No Good Deed

No good deed goes unpunished. Good deeds and punishments should not be used in the same sentence, but unfortunately, they are. In my case the good deeds that are punished are the ones when I try to go out of my way to assist someone and it backfires in my face. I am lucky that these incidents are only work related. My friends and family are too considerate to pull this nonsense on me. Let me explain. I work in a busy office and appointments are made weeks in advance. We wish we could see patients sooner than that but there are time constraints. Every so often, someone calls and they are distraught. I listen to their sad story and hear them plead with me to do something, to get them in immediately. Years ago I fell for their sob stories. I would call the doctors and beg them to come in early or stay late. What could be more important than patient care? Every time I did this, the person either never showed up or cancelled an hour before. Maybe there is no place for good deeds at work.