Maybe it's just my imagination, but lately, I feel like I've been noticing a lot of people saying "supposably." And I'm talking about college-educated people who should supposably know better.
Supposably--not a word.
And neither is "irregardless."
But I'd probably sound like a jerk if I said that.
Monday, April 30, 2018
Monday, April 23, 2018
Being responsible
It feels like the people I know who don't work in medicine don't seem to understand the responsibilities people in medicine have toward their jobs.
I was ill with a fever a few weeks ago, and I was having a bit of post-viral malaise (still am). I wasn't feeling fabulous, but I wasn't actively sick or anything. Just dragging a bit since the fever, although improving. I was supposed to work at the hospital over the weekend, and multiple people told me I should blow it off. Adults. Who have had or currently hold jobs.
One person further suggested I should take several months off.
It's exhausting to explain this to people. Including my husband. Do people in other fields really don't get that you can't just take off work without warning just because you're a little tired?
I was ill with a fever a few weeks ago, and I was having a bit of post-viral malaise (still am). I wasn't feeling fabulous, but I wasn't actively sick or anything. Just dragging a bit since the fever, although improving. I was supposed to work at the hospital over the weekend, and multiple people told me I should blow it off. Adults. Who have had or currently hold jobs.
One person further suggested I should take several months off.
It's exhausting to explain this to people. Including my husband. Do people in other fields really don't get that you can't just take off work without warning just because you're a little tired?
Monday, April 16, 2018
Our neighbors
I don’t know what to do about my neighbors.
I live in an apartment building, so I’ve never actually met them. I’m not even sure if it’s my upstairs neighbors or my side neighbors. But lately, they’ve been bothering me a little.
The guy who lives there shouts curses a lot. That part doesn’t bother me. Usually I notice it because I’ll be getting dressed in the bathroom and I’ll hear him screaming curses. It’s a little unsettling, but also somewhat amusing.
However, on two occasions, his shouting woke me up. Last night, it woke me up at 1:30 in the morning. On another occasion, I think he might have been having a fight with his wife at six in the morning. I heard him screaming, “What the fuck do you want from me???” over and over at what sounded like the top of his lungs, and then a woman giving a muffled response.
I’m not sure what to do about this. It’s not in a place where the kids can really hear it, so I’m not bothered if he yells curses during the day, but I’d rather not be woken up by shouting. But I’m not even sure where the guy lives, and he seems like a possibly unstable person I don’t want to antagonize. We’re only going to be living here for a few more months. What do you think I should do?
Sigh. Just when the baby moved out...
I live in an apartment building, so I’ve never actually met them. I’m not even sure if it’s my upstairs neighbors or my side neighbors. But lately, they’ve been bothering me a little.
The guy who lives there shouts curses a lot. That part doesn’t bother me. Usually I notice it because I’ll be getting dressed in the bathroom and I’ll hear him screaming curses. It’s a little unsettling, but also somewhat amusing.
However, on two occasions, his shouting woke me up. Last night, it woke me up at 1:30 in the morning. On another occasion, I think he might have been having a fight with his wife at six in the morning. I heard him screaming, “What the fuck do you want from me???” over and over at what sounded like the top of his lungs, and then a woman giving a muffled response.
I’m not sure what to do about this. It’s not in a place where the kids can really hear it, so I’m not bothered if he yells curses during the day, but I’d rather not be woken up by shouting. But I’m not even sure where the guy lives, and he seems like a possibly unstable person I don’t want to antagonize. We’re only going to be living here for a few more months. What do you think I should do?
Sigh. Just when the baby moved out...
Monday, April 2, 2018
Customer service
I feel like as a doctor, part of my job is customer service. Because when I see inpatients, a lot of the time when I ask at the end of seeing them if there's anything else I can do for them, they have a complaint about their call button taking too long to be answered, the food being bad, their roommate being too loud, etc.
I try to handle the complaints best I can. I never ignore them. I say something like, "I'm so sorry that happened. Let me see what I can do to fix it." Then I tell them my plan, which involves anything from talking to the nursing supervisor about nursing issues or to the unit coordinator to get them a room change. I can't personally fix the problem, but at least I try to show I'm taking it seriously and addressing it.
It's made me a lot less tolerant of bad customer service.
Recently, I got an email at 6PM from our leasing office, saying that tomorrow (a holiday when kids were off from school), they were doing repairs and our water would be shut off intermittently "after 8AM." I was horrified. We didn't even have a day's notice of this! I was going to be home with the kids all day and how can you do anything at home when you don't know if you're going to have water to clean it up?
I called the office, and the woman I spoke to was almost rude. She assured me they were in no way obligated to inform us in advance of such a thing. When I asked for a better estimate of when the repairs were being done, she huffed, "I gave you an estimate already! It's going to be after 8AM." I was like, "But that's the WHOLE DAY."
Finally, after talking for several minutes, I pleaded with her to at least talk to the repairmen in the morning to see about getting a better estimate on the time, and she very grudgingly agreed.
How hard would it have been to apologize to me for this unexpected inconvenience? How hard would it have been to offer to check with the repairmen instead of forcing me to beg her to do it?
I think Customer Service 101 is not acting like the complaint is the fault of the customer.
I try to handle the complaints best I can. I never ignore them. I say something like, "I'm so sorry that happened. Let me see what I can do to fix it." Then I tell them my plan, which involves anything from talking to the nursing supervisor about nursing issues or to the unit coordinator to get them a room change. I can't personally fix the problem, but at least I try to show I'm taking it seriously and addressing it.
It's made me a lot less tolerant of bad customer service.
Recently, I got an email at 6PM from our leasing office, saying that tomorrow (a holiday when kids were off from school), they were doing repairs and our water would be shut off intermittently "after 8AM." I was horrified. We didn't even have a day's notice of this! I was going to be home with the kids all day and how can you do anything at home when you don't know if you're going to have water to clean it up?
I called the office, and the woman I spoke to was almost rude. She assured me they were in no way obligated to inform us in advance of such a thing. When I asked for a better estimate of when the repairs were being done, she huffed, "I gave you an estimate already! It's going to be after 8AM." I was like, "But that's the WHOLE DAY."
Finally, after talking for several minutes, I pleaded with her to at least talk to the repairmen in the morning to see about getting a better estimate on the time, and she very grudgingly agreed.
How hard would it have been to apologize to me for this unexpected inconvenience? How hard would it have been to offer to check with the repairmen instead of forcing me to beg her to do it?
I think Customer Service 101 is not acting like the complaint is the fault of the customer.
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