Quick Hits

Three thoughts for the price of one (even though you really don't pay us anything to impart all these topics/thoughts anyway):

Why are we jumping all over the hierarchy map in terms of promotions? One would think that we'd hire PCO Is, then promote to PCO IIs, then promote to SPCOs, then promote to Watch Managers. But we've had a promotion to WM, and a set of people (not very many) poised to make PCO II. Aren't we already short supervisors? And calltakers?

Speaking of people set to get promoted to PCO II, how is it that with all of the calltakers we have - with plenty of time on the job, mind you - only four of them were able to pass the written test for dispatcher?

And are all of them going to pass the interview stage? And when are they going to get promoted, anyway?

All Gone.

Well, all remnants of the previous administration have officially moved on. R.H. is now ruining CTA (it was bad already, but he has the anti-Midas touch, as we ALL well know). M.K. has left, AV III and D.Z. are gone, both to the state if you believe our readers, and now B.O. has left the building

And hell, we even dropped C.G. for good measure as a bonus!

So now it's a new era. Or is it just going to be the same shit it's been for years, with yet another executive director who's going to smear the Ops Floor employees' faces with excrement?

Power Watches shall return

Posted today in the CO book was notice that the Power watches will be re-implemented. New watch bids will take place within what we assume to be the next month.

There's a lot of joy going around the floor, mainly because of the four consecutive 3-day weekends that come with being on Power. We haven't heard where any recalls, though, the fact that we earn 8 hours of medical time at the beginning of every month, but if you hit medical on a Power watch you have to use TEN hours. But we won't concern ourselves with that now.

We'll concern ourselves with the facts that this is sure to cut down on mandatory overtime, and the Deputy Director is actually listening to our opinions and trying to right some of the morale-draining, operations-ruining wrongs of his predecessor.

Also amazing?

According to the comments section, CG is also gone.

Any truth to this one, or is it just another false rumor?

Amazing.

Apparently, today is Our Former Fearless Leader's last day at OEC. She's rumored to be leaving for the Water Department.

Anyone else up for some time in the OC on 2nd Watch now?

Oh, and take a good look at your next water bill, lest you end up paying upwards of $1,000.

Good going

Congratulations are in order. Per the Illinois Labor Board, Supervising PCOs are now unionized and represented by the Teamsters as of today.

Any chance that we can switch to a union that'll actually benefit us more than IBEW "works" to?

Good News.

We're finally getting new consoles. After 12 years of the dusty, antiquated bullshit we've been accustomed to, replacement will begin within a few weeks, starting with the PCTs. No word on what the design will look like (of course noone would ask the people who actually have to live with the consoles 24/7/365). But how could it not be an improvement over what we have now?

Bad news

They're replacing consoles during the summer, with a targeted completion date in September. PCO Is will be moved to the 311 building while the PCT consoles are replaced (You think you got parking problems NOW). We foresee a lot more aggravation and frustration in our near future.

Comments not allowed on this post. Anything to say, say it under "Good news." They're related. Simplifies things.

We've been hiding, but

This topic brings us out.

Rumor has it that during yesterday's staff meeting, it was decreed that time due is to be denied across the board if anyone is working overtime on a shift.

For those who have more trouble comprehending basic notions and need everything spelled out:

If anyone is working an extension on your shift on tomorrow's date, that time due you put in for 11 months ago will be denied.

If anyone is working his/her RDO on your shift on tomorrow's date, that time due you put in for 11 months ago will be denied.

We can't confirm it - hence the word "rumor." Nor have we seen anything in writing stipulating such. But if it's true, we see a lot of misery in the future, at least more than there already is. Family functions? Fuck 'em. Need the day off because 6 days on-2 days off is wearing on you 3 months after furlough? Fuck it. At this point, you'll be feigning illness if you need the day off. That's the only way you're going to get it.

Okay, okay, you'll be feigning illness more often than you already do.

Surely you all realize that on any given day, on practically all three watches, someone is working overtime in some way, shape, or form. And all of this before the summer's even in full swing. So for them to tell us that time due will be denied if one soul is working on a shift at overtime pay, is basically to tell us that all of our time due is denied well in advance. If you're one of those who have literally hundreds of hours of compensatory time built up, consider thyself shat upon. You now have it for nothing. Indefinitely, or until City Hall hires enough PCOs to fully staff Operations, or until you retire and cash your hours out. We'd bet a whole paycheck on the latter coming first.

