Today was a big day for my preschoolers. We had a visit to the fire station. As all 24 of us ate snack, had a pee and got ready for the big adventure, I recieved a phone call. The Fire Department called 15 minutes before our depature time to let us know they couldn’t do the tour. Not because of an emergency. Because of lack of planning and an oversight on their part. This trip had been planned since January. If you have ever experienced a disappointed 4 year old times that by 24. Needless to say we were not happy campers. So after offering not much of an apology we set to take our children down to the Park. On our way by we happened to see all of the firefighters huddled around a pick up. Some meeting.
The Fire Department’s lack of planning left many children saddened and confused today.
And some very cranky teachers.
—Perturbed Preschooler
This article appears in Feb 11-17, 2010.
Should have pulled the fire alarm at the school. Then they would come to you.
heh… clever Miles.
either that or actually cause a scenario that would make them fucking work….
I know they have a risky job so I’m not saying to burn something down or anything…
well, actually I guess that is what I said.
burn something down. namely the firestation itself. that way when you show up, the kids get to see some action and not just walk around all bored and crying.
wow, a preschooler that can write that. i think that you, as a preschooler, should run in the next election.if you are that smart now, the future is going to be much brighter.
The firefighter’s role is to douse fires and render assistance to persons in distress, not amuse a bunch of snotty nosed preschoolers. I’m sure that your class wasn’t being charged admission and I’m sure you didn’t give a fuck that this visit was probably going to mean a lot of extra work for the already busy people who work in the fire station and in the end when they were not able to accommodate you and your class you come here and have a self-important, entitlement fuelled, hissy fit. Get over yourself.
I agree with Jai. Firefighters are not paid to babysit. They were there to protect the city and it’s citizens from fire. Do you think for a second that fire is going to take a smoke break while the fire department staff wipe up snot and listen to sreaming kids? I think not. Do as you were trained as a teacher and TEACH in the classroom.
If they’re paid to fight fires and not “amuse” snot nosed kids, how come they have plenty of time to pose in those calendars?
I’m guessing they pose for the calendars on thier own time, not during the work day.
I don’t think the point is that they were too busy, I think the point was that something that had being planned for a long time, with lots of time to cancel, was canceled 15 minutes before leaving time. Which sucks for a bunch of kids that have probably been being *ahem* taught about the benefits of firefighters, and had art, stories etc. planned around that trip for weeks. The op wasn’t complaining about calling up and asking them to do this and they declined (which is something that has been done with kids since we were all kids). The fact is they accepted, and canceled last minute, which I think is worth the bitch.
What the fuck do you think the teachers are doing Sebastian by planning this event? I think that’s a sign of a pretty good daycare system to plan such an event because it is in fact educational for the children in a variety of different ways.
And correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t part of being a fire fighter teaching ways to prevent fire?
“”Should have pulled the fire alarm at the school. Then they would come to you.””
Help me out here, Miles….we can’t make comments about a misplaced unbitchy bitch about Chinese New Years…but you can actively encourage breaking the law?
Do you know how many firemen are injured or killed each year by either kids pulling the fire alarm, or else by those cheap-ass illegal foreworks they sell in Chinatown? Or, sometimes, a child from that same school may be set on fire by a cheapo firecracker, and the firemen won’t come because last time one of them hit their head on the little door?
I dunno…4?
I think most people figured out I was kidding, but for the record:
DO NOT pull fire alarms to get the firemen to show up at your school for a visit. It is irresponsible and dangerous. Only use the fire alarm when there is a real fire. I do not actively encourage breaking the law.
Hey OP!
Just sent a copy of your bitch to:
hrmfire@halifax.ca
I’m sure that will help you get your group in soon for a tour.
Jai said it best:
The firefighter’s role is to douse fires and render assistance to persons in distress, not amuse a bunch of snotty nosed preschoolers. I’m sure that your class wasn’t being charged admission and I’m sure you didn’t give a fuck that this visit was probably going to mean a lot of extra work for the already busy people who work in the fire station and in the end when they were not able to accommodate you and your class you come here and have a self-important, entitlement fuelled, hissy fit. Get over yourself.
Now just read that over and over again OP while you think of all the firefighters reading your bitch at the fire hall today, you immature fuck.
Um, I kinda can see the points being made about what the job of a firefighter is, but isn’t a trip to the fire department a great way to teach kids about fire safety? What better way is there to get kids interested?
that was an asshole thing to do Hali.
Why’s that Miles?
It’s only cool to trash people as long as they don’t find out about it?
Should be easy as pie for the crew at the station to figure out EXACTLY who wrote this bitch now.
Enjoy your tour OP!
: )
I’m with miles on this one.
Holy fuck, I totally thought that hali said the op should do that. That was a complete asshole move. You should get banned from this forum dude, it’s suppose to be anonymous bitches.
Wow, I can’t believe that. Some people are just fucking unbelievable.
Except that the OP wasn’t being a bitch. They were disappointed and rightfully so. Besides, the tour wasn’t about the OP, it was about excited preschoolers and by hurting the chances of the OP to take the kids on a tour of the station in the future, you are taking fun away from those kids. Emergency responders are role models and educators for kids. They know this and that’s why they allow tours and visit schools. They didn’t cancel because they think their only job is to put out fires, they cancelled because they weren’t organized. It’s a mistake and a miscommunication that led to disappointment. The OP vented here. Why make a production out of something that really isn’t your business anyway? It’s one thing to call the OP a stupid bitch or whatever on here, but why go and involve yourself any further in their affairs? Also, if the OP wanted to vent to the fire department, I’m sure she could have done it over the phone or found their e-mail address as well. Instead, she just decided to express her disappointment here.
