Something slightly new

So, earlier this week I was told by Dr. J that they had had to let one of the receptionists go. Apparently there were a few complaints, and that's all I was told. What I do know is that Dr. J then told me that he and Dr. R had been talking and wanted to offer me a couple extra days at the main clinic in Town - Mondays and Fridays to be exact. In addition to my three days over at the Sticksville clinic, and my Saturday at the main clinic in Town.

I was a wee bit floored. Really hadn't been expecting that. I had recently inquired about the possibility of a couple extra hours by filling in for people on vacation or something, but it was more of a reminder that "hey I'm happy to fill in if you need me" sort of thing. So I wasn't expecting to be asked to work two extra days. I told him I'd think it over and discuss it with my grandparents and would let him know by today (Thursday). He had asked me to fill in today and tomorrow to help the receptionist that is still there.

So I went in to work at the main clinic today and wasn't sure what to expect. Usually I'm alone up front on Saturdays. So working with another receptionist was kind of a new experience for me. I was a bit worried, mostly because everyone is different in how they work or want things done, or where they want everything on the desk.

E and I know each other, we've just never worked together. So, we spent the morning talking things over and moving a couple things around. She took the spot I usually sit in on Saturdays, so now two days a week I'll have to work in her old spot, which is not exactly conducive to efficiency. But I kept playing with it throughout the day and came up with something that was okay. It will probably be tweaked even more as time goes on. We did a bit of cleaning house up front and reorganizing.

My thing was that I never knew why the weekday receptionists did what they did, or changed what they changed, and so forth. They don't work weekends and I work alone on weekends. I just always moved things around to suit me and how I worked and at the end of the day, I put things back, usually in the place they were before . . . but not always. I'm not perfect. (Shocker, I know). So, E and I also spent the morning with her telling me who was the mastermind behind the changes that had next to no logic; and being that she didn't want a fight up front, she just kind of went along with said changes. So for one thing we both hated, I simply asked, "So, what you're telling me is that I can toss this and no one will care?" She said yes, and I tossed it and moved on to the next. I asked about something else and she said, "Oh that was the first thing to go!" And lastly, the other gal had decided on making duplicate files for clients from our two satellite clinics whenever they came in to the main clinic. Well, in some cases, there's already a duplicate file for the main clinic in with the regular files. If there's not, we just sent paperwork over that satellite clinic and the person there files it in their files. So I asked if she would mind if I filed the duplicates that didn't already have a duplicate buried with the regular files and toss what was already duplicated. (Yes I'm aware this makes no sense). And that any loose papers that didn't have a file over here would be sent to it's satellite clinic for filing. She agreed and I cleaned up that mess for her.

E showed me how they do paperwork for surgeries now since I don't do that on weekends. And she showed me how to some phone stuff that I've never had to do on weekends because it's already set up for me.

When E and the other gal were working together, one was always "check in" and the other was always "check out" and they never strayed from that unless one of them was off or something. Well, that just doesn't seem like a fair split of the job duties. So E and I discussed how we should do this . . . I suggest that we both just do what needs to be done. If there's three people waiting to be checked out, I'll help check out. If there are multiple people waiting for check-in, then we'll both jump in and do that. We both file, pull files, and help customers shop, answer phones - whatever needs to be done, we just do it. And it ran pretty darn smoothly. I grabbed a file holder and told her I would put my charges in it and she had one for hers. She didn't want the letter stand, and I like having it, so I took it. She moved certain things to the middle of the counter in between us for easy access. And so on.

 I walked into this last weekend. Did not make for a happy J.Day.

After I was done with it 5 minutes later. That's all it took.

We got along pretty well, had a few good laughs, lots of teasing, and in general we worked well together. Not to say we always will, but we're off to a good start. We're both the kind of people who like to have our work-space organized and clean. We both have to learn to work with someone new and it will be a learning process, but we're off to a good clean start.

Not to mention all the techs are excited to have me over at the main clinic two days a week. I rarely get to see them unless I pop in to get my paycheck or something. Even the office manager was happy to see me filling in.

Basically what these two extra days mean is that I won't be feeding on the ranch as often as before. Probably a couple days a week. I will still be writing for my grandparents publication, but on a slightly more limited scale - I won't be able to go on the road to help pick up ads or really to do much delivery. I don't know if all of this is the right move, but I enjoy working at the vet's office and picking up a few more hours sounds good to me. If in a few months, I find that I'm just too exhausted, then I will talk with Dr. J and cut back to my old routine. My grandparents left this decision up to me and my parents are shocked about the extra hours offer but they are happy that the vet's office wants me to work - it means they like me. (I don't know why they do, but I'm not going to question it! lol)