It's occurred to me that I've been recently ranting and letting my bitter side show. I, too was a poet and a gentle soul. I've been known to soothe the soul of the occasional amorous beauty or innocent child. Take this example of my creative, nurturing, loving side of me from Grade Ten... this poem which I can still recall...
Here I stand awash with love
with the gulls flying up above.
My feet are stuck
the sand within...
O' my God, the tide's coming in!
I know, I know... the creative genius oozed from my every pore like acne from a teenager working in a fry joint. Just kidding! Thought you could use a laugh.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Go ahead... make my day...
If there ever was a time I wish the whole world could read my blog it would be now... okay, maybe not the whole world, but how about the appointment seeking population of Hay River.
If you see me on the street, you can say hello, you can compliment me on my shoes, you can strike up a conversation about the weather. Hell, you can say I look fat in the pants that I'm wearing... here are my suggestions to you...
If you see me on the street, you can say hello, you can compliment me on my shoes, you can strike up a conversation about the weather. Hell, you can say I look fat in the pants that I'm wearing... here are my suggestions to you...
- Don't ask me what time your appointment is again. I deal with hundreds of calls a day and book, cancel, re-book hundreds of appointments a day. If you can't remember the appointment date and time you wrote down in the comfort of your own home, or from the card I gave you, how do you realistically expect me to recall your appointment date and time. Call me at work, and I'll tell you. Maybe.
- Don't ask me when doctor So-in-so is going to be in the clinic, because honestly I don't know. If he told he'd be back in September, congratulations you officially know more than I do... I'm like a mushroom (you figure that one out).
- Don't ask me if I can book you an appointment or put you on the wait list for an appointment. Call me... at work... during work hours. If the phone is busy, or it takes too long to get someone... think about it... I've already mentioned I'm booking hundreds of appointments from the phone and/or people in person.
- Don't whisper over my shoulder at a movie theatre for the above questions.
- Don't interrupt me and my wife at dinner at a restaurant for the above questions.
- If I'm standing at a urinal, doing my business... don't ask me anything!
- I won't lend you money.
- I won't give you a ride.
- I won't introduce you to my wife. (She probably knows you already, and that's not a good thing!)
- I won't ask you to babysit... ever.
Monday, June 8, 2009
If you build it, they will come...
I've got a blog follower... welcome Dhamone! I know other people read the blog, but it's nice to know I've got someone who might actually be interested in what I say.
My wife doesn't count because she has to pretend to at least listen to what I say. My co-workers don't count either because they want to make sure I'm not making them look bad. :)
Breaking it down...
My co-worker, a sassy nurse from Newfoundland, asked me if I knew how to send her friends a video through email, because the video was too big. I said to her that she should start up a DropShots account. She could download her video to the site, and then send the link to her friends via email.
She had her mouth slightly open like I rattled off Shakespeare in Greek. I asked her, "Was that a little over your head?"
She replied, "Yeah, explain it to me in Newfie-nies." *
I broke it down to her, only in my own cheeky way...
"Well, you put ta ting in ta ting... " Translation: Well, you put the thing in the thing...
* We refer to people from Newfoundland as Newfies... they also have a unique accent. Check out the show, "This Hour Has 22 Minutes," or the movie, "The Shipping News," with Kevin Spacey.
She had her mouth slightly open like I rattled off Shakespeare in Greek. I asked her, "Was that a little over your head?"
She replied, "Yeah, explain it to me in Newfie-nies." *
I broke it down to her, only in my own cheeky way...
"Well, you put ta ting in ta ting... " Translation: Well, you put the thing in the thing...
* We refer to people from Newfoundland as Newfies... they also have a unique accent. Check out the show, "This Hour Has 22 Minutes," or the movie, "The Shipping News," with Kevin Spacey.
The key word here is RESTRAINT.
Do you sometimes wonder what it takes to drive someone over the edge and make them go postal? I have a theory that they had to deal with idiots on a daily basis. Whether they be co-workers or customers.
I can't go into too much detail on our procedures for lateness and keeping appointments, but when you're late... you are late, and too bad, so sad, we have gone on to the next appointment. When you take into consideration not all clients keep to their scheduled time with the doctors, or doctors being called away for emergencies, we have to keep moving or forever fall behind.
I keep saying to people, be on time. You wouldn't check into your flight ten minutes late and expect to be still going on the plane. Although they would ask you to check in three hours early, so I'm not sure that's the right analogy.
I don't resemble the Charmin man from the Charmin commercials... so there is no squeezing here.
