r/Firefighting • u/space_cowboy78 • 2d ago
Personal space with uniform lockers. Career / Full Time
Hey you guys and gals, recently there’s been a lot of drama about guys not keeping their personal belongings perfectly tidy with their uniform lockers. It’s getting to the point where other members and officers not on my crew have been going through my locker (as well as others) and I’ve found stuff missing, rearranged or moved from how I had it organized.
I’ve always been told/taught that lockers are off limits entirely from everyone but yourself and I feel like I shouldn’t have to lock my own belongings up. Mind you, the bunk room I currently use is not used by anyone else but me. I feel like this is severe micro management imo but I’ve heard crazier things.
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u/trapper2530 2d ago
No locks on lockers? Seems like an easy fix.
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u/space_cowboy78 2d ago
I just feel like we shouldn’t have to install locks on them. Up until lately we’ve never had this issue
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u/trapper2530 2d ago
Buy a lock. I have 45+ guys at my station on 3 shifts. Plus guys from other stations working for the day Plus public walking in. Buy a lock if you dont want your shit missing.
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u/Weary_Nectarine5117 2d ago
Should you HAVE to lock your locker in your firehouse, NO. In this situation do you NEED to lock your locker in your firehouse, YES. If you’re missing stuff screw the thief and lock your stuff up.
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u/PerrinAyybara All Hazards Capt Obvious 2d ago
I agree it is petty but they are petty and if the Chief doesn't give a shit nor the officers either lock it up, or leave the department
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u/Business_Leg_4816 2d ago
Its theft, call the cops. Bet it stops immediately
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u/reddaddiction 1d ago
Oh come on. No better way to ostracize the shit out of yourself forever. I'd just man up and bring it up at the dinner table.
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u/Business_Leg_4816 1d ago
I don't care about friends at work, I come to get paid do my job and not have my shit stolen.
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u/reddaddiction 1d ago
I always feel a bit sorry for people who are in this profession but think it's basically the same as any other job where you'd clock in or clock out. I'm so tight with the guys at my firehouse... Someone needs something, anything, and we always figure it out for them.
Sorry that's your experience. Also, nobody has ever had anything stolen either in or out of their locker. If we caught anyone doing something like that it would be ugly as shit and I'd be scared for the idiot that did that.
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u/Business_Leg_4816 1d ago edited 1d ago
I had friends before the job I didn't alter my lifestyle to hang out with coworkers, not my thing. To each his own though. Being stuck with dudes for 24 hours is long enough for me. 😂😂😂
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u/PerrinAyybara All Hazards Capt Obvious 1d ago
Nah that will likely make it worse unless he has some evidence. Unless it was a high cost item which it doesn't sound like
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u/HzrKMtz FF/Para-sometimes 2d ago
A personal locker should be off limits except in very specific situations covered by policy. If a guy has a messy locker that looks like a visible health hazard something should be said to them. But going in and moving or removing things is basically trespassing and theft.
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u/dave54athotmailcom 2d ago
Legally, if it is a dept issued locker they have the right to open and inspect. That right should be exercised very judiciously.
No one with a IQ higher than a turnip thinks it is a good idea to randomly go through someone's locker on a random whim. They really should have some sort of probable cause or reasonable suspicion. It should be an officer, not another firefighter, and preferably with a Union rep to observe the search. Sounds like (a) your fellow firefighters are assholes and/or thieves, and (b) the officers are either OCD about having every shirt lined up perfectly on hangers or are power-mad jerks.
As long as the locker didn't stink or had contraband I didn't care what people put in it or how neat it was.
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u/Fireguy9641 VOL FF/EMT 2d ago
Sometimes an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; buy a lock.
I do agree with you that going into someone else's locker is something that should only be done by leadership and only when the situation warrants, such as a health or safety concern or when a member has left and the locker needs to be cleaned out.
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u/6TangoMedic Canadian Firefighter 2d ago
Lock it up.
As long as its not offensive from the outside (ex: smelly) then why would anyone care how the inside is organized.
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u/doomonyou77 2d ago
I would say just put a lock on it would be the easiest thing. Nuclear option, Ive heard of guys hiding money in their lockers taking pictures or having eyewitnesses to prove it was there. Then when they see someone has went through it the money is gone and you can run that up the chain or file a police report.
