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What are firefighters doing when there's no fire?
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this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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I've spent time with firefighters and paramedics. They can end up sitting around doing nothing for a significant portion of the day. This is the nature of emergency work. If you want someone to be instantly available the minute there's an emergency, then you can't really have them do anything else important. All they can do is work that can be dropped instantly (or do nothing). The same applies to any emergency service.... emergency doctors, emergency plumbers, emergency locksmiths, emergency IT workers. Business managers hate this because no one likes the idea of paying someone who is not doing 100% work the whole time, but you just have to pay people to be available and do nothing else of major significance.
This is a big reason why I love my job lol. Of course you never know what kind of day you’re walking into. Some days can be crazy hectic and you don’t get a chance to yourself. But when it’s a slow shift, it feels like getting paid to do nothing. I love the crapshoot that that is. Though it’s not for everyone, I know plenty of people that hate the workflow/uncertainty aspect.
Business managers who don't understand work flow and lead time properly. If they read The Theory of Constraints and understand the concepts they'd realize the important part is keeping the work/product moving even if that means an idle machine that just punches one hole all day, but necessary.