Great Movie But Big 'Goof'

yeah brillant film but that always struck me as odd.







Was shocked when i checked out the minimum wage for the US

Minimum wage here in the UK if ya over 22 is £4-45 / $10-45(US)

Made me realise why theres such a big tipping 'culture' in the service industry.

The statement is both correct and incorrect at the same time. Before everyone jumps on me, let me say that I worked as an EMT for a year in college so I do know what I'm talking about. Obviously minimum wage varies from state to state, city to city, etc, but as far as the wages of Emergency Medical Technicians goes, there is one major factor that contributes to their wages, and I will get to it soon.

But first, there is one thing about the two characters that I want to clarify. There most definitely IS a major distinction between paramedics (Todd Field's character) and Emergency Medical Technicians (Jason London's character). EMTs are considerably lower on the totem pole than paramedics. To become an EMT you have to take a class which last approximately 12 hours a week for 12 weeks (while completing regular exams, practicals, ride alongs and such). After that you then have to go and work full time in the field for a year before you are eligible to apply to paramedic school. Paramedic school is either 1 or 2 years, depending on whether you do it full time or part time. After completing paramedic school, you are certified in advanced life support (versus basic life support for EMTs) and there really is a lot of stuff that they can do (starting IV's, giving various medications, declaring death, etc).

Now, back to my original point, the major factor in deciding an emergency medical worker's wage is the scope of their practice. The majority of private ambulance companies in the country are limited to non-emergency calls (mostly interfacility transports and stand-bys at sporting events). Working in that capacity will indeed pay you a low wage. However, there is usually one or two ambulance companies per county that are contracted to respond to the 911 calls. And again, we have to divide that up as well. Here the major dividing line is whether or not your company is the first responder. Here in Los Angeles county, the fire department are the first responders (all non-crime related 911 calls go directly to the fire department) So their is one company in Los Angeles county (I believe its Schaeffer if anyone is interested) and they are contracted to assist the fire department. The paramedics and emts for that company certainly make more than minimum wage (and BTW, paramedics ALWAYS make at least a fairly decent wage), but they don't make a whole lot. However, outside of Los Angeles county, their are private ambulance companies that are contracted as the first responders. First responders definitely make a career-caliber wage.

Now, to apply this to our two characters. They obviously do work in L.A. county, but they work for a private company, not the fire department. But, the company they work does indeed have the contract to assist the fire department as they are constantly responding to emergency calls. Thus, Todd Field makes a fairly decent salary but certainly nothing to write home about, while Jason London makes less than Todd, but certainly more than minimum wage. So while Jason isn't making minimum wage, minimum wage is a good measuring stick to represent how little he makes compared to what most people think that EMTs make.

I'm a EMT-Basic in Texas. I get paid $13 a hr

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