"Why is the copier all open like this?"
"It's jammed, and it's cooling. Don't touch it."
"Nah, it's working!" Closes copier access doors. "Look!"
"No! Don't touch it! There's paper jammed in there."
"Workin' fine!" Presses copy button.
Copier makes funny noise, fan comes on, fan dies.
"...And now there are two pieces of paper jammed in there..."
I guess I didn't know what I was talking about?
Now I'm off to un-jam the jammed-much-worse-than-before copier...
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Friday, March 9, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
I need me time, dammit!
I was recently having a conversation with an older male relative of mine. I don't remember what we were discussing, but I remembered something relevant that I had heard on a podcast while walking the dog.
My relative stopped me. "Wait, how were you walking the dog and listening to that?" It was a program from NPR, but I had downloaded the podcast so I could listen while away from the internet. "And so you did this while walking the dog?"
"Uh, yeah. It's great!"
"So you're one of those people walking around, oblivious to the world, with your ear buds in?"
No, actually. I'm pretty aware of what's going on around me, especially while listening to podcasts because they don't block out surrounding noise like music will. I don't take my iPod every time I take the dog out, but it can be a great escape sometimes. I explained this to him.
He doesn't like the idea of everyone walking around, absorbed in their own worlds. He likes to talk to people while walking his dog. It helps him meet his neighbors, meet interesting people at the dog park, etc. He rides the bus to work, and he knows all the regulars on the bus as well. His conclusion was that iPods and smart phones keep people disconnected from the world directly around them, even while connecting them to the greater world. In conclusion, iPods were just another part of the new digital world that disconnects us from reality.
I was... annoyed. Annoyed that he disapproved of me listening to music or a podcast now and then while walking my dog. Annoyed that this somehow was an indictment on my whole generation. I spend many hours a week out with my dog, but I probably only take my iPod 10% of the time. I don't take it to the dog park - too much going on. I started to justify myself, but I didn't really know what to say, and so we got back to the subject at hand.
*****
But I keep thinking about this, and I know what I wanted to say: there is no right way for everyone to walk around or ride the bus, or wrong way, just different ways.
This male relative of mine shares an office with one other person, someone who isn't even there all the time. He lives alone. He sees his time on the bus as a good time to socialize, and his dog walks as a great time to catch up with the neighbors and meet new people, especially new people who also have and love dogs.
I share an office with 8 other people. I answer the phones for two doctors. I interact face-to-face with hundreds of people a week. My desk in right inside our front door, and in the middle of all of my co-workers offices. I'm relatively extroverted, and yet this job can sap so much of my energy from dealing with other people that I often find myself feeling very introverted all weekend long.
So I need that alone time, that me time.
Yesterday, I took a long lunch after a very frustrating morning at work, and the dog and I walked for an hour, me listening to my iPod, her enjoying all the snow we've had. At one point, I saw a man approaching on the trail with a young, excited dog. I also have a young, excited dog, and I know how it can be a pain to interact with like-dogs while on the leash. Usually, I pause my iPod and take out my ear buds to let the other person know I'm paying attention, and to get a couple of words in while we try to pass each other without becoming hopelessly entangled in leashes. This time, I stepped about ten feet up a side trail and waited for them to pass, then we continued on our way. I thought about how my male relative would find this to be terribly sad behavior. It would prove his point: That modern technology only serves to separate and alienate ourselves from others.
But oh how I just really need some quiet time sometimes. Often, my lunch walk with dog is the only time of day I get to myself. No phones ringing, patients coming and going, pets yowling for dinner, husbands yowling for dinner, dishes that need doing, carpet that needs vacuuming, laundry that needs washing... I don't just sit on the couch with my ear buds in to catch up on my favorite podcast; I like to do that while also getting some air and exercise. And I need that time. And I deserve it. He and I are living very different lives, especially when it comes to our work lives.
Maybe we should trade jobs for a week, and then he can see what it's like to spend 40 hours a week talking, seeing, and caring for hundreds of other people, sitting in the middle of a very busy office, often eating lunch at your desk under the gaze of others.
I think he'd like to have some alone time, too.
My relative stopped me. "Wait, how were you walking the dog and listening to that?" It was a program from NPR, but I had downloaded the podcast so I could listen while away from the internet. "And so you did this while walking the dog?"
