They say you learn something new everyday. Last week, I learned something very important: Umpiring little league baseball is not my thing.. However, the experience gave me a new insight into my job. How? Allow me to explain..
It was a nice Tuesday evening, nothing out of the ordinary. I was getting ready to head to the little league field to announce the game for the evening. Unfortunately, a storm rolled into town and that was that, so I thought.
*phone rings*
"Daniel?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"Hey, I need a favor.."
"Um, sure. Whats up?"
"Can you umpire the little league game? The guy who was gonna do it before can't anymore."
At this moment, I should have flat out said no. However, being the "fearless" person I am, I felt compelled to say...
"SURE!"
While I wasn't good at umpiring, per se, I found it was a lot like dispatching. Here are five common ground areas I found between the two.
1) Everybody thinks they can do it better, but it's much harder than it looks.
2) You have to make split second decisions, and stand by them no matter what.
3) You have to be coordinated and know what you're doing.
4) Dealing with angry people is a given and you have to keep your cool, no matter what happens.
5) Things are getting thrown your way at high speeds and you aren't allowed to dodge them.
I hope you've taken away something from this short, quirky post. I hope to write more, but work has been busy! Keep being awesome, my fellow dispatchers!
