Probie Invited to Recliners

Hey guys. I’m going to explain my situation.

I’ve been working at my current department for 2 months. I have two part time fire jobs that I’ve worked for two years. I interned at my fulltime department for about 6 months as a medic student. During medic school I would repeatedly be invited to sit in the recliners, however I’d always politely decline and sneak off to study in the kitchen or go to bed if it was after 9:30. I only sat in them once, because a dude threatened to break my legs and put me in a recliner if I didn’t willingly sit down. Fast forward to present day.

I’ve been getting some tiller time to bust out my fire probation skills, next tour I’ll be moving to my new house and rotate between an ambulance and our ladder. My current crew asked me to sit in the recliners after my first three tours but didn’t push the issue when I’d politely decline to study at the table.

Last week my soon to be captain when I move next tour acted in at my current station. On the second night he invited me to sit down and watch TV. I thanked him politely and declined saying I had material to study and went back to my book. He invited me again and I said the same thing. Then he looked at me and said, “We’ll fix that when you get to station 8.”

My dilemma:

I don’t avoid the recliners to prove a point. I avoid them because being asked to sit in them, and even the thought of sitting in them makes me genuinely uncomfortable. I especially don’t want to hurt my reputation.

However, with my soon to be captain repeatedly asking me to sit down in a recliner for family time, I’m not sure if it’s worse to sit down or not sit down. It’s a super uncomfortable position for me and I’ve been stressing about when I move all week for this reason.

Thoughts?

TLDR; Cap repeatedly asks me to sit in recliners, I don’t feel comfortable doing it, Cap says he’ll “fix this issue” when I get moved to his house, best way to handle situation?

Again I don’t do boot stuff to prove a point or anything. I really don’t mind doing boot stuff, I did it and still do it at my part time jobs where I’m not on probation and where it was never expected in the first place. It’s just the way I was raised. Work hard, get work done, repeat.