"Uh, yeah. It's great!"
"So you're one of those people walking around, oblivious to the world, with your ear buds in?"
No, actually. I'm pretty aware of what's going on around me, especially while listening to podcasts because they don't block out surrounding noise like music will. I don't take my iPod every time I take the dog out, but it can be a great escape sometimes. I explained this to him.
He doesn't like the idea of everyone walking around, absorbed in their own worlds. He likes to talk to people while walking his dog. It helps him meet his neighbors, meet interesting people at the dog park, etc. He rides the bus to work, and he knows all the regulars on the bus as well. His conclusion was that iPods and smart phones keep people disconnected from the world directly around them, even while connecting them to the greater world. In conclusion, iPods were just another part of the new digital world that disconnects us from reality.
I was... annoyed. Annoyed that he disapproved of me listening to music or a podcast now and then while walking my dog. Annoyed that this somehow was an indictment on my whole generation. I spend many hours a week out with my dog, but I probably only take my iPod 10% of the time. I don't take it to the dog park - too much going on. I started to justify myself, but I didn't really know what to say, and so we got back to the subject at hand.
*****
But I keep thinking about this, and I know what I wanted to say: there is no right way for everyone to walk around or ride the bus, or wrong way, just different ways.
This male relative of mine shares an office with one other person, someone who isn't even there all the time. He lives alone. He sees his time on the bus as a good time to socialize, and his dog walks as a great time to catch up with the neighbors and meet new people, especially new people who also have and love dogs.
I share an office with 8 other people. I answer the phones for two doctors. I interact face-to-face with hundreds of people a week. My desk in right inside our front door, and in the middle of all of my co-workers offices. I'm relatively extroverted, and yet this job can sap so much of my energy from dealing with other people that I often find myself feeling very introverted all weekend long.
So I need that alone time, that me time.
Yesterday, I took a long lunch after a very frustrating morning at work, and the dog and I walked for an hour, me listening to my iPod, her enjoying all the snow we've had. At one point, I saw a man approaching on the trail with a young, excited dog. I also have a young, excited dog, and I know how it can be a pain to interact with like-dogs while on the leash. Usually, I pause my iPod and take out my ear buds to let the other person know I'm paying attention, and to get a couple of words in while we try to pass each other without becoming hopelessly entangled in leashes. This time, I stepped about ten feet up a side trail and waited for them to pass, then we continued on our way. I thought about how my male relative would find this to be terribly sad behavior. It would prove his point: That modern technology only serves to separate and alienate ourselves from others.
But oh how I just really need some quiet time sometimes. Often, my lunch walk with dog is the only time of day I get to myself. No phones ringing, patients coming and going, pets yowling for dinner, husbands yowling for dinner, dishes that need doing, carpet that needs vacuuming, laundry that needs washing... I don't just sit on the couch with my ear buds in to catch up on my favorite podcast; I like to do that while also getting some air and exercise. And I need that time. And I deserve it. He and I are living very different lives, especially when it comes to our work lives.
Maybe we should trade jobs for a week, and then he can see what it's like to spend 40 hours a week talking, seeing, and caring for hundreds of other people, sitting in the middle of a very busy office, often eating lunch at your desk under the gaze of others.
I think he'd like to have some alone time, too.
Monday, December 12, 2011
The Office Hardware Specialist
"The copy machine is off. How do I turn it on?"
"It's asleep. Just lift the lid, or put your paper in the copy tray."
"But.. it's dark. There aren't any lights. It must be off, because this button isn't working." Hits random button.
"Just put your paper in it."
"And then how do I turn it on?" Still holding tightly onto the paper to be copied.
"It will turn on automatically when you- Actually, here, let me do it." Places paper in copier, copier awakes from sleep, beeps twice, screen says 'ready.'
"Oh look! How did you turn it on?!"
"...Magic."
*****
I cannot, just cannot, be the only person who knows how to copy a piece of paper after all these years with the same copy machine.... Can I?
"It's asleep. Just lift the lid, or put your paper in the copy tray."
"But.. it's dark. There aren't any lights. It must be off, because this button isn't working." Hits random button.
