1 hour and 10 minutes lost

What a Monday. Yes, a statement, not a question. Although, as I digest the day's events, perhaps I should question Monday!

Remember this past weekend turned the clocks ahead 1 hour...so time lost. Gone. Poof! My day today started 10 minutes later than it should have. Apparently 10 minutes shouldn't be a big deal, but since I missed them this morning, I think the cosmic ribbon of energy was upset...read on...

Snorin, the spouse, didn't go to work today. The headache he was complaining about yesterday was still lurking this morning at 0445, so he just turned off his alarm and rolled over back into the folds of warmth and security under the down comforter. Now, I set my alarm for 0555. Usually, Snorin gets up, does his back stretching program, showers, dresses and complains about having to go to work at that "Hell Hole" and off he goes at 0540. I actually get out of bed at 0520, grab his clothes for work and lay them on the bed. Then I make his lunch, and put it in the lunch box. Now, if it's really cold or frosted outside, I bundle up and go outside and start his truck to ease the transition from warm house to cold truck. It also saves him a couple of minutes scraping the windows. (Here is the part of the blog when I accept the award Outstanding Performance by a Wife In A Drama or Comedy and thank the academy!) Once Snorin is out the door, I lock the door and dash back to the lingering warmth under the comforter...only to have my radio/alarm click into action. The DJs banter nudges me out of bed at 0600, sometimes 0605 or 0606...

Today, I woke up to the sound of Cool and the Gang shrieking "Celebrate." Now, this song is not a favorite, but it cannot be confused with DJ banter. And the music on this station starts after the news is complete at 0610...uh oh!

I am amazingly well tuned to shower, shampoo & shine, and left just 5 minutes after the usual schedule. Now, the son used my car and the gas light was on when I fired up the car...hmmm (note to self: charge kid double what I put in tank!). I put a mere $10 into the tank (not even 3 gallons, but enough to get to work!) and off I went. I made it to work ontime (no thanks to the idiot driver in front of me) and clocked in ontime! There was a message on machine at work...1 of 2 front office gals sounds as if she is underwater with head cold...she won't be in. I reset the message machine, and the phone rings. The 2nd of the 2 front office gals...who is out 3 of 4 Mondays every month..."has caught a virus" and won't be in. Miraculously she has survived these mysterious plagues every Monday and returned to work the next day every time. She has had "pink eye" 8 times in less than 1 year. The last time she had it, she came in the next day with new hair color, and full makeup...including mascara. Now, the office manager doesn't wear makeup, so doesn't know that you aren't to wear mascara less than 24 hours after being diagnoses with congunctivitus. Oh well.

So, all of the office people are out. And we are just to 0703! The Office Manager never stays late to cover any shifts, never comes in early and never, ever offers to work on her day off, even if we are down to 1 person out of 6 person office. And today was no different. Immediately upon learning about the missing employees, she asked the other staff who would be staying to cover and how their schedule needed to be adjusted to cover the closing. I usually get off work at 1445, but she thought that I should stay until after I check in the last new patient at 1715-ish. (that's 5:15pm), Now, the OM's regular leaving time is 1630, so her staying would mean maybe 45 minutes later, not the 2 1/2 hours for me. When I mentioned that since her child wasn't in school today (yep, the 4th grader was suspended from school again for fighting, but that is a complete blog in itself!) and she didn't need to rush home, she replied, "Well, I never know what could be going on, so I can't commit to staying late!" Her husband (5 time drunk driver, coke head, unemployed all around bum) was watching the little "angel" (her words, not mine) while he was on school suspension...which means the dad stayed in bed, and the kid played video games (my words). He's learning a good lesson there, huh? The lady who wound up covering, wound up going home for 2 hours in middle of the day, so stay 2 hours after her shift and close the clinic.

Coupled with unbearable phones, busy office and the fact that my own job tasks still need to be completed every day, the fact that I don't work in the front office very often, and on & on & on...this was a horrible day. I left 1 hour late anyway. The office manager went to some obscure meeting on another campus of the hospital for 2 hours, for something that could have been handeled over the phone, then came back and immediately went to 1 hour lunch. That left 2 employees to run the entire medical clinic - with one (me) who has not worked up front in years! I know what to do, but since I don't do it often enough, it's a bit rusty! No mistakes though...I am proud!

Oh, yeah! The one who always calls in sick on Mondays...we found patient paperwork not completed and no patient charts made up for patients coming in for appointments today, tomorrow and next week. The OM said, "I will go over this with her tomorrow."as she perused the chunk of paperwork. The Director was less than pleased. Since this worker has a history of "hoarding" and incomplete work, the Director was pretty upset that it was still an issue. There were many accounts not set up and a big clump of paperwork all mixed up with other documents and other patient documents...rats nest! So when she recovers and returns by tomorrow, I hope to see serious sparks!

So tonight I bid a hasty farewell to Monday. But don't get me wrong...I blame those lost 10 minutes for messing up my karma today. I want my 1 hour and 10 minutes back please.