I'm surrounded by idiots!

I swear I'm surrounded by idiots!

In yesterday's blog, I wrote about the patient and their spouse who ruined the new thermometer that we had gotten for the whirlpool tank in the rehab department where I work. Then there was the volunteer who totally screwed up every project I gave her, so badly that it will take me days to fix everything. I called the dentist regarding my appointment that they had scheduled for tomorrow and discovered that the time they wrote on the card is different than what they put in their schedule. (Good thing I called or I would have been WAY early!) And then, there was the response that I got from a nationally known food company.

The other day I had written said company to request that they make gluten free products. With the growing number of the populous that have food allergies, there is a large market for "special needs" foods. In the email I wrote that since my diagnosis of Celiac Disease about 10 years ago I hadn't been able to consume their product without serious allergic reactions. And that I'd really like it if they could make a gluten free version. I was excited to see that I had even gotten a response from them since most of the letters of this sort I send out are completely ignored. The excitement quickly turned to frustration when I read what their response to my inquiry was.

Here is part of their response.

"Mr Joelle ____, we received your message and appreciate your taking the time to contact ____ Company." (Mr?? When did I have a sex change? You'd think I'd remember something like that...)

"We will be happy to send you a coupon for the ____Company product of your choice." (Ok, what part of the "your product causes me to have SERIOUS allergic reactions" did they not get? A coupon for those products is worthless unless I want to kill myself by eating their food!)

Even the checkout girl at the grocery store couldn't get anything right. She opened up a new checkout so the 30 of us standing in line could go through 3 lanes instead of just 2. (So far so good at this point right?) She called a bunch of us over to her lane and even had a cart completely unloaded on the conveyor belt ready to be scanned. Then she had to switch lanes because she couldn't get the checkout working right. Ok, so we reload our carts and move over to the next lane. (She helped by smashing all the person in front of me's eggs and bread.) Then she kept grabbing and scanning stuff completely ignoring the little divider bars we had all placed between our items. So, we all had to wait while she removed all the wrong items and adjusted the totals. It took longer to check out than it did to shop.

This is how my week has been going. It's only Tuesday and I'm still looking for some form of intelligence in the world around me. My plant has more active brain cells than the people I've encountered. I'm going to exercise and then go to bed. If I'm lucky, tomorrow will bring someone with some sort of brain activity. You can tell the full moon is coming on Friday! The loonies are out and about in full force!

Green Food, Leprechauns, and Monday Moanings

When I was growing up, my family celebrated each holiday with unique flair. We didn't have alot of extra money, so we created our own fun. And to be honest, I think that created more fun memories than any commercial treats that could have been purchased.

Take St. Patrick's Day. Every meal would be colored green. Green pancakes for breakfast. Peanut butter and green jelly sandwiches, green apples, and celery sticks for lunch. Green fruits for a snack. And finally, green tuna noodle casserole, green beans, and green jello for dinner. (We went through a lot of food coloring back then!)

We'd all wear the obligatory green clothes. Which, as we are all on the shorter side made us all look like leprechauns. (Poor Jon had to be dressed up like a leprechaun and go to entertain nursing home residents once.) It was the one time that we could pinch a sibling and get away with it. More than once, someone claimed the green they were wearing was their eyes. Which frustrated me to no end as I was one of the only 2 blue eyed people in the family. (And no, green eyes still don't count for wearing something green in my book!)

As I look at it now, it's funny how history repeats itself. I still short and look like a leprechaun when I wear green. I still don't have alot of extra money to spend. And I still eat green food. Though this time the green food comes from a salad as I'm on a diet or because the food is just past the expiration date. (Just kidding.. I'm a stickler for expiration dates. There's a reason they put them on the packaging!)

Today was a typical full moon Monday. (The full moon falls this coming Friday.) I fell asleep around 1:00 AM and was startled awake at 4:00 by a large loud crash. I'm still not sure exactly what it was, but it sure sounded like the Apocalypse was happening at the time. I fell back into a fitful sleep only to be awakened by all 4 of my alarm clocks going off at the same time. I made it to work and managed to make it through the morning without any major problems. It was busy, but no catastrophes. Around noon, I treked out to yet another office to take pictures of the staff for the staff directory. And then in the afternoon, the poop hit the fan.

One of the services we provide at the hospital where I work is whirlpool therapy for wound care. The water in the tank must be kept at a certain temperature to take care of the wound and not be too hot where it might cause burns. Recently, the thermometer broke on the tank and had to be replaced. (These tanks are older than I am!) So, we were instructed by risk management to purchase a pool thermometer to replace it. As long as the tank was cleaned and sterilized after each treatment and the thermometer was inserted and removed before the patient ever touched the water, we didn't have to clean it. It wouldn't get "dirty" as it was in a sterile environment. Well, today (first time using the fun new thermometer) the therapist left the room for 5 minutes and walked back into the room only to find the patients spouse dunking the thermometer in the agitating water surrounding the patients infected wound. There goes our budget down the drain... literally.

Thankfully this evening has been relatively uneventful. I was lucky enough to sneak in a short nap. I managed to only slightly scorch my dinner. (Nothing green this time just mac and cheese and rice pudding.) Now I'm going to finish my movie, do my 3 miles of exercise, and then call it a day. Happy St. Patricks day everyone.