WELCOME TO MY WORLD……..Pass The Aspirin!!

Joanne Hull | February 2, 2014

Hello Emergency Managers, Disaster Junkies and anyone else who cares to listen in.    I’ve worked plenty of declared disasters and emergencies throughout the country these past eighteen years (see my profile above on the “about “tab if you care to learn more about me) and, have held key positions in some of the largest disasters in the nation.   Just like anyone else in any other field, I’ve got plenty of “war stories”.  However, if I were to tell them, I would have to change the names, change the locations and quite frankly, the office politics and interpersonal relationships would start to sound more like fiction than fact.

Visualize, if you will, a group of people – hundreds, sometimes thousands, arriving from all over the country with different backgrounds, different skill sets, and way, way different personalities – all, descending at once to the same disaster office site and possible staying 6-7-8 months or longer.  The first few months, working possibly as much as 7 days a week sometimes 12-14 hour days, if not way longer.

Are we dedicated?  Of course we are or we wouldn’t be here!  We came this far and left our families behind to help disaster survivors and the affected states recover as quickly as possible.   Are we happy?  Of course not!  We’re too darn tired to even smile at each other in the office let alone manage small talk.  Are we cordial to each other?  We try hard, however, by 7 or 8 pm, after being in the office since 6 am, we’re on our last nerve.

Oh, did I mention, that by 9-10 pm or maybe even 11 pm we start back to our hotel and turn on the GPS in our rental car (remember, it’s a strange city, it’s dark out, and some us still have our luggage in the car because we came to the disaster office directly from the airport and we still need to check in at the hotel).  Also worth noting, if it’s a major disaster or catastrophic event there aren’t many rooms available in the immediate vicinity therefore, some of us may be traveling distances to sleep.

Now that the adrenalin rush is wearing off this is usually about the time you remember that you didn’t make time for dinner that evening and you’re really, really, hungry.  Not to mention, you were too busy all day and didn’t get a chance to make that private phone call home and the family is now worried about you and, on top of everything else, you still haven’t said goodnight to your kids.

By 6 am – or, if you’re lucky, by 7 am – you’re back in the office.  You probably have figured out by now that it doesn’t take much for this many tired people to get on each other’s nerves…

I get off the elevator and start to turn down the hallway to my office.  I see that a line is forming.  I hope it’s for bagels but I know better. That line is forming outside my office door.  I know it’s going to be a very, very, long day indeed.   “I need COFFEE”, I think I say this to myself but the words must have come right out very audible because some stranger in line hands me a cup.  I wish I could say that everyone is here to say hello and see how I’m doing or, how it’s going or, share some bagels.

If you could only see the looks on their faces, you’d know instantly that was not the case.

That’s right, they come to me.   The buck stops here and they know it.  They want to talk, they want me to listen and, they want me to use my authority to make their problems go away.  Sometimes, they may even be the cause of their own problems but regardless, they still want it gone and expect me to fix it, provide a solution, and make their troubles yesterday’s old news.

Who am I?

Yes, you guessed it right!

I’m, “ THE CHIEF OF STAFF “.

Welcome to my world. Pass the aspirin!