Paramedic Pt. 10

"Eddie. I need a few minutes with Jared and then I will speak with you alone afterwards," said Rob.

Eddie left the office and closed the door. "Well, Jared. Your thoughts about what I am to do with Eddie?" asked Rob.

"Your call, remember you're the operations Manager and I'm just a paramedic," he replied.

"Ok, I appreciate that Jared. I'm going to write a termination letter for him and serve him when he comes back in," Rob said.

"I agree with you as the base trainer, and will support you 100% in my other role. I'm sure John and Melanie will as well and if they don't - too bad. Now that you have made a decision, I will tell you I wanted his ass fired and should file a complaint with the licensing body as well. So I have no partner now. Can I drive around in your SUV and try to look as important as you?" Jared asked with a smile on his face.

"Fuck off, you twerp. Try to look important. Don't fool yourself, you could never look as important as me," Rob said with feigned arrogance.

"Just don't pose and look at yourself in the mirror like Eddie does, Rob."

"He does that?" asked Rob.

"He stops at every mirror," laughed Jared.

"Get out of here and use my SUV, Jared. I will deal with Mr. Personality out there," said Rob.

Jared left the office and as he went by Eddie he said, "Rob needs a few minutes. He will call you when he is ready." Jared left the base in the SUV and contacted Liam for a meet in a parking lot.

They met and went into a small restaurant for coffee. Jared explained what happened with Eddie and Rob was going to be terminating him from the job due to his behavior. Jared had been wearing his microphone and part of it was video as well.

Marcie looked like she wanted to say something and Liam encouraged her. "It's about time someone nailed his butt and got him fired. He has always been like that, not looking after patients and taking shortcuts," she said.

Jared looked at her and asked, "Why was he never reported to Rob?"

"He is one of Tim's friends and they go to the same church. You know the one, the holier than thou church on the edge of town."

"I didn't realize it had that many crazies going to it. How many are in the congregation?" asked Liam.

"From what Tim and Eddie said, it has probably about 100 people," she answered.

"Marcie, were the other ones fired with Tim this morning part of the church, too?" Jared asked.

"Yes, they all were," she replied.

Jared thought for a moment and then said slowly, "That means we have probably pissed off anywhere from 10% to 25% of the congregation if you factor in families for them and Conner's family as well."

Liam and Marcie were thinking about it when she grabbed a napkin and started writing numbers down. She added them up and said "From what I knew of the others and their family members, I think closer to 40% because I heard them talking about parents going as well."

Liam smiled a crooked smile and said, "Oops."

"Yeah, you summarized that one real well, oh man of few words and very little education yokel," said Jared.

"Fuck you, Masqwa," laughed Liam.

"You two have been partners a while, haven't you? You have a good chemistry between you, easy going, fun and you work together well. I have learned more with Liam on our calls this morning than I did most of my night shifts in the last month. He doesn't yell at me like the others either," Marcie said.

"Marcie, I didn't realize what was going on with the other shifts. I know you don't work with us much, actually none of the part-timers do because my shift are mostly good people who are away rarely. We have fun and poke fun at each all the time but I would not tolerate yelling or harassment," replied Jared.

"The other shifts are jealous of you guys and call you the favoured shift. I don't know what they are talking about, Jared. You have a powerhouse team and the grass is always greener, I guess," Marcie said.

"Liam, how is Marcie's paramedic skills?" asked Jared.

"Good. From what I've seen, she knows her stuff and is articulate in her documentation. I can read her writing easily. Not like someone else who should be using a crayon and drawing pictures of what he did rather than writing it," replied Liam.

Jared gave him the finger. Marcie looked at the two of them and started laughing. "I am glad I actually got to work with you guys. This is the way it should be in between calls," she said.

Jared got his cell phone out and dialed Rob. Jared spoke into the phone and asked if he had Marcie's resume for the full time positions. Jared then told him she was Liam approved and should put her resume on the top of the pile. After saying good bye, he put his phone back in the belt holder.

"You did that for me? Thank you. Will it give me a chance to get on full time?" she asked.

"Well, it might. I'm the Base Trainer now and Rob considers what I say occasionally. He said he was going to run it by Melanie with a potential start date of our next day on. He was thinking of moving a couple of other people off this shift to another, and you would backfill" explained Jared.

"Wow. Thanks guys!" she said as she hugged Liam. "My girlfr... oh shit." Marcie's face went pale immediately when she realized she had started to say girlfriend.

Liam put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her over to him. "So, you're gay? How does that affect the skills you have as a paramedic?" he asked.

She was almost in tears when she said, "Tim and crew were so homophobic. They were always bashing gays and talking scripture and I was so scared they would found out. Would you guys keep it a secret for me?"

"Management here is very tolerant of gay people. The homophobic slurs and Eddie's hatred of First Nations people were part of the reasons he was fired. It is not tolerated by the company," said Jared.

"That is great to hear," she said.

"If you don't believe me," started Jared, "ask my boyfriend, Liam."

"What?" She looked at the two of them. "Serious?"

"You have been hanging with Liam too much. Try to use more than one word in a sentence please," said Jared.

Marcie and Liam both gave him the finger.

"You're safe with us Marcie. We don't advertise our being a couple or being gay because we just act as people. To be honest, we shouldn't have to make a point of telling people what is really none of their business outside of work. They don't walk around with straight on their foreheads, why should we have to put gay on ours?" said Jared. "But Rob knows and he has no problem with it, either."

"The issue is dead with us, Marcie," said Liam. "If you need us for anything, you know you can come to either one or both of us for help."

"Thanks guys," Marcie said. All 3 of the radios warbled at the same time. They were all being dispatched to the same call. Jared looked at the radio for a moment with interest. The call was shots fired and two policemen were injured. One appears to be critical. Jared and Liam knew their friends were working today and instantly became worried. Further details came through and it was the result of an armed robbery which they had walked in on.