"Just put your paper in it."
"And then how do I turn it on?" Still holding tightly onto the paper to be copied.
"It will turn on automatically when you- Actually, here, let me do it." Places paper in copier, copier awakes from sleep, beeps twice, screen says 'ready.'
"Oh look! How did you turn it on?!"
"...Magic."
*****
I cannot, just cannot, be the only person who knows how to copy a piece of paper after all these years with the same copy machine.... Can I?
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Why You, the people in my waiting room, are turning me into a hermit...
Or: Why I now hate people
This list is cranky, yes, but everything on it has happened a minimum of twice, and usually much more often than that. And this would be 10 to 15% of our patients. But they take up 90% of my time. And they are making me into a home-bound hermit who screens all her calls.
1. You have a 12 minute conversation with your wife on your cellphone while looming over my desk. A private conversation. About everything on your schedule for the next week. And her schedule. And the dog's schedule.
2. You show up 30 to 90 minutes early to your appointment with your whole extended family, taking up all the seats in the waiting room, and then picnic on MacDonald's while the rest of the patients wander around or lean against my desk, because there is no where to sit.
3. Actually, if you bring anything to eat besides a smoothie or a granola bar (ie, it smells), I hate you.
4. You bring all 5 of your children, all under age 8, to your appointment every time, but you never bring anything for them to do, and they've read and played with everything we have in our meager kids basket a million times.
5. You're always late. Always. Even if we schedule it for 15 minutes later than you say you are coming. And then you have to go to the bathroom, too.
6. You smoke half a pack of cigarettes before coming into the office, and then drown yourself in cologne in the bathroom down the hall. Hot.
7. You complain about our lack of coffee/tea/the tea that you like/muffins/snacks. This is a doctors office. If you are here to eat and drink, you've come to the wrong place. We provide tea in the winter as a courtesy, and there's no guarantee it will be your favorite. Oh, and I know you won't thank us for the tea, either.
8. You try to sneak the People magazine out of the office, requiring me to call you on it like you were a child. Then you complain that we, "probably get them for free anyway." Which is false. And even if it were true, your behavior is still completely inappropriate.
9. You consistently call me Amber, or Amanda, or Susan. None of these are even close to my name. I don't expect you to know my name, but you don't have to make it up, either.
10. You show up early/late and demand to be seen immediately.
11. You sit and stare at me while waiting for your appointment. The whole time. Just staring at me. Why? Read, or at least stare at the wall or something.
12. You stay for an hour after your appointment and read the people magazine out loud to me. Even when I'm on the phone or talking to another patient or, god forbid, working.
13. You ask other patients in the waiting room what they are here for. If you don't know why this is inappropriate, you either have Asperger's or are a jerk. The first is forgivable.
14. Every one minute after your appointment was set to start, you ask me if we are running late, or how long it will be. Once in for your half hour appointment, it turns out you'd like to address not just the one problem, but also three others and also you need a letter written for (employer/other doctor/airlines/fill in the blank). You do not see the correlation between these two things.
15. You come into the office and immediately step up to the counter and announce yourself and shove your credit card at me for your copay, even though I am talking to another person already. You are far more important, apparently.
16. You cannot decide when to schedule. The phone rings/another patient comes in, so I excuse myself to answer it/help them. You nod. I begin taking phone call/helping person, you begin rattling off times that work for you. I am not making eye contact, I try to put my hand up, you talk softer, but you lean in. You assume I am super human, and able to process different conversations in each ear. This is false.
17. Same as 16, but you don't interrupt me. Thank you! However, you do stare at me the whole time, rather than looking at your calender, so when I get back to you, you still have no idea at all what "works for you next week, let me just take a look..."
18. You are fiddling with your smartphone to look at your calender. I have other people waiting behind you/on the phone. You then proceed to answer a phone call/read your email/send a text message. You are unaware that this is rude.
19. You call to schedule, we put you in at 3. You call back 5 minutes later, move it to 5. You call 30 minutes later, and ask to move it back to 3. This appt. has since been filled. You sigh loudly and hang up on me, leaving me to wonder when/if you will be coming.
20. Every time you come in, you ask me to explain your insurance benefits. Every time, I explain them to you to what seems like your satisfaction. The next time, we will have the same exact conversation. I seem to be the only one who is listening.