"Can't you just squeeze me in?" No. No squeezing. We have a policy against squeezing clients or so-workers. Again with the plane analogy, "Our flight is full sir, but I'm sure it'll be okay if you stand in the aisle.
"It'll just take a minute..." A minute for me to put you in maybe... but I know few doctors that can diagnose in a minute.
"You'd be doing me a huge favour!" Yeah, and what would I get in return. A headache and no Excedrin.
Stare at me some more. Nope, my statement hasn't changed... there are no appointments available. Staring at me won't change my mind, but it will make my feel sorry for you. Contrary to popular belief, the Jedi Mind trick doesn't work.
Sulking... that's what I had today. An elder came in ten minutes late for her appointment and complained when I told her it was too late.
"I drove twenty minutes to get here."
"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do."
"I'm not made of money."
"Hm hmm."
"Gee whiz."
It came to that... 'gee whiz.' And then she stood and stared... with a pout.
Then I gave in. Not because I felt sorry for her, but I was ashamed to call her an elder. Let's set an example for our youth, if you can't get your way... pout. "Sit down, please." I said with disgust. I just wanted her out of my sight.
If I sound bitter... I am. Today was a bad day... only because of her. I'm not so uncaring that I wouldn't have put her in, if she was on the last of her heart medication, or she was greiving the loss of a loved one and needed to talk to the doctor. I've made exceptions in exceptional cases.
Now, she didn't thank me... to her, it was expected of me... to make a compromise. You tell me, am I justified or being judgemental?
I can't go into too much detail on our procedures for lateness and keeping appointments, but when you're late... you are late, and too bad, so sad, we have gone on to the next appointment. When you take into consideration not all clients keep to their scheduled time with the doctors, or doctors being called away for emergencies, we have to keep moving or forever fall behind.
I keep saying to people, be on time. You wouldn't check into your flight ten minutes late and expect to be still going on the plane. Although they would ask you to check in three hours early, so I'm not sure that's the right analogy.
I don't resemble the Charmin man from the Charmin commercials... so there is no squeezing here.
"Can't you just squeeze me in?" No. No squeezing. We have a policy against squeezing clients or so-workers. Again with the plane analogy, "Our flight is full sir, but I'm sure it'll be okay if you stand in the aisle.
"It'll just take a minute..." A minute for me to put you in maybe... but I know few doctors that can diagnose in a minute.
"You'd be doing me a huge favour!" Yeah, and what would I get in return. A headache and no Excedrin.
Stare at me some more. Nope, my statement hasn't changed... there are no appointments available. Staring at me won't change my mind, but it will make my feel sorry for you. Contrary to popular belief, the Jedi Mind trick doesn't work.
Sulking... that's what I had today. An elder came in ten minutes late for her appointment and complained when I told her it was too late.
"I drove twenty minutes to get here."
"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do."
"I'm not made of money."
"Hm hmm."
"Gee whiz."
It came to that... 'gee whiz.' And then she stood and stared... with a pout.
Then I gave in. Not because I felt sorry for her, but I was ashamed to call her an elder. Let's set an example for our youth, if you can't get your way... pout. "Sit down, please." I said with disgust. I just wanted her out of my sight.
If I sound bitter... I am. Today was a bad day... only because of her. I'm not so uncaring that I wouldn't have put her in, if she was on the last of her heart medication, or she was greiving the loss of a loved one and needed to talk to the doctor. I've made exceptions in exceptional cases.
Now, she didn't thank me... to her, it was expected of me... to make a compromise. You tell me, am I justified or being judgemental?
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Kara, Matt & Co. coming home!
I follow the blog The Adventures of Matt, Kara, Hunter and Cavan in Faro, Yukon. I know Kara and Matt from when they lived here in Hay River, and their adventures of taken them from Kugluktuk, Nunuvut (check that out on MapQuest) to Faro, Yukon, adding a couple of family members on the way. Anyways, they shared by Facebook email that they are coming back to Hay River, and our little group of friends and my immediate family are excited they are coming to visit.
Coke addiction status...
Day 8 of my trials of quitting colas, and it's gone actually easier than I thought.
My co-workers ask me how it's going and I tell them its going good. I wonder if they're actually expecting me to go stark-raving mad and forage through the recycling box for the last drops of Coke from bottles and cans. But nope... all is good.
