Everything you need to know about EMS management...

you'll learn in a bar.

Or at least while at a bar.

It sounds cliche, but let me explain.

Hrs HM and I had a chance to escape for a lunch date today and headed for our favorite local watering hole that hosts Buzztime Trivia.  Over some buffalo style wild wings many a taunt is heard about who will win and our bartender is welcoming, as usual, offering this special and that while fetching the Mrs a water and me a tall IPA that looks new.

As we exchanged heated discussions about how I was right, just not how the game people thought, the bartender and the manager got into a discussion about the beer coolers.

This discussion has been had between bartender and manager, Paramedic and manager since the dawn of their respective professions.  Yes, bartenders are still considered a profession over paramedics, more on that soon.

They were discussing the location of the beers on display in the 2 large coolers flanking the bar.  Being a beer snob, I never drink bottled beer when the same on draft is available.  Drinking a bottle when the same beer is on draft is like choosing to skype with your girlfriend instead of have a face to face conversation.

It suddenly occurs to me some of you will miss that...let's move on...

The discussion was about how the beers should be displayed, the order and location compared to the other cooler.  One said they should be mirrored, the other claiming they are to be the same.

My OCD kicked in and despite the Mrs' frequent requests to stop, I was searching for a pattern to the location of the beers.  Alphabetical by name? No. Light to dark? No. Sorted by type? No. Size of bottle? No.  There was no discernible reason for the beers being in the order they were until I happened to mention a random joke: " I bet it's corporate's idea!"

Yup.

Someone in the home office was deciding what goes where and why.

Sound familiar?

I had the exact same conversation with an EMT from the medic unit just 24 hours prior and asked her to look at 3 spare bags we had, speak to her co-workers and their partners and figure out what works best when providing patient care, then get back to me.

Problem solved.  The EMTs get what they need and the medics get what they need and, as a nifty side effect, the patients get what they need.

Back at the place of wild wings the bartender joked about how the night shift will just change the coolers back to what they were before, all the while the manager was referencing an inventory sheet that clearly stated where the beers should be in each cooler.  The day manager conflicting with night. Perhaps there's a contract with beer X that says they have to be front and center?  I'd buy that but why not hand that decision over to the folks who have to pull the product day in and day out instead of mandating it from on high without reason other than "That's how it's always been?

 

And yes, achieving status as a fully fledged bartender takes up to 10 months...about the time as the average Paramedic program.

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