21. You have a conversation on your phone, with your phone on speaker, and there are 3 other people quietly waiting for their appointments. You don't notice.
22. You come in with the flu/strep/something contagious. We are not seeing you for your illness. You fail to see how this might be unwelcome as you cough without covering your mouth.
23. Worse, you bring your sick child in with you. I end up helping her in the bathroom. She has the stomach flu. You fail to even say thank you, or acknowledge in any way that this is above and beyond my job.
24. When you came in/called earlier, I was in the bathroom. You give me a hard time for slacking off at work the next time you see or talk to me.
25. I have to miss work for a personal reason. The next time you see or talk to me, you ask me about it, I politely decline to discuss it. You keep asking me about it, and ask my boss about it too. You make guesses.
26. Related, you ask me if I'm pregnant at least 3 times a year. I've actually lost 17 pounds in the last year. You ask anyway, and you always have follow-up questions: Why not? When will you try? Etc. I've never brought the very personal topic of reproduction up with you or any other patient, ever.
27. You leave a message at 3am about wanting an appointment, but without mentioning a specific day or time. I leave you a return message in the morning, just throwing some times out there. You call back at the end of the day and want to get that 5:30 I mentioned, which is 10 minutes from now. You are pissed when told it's been taken, and say you'll call back later. Rinse and repeat.
28. You hit on me. You hit on another woman in the office. You complain to me that girls are all the same. Nothing about this strikes you as inappropriate.
29. You lean over my counter to try to look at my computer screen, or start to read the things on my desk out loud. You are offended when I turn the screen away or cover the things on my desk.
30. You reach down to my desk to remove a pen, despite the pen holder full of pens right in front of you. You give me a hard time for not sharing my personal pen.
And that's only 30 of the reasons I have for hating people and becoming a homebody. Certainly not complete, but I feel a little better getting that off my chest. Thank you, everyone.
PS. Before you take the time to leave this comment, I'll get it out of the way: Why, yes, I could get another job. I mean, probably not easily, what with the crappy economy and all. Truth is, I do like my job. I love to people I work for, I love the people I work with, and I like most of our clients. It's just that people do things that drive me insane, you know? And that's what this blog is about: me ranting and blowing off some steam so I don't get fired for throwing a phone receiver at someone's face.
Have a nice day.
This list is cranky, yes, but everything on it has happened a minimum of twice, and usually much more often than that. And this would be 10 to 15% of our patients. But they take up 90% of my time. And they are making me into a home-bound hermit who screens all her calls.
1. You have a 12 minute conversation with your wife on your cellphone while looming over my desk. A private conversation. About everything on your schedule for the next week. And her schedule. And the dog's schedule.
2. You show up 30 to 90 minutes early to your appointment with your whole extended family, taking up all the seats in the waiting room, and then picnic on MacDonald's while the rest of the patients wander around or lean against my desk, because there is no where to sit.
3. Actually, if you bring anything to eat besides a smoothie or a granola bar (ie, it smells), I hate you.
4. You bring all 5 of your children, all under age 8, to your appointment every time, but you never bring anything for them to do, and they've read and played with everything we have in our meager kids basket a million times.
5. You're always late. Always. Even if we schedule it for 15 minutes later than you say you are coming. And then you have to go to the bathroom, too.
6. You smoke half a pack of cigarettes before coming into the office, and then drown yourself in cologne in the bathroom down the hall. Hot.
7. You complain about our lack of coffee/tea/the tea that you like/muffins/snacks. This is a doctors office. If you are here to eat and drink, you've come to the wrong place. We provide tea in the winter as a courtesy, and there's no guarantee it will be your favorite. Oh, and I know you won't thank us for the tea, either.
8. You try to sneak the People magazine out of the office, requiring me to call you on it like you were a child. Then you complain that we, "probably get them for free anyway." Which is false. And even if it were true, your behavior is still completely inappropriate.
9. You consistently call me Amber, or Amanda, or Susan. None of these are even close to my name. I don't expect you to know my name, but you don't have to make it up, either.
10. You show up early/late and demand to be seen immediately.
11. You sit and stare at me while waiting for your appointment. The whole time. Just staring at me. Why? Read, or at least stare at the wall or something.
