Feb 14, 2018Pet Peeves
Athletic training is very rewarding but requires a person who is organized, caring, and not afraid to require certain rules to keep everyone safe. I do my job with pride and work hard. When others don’t do what they are supposed to do, you have to let them know that you won’t tolerate it.
For example, I had a problem with my ice machine last spring. The machine went down during a very hot week. It was temporarily fixed but kept breaking down, and I had to repeatedly buy ice. It was determined that the circuit I had my ice machine and refrigerator on was overloaded. The maintenance department was told to fix this over the summer and was given a follow-up reminder about it in July.
It is frustrating when people don’t do their jobs… My advice is to keep calm and keep records of e-mails and other contacts so you can prove [they] did not do what they were supposed to do.
However, when I returned for preseason, the circuit was not fixed. I was very upset, and the weather was very hot. An athlete could have serious problems if we were not able to hydrate them. So I contacted my athletic director, principal, and superintendent. I reminded them of what was supposed to happen over the summer.
As a result, they showed up with an electrician in the middle of me getting the teams out and started pulling my room apart. I continued to get the teams out, and the ice machine was soon back up and running.
I simply wanted the maintenance staff to be held accountable for not fixing the circuit when they were supposed to. It is frustrating when people don’t do their jobs, and sometimes you have to hold their feet to the fire. If you’re ever faced with this situation, my advice is to keep calm and keep records of e-mails and other contacts so you can prove your maintenance staff did not do what they were supposed to do.
Another problem I’ve run into is to get teams to throw out their paper cups when they are done using them. I make Gatorade for their practices, which they look forward to. However, they know if I find one cup on the ground, they lose the Gatorade for the rest of preseason.
A third issue I’ve faced is coaches returning coolers with garbage in them. I informed the coaches that if their behavior continued, they would have to purchase their own coolers and keep them clean, as mine would no longer be available for them to use. So far, no more garbage has been in a returned cooler.
