Mutiny on the Bounty

I've been rather busy lately. I haven't really had the time or the inclination to post lately. Mama's back to work, and I'm watching Daniel in the evenings. That kind of eats up my time and energy. But now I'm back and here's another post about work.


I went on leave for about a week and a half, and when I got back upon checking my mail I found a letter signed by our tech services team addressed to our captain. To summarize what this letter contained, the other guys are rather upset about some of the changes that our new lieutenant has implemented. They are also not happy about his style of leadership. I've worked several jobs (never been fired, always quit for one reason or another) and been through several changes of leaderships while on those different jobs. As my friend Doug has so eloquently put it, when a new supervisor comes in it's at his discretion whether or not to make changes to the existing order in order to achieve his goals for the department. I can't say that I disagree with that statement. It's basically a given that at some point or another that there's going to be some changes, like it or not. It's how you decide to deal with it. To me, the changes that have been made so far are no big deal. We have to work 3 holidays per year, we're all working Mon-Thurs and one person works Friday on a rotating basis (10 techs = once every 2-1/2 months). When I say 10 techs, mind you I am the only radio tech, but I get lumped in with the other techs we have that do CCTV and door security(card readers and electronic door locks).

Anywho, this morning we had a big cuss and discuss session before our regular morning meeting, and the guys got to vent some of their concerns. I'm trying to remain neutral through the whole deal, though it seems as if the other guys have the same argument that they re-hash over and over again. "What are we doing wrong? Tell us the problem so we can fix it." The truth is, we're not doing anything wrong, but there's issues that need to be addressed and the changes are due to those issues. Mainly customer service related, like rapidness of repairs and such. I think our biggest problem has to stem from budget/material issues. We try to work with what we're given, but that only goes so far. When you're given the shit end of the stick, there's not much you can accomplish, and we're constantly getting shortchanged and denied the parts we need to do our jobs. Myself included. I had $130k budgeted last year for the purchase of radios and other equipment and accessories, but those funds were then taken from me and given to patrol for use because of their overtime budget. When we needed OT to complete jobs or for special projects we were told to take comp time, which essentially shorts the regular workforce since we can't come in or work until the normal time. Some of the guys have worked for free just because they wanted to get the job done. And just before I went on vacation, I put in a request for $7500 worth of parts and someone upstairs decided to slash it in half just because they figured I didn't need everything I ordered. Wrong.

But we'll see how things turn out. I know one thing's for sure...if they fuck with our 4 day/week schedule, they'll have every last one of us either crawling up their ass or walking out the door. Myself included. I'll take a lot of shit, but that's something that will not stand.