It takes all types(Clock Puncher)

 The Clock Puncher

I've worked with two kinds of clock punchers during my career.

At first glance, they look exactly alike. They come to work, run their calls, and go home. Neither one seems particularly interested in much else.

But if you look a little closer, they're two very different people.

The first one is simply there for the paycheck. EMS isn't a calling to them—it's employment. They're not interested in becoming better. They're not interested in teaching. They're not interested in helping their partner. They're counting the hours until shift change. The patient is another call. The paperwork is another report. The shift is another paycheck.

Then there's the second clock puncher.

This one is harder to recognize because they weren't always that way.

They used to be the one volunteering for overtime. They used to stay late to help clean the truck. They used to mentor new EMTs. They used to laugh around the station. They used to genuinely love coming to work.

Then somewhere along the way, something changed.

Maybe it was the thousandth lift assist. Maybe it was years of missing birthdays. It may have been too many pediatric calls. Maybe it was a divorce. Maybe it was administration. Maybe it was simply thirty years of seeing people on the worst days of their lives.

One day they realized they were just... tired. Not physically tired. Soul tired.

Now they come to work, run their calls, and go home. From the outside, they look exactly like the first clock puncher.

But they're not.

One never found a passion. The other lost one. That's an important difference.

Looking back now, I wish I had understood that sooner. Early in my career, I probably lumped them together. Today, I don't.

One person needs motivation. The other may need help.

Sometimes the hardest part of EMS isn't the calls. It's staying the same compassionate person after thousands of them.

I know that feeling because, if I'm honest, I am in the season when I am becoming the second clock puncher. I am not angry. I am not lazy. I am not a bad medic.

I am burned out.

There's a difference. The paycheck gets you to work. But it isn't enough to keep your heart in the job. Patients deserve someone who still cares. And if you've reached the point where you don't...

Maybe it isn't a sign that you've failed. Maybe it's a sign that it's time to heal.


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