The "It" Girl

 In the 1940's there was an expression, the "It" girl. It was used with starlets to say that they had all of the qualities a woman could want. It was attributed to a few famous women but then became a slogan. Every decade has had one. I am my office's "IT" girl. "IT" as in information technology. Yesterday my boss rushed into the front office to ask where the internet router was. Since she has no reason to go near it, I asked why she needed it. She said she needed to turn it off and on to get her scanner connected to her computer. After a silent scream of "nooooooo", I told her that if she touched the router, she could delete the medical software. I then walked into her office and showed her that the scanner was already on the computer and showed her how to use it. Crisis averted. An hour later she came running into the front office again saying that the internet was down and she had a web meeting to go to. Once more, I walked into her office and reconnected her to the internet. Had I not been at work, lord knows what mess I would have walked into on Monday morning.

One of Many

After the storm, many people were left without electricity and internet. On Long Island, approximately 300,000 people had no lights and another 52,000 had no cable, if they had lights. My boss lost her electricity and her internet. She has a generator so the internet would have worked if it was up. She called and asked me to call PSEG to tell them that she needed electricity because she has an elderly mother. She wanted a call back. She wanted me to do the same with the cable company. She needed internet to work. As she was telling me this, the silent bubble in my head was thinking. First of all, everyone needs electricity. There are tens of reasons why each person feels that they need it more. One has small babies. One needs a sleep apnea machine. One needs an oxygen machine. One has a heart condition. And so on and so on. Now, since the virus, many people work from home. They all need the internet. Who needs it more, the PSEG people work from home and so do the cable company people. I told her I would call. I knew the answer would be, "We are working on it". I dialed the phone, put it on speaker, and went about my workday. At 2pm, when it was time to leave, I hung up the phone. I had still been on hold. Later that day when she texted to ask what the companies said, I replied, "They are working on it".

Judgement Call

Yesterday there was a storm. Wind and rain covered the area. Trees were falling and debris was flying. I was at work looking at the weather pondering when I would leave. One new patient was going to come into the office so my director came in. A few hours before the appointment the patient called to say that the weather was too bad to come out. My boss was upset. She said that if she made it in, they could. I told her that she should never make a judgement call for anyone else. A few minutes later, I decided that I needed to leave because the winds were getting worse. As I drove, I saw how many trees were in the roadway. I called my boss and told her that even though she didn't think it was bad, it was, and she needed to leave also. She said she would close the office and go home.

Emphasis

Emphasis is as important as meaning. If the emphasis is wrong, people are too distracted to listen to the rest of the conversation. The other day a group of friends were discussing food and one brought up Moussaka. The correct pronunciation is moo-saa-ka, with the emphasis on the saa. That is the only way I have ever heard it said, until Sunday. My friend kept calling it moo-sick-a, with the emphasis on the moo. She must have said that word 5 times during her story and no one wanted to correct her. If we did, she would not have taken the correction at face value. There would have been a discussion, a googling session and a debate. It was easier, but still painful, to hear the word moussaka mangled. I still have no idea about anything else she was saying about the moussaka. Neither did anyone else.

The Facade

What you see, other people see. That is a statement, maybe a bit paraphrased, from my sister in law's father. Sometimes I feel that people do not see what I see, or are just hiding the fact. People that are too nice bother me as much as people who are too nasty. I like midway people. To me, too nice means you are trying to hard to not let people see the real you. I feel it is not genuine. I never liked "Ellen". She seemed too nice. People thought I was nuts not liking such a fun, happy, dancing around person. I just got the vibe that all the niceness was covering up something. I guess what I saw, other people saw, but they just kept it quiet. Now the floodgates have opened. She did nothing terrible. She just acted like a regular person with moods and crankiness. I respect her right to do so. It makes her normal. Now, what I saw, everyone is seeing.

Hang Your Hat

There is an old expression that you can "Hang your hat" on something. It means that an idea or situation is stable  and a sure thing. There is not much we can hang our hats on lately. You cannot hang your hat on the weather. Today was supposed to be raining with thunderstorms. Look outside. It is sunny with 0 chance of rain. The beaches were supposed to be open. Then the sharks came. Restaurants welcomed credit cards and we got back a % as an incentive. Then they decided to charge you their overhead fee so your % went to 0 and now you pay an extra amount to the establishment. You could hang your hat on going to school. Now that is in discussion. You could hang your hat on going to work. Now, maybe you go, maybe you work at home, or maybe you lost your job. Wait....there is one thing you can hang your hat on. When you call 911, the police will come, no matter who you are, where you are, or what the problem is. 

The Table

Years ago my Mah Jongg group started a saying "Throw it on the table". It meant to put a though out for other people to give their opinion and guide you. The table can be anywhere. It could be a kitchen or an office or even sitting at the pool. The table is invisible but the concept is real. If you have a good support system, the table is your therapy option. In all of the years I played Mah Jongg, the table never steered me or anyone else wrong.