The Manager

One of my evening receptionists called me last night to give me a heads up that a disgruntled patient would be calling me this morning. Usually when nasty patients are told to call the manager the next day, they never do. They seem to think about it and realize that they will never get the better of me. The patient was upset that her charge card was used to pay for 2 old visits. When a new patient books an appointment I ask for their credit card number. I explain that I will never use it unless they have a visit and walk out without paying. I usually let the first unpaid visit go until they come in again. If they do it a second time, the card is charged for both visits. Imagine going to a gas station or supermarket or clothes store and taking merchandise out of it without paying. Imagine doing it twice. A doctor visit is like merchandise. You have the service and must pay for it.

Head First

I have made a correlation between swimming and the different temperaments of men and women. As I observe behaviors at the town pool, it is apparent that the differences between the sexes extends to how we enter the water. Men dive in head first. They have no idea of the water temperature or even how deep the water is. They jump first and access later. Women go in slowly and start by putting one foot into the water. If things feel right, they tread slowly as they go farther in. If it is too cold or too deep, they reevaluate before making the next move. Once things seem to be right, the next step is taken.

Cloudy Day

Before we know it, the summer will be over. Each day in the sun is precious. Today I woke up to the clouds. If it was tomorrow it would be alright, as I will be in work. Even though I do not sit in the sun, I still like to see it shine brightly. I will wait until 12pm to see if it is a pool day. Otherwise, new plans need to be formulated.

Sky

I am sitting in my den looking out of the window at the sky. I want to go to the town pool this afternoon and when I got up the sky was blue. I said I was going. Then the sky turned grey, so I said I might not. It cleared up again, so my bathing suit went on. Now it is grey. I think that Mother Nature is toying with my emotions. Last year I went to the pool on a rainy day and just sat under an awning. That might be the case today.

No Bones

I am not a complainer. I know that this is not a perfect world, so I just go with the flow. I heard a story the other day and I am still laughing about it. I have a friend who complains about everything. She scrutinizes people's behavior and motives. The other week she went to buy a veal chop in Waldbums. She bought a package that she thought would feed two people. She said it was delicious, but she was still not happy. She took the empty meat packaging back to the store the next day and asked to see the meat manager. It seems that when she opened the package, she saw the round bone that is in the veal chop. The label was placed over the bone and not in full view. She felt that it was strategically placed there to fool the purchaser into thinking that there was more meat than "met the eye". The manager offered her money back but she declined. She just wanted to make him aware of his employees deceitful practices. You can't make this stuff up!

Recognition

Everyone wants to be recognized for doing a good job. Most times we are not. I have a research volunteer that is also my front desk receptionist. She is a smart girl, in school for a second Masters Degree and works part time. She does everything well and goes above and beyond what is asked of her. I always praise her for being such a valuable worker. When she is doing research, she is extremely professional. Her Masters Degree is in psychological statistics. She created a data base and then wrote an instruction binder. She did this for no pay and much of it was done on her own time at home. Not only was she not thanked for it, the other volunteers are giving her a hard time learning it. They goof around and show up late to her meetings. Yesterday she told me she was quitting her job as she had a fight with the other volunteers and feels awkward now. Even though I am not in charge of them, I will have a meeting today and try my best to straighten things out. She is too good of a worker to lose. 

Rx's

Years ago when you needed medication, you went to your local pharmacy and got it that day. A refill would be done in a few hours. Now we need to plan. Our insurance companies want us to have 90 day supplies even if we might not need it. We have to be on our toes two weeks before the prescription comes due. If not, there would not be enough time for it to be mailed to us. Then we would have to order a "bridge" supply. It is bad enough that I have to remember my medication, but I am also responsible for my husband's. This month, he never told me that he was down to 2 pills of each. Good thing I hide a week's supply.