Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Why do I NEVER learn??

I worked 15.5 hours on Monday night. That's a regular shift for overnights, but it's tiring nonetheless. Moreover, it was a busy night. The last case of the night was the one involving the cut artery and duct tape bandage. I felt good about the night - having wrapped it up with a charitable deed.

Fast forward to 8 hours later. I awoke - semi-refreshed after having slept all day. It was 4:15pm, and I had to get ready for work. About 4:50pm, my phone rings. It's our office manager, whom I love.

She had called to inform me of an irate phone call she received at 12pm that day (while I was peacefully sleeping).

Apparently, the dog with the lacerated artery and duct tape bandage had NOT been to his vet. The owners could not come up with any money (according to them). The girl - YES, THE VERY SAME GIRL to whom I extended some freebies - called and DEMANDED - no, SCREAMED at my office manager that I needed to be woken up and brought to office so that I could treat her dog.

Yes, folks. I wish I was making this up, but I'm not. She kept our OM on the phone for 50 minutes telling her to wake me up and get me to the office so I could take care of her dog. I believe that her very words were, "I don't care if she's only been asleep for 30 minutes, you need to get her up and get her to the office."

Our OM is the patron saint of patience. Really - the stuff she puts up with makes me angry. And she tolerated this girl's screaming and demanding, all the while trying to explain that 1) we weren't open currently - as we work nights and weekends 2) we don't make payment arrangements / do billing and 3) I was AT HOME SLEEPING AFTER A 15.5 HOUR SHIFT. I would have hung up on this girl much sooner after making it abundantly clear that I could not help her any further.

She finished her conversation by telling our OM that - if the dog lived - she would be at the door at 5:30, waiting for me. It's 12 hours later, Wednesday morning, and she has not appeared. Big surprise.

That was it for me. No more good deeds...I'm officially cynical and hard-hearted.

4 comments:

Elizabeth said...

now I am totally bummed too..

Mary said...

Yet again, I could not do your job. The previous post had me pretty hopeful for the dog. I'm so sorry you have to go through this.

Anonymous said...

I really enjoy reading your blog! I'm a 2nd year vet med student at Iowa State. Your blog is definitely helping me prepare for the real world and it's a good distraction from studying autacoids right now :)

The Homeless Parrot said...

Sarah: Thanks for the compliment...sorry to be distracting you from your studies!