Secretary

I woke up this morning to find 2 envelopes on the computer desk. They are items that my husband sold on eBay. They are silently staring at me whispering, "Ship me". I do not use eBay but somehow I became the eBay shipping department. I never put the items up for sale and I do not spend the money that they generate. Why am I involved? When I tell my husband to ship them himself, he says if he does it he will do it wrong. How is it that he knows how to correctly buy things but does not know how to correctly sell things?

Camouflage

I went to the skin doctor yesterday for a recheck on my nose wound. I was taken into the office by the medical assistant and we chatted for a few minutes. She asked what I was there for and I said a wound recheck. She looked at me as if to say, "What wound"? All of the other patients in the office that were there for rechecks had on bandages or bandaids. I pointed to my nose and removed the camouflage patch I had made. I am not a vain person but I cannot have a bandage across my nose for three months. It is too annoying. I devised a method that molded ointment and paper to create a natural look while still doing its job. The doctor walked in and said that the wound was healing fantastic. So fantastic, in fact, that when it was all healed he was going to use pictures of it to show patients when they have to make a decision whether to have a skin graft or heal naturally. He said that the patients would not be able to tell which picture was the skin graft. I explained my "method" to him and he said that no one ever did it that way but it seems to work beautifully so keep it up. 

Notes

My life is kept in order by bits of paper. If I do not write myself notes, I would forget some of the things I need to do. This morning I have to pick up a co worker and drive her to work. I need a note for that. Later I have to go to the doctor. I need a note for that. This weekend I am going away and want to take certain things with me. I need a note for that. My husband has been writing notes also lately but his are different than mine. Today I found a note in the kitchen to remind himself what he wants to eat for breakfast. The note said, "Bagel and lox". As bad as my memory is getting, I would never need to be reminded to eat. 

Dress Code

Last night I went to a party at my boss's house. I have not been to her holiday party in years as she always has it on my granddaughter's birthday weekend. This year it was a week early. Everyone came nicely dressed except one doctor. She has a Bohemian fashion style, that borders odd. She wore an outfit that I have seen her wear many times to work. She wore black and white polka dot slip in shoes with black socks covered in embroidered strawberries. Her pants were rust color. Her top was pink and she had a mustard yellow sweater over it that fell about six inches above the shirt. Her hair was clipped with bobby pins and she had two contrasting necklaces around her neck. This is a normal work look for her but I didn't think it was also a dress up look. She looked like a vagabond who pulled clothes out of a dumpster and threw them on. Her clothes are always clean but rumpled. Her boyfriend was nicely dressed. This woman is in her early thirties and is brilliant. She has published at least three books. I guess that she feels as long as she has clothes on it doesn't matter what they look like.

Early Bird

My mail is usually delivered sometime after 4pm. It even gets here as late as 6pm. I always wonder what my mailman is doing all day as I see his truck around the corner from me at 1pm. I think he takes a long nap and delivers the mail late to get overtime. This morning at 8am he delivered a package to my front porch. I now know he is up and running. I am curious to see what time my mail arrives today. I hope by him starting his work day early means he doesn't extend his nap.

Better Rates

Back in the day, a price was a price. There was no negotiating. If you booked a hotel room there was one price. An airline ticket or rental car also had one price. Now it is a game to find the lowest price. If you stay on a website long enough, the prices change. If you use two separate computers, there are two different prices. I had hotel rooms booked for next week and Christmas week. I thought I had the lowest price. Just for fun I went back into the hotel site last night and lo and behold the room prices were lower by $30 a night. I rebooked the stays. All in all I saved $120. Now I will look at car rentals for when I am in Florida. Maybe I can do better on that.

Language Barrier

Yesterday morning a middle aged woman walked into my office at 8am. She seemed a little flustered and was trying to ask my receptionist something in Spanish. She had two papers in her hands. One was from her primary care doctor ordering an MRI and the other was the name and address of the radiologist's office. My receptionist looked at the papers and grumbled, "Not here" and turned away. The woman continued to try to talk to her but my receptionist kept saying, "Not here". The woman was almost in tears. I was able to make out the words that she was looking for the doctor since 6am but could not find him. I went over to the window and asked her for the paper. I saw the problem. Her RX was for Northwell Health Radiology. Just recently Great Neck Radiology changed names but did not list the new name on the information board in the lobby. I tried to tell the woman to go to the second floor but she did not understand me. I walked into the waiting room and told her to follow me. We got into the elevator and went to the second floor. I walked her into the radiologist's office. She looked so relieved. Her eyes welled up with tears and she said, "Thank you" in English. She then gave me a big hug. All it took was a minute of my time to help someone who was lost. When I got back into my office my receptionist looked annoyed that I went out of my way for someone. What is this world coming to?