So, I 31F work as a paramedic on a ambulance in a pretty rural area of our state. Because the location of our coverage area and having a good relationship will local hospitals so we typically leave our ambulances back doors open or unlocked. So my 28F coworker, call her Carol, is also a paramedic and i don’t care for her. I find her to be lazy with a known it all attitude and over all difficult to work with. Which brings us to yesterday. Carol and I had to take a patient to a larger city in our state because they needed a higher level of care than what our local hospitals could provide. I need to point out that this hospital is not in the best area of the city and when our ambulance parking is full we have to park on the street next to the ED. I was told by security before that this is actually a “blind spot” for the hospital cameras because it covers the street not hospital property. Security told me to always lockup when street parking because they have had some break ins with the ambulances. So we end up having to park on the street and I specifically told Carol to lockup since she drove us and briefly told her what security told me. I was in the back with the Patient and there is no way to lock the doors from the back. I got something of a hand wave response from her and once the Patient and stretcher were removed from the ambulance, we went inside and continued our call as usual. When return returning to the ambulance out of habit, I grabbed the door and it opened. The door was not locked. We were inside for not even 20 minutes, so i was thinking the worst and my gut was right because after searching, my backpack that had two chemistry textbooks and my IPad was gone.
I confronted Carol and asked if she heard me when I told her to lock the doors. She told me that she had forgotten to lock them because she was focusing on the call and that it wasn’t a big deal. I told about my missing backpack and I pretty much demanded at that point that she reimburse me for the two textbooks that I lost as well as the iPad because of her inconsideration after I had told her to lock the doors. She is flat out, refusing to reimburse me, and when I talked to our supervisors, they told me that I probably could pursue some kind of legal action because there is a audio camera in the cab of the truck that hears me telling her to lock up but asked if I would really want to do that to a coworker that I have to work with on a semi regular basis.
I’m kind of conflicted because I really need my job and it’s already stressful enough as it is dealing with the regular occurrences of being a paramedic but at the same time I am out almost $700 between the two textbooks and the iPad. Carol is flat out, refusing to take any responsibility in saying that it was a bad stroke of luck. Carol did not bring anything but her wallet that she keeps in her pocket and phone charger and headphones . So AITA for wanting to take legal action ?
Edit: since this is becoming a common question I work 24hr shifts and go to school full time. Once we leave our station we don’t typically go back unless we restock. If I don’t bring my bag with me I loose 24hr of study time. They actually call the 24hr shit the “student shift” because on our down time we do our homework
Edit 2: i honestly didn’t think of this so there are different modes of ambulance. One where you can go from the cab to the back and 2 were it’s a cab with a box on the back and no way to get into the back from the cab. The 2 one is the type we were driving. The drug box is in its own cabinet with a keypad lock so even if the doors are open the drugs are safe in a locked unmarked cabinet.
Edit 3: now that I have read a lot of these comments and calmed down a bit more I can say that I was a bit harsh with my words and snapping at Carol wasn’t going to solve anything. The hospital has no view of where we parked but there is a camera in the front of the cab that shows more of wha happened. I’m making a report with the police after my shift. Also for people who don’t know that us on an ambulance especially in rural areas have a typically low number of calls which gives us more downtime I can do a 24hr shift and run maybe 5 calls in that time. Lots of down time which is why I bring my stuff to work.
Out of curiosity, wouldn’t the insurance on the vehicle cover it? That might be worth pursuing.
It’s an ambulance and is probably insured under a commercial policy. OP’s employer would likely be livid if she made a claim for personal items stolen from the ambulance.
NTA
Look into small claims court!
I use to date a paramedic – locking up was important. Too many stories of supplies and meds getting ripped off in crimes of opportunity!
Exactly. You can bet the supervisors would be concerned if equipment and drugs went missing! She should at least be written up.
>She told me that she had forgotten to lock them because she was focusing on the call and that it wasn’t a big deal.
Not a “big deal” *to her.* It is a very big deal though, since you explicitly told her the whys and wherefores.
There is some personal liability here too because when it all comes down to it, your personal items are your responsibility. You should’ve checked.
NTA. I think she owes you something. I would request 1/2 the replacement cost. You might not get it, but you aren’t TA here, you trusted her to do something she acknowledged. She failed in that.
Not only that, but its a big deal because someone was able to get into the ambulance. A local hospital here literally had a stolen ambulance crash into one of its buildings TODAY. They could have stolen medications, supplies, even hot wire the ambulance itself and drove off.
Make a police report. It is unfortunate your things were stolen, but I can’t fault her when yall typically don’t lock the doors, and there was a patient needing immediate attention. It could just as easily been you who forgot to lock it.
NTA for wanting her to take some responsibility if she’d just done her job, you wouldn’t be out almost $700, and that’s some serious coin when you’re juggling school and work! 💰
Did you file a police report? In my experience, this would be the first question asked in small claims court. Often, when you file a report like this and the police are unable to recover your items, they can sometimes offer you a replacement item of similar value. This happened to me when an apartment was broken into and they offered me a replacement TV for my kids.
Should probably be a claim with your company’s auto insurance.
I would think that locking an ambulance is standard to protect the medical supplies and drugs in the ambulance. I would expect that securing the ambulance is a rule.
I totally get why you had your iPad and textbooks with you. I had to do something similar decades ago when the dinosaurs roamed.
NTA. I’m thinking that both your coworker AND your supervisor are TA.
Honestly I am shocked that only your backpack was stolen. If other stuff had been stolen, I bet the supervisor would have held her accountable.
Get a copy of that recording… regardless of how you proceed, you want that copy.
And your supervisor should want a copy too… for the next time she forgets to lock up and more stuff is stolen.
I think a lot of people saying that your personal items are your responsibility missed the edit about the student shift. It’s not like you brought your Nintendo ds for fun, having these items is a necessary part of your day, such as a wallet, and it’s reasonable to expect them to be secure in a locked vehicle (with the exception of someone stealing an ambulance which is a bigger criminal matter). Her carelessness caused you to be stolen from and I think she should be responsible for reimbursing you. Additionally, your employer should be more concerned about someone leaving the ambulance unlocked and unattended, I’m guessing there’s way more valuable equipment in there than just your iPad. Even in the better neighborhoods I think it’s weird the ambulance would ever be open. They should review their policies. NTA
I’m honestly so confused by all the Y T A posts here. OP you’re NTA but your coworker is. I can’t even imagine thinking it’s okay to leave an ambulance unlocked in a large city. I can’t fathom the attitude of not caring about someone’s belongings and purposefully ignoring their request to do something extremely simple to make sure they’re not stolen. If I was your coworker and this happened, even if it was an innocent mistake, I’d still consider myself 100% responsible and do everything to reimburse you even if it took me a really long time. Some people are clearly incapable of having empathy and it shows