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Ordinary Things – When Did We All Start Hopping?

September 6, 2026September 3, 2026BenjaminLeave a comment

It Used To Be Please, Just Step Out of the Car”

September 6, 2026

For coffee this morning I am sharing a pet peeve that has been picking at me lately.

Nothing serious. Nothing that is going to keep me awake at night. But it does irk me.

SUV with open doors parked on a suburban street at dusk — ***“Come on, hop out of the car…I just want you to hop for me”***

It is this hopping thing.

Somewhere along the way, people began asking other grown adults to hop everywhere.

I notice it especially in police videos. It has leaked over into television comercials. And, I have heard waitresses refer to it, when seating people at restaurants. But, I mainly hear it those police videos.

An officer stops a vehicle, walks up to the driver and eventually says something like:

“Go ahead and hop out of the vehicle for me.”

Hop?

Have you ever actually seen a grown adult hop out of a car?

Outside of Easter, a sack race, or perhaps New Year’s Eve after somebody has had far too much to drink, I cannot remember seeing many adults hopping anywhere.

Yet law enforcement officers across the country now seem determined to get us hopping.

“Hop out for me.”

“Hop over here.”

“Hop in the back seat.”

Maybe that explains why some people in those YouTube videos refuse to get out of the car. Perhaps the instruction simply does not register.

Imagine a grown man appearing at your front door and saying:

“Sir, would you hop out onto the lawn for me?”

Would you?

I would probably stand there wondering exactly what kind of hop he had in mind.

Eventually, in some of these police videos, after several requests for the driver to “hop out,” patience disappears, a window gets broken, and the person is physically removed from the vehicle.

At that point, strangely enough, nobody is hopping.

Well, except perhaps the officers, who suddenly seem to be hopping around one another trying to get the person handcuffed.

Then comes the next instruction.

“Go ahead and hop into the back seat.”

Think about that for a moment.

The person is now handcuffed, standing beside a police car, possibly having just been dragged out of another automobile, and someone is asking them to hop into the back seat of a car driven by a complete stranger.

That requires considerably more coordination than I possess.

But the hopping is not finished.

Eventually they arrive at what officials may call a detention facility, processing center, correctional intake facility, or any number of impressive names.

Let us save some time.

It is jail.

The officers open the patrol-car door and what do you suppose comes next?

“Come on and hop out for me.”

Another hop.

Before the experience is finished, the poor person may have been asked to hop out, hop over, hop in, hop back out, and possibly hop onto a bench.

When exactly did hop become the standard instruction for grown adults?

What happened to:

“Please step out of the vehicle.”

“Step to the rear of the car.”

“Come back here and speak with me.”

Those instructions sound perfectly reasonable. More importantly, I know exactly what they mean.

There is another reason I think words matter.

Sometimes an officer is asking someone to step out of a vehicle because doing so may actually prevent a situation from becoming worse. A conversation beside the vehicle might clear something up. It might reveal information the driver needs to know. It might even keep that person from making another mistake that results in an additional charge.

Crime prevention, after all, is one of the most important parts of police work.

And preventing someone from turning one bad decision into three?

Well, that really is something worth hopping about.

Running on Coffee and Commitment – How First Responders Survive Fatigue

March 11, 2026May 6, 2026BenjaminLeave a comment

When the walls begin to close in. No backup. No one else to call. Because you are the help.

Part II – Learning To Talk

Fatigue in emergency services doesn’t arrive all at once.

It builds slowly—call after call, hour after hour. Sometime in the middle of the night, the body begins to remind you just how long you’ve been awake.

And that’s usually when the next call comes in.

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In emergency services there is a moment most people never see.

It usually happens sometime after midnight, when the world is quiet and the station lights are dim. The calls have slowed down just enough that someone finally drifts off in the Bunkroom.

Then the tones drop.

Within seconds the calm disappears. Boots hit the floor, radios crackle to life, and another emergency begins.

For many first responders, that moment repeats itself again and again over the course of a shift. Sleep comes in fragments—ten minutes here, twenty minutes there—if it comes at all.

Yet the work still has to be done.

Patients still need treatment.
Ambulances still need to move quickly and safely through traffic.
Decisions still have to be made in seconds.

So how do first responders manage when sleep is scarce?

The answer, in many cases, is a combination of training, teamwork, and habits built over years of long nights.

Coffee: The Unofficial Fuel of Emergency Services

Walk into almost any firehouse, EMS station, or dispatch center. You will find a coffee pot that never truly turns off.

Caffeine has become the unofficial fuel of emergency work. It sharpens focus, pushes back fatigue, and gives providers the extra edge they need when exhaustion begins to creep in.

But caffeine is a temporary solution, not a cure. It can help providers stay alert for short periods, but it cannot replace the restorative effects of real sleep.

Still, for many crews working through the night, that cup of coffee becomes a small but necessary ally.

The Power of the Partner Check

Another important defense against fatigue is something emergency services have relied on for decades—watching out for each other.

In EMS and law enforcement alike, partners often double-check each other’s work when exhaustion sets in.

One medic confirms a medication dose while the other prepares it.
A partner reviews a treatment decision before it is carried out.
A tired driver is reminded to pull over or slow down when fatigue becomes obvious.

These small moments of teamwork are often invisible to the public. Still, they are an important safety net inside the profession.

Experience and Muscle Memory

Years of training also play a role in helping providers function when they are tired.

Many of the most critical skills in emergency medicine are practiced repeatedly until they become almost automatic. Starting an IV, assessing a patient’s airway, or reading a cardiac monitor are actions that experienced providers perform almost instinctively.

That muscle memory helps bridge the gap when fatigue clouds thinking.

But even the most experienced provider is still human. Fatigue eventually catches up with everyone.

Humor in the Middle of the Night

One of the most common coping tools in emergency services may surprise outsiders: humor.

First responders have a long tradition of gallows humor. It’s a way of releasing tension, staying connected with coworkers, and pushing through difficult moments.

A quiet station at three in the morning may suddenly erupt in laughter. It might be over a joke, a story from a previous call, or something completely ridiculous.

That humor isn’t about disrespect. It’s about survival.

Sometimes laughter is the only thing that keeps a tired crew moving through the night.

The Quiet Drive Back to the Station

After the sirens fade, the patient is delivered to the hospital. There is often a quiet drive back to the station.

For many providers, that ride is the moment when exhaustion becomes most noticeable.

The adrenaline of the call is gone. The road stretches ahead. The body begins to remember how tired it really is.

Those moments are why conversations about fatigue are becoming more important within emergency services.

First responders have always found ways to push through exhaustion. However, the goal should never be simply to endure it.

The goal should be to manage it.

A Profession Built on Dedication

The reality is that fatigue has always been part of emergency services.

Long shifts and unpredictable calls are part of the job. The responsibility of protecting the public adds to it. This means the job will never fit neatly into a normal sleep schedule.

But despite those challenges, first responders continue to answer the call.

They rely on training, teamwork, and professionalism to carry them through the long nights.

And when the tones drop again—whether it’s midnight, three in the morning, or just before sunrise—they get up and go.

Because that’s what the job requires.

LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE THEY SAY…