12. You stay for an hour after your appointment and read the people magazine out loud to me. Even when I'm on the phone or talking to another patient or, god forbid, working.
13. You ask other patients in the waiting room what they are here for. If you don't know why this is inappropriate, you either have Asperger's or are a jerk. The first is forgivable.
14. Every one minute after your appointment was set to start, you ask me if we are running late, or how long it will be. Once in for your half hour appointment, it turns out you'd like to address not just the one problem, but also three others and also you need a letter written for (employer/other doctor/airlines/fill in the blank). You do not see the correlation between these two things.
15. You come into the office and immediately step up to the counter and announce yourself and shove your credit card at me for your copay, even though I am talking to another person already. You are far more important, apparently.
16. You cannot decide when to schedule. The phone rings/another patient comes in, so I excuse myself to answer it/help them. You nod. I begin taking phone call/helping person, you begin rattling off times that work for you. I am not making eye contact, I try to put my hand up, you talk softer, but you lean in. You assume I am super human, and able to process different conversations in each ear. This is false.
17. Same as 16, but you don't interrupt me. Thank you! However, you do stare at me the whole time, rather than looking at your calender, so when I get back to you, you still have no idea at all what "works for you next week, let me just take a look..."
18. You are fiddling with your smartphone to look at your calender. I have other people waiting behind you/on the phone. You then proceed to answer a phone call/read your email/send a text message. You are unaware that this is rude.
19. You call to schedule, we put you in at 3. You call back 5 minutes later, move it to 5. You call 30 minutes later, and ask to move it back to 3. This appt. has since been filled. You sigh loudly and hang up on me, leaving me to wonder when/if you will be coming.
20. Every time you come in, you ask me to explain your insurance benefits. Every time, I explain them to you to what seems like your satisfaction. The next time, we will have the same exact conversation. I seem to be the only one who is listening.
21. You have a conversation on your phone, with your phone on speaker, and there are 3 other people quietly waiting for their appointments. You don't notice.
22. You come in with the flu/strep/something contagious. We are not seeing you for your illness. You fail to see how this might be unwelcome as you cough without covering your mouth.
23. Worse, you bring your sick child in with you. I end up helping her in the bathroom. She has the stomach flu. You fail to even say thank you, or acknowledge in any way that this is above and beyond my job.
24. When you came in/called earlier, I was in the bathroom. You give me a hard time for slacking off at work the next time you see or talk to me.
25. I have to miss work for a personal reason. The next time you see or talk to me, you ask me about it, I politely decline to discuss it. You keep asking me about it, and ask my boss about it too. You make guesses.
26. Related, you ask me if I'm pregnant at least 3 times a year. I've actually lost 17 pounds in the last year. You ask anyway, and you always have follow-up questions: Why not? When will you try? Etc. I've never brought the very personal topic of reproduction up with you or any other patient, ever.
27. You leave a message at 3am about wanting an appointment, but without mentioning a specific day or time. I leave you a return message in the morning, just throwing some times out there. You call back at the end of the day and want to get that 5:30 I mentioned, which is 10 minutes from now. You are pissed when told it's been taken, and say you'll call back later. Rinse and repeat.
28. You hit on me. You hit on another woman in the office. You complain to me that girls are all the same. Nothing about this strikes you as inappropriate.
29. You lean over my counter to try to look at my computer screen, or start to read the things on my desk out loud. You are offended when I turn the screen away or cover the things on my desk.
30. You reach down to my desk to remove a pen, despite the pen holder full of pens right in front of you. You give me a hard time for not sharing my personal pen.
And that's only 30 of the reasons I have for hating people and becoming a homebody. Certainly not complete, but I feel a little better getting that off my chest. Thank you, everyone.
PS. Before you take the time to leave this comment, I'll get it out of the way: Why, yes, I could get another job. I mean, probably not easily, what with the crappy economy and all. Truth is, I do like my job. I love to people I work for, I love the people I work with, and I like most of our clients. It's just that people do things that drive me insane, you know? And that's what this blog is about: me ranting and blowing off some steam so I don't get fired for throwing a phone receiver at someone's face.
Have a nice day.
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