My meeting with the recruiter

[HotelMinion]

I've been applying for a dispatcher job, 911 in fact. I've applied to it before, but was denied because I didn't have enough work experience. Now 10 years later I have experience enough for 2 lifetimes, (at least that's what it feels like) so hopefully they'll give me a chance. Because I'm tired of being a hotel minion! Plus the pay is better, at least. And I won't have to smell OMS or listen to Ms. E's braying all the time.
I still remember applying to it 10 years ago. And not fondly. The worst part is make you take a polygraph test, and back then I only knew what I've seen on TV. I honestly thought they just ask you "Are you lying?" and that's it. It was a lie detector after all. So all the question must be about lying, right? Right? NO! They grilled me about whether I practiced voyeurism and beastility. I think my exact words were "Humrff?" Back then I thought those were make believe. Oh I was so innocent. I felt like a criminal but I gritted my teeth. And then I had to sneeze, so I sneezed, and the examiner accused me of trying to "manipulate" the exam and practically threw me out! Man, they don't mess around. And when he asked, "Have you ever stole?" And I said no, he said "Are you sure? Never ever? Never never ever ever?" I kept saying no and he looked at me like I was crazy. I nearly said (and I totally would've meant it), "Should I have?"
So I have to take it again, I guess, and I'm not looking forward to it. But today I went to a presentation that the recruiter had with all the other applicants. The other applicants looked to be in their early 20s or just out of high school, which made me feel old. The only others that were older than me was this little old lady who looked about 70, and these 2 middle aged women in their 40s.
Well, the recruiter led us into this room and showed us this call center type of workplace, which I guess the dispatchers worked, and there must've been 100 computers in there but only 2 people in the whole room. No kidding, since their background checks are strict! And when she said people with absolutely NO criminal backgrounds were allowed, more than half walked out! All was left was...you guessed it, the old lady and the 2 middle aged women. And me. What's up with today youth nowadays?
Now if you;ll excuse me I have to go shake my fist at the little hellions walking on my lawn. LOL But seriously wish me luck with my interview process! I'll NEEEEED it!

[cinema guy]

Good luck. That sounds like an interesting job.

[fireheart]

And when she said people with absolutely NO criminal backgrounds were allowed, more than half walked out! All was left was...you guessed it, the old lady and the 2 middle aged women. And me. What's up with today youth nowadays?

For some jobs, no criminal convictions means anything apart from speeding fines or DUI's, for other jobs, it needs to be blemish-free.

I suspect that in this case, the applicants had a speeding fine or similar.

[Kittish]

Good luck getting the job. Just a cautionary word here- I used to know someone who worked as a 911 dispatcher and I heard some of the stories she brought home. More than once she listened to people die right there on the phone with her, before emergency personnel could get there. I'm sure most of the calls you'd handle won't be in that category, but they will happen. Be prepared to cope with it.

[fireheart]

There was one story I heard where a woman was working as a dispatcher and she answered a call from her own house it was her son calling for an ambulance.

[MystyGlyttyr]

Yeah, that thing with stealing. No one believes you if you say you've never stolen. It's like the question about "have you ever fantasized about pulling off the perfect bank robbery?" and it's an automatic fail if you say no because supposedly EVERYONE has fantasized about pulling off a crime like that.

Which sucks because I honestly never have fantasized about robbing a bank, I've always fantasized about being a vigilante crime fighter and beating up the bank robbers!

Still, I've learned to lie. Go figure.

[AccountingDrone]

Yeah, that thing with stealing. No one believes you if you say you've never stolen. It's like the question about "have you ever fantasized about pulling off the perfect bank robbery?" and it's an automatic fail if you say no because supposedly EVERYONE has fantasized about pulling off a crime like that.

Which sucks because I honestly never have fantasized about robbing a bank, I've always fantasized about being a vigilante crime fighter and beating up the bank robbers!

Still, I've learned to lie. Go figure.

Does it count if I spent time walking rounds in the Robin Hood Rd bank op center and came up with 13 different ways to break in without killing anybody [generally implementable after hours]?

Hey, it got boring on third shift, and I did have to walk into every room, after all [and I did write them down and put it on the desk of the bank security manager though apparently nothing happened about it. *sigh*]

[PepperElf]

They grilled me about whether I practiced voyeurism and beastility.

