer than Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, doesn't it?

Last thing, I think.  We do a decent job of getting our new guys up and running in our department imho.  But I'd like to add at least one more thing to their training curriculum.  I'd call it - "How To Remove Lint From The Lint Trap In The Dryer".  this is apparently needed because I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW MANY TIMES I'VE HAD TO EMPTY THE EFFING LINT TRAP ON THE GODDAMN DRYER.  btw that didn't start out all caps but when I looked at it, it felt about right so ima leave it right there for you.  Anyway, you'd think firefighters, of all people, would know that's actually an unsafe act as it leads directly to things like, ohhh, DRYER FIRES.

Just sayin'

Ok, kids, once again, here's your chance, light em up with your own quirky behavior.  Or, if you don't want to do that, here's your chance to add one of mine that I may have "forgotten".  Fire away.

Peace