We anxiously await the comments that're sure to come on this post. And by the way, we appreciate the way you all have kept the comment sections decent in our absence (although we were still watching the whole time).

We'll see you at work.

Every day.

Absolutely every day.

For a long time.

Someone asked for a new post, here's one.

Anonymous said...

* NEWS FLASH * New Executive Director of OEMC* NEWS FLASH *

Bryan Murphy. Currently 1st Deputy Chief of Staff in Mayor Office

Expansion

So far (including the first poll), the polls show a 17-7 vote in favor of bringing media topics into the blog. Much to our chagrin, that means more work for us. But we'll do our best. We will, however, try to limit the media topics to subjects that relate in some way to the job.

Unless we find something too absolutely hilarious or shocking to not mention.

That'll help the blog stay focused and true to its initial premise, and at the same time minimize our headache. Blog maintenance ain't a cakewalk if you're going to update with any frequency, even with an average of only ~110 visits per day.

If we miss something that you think is pressing enough to mention on the blog, CPDDispatchBlog at yahoo dot com is available 24/7. Don't count on us sitting at the computer 24/7 monitoring the inbox, though.

Slap the timeclock, please.

What a surprise. We arrived at work with swipe cards (and a ton of other things) in hand, prepared to mindlessly swipe in on the red punch clocks we've been using for years. We were a bit surprised to see big grey monstrosities stuck in the wall. We swiped in, put our hands on the new timeclock that apparently requires a handprint for verification, and puzzledly proceeded on our way.

The city isn't proactive. It's REactive. Someone must have been rumored to be swiping out for other people, or vice versa. Funny thing is, noone knew it was coming until it was there. We guess the clocks are self-explanatory, but we also guess that some people wouldn't know what to do with the big palm print on, and the typed instructions above, the clock. Therefore, we are here to provide service with a sarcastic smile (or smirk). Simply swipe your city ID as always, and place your right hand within the hand outline, being sure that your fingerprints show prominently. That would be about it.

We scored a 98 when we swiped in. We're "A" students around here.

Already?

From the comments section:

Anonymous said...
BREAKING NEWS

AV III IS GONE

That was quicker than we expected. Anyone else got any confirmation of this? And, does anyone have any speculation on who the replacement will be?

UPDATE: We confirmed it for ourselves, thanks to presumably the same poster who gave the information in the first place. Find the first stories at Channel 2 and the Chicago Tribune.

Hope you're happy

Permanent Watch Manager assignments have been announced.

H.C. will be assigned to 1st Watch.
R.D. will be assigned to 2nd Watch.
C.T. will be assigned to 3rd Watch.
M.D. will be assigned to Administration.

Be happy with what you have, it could've been a lot worse. A certain person could have been put back on the Ops Floor after demotion, instead of across the hall. Would you rather have had her as your Watch Manager instead?

More changes on the way?

The end of an era? According Sneed's column in yesterday's Sun-Times:

Gov. Blagojevich is this/close to hiring Andrew Velasquez, the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications chief, in an effort to beef up the state's homeland security.

• • Addendum: But it won't happen until after the mayoral election Tuesday.

The winds of change are blowing. We wonder if we should "be afraid, be very afraid" of who'll take his place, and how clueless that person might be about what it takes to do our jobs. We're sure that it will be someone else who's never worked Communications a day in his life.

A reader at Let's Talk Chi Town 911 has a different take, though, and ponders whether "Our Fearless Leader" who just got demoted and sent across the hall could be up for the spot next. OldSchoolCOS, the blogmaster there, asks:

Does anyone else really think there is a chance "she" left one spot to take the bigger spot? Is this the 'ol saying, the joke is on us?

We truly hope not. Even if for the sake of the city because of the sudden spike in resignations within 6 months of that appointment. People aren't sticking around for that.

You think we were miserable when she was Acting Deputy Director?????? We don't advocate job action (it's disallowed by our contract). But if she were to get that job, PCOs at the side door would be like a herd of cattle busting out of the gates.