Senior Math

I am truly blessed. I have two 92 year old parents. They are still functioning very well on their own. They are independent and have all of their senses. As they age, I find that I am doing senior math. Everything needs to be repeated twice. The first time they tell me that I mumble. The second time when I scream, they hear me. The math equation for phone calls is: four calls on three phones to two people equals no one answering. I know they are okay, but I would still like them to answer on at least the seventeenth ring. I remind them three times to do something and they tell me that I need to relax. I hope I am doing senior math for another twenty years.

What Were You Thinking?

I got a call from my office last night. A patient had called in for their telephone therapy session. For some reason it was not on the doctor's schedule as it had been a last minute change. This rarely happens. The doctor was in the office and had the time slot open but said she could not accommodate the patient. That is when I got the call. I asked the front staff why the doctor could not take the call. They said that she was exercising on the stairwell as she does each night. Really? Choosing exercise over a patient? If I was there I would have been in the stairwell pulling the doctor off of the steps by her hair and dragging her into the office to do her job. This doctor is a genius, an author and a very talented woman but she sometimes lacks common sense. I asked to speak to the administrator who was still in work. I told her to go to the stairwell and make the doctor come inside. I told her to give the doctor 2 choices. Come in now and call the patient, apologize and start the session or stay outside and the next session is a free one. She chose to come inside.

Subtle Announcement

Most newer cars have speaker phone or bluetooth. The call immediately connects to the radio. This has created a new phone etiquette. When someone is riding with you, the person who called you needs to know. That way embarrassing situations can be avoided. This is where the subtle announcement comes in. The phone rings. You say hello. They say hello. Then in a cheery voice you say, "Mr. Jones is in the car with me!". We all know that by saying that, the caller is forewarned not to say anything stupid. Stupidity is for private conversations.

Peer Pressure

No matter how old you are or in what profession there will always be peer pressure. A few of my doctors are taking a certification course this week. There are about 80 other doctors from the New York area taking it with them. Mid day yesterday my director called me to say that other people were telling her that they bill the insurance companies for their unlicensed doctors and are being paid. I said that we cannot do that as unlicensed doctors are not billable. She said that everyone was arguing with her that she is wrong. After we finished the conversation I called the New York State Educational Licensing Department and asked them that question. They said in no uncertain terms that it is illegal to bill for non licensed providers and anyone who is doing that is putting their own license in jeopardy. I knew I was correct but my director's peer pressure made me make the call. She now can go back and tell her "friends" that she was right and if they disagree they can call the state.

The Right Tools

If you have the know how and the right tools, there is nothing you cannot do. My son has always believed in buying good tools. He feels that if you have them on hand, any project is easy. I saw this yesterday. My car needed new front brakes. The auto mechanic said it would cost me $260 for brakes and rotors. I never knew what a rotor was but it always sounded daunting when they would say, "We need to grind the rotors or they will have to be replaced". My son ordered my brakes and rotors from online and it cost $49. I went to his house yesterday and he had all of his tools lined up. Every wrench, gauge, spray, brush and lift. He proceeded to replace my brakes and rotors in a careful methodical way. The entire job took him less than one hour, including a break for us to talk. I was very impressed.

Different Views

What you see online, I might not see. Sometimes when I am at work my receptionist is on the internet and sees an interesting article. She tells me to go to the Yahoo home page. I get onto that page, but what is on her home page is not on mine. If I close out and open the page again, it is still not there. Many times if we are buying a gift for an office worker we are on the same store site, but her "sale" price is not the one I have. The internet has learned to silently read our preferences and skews our information. To me, this is propaganda. I am only getting the information the internet thinks is necessary.

Too Many Pies

Last night we went for pizza. We ordered two pies. One was a sausage pizza and one was a chicken pizza. When the food arrived, the chicken pie had no chicken on it. We called over the waitress and asked her to bring the chicken so we could throw it on the pie. She said she could not do that. She would have to order a new one for us. We could take home the chicken free pie as a gift. We ate the sausage pie and then the new one arrived. When we were done we had one whole pie and 2 extra slices left. The waitress then brought us over a dozen rolls to go. We walked out smiling.