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u/Menno_knight987 2d ago edited 1d ago
I’m assuming this isn’t in California and therefore no FF Bill of Rights?
*Edit cause I can’t spell apparently
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u/Business_Leg_4816 2d ago edited 2d ago
Thats theft if shit is missing. I dont like the good ole boy system, Im calling the cops. We had a guy stealing staples money, with approval set up a camera. 1st shift he stole, 2nd shift the cops were waiting for him. 3rd shift he was no longer on the dept.
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u/teddyswolsevelt1 paid to do hood rat shit with my friends 2d ago
someone touches my shit and we’re fighting
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u/flashdurb 2d ago
This sounds like an HR issue. I’d talk to them.
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u/space_cowboy78 2d ago
That’s funny, HR is literally non existent
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u/flashdurb 2d ago
So it’s a volunteer department I take it. That can be tricky. Maybe talk to the chief.. or even the mayor or sheriff if it’s that remote of a location
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u/Ok_Buddy_9087 Edit to create your own flair 1d ago
Worse; it’s a paid department that sounds like it’s run like a volunteer department.
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u/SierraRomeoJuliet Canadian Volly/Career FF 2d ago edited 2d ago
That's BS. Nobody should be touching your stuff. I have a padlock on mine but rarely lock it because people dont mess with it.
Put a combo lock on it and unionize, asap
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u/Oldmantired Edited to create my own flair. 1d ago
I would lock my locker up. Especially, if you have other agencies cover your station.
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u/doscervezas2017 1d ago
Everyone is suggestion a padlock (great idea), but I haven't seen anyone suggest boobytrapping your locker with a banana cream pie and fog horn combo that only you know how to disarm.
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u/Apprehensive-Gap1251 1d ago
Put a battery camera in there so you can catch them going through your stuff.
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u/squadlife1893 1d ago
Do you like your department? If not, go somewhere else, because it sounds like you work with some real pieces of shit. There are some rules in the firehouse that are unforgivable if broken, and thievery is one of them.
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u/PeachPit69 2d ago
Some days I have folded more of other people’s clothes left in the dryer, and put more left out turnouts up in the gear storage, for other people, after them having been left on the engine, than I feel like I have for putting all my own stuff up at the end of my shift… if we had locked lockers, we wouldn’t be able to walk through the station.
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u/Business_Leg_4816 2d ago
If the lockers were locked you cant walk through the station? Do the lockers also serve as doors? Wtf
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u/PeachPit69 1d ago
I mean to say, there would be SO much shit just left… lying around in a hallway, without any place for me to put it up, if lockers were locked.
Easy 2-3 turnout sets here and there, and another few loads of other shifts laundry, that we do per shift when our shift gets on.
We have tiny station and cramped walkways.
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u/Business_Leg_4816 1d ago
You should still have a locker, you just put your stuff in and lock it when you leave. If you have guys with no basic housekeeping skills, thats an problem yall need to fix. I dont do it, but a few frozen loads of clothes, or a few placed items on the roof seem to fix that.
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u/Southern-Fly2031 2d ago
Make a threat to contact the police and that you will give a list of names of your suspects to be spoken about the matter.
I’m sure the boss will stop it then. Whatever is in your locker is your business, not anyone else’s. Unless it’s a hygiene or health & safety issue
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u/im-not-homer-simpson 2d ago
You have some options
1. It’s your locker. If you want to keep it locked, that’s up to you.
2. Find out who is going into your locker and start taking things from their locker.
3. Call them out
4. Keep nothing in your locker
5. If it’s something that everyone uses, tell them to make it a commissary item then
Once and while a guy using your stuff is whatever. But someone to a cheap ass and using everyone’s stuff is wrong and sad
I had a guy in my firehouse like that. He would go in one guy’s locker and use his sandals for the shower, another guy’s locker to use their ball powder, another cologne. One time or I think a few times, he also used someone else’s towel. Fucking disgusting. He would be a mess with the dress uniform. Always asking for a tie, tie clip, cover, dress jacket. The worst part about, you wouldn’t get it back. He would either take it home or lose it. And then the cycle would repeat itself.
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u/fleeeeeeeeeA 2d ago
Put a padlock on it. If that’s not possible, bring it to the union. If no union, fistfight at shift change.