Miles: You’re a character and you keep the laughs coming. I thank you for that.
“but why go and involve yourself any further in their affairs?”
Why? because it took me less time than it probably did for you to write your last response.
Also:
“On our way by we happened to see all of the firefighters huddled around a pick up. Some meeting.”
If the OP could of kept their fucking “preschool teacher” opinion of how firefighters should do their job to themself, then I guess they wouldn’t have to wonder how the next phone call goes asking for a nice free tour of the fire station.
Oh, and LOL to the person suggesting I get banned. Good logic, because I could never just sign up again. lol
I’m sure a lot of people do appreciate the time firefighters take to do these tours, unlike the OP who got all butthurt about it. Now they know how the OP feels and they can let the OP know how they feel about the comments made as well.
Sorry for bringing a dose of reality/accountability to the bitch section for once.
🙂
Miles what they should have done was set a fire in a trash barrel out in the play ground or parking lot. Then they would have a legitimate reason to…pull the fire alarm. The firemen could then arrive at the school lights flashing, sirens blazing & all the kids could have had a GREAT FIRE DRILL & they would have seen the firemen knock down that trash fire .
There is more than 1 way to skin a cat…& even more ways to cook it 😉
hali, why not take accountability than. Why not go down to the fire station yourself and hand in the letter you copied from a bitch forum. Perhaps then the look how ridiculous you are for doing such a thing will give you you’re own dose of reality.
Or on the other spectrum, why not going and trying to take care of the 24 preschoolers whom are completely disappointed because your asshole move cost them a wonderful learning experience.
I vote for the latter because the type of people that can do that kind of work, and do a good job at it, take a great deal of strength, and maybe that in itself would give you a dose of reality. I bow to them, and if they have a bad day and want to bitch on an anonymous web board to get a frustration out, than all the power too them.
Would you like me to sign my name personally on that for an email you could overload their inbox with as well?
The OP wasn’t even really bitching. Not a single expletive. The most negative comments she could muster were “disappointed” and a scoffing “some meeting”. Not really what I would call “a self-important, entitlement fuelled, hissy fit”, especially when you consider that it was the fire hall that failed to meet their commitments and bailed on so short notice.
“hali, why not take accountability than. Why not go down to the fire station yourself and hand in the letter you copied from a bitch forum.”
Or I could just send an email and link it? Good logic though. Hmm… spend an hour wasting my time wandering around a fire station or spend 2 mins making sure the message gets to the right people. I’ll go with my idea thanks.
“Or on the other spectrum, why not going and trying to take care of the 24 preschoolers whom are completely disappointed because your asshole move cost them a wonderful learning experience.”
Why did you even waste you time typing that? What do you expect my response to a question like that to be? lol
“I vote for the latter because the type of people that can do that kind of work, and do a good job at it, take a great deal of strength, and maybe that in itself would give you a dose of reality.”
Have you seen the groups of children roped together walking downtown with 2 or 3 handlers. Yeah, let’s send those paid handlers a trophy for watching the small children of adults with REAL careers.
“Would you like me to sign my name personally on that for an email you could overload their inbox with as well?”
I don’t care who you are and I doubt they would either. I seriously doubt my ONE email overloaded their inbox.
So yeah, you missed the entire point. What else ya got hot shot? 😉
Actually, you missed mine.
“Have you seen the groups of children roped together walking downtown with 2 or 3 handlers. Yeah, let’s send those paid handlers a trophy for watching the small children of adults with REAL careers”
That right there, proves it.
Laziest… comeback… ever.
Sorry bud, I just don’t feel like putting the effort into arguing your ignorance, seems kind of pointless.
And yes I mean that in the sense of what the word actually means.
hali. you’re a chocolate hotdog slurping douche canoe.
Whoa Hali . . . careful there, looking after other people’s kids all day is damned hard work!
Good people who can do this day after day and do it well are rare and should be treated like gold!
When I was 19, I worked at a day care for exactly 2 days—I thought it would be a breeze but it was a real eye-opener! Teaching teenagers is a piece of cake compared to hanging out with 2, 3 and 4 year olds! It’s the very definition of exhausting. (“Lookit me lookit me lookit me lookit me dylan just pushed a bean up his nose lookit me lookit me lookit me . . .)
I admit that child care is not a job for me. But don’t dis those who do it. Child care isn’t like just showing up at the office and doing busy work—you have to be ON! More than I ever thought possible! (And they are OTHER people’s kids—an extra terrifying level of responsibility.)
And if there is an admistrative screw up (like this fire station thing) that an adult or older kid could just brush off and say “Oh well, we’ll go some other time” . . . well, let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be the one that spends the rest of the day trying to distract and find alternate activities for 20 disappointed pre-schoolers.
Like hali isn’t just trying to be a prick and is not getting off on raising everyone’s blood pressure. How do we even know he has done what he claimed to do? Besides, if he is this much of an asshole, the shit he has to go through and face in his daily life will be enough of a punishment.
Did anyone stop to think that perhaps the firefighters still realize the importance this class trip? Do you people honestly think they are going to cancel the whole thing because this “teacher” had to go on a rant because she thought someone else was going to do her job for the afternoon? Or… maybe… they will have some choice words for this “teacher” when she shows up with her class and then go on with the fire station tour as planned?
I was simply creating a scenario where this “teacher” is now accountable for her words. Stop being a bunch of fucking sheep following the one poster who said “now the trip will be ruined for the children waaaaaaaaa! THE CHILDREN!”
You’re a bunch of fools if you think otherwise.