3 Kinds Of Professionals Who Are Always On Duty
Three kinds of jobs where punching out doesn’t exist.
Introduction
Everyone does a different type of job. Some might require constant collaboration with team members and their continuous cooperation to get the job done, while others might be more solitary and independent roles necessitating minimal interaction and involvement from team members.
By the inherent nature of being different, the nature of roles and responsibilities in a job vary drastically from one another. There are some which are public facing and require extra communication skills in order to be performed, whereas there are others that deal more with how things work in the back end which require a deeper understanding of technology and/or organizational systems rather than perfection in language or social skills to be executed.
However, there are a few jobs in society where the line between being a “job” and a social service is very thin and blurry. These jobs have no start and end times, and have no set or pre-defined roles dependent on designation or pay scale. For example, a police officer is expected to nab a suspect regardless of his or her position in the organizational hierarchy.
The professionals executing these roles just can’t seem to catch a break as the very nature of their jobs means they have to be ready for any unforeseen eventualities at any given moment. In other words, they are at the beck and call of society at all times. One can even say they aren’t really doing a job, but a social service as they work towards the betterment of society.
Here are 3 kinds of professionals who are always on duty:
Paramedics, nurses, and doctors
As a health professional, you’ve got to constantly be on your toes ready for any kind of emergency or public health crisis. You’re the person the public trusts to save their lives in case anything happens to someone whether while walking on the street, while travelling, while at a theme park, during an adventure or sport activity, or inside a public establishment. Accidents, natural and manmade disasters, acts of terror, wildlife attacks, and personal health issues make up the rest of the scenarios where medical professionals are expected to put their reservations aside and rush to the aid of the injured or suffering.
Paramedics, nurses, and doctors might physically log out of work at the end of their shifts at their respective hospitals or clinics by signing a register, touching an ID card to a scanner, or by placing their thumbs on a biometric device that tracks employee attendance, but their duty doesn’t end there.
While sign in and sign out times are used as data to generate the correct salary for the rest of us as per the hours logged at work, things are radically different for medical professionals. They are expected to be ready to save people in whatever capacity they can whether they’re on the way to work, after work, when they’re not working, or even while they’re on holiday.
And yes, that includes even after completing a 14 hour shift at the hospital. Pretty brutal isn’t it? Yes, that’s just a day in the life of a medical professional ready to sacrifice sleep and a quality standard of living all in service of the rest of us. So please be kind and accomodating towards medical professionals wherever and whenever you can.
Law enforcement agents and government officials
Whether you are a government official, a cop, or a member of the armed forces, your job is never over. Many incidents of grave and serious nature have been prevented just because a cop was at the right place at the right time. Whether it is assault and battery, public nuisance, sexual assault and molestation, theft, arson, gun violence, acts of terror, an extreme weather event or natural disaster, law enforcement agents in the vicinity are expected to drop everything they’re doing and swiftly respond to such incidents to prevent as many casualities as possible. Government officials are similarly expected to drop whatever they’re doing at the present moment and immediately put their diplomatic skills to use to ensure the safety and security of citizens.
If a thief is seen fleeing from a store he just robbed, a law enforcement officer on vacation cannot throw his hands up in the air saying “ Sorry, I’m on vacation” and continue doing whatever it is that he was doing instead of chasing down the criminal and apprehending him.
“A police officer is always on duty.” is a popular euphemism that many of you might have already come across.
Swimming coaches and lifeguards
As a swim coach or lifeguard, your job isn’t over the moment you exit the pool. You are expected to be the savior of society no matter where you are regardless of what you’re doing if you’re capable of doing so.
Scores of drowning people have been saved by lifeguards and swim coaches who weren’t on duty but who just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Hence, a swim coach or lifeguard can never catch a break as the public is dependent on him or her to be their saviour in case of any eventuality inside the water whether at an adventure park, beach, lake, river, swimming pool, a natural pool, or any other kind of water body that has humans flocking to it for adventure and recreation.
Final Thoughts
As public servants, the execution of these jobs doesn’t end at the office or at the location of service. Rather it is a skill that these professionals carry on their person to be utilized towards the greater good at any given point of time whenever the opportunity arises.
The people who don these roles deserve special reservations and privileges in society. They must be honoured and celebrated as they are at the beck and call of society 24/7, 365 days a year no matter where they are, even while they’re on vacation. While the rest of us work at jobs with well-defined start and end times and can comfortably put all our worries to rest the moment we log out, only putting our minds back to them the next day, the people working these professions do not have the luxury to do so.
Hence, it would be wise and prudent to be compassionate towards these individuals and cut them some slack wherever possible as they are at the beck and call of society at all times.
Do let me know your thoughts in the comments section to the side.