IIRC some of those ARE to gauge your responses.

One man I know had to take a poly for his clearance and one of the questions was "Have you ever had sex with a chicken?"

His response: !

Although keep in mind, although poly CAN indicate true/lie it is not foolproof. Some things can make people react differently even if they're innocent. Especially if they start getting mad at the test-reader.

Kinda like an episode I saw of Barney Miller.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWdRXcNCSEo
3:15 - 4:40: Wojo is upset at even the most basic questions.
6:12 - 6:27 & 6:54 - 7:38: Dietrich just fucks with them & registers nothing
9:05 - 11:38: barney pretty much fucks with them on it and wins.

side note! OMG I forgot Shepherd Book was in this!

[Gizmo]

There was one story I heard where a woman was working as a dispatcher and she answered a call from her own house it was her son calling for an ambulance.

A friend's husband used to work in relation to something governmentish and she told me of a similar instance during one of the world wars: They used to get call ins overnight of the details of deaths in service so the relatives could be informed. A woman working this line ended up taking down a particular report and realised part way through that it was for her own husband - obviously didn't take it well (as can be expected!). They actually stopped women working in that role due to the high level of risk of it happening again - these days they wouldn't be allowed to do that of course (They could stop anyone who has someone deployed doing it though).

[wolfie]

A friend's husband used to work in relation to something governmentish and she told me of a similar instance during one of the world wars: They used to get call ins overnight of the details of deaths in service so the relatives could be informed. A woman working this line ended up taking down a particular report and realised part way through that it was for her own husband - obviously didn't take it well (as can be expected!). They actually stopped women working in that role due to the high level of risk of it happening again - these days they wouldn't be allowed to do that of course (They could stop anyone who has someone deployed doing it though).

I'm assuming WW2. Would the same people take calls from all theaters (i.e. you couldn't predict who would get a call from any given theater), or would one group take calls from the European theater while another would take calls from the Pacific theater? If the latter, it would be a simple solution to not assign someone to a group taking calls from the theater where their relatives were deployed. Taking women out of that role was foolish - women were in non-traditional roles due to a shortage of men, and what's to keep a guy with a bum leg (i.e. disqualified from service) from getting a report about his brother? If the calls had been split by theater, a relative of the Sullivans who was working the lines for a different theater wouldn't have had the chance to receive sudden bad news on the job.

[Gizmo]

Taking women out of that role was foolish - women were in non-traditional roles due to a shortage of men, and what's to keep a guy with a bum leg (i.e. disqualified from service) from getting a report about his brother?

Yeah, exactly our discussion on it when she told me. I'm not sure what the breakdown was though - I tried looking for some information before I posted but of course couldn't find anything generally about it online.

[KatherineB]

I'm assuming WW2. Would the same people take calls from all theaters (i.e. you couldn't predict who would get a call from any given theater), or would one group take calls from the European theater while another would take calls from the Pacific theater? If the latter, it would be a simple solution to not assign someone to a group taking calls from the theater where their relatives were deployed. Taking women out of that role was foolish - women were in non-traditional roles due to a shortage of men, and what's to keep a guy with a bum leg (i.e. disqualified from service) from getting a report about his brother? If the calls had been split by theater, a relative of the Sullivans who was working the lines for a different theater wouldn't have had the chance to receive sudden bad news on the job.

But that might allow the wives to identify through process of elimination the most likely destination to which their husbands/brothers/sons had been sent.

[telecom_goddess]

Well I admire you for wanting to do this job. It is be definition high pressure and stress inducing. Not a lot of people can do it, so I admire people who can.

I have a friend who used to be a radio DJ and now does the job of a 911 dispatcher.

[wolfie]

But that might allow the wives to identify through process of elimination the most likely destination to which their husbands/brothers/sons had been sent.

That (and minimizing the number of groups) would be why it would need to be done on a theater basis. Knowing that your loved one was serving in Europe, or in the Pacific, wasn't a security issue. What needed to be clamped down on was stuff like "John Doe is landing on Sicily on day X"/"Jim Smith is based on island BFSP". European theater could mean Britain, North Africa, Italy, Normandy, virtually anywhere in Europe. Pacific theater could mean Hawaii, Australia, Midway, Bella La Cava (cookies for reference), or on a ship operating in the Pacific.