I went to see Star Trek on Saturday night (awesome, BTW, thank-you), and went to the concession counter for my usual. The usual consists of a large layered combo (large popcorn w/ layered butter and a large drink) and I was going to substitute the Pepsi with fountain peach juice. However, the peach juice was empty and I almost gave in. Okay, I did give in, and I asked for a Pepsi. The young counter attendant then asked me, "Is it okay if it's warm? We have no ice." It's only then that I said, maybe just change the pop with a bottle of water. Not only did I barely thwart drinking Pepsi, I saved four bucks. And if I was to give in to drinking Pepsi or Coke, it would have an ice cold one.
By the way, I have to give kudos to an old school chum for quitting drinking colas on June 1st. He read my blog after I posted the link on Facebook and he commented that he had quit. I don't know whether he quit because of what I wrote (which would be cool), or he did this before I wrote my rant and coincidentally quit drinking cola the same day. But in either case, congrats Gordon Starko! May we start the "Stop the Pop" Revolution! (Actually, school kids already did.)
I work in a clinic and one of our locum doctors and a nurse practitioner read my blog on me quitting drinking cola. One suggested that we post it somewhere and that it was a very good article (B-L-U-S-H).
I was going to quit drinking pop all together because I would be less likely to fall back in with cola, but I slipped today. Isn't "slipping" the term that recovering addicts use when they screw up? Anyways, there was a big accreditation day BBQ at the hospital today because we did well on the accreditation and we're a leading practice. So I get my burger, I get my pasta salad, I get my ice cream, and I get my punch. After I've drank half my punch do I stop and say to my wife, "Don't they put 7Up in this?" To which they said they did. I was truly disappointed with myself but my wife told me not to be too hard on myself. I did impress the diabetic nurse and the dietitian when they heard I quit drinking cola. Jennifer, the dietitian, also said that her husband stopped drinking cola too.
Okay, I won't be too hard on myself, but I won't be buying any other bottles of pop either. Next thing you know I'll be drinking Pepsi Coke speedballs (Coke & Pepsi combined) out of a dixie cup out back of the soup kitchen... just kidding. By the way, Interesting Fact: mixing half Sunny D orange juice with half Pepsi equals a taste not unlike apricot juice. I also worked at a gas station convenience store and we were very bored on a Sunday.
My co-workers ask me how it's going and I tell them its going good. I wonder if they're actually expecting me to go stark-raving mad and forage through the recycling box for the last drops of Coke from bottles and cans. But nope... all is good.
I went to see Star Trek on Saturday night (awesome, BTW, thank-you), and went to the concession counter for my usual. The usual consists of a large layered combo (large popcorn w/ layered butter and a large drink) and I was going to substitute the Pepsi with fountain peach juice. However, the peach juice was empty and I almost gave in. Okay, I did give in, and I asked for a Pepsi. The young counter attendant then asked me, "Is it okay if it's warm? We have no ice." It's only then that I said, maybe just change the pop with a bottle of water. Not only did I barely thwart drinking Pepsi, I saved four bucks. And if I was to give in to drinking Pepsi or Coke, it would have an ice cold one.
By the way, I have to give kudos to an old school chum for quitting drinking colas on June 1st. He read my blog after I posted the link on Facebook and he commented that he had quit. I don't know whether he quit because of what I wrote (which would be cool), or he did this before I wrote my rant and coincidentally quit drinking cola the same day. But in either case, congrats Gordon Starko! May we start the "Stop the Pop" Revolution! (Actually, school kids already did.)
I work in a clinic and one of our locum doctors and a nurse practitioner read my blog on me quitting drinking cola. One suggested that we post it somewhere and that it was a very good article (B-L-U-S-H).
I was going to quit drinking pop all together because I would be less likely to fall back in with cola, but I slipped today. Isn't "slipping" the term that recovering addicts use when they screw up? Anyways, there was a big accreditation day BBQ at the hospital today because we did well on the accreditation and we're a leading practice. So I get my burger, I get my pasta salad, I get my ice cream, and I get my punch. After I've drank half my punch do I stop and say to my wife, "Don't they put 7Up in this?" To which they said they did. I was truly disappointed with myself but my wife told me not to be too hard on myself. I did impress the diabetic nurse and the dietitian when they heard I quit drinking cola. Jennifer, the dietitian, also said that her husband stopped drinking cola too.
Okay, I won't be too hard on myself, but I won't be buying any other bottles of pop either. Next thing you know I'll be drinking Pepsi Coke speedballs (Coke & Pepsi combined) out of a dixie cup out back of the soup kitchen... just kidding. By the way, Interesting Fact: mixing half Sunny D orange juice with half Pepsi equals a taste not unlike apricot juice. I also worked at a gas station convenience store and we were very bored on a Sunday.
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