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I Should�ve Taken That Left Turn at Albuquerque |
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Hello and welcome. If you're new here, be a dear and Read my Disclaimer. My diary not good enough for you? Fine, be that way. Try these instead: plf
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2000-08-23 - 10:49pm� I think that the most commonly used phrase in my vocabularly theses days is "Oh dear." I used it at least once in every phone conversation I had at work today. It's a good phrase to use when I just don't know how to respond to the problems of the people I talk to. For example: Client: "I'm not in good shape. I'm 98 years old, I can't get around too well these days and I'm already partially deaf. I need a ride to this appointment at my eye doctor's because I need eye surgery or I'll go blind too." Me: "Oh dear!" I don't mean to be callous. I don't want to dismiss these people's problems. But I don't know how to respond most of the time. How do I express my sympathy? How do I express that I care, and I want to do my best to help them? How do I express the fact that I feel damn lucky not to be in their situation? I don't know, so I just answer "Oh dear!" It seems to satisfy. Today was such a trying day. Just about every person I talked to today wanted to complain about our service, cancel service at the last minute, or demand service at the last minute. Everyone was having a bad day, and they wanted me to understand and do what they wanted right away. I talked to one man this morning (the man from the example above), who called me 3 hours before his volunteer driver was scheduled to pick him up for his eye doctor's appointment. He decided that he didn't feel like going to his appointment. I asked him if he was feeling alright, and he said he didn't feel all that great. He was 98 and couldn't get around well, and he was already a little deaf, and he was afraid he was going a little blind too. I said "Oh dear." He said he just wasn't feeling up to his appointment. So I got off the phone and called the woman who was scheduled to drive him, to let her know that he cancelled. She was a little alarmed, because she knew that the doctor he was supposed to go to has an extremely long waiting list. It takes something like 5 months to get in to see him. My response? "Oh dear." Because that's just what I say now. The second I got off the phone with the volunteer driver, he calls me back. He's suddenly feeling a little better, and has decided he'll go to the appointment after all. I tried to explain to him that I just finished cancelling the appointment. He just would not let me tell him that. After everything I said, he told me he couldn't hear what I said and reminded me that he was 98 years old and partially deaf. Uh huh, convenient excuse. Finally I shouted that I would try to get ahold of the driver again. It ended up working out okay. The volunteer driver just laughed when I called her back. She's been volunteering for this service for years, and is probably way more used to this than I am. This incident pretty much set the tone for the day. I had another woman insist that she needed a driver to take her shopping tomorrow morning, instead of Friday (when she is usually scheduled). When I explained that I thought all our volunteer drivers were already booked tomorrow morning, she yelled at me that one of them would just have to cancel and take her instead, because she was 82 years old, can't walk, and needs to go shopping. I do feel for these people. I know that they do not have an easy life. But here's the thing that gets me: Every one of them honestly believes that they are much worse off than any of the other clients. They don't think that any person who needs to use this service must be elderly and having difficulties. Otherwise they wouldn't need the service at all. Sigh. I managed to stave off going insane by going to visit my buddy at the ice cream shop today on my lunch. The chocolate soda soothed my mood and my temper. Plus, the guy who owns the shop is really cool. We commiserated about the trials of dealing with the elderly. He had some stories of his own about ornery elderly customers. So that was good. I'm really not looking forward to going back there tomorrow though. I do like the job, but after today I could use a day off. I wish the week was over.
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The big 3 0 - 2006-06-03 Hello again - 2006-05-03 Random stuff in place of an actual update - 2006-03-15 Pictures. Just Because. - 2006-02-23 Christmas 05 - 2005-12-26 Currently listening to: |
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