Monday, what a world
I must be a genius. I keep having people tell me this and I humbly grumble and suggest they need to get out more. How is it possible that these people are allowed to be this stupid and run around and procreate? Some dame who was doing 80mph, adjusting her make up and talking on a Cell phone almost sideswiped me. I'm not in the least a chauvinist, I think that women should be paid anything a man is paid for doing a job; God knows that there are a lot of really overpaid stupid men out there, I think that No man should decide that abortions should be legal or illegal (cause we'll never need one guys), I love women and admire them for putting up with us, but come one...you’re driving a ton and half bullet at 80 miles an hour and your checking your make up and talking on a cell phone? That's something I can't justify. I swear there's a deep dark hole in HELL for the guy who decided that a woman needed was a phone she could use in the car.
But I have more. I just was at the CVS to buy some Nicorette gum. Every time I go in there there's another fine example of humanity behind the register. "Yes, I need a small box of your cvs Nicorette 4 mg gum please." I'm looking right at the box, she’s closer then I am but they can NEVER find it...I haveto do the "one more up to your left, no your other left, the little one that says CVS on it...no the solid blue...the one that says 4mg on it..." etc. SOOOOOOOOOOO we move on to payment. It's $24.08 -I give her a $50 and 13 cents in change. I'm supposed to get $26.05-right? She hands me $25 back. Then it's on...I have this debate every time I provide change with Paper money. I have given up at the Wendy's that I go to get a salad. They've got the same woman on the register every time and when I give her change with the paper I get this deer in the headlights look. Mother of God...how can we claim to be the greatest nation on earth when we can't handle simple addition and subtraction? I recall a story I heard back when computer's were young. This anal retentive nutcase that I lived next door to had traveled to Peking to help install a computer. When they had run the Test program the official in charge told them to cool their heels at their hotels, they had a few tests they wanted to run before they let these round eyes go home. About 2 weeks later the team of Americans was contacted and told they were free to go. Seems they had taken the print out and handed it to a group of about 65 old guys with Abacus' to check the math the machine had done. When their total was the same as the machine's they figured they could take it from there. I realize that we're very dependant on these machines to do much of the "stupid" work for us...but when we stop being able to do the simple stuff, we might as well give it up. Then there's the other side of the coin...
I've got this X attorney working at the same job as myself, he retired from the law and hired on to apprentice as a cabinet maker about 2 years ago. This guy still isn't getting it. He over thinks everything...he asks question after question and doesn't wait for the answer. Sanding is a mystery to this guy, he always want to know if he should sand THIS scratch out...and God forbid you should ask him to build something...He wants to know what size screws to use (ones that are long enough to connect the two pieces of wood together?), should he use self tapping wood screws or the other coarse thread screws (????), should he cut out this with a sabre saw or the band saw, etc. etc. etc.
I know I promised to write about why I wouldn't go into the Hospital again without a gun...It would fit right in here. Long story short...I thought I was having a heart attack, when I got there they wanted to know what drugs I was on and why...I provided a list including the drugs I was doing for my arthritic hip. They couldn't really pinpoint the problem with my heart. They wanted to keep me overnight. Thing was I had an appointment to do a heart stress test at another Hospital the next day. No problem they'd call my doctor and do the test at the Hospital I was at. I had gotten to the emergency room at 10:30 A.M. I had had half a grapefruit for breakfast. I had bathed the evening before. The finally got me to my room at 7:30 that night...a bit too late to eat and as I was hooked up to IV's etc. bathing wasn't going to happen. What I really needed was a decent night's sleep. I'd begin to nod off and they'd wake me up for blood pressure, take blood, urine sample, check my vitals, check my blood pressure, etc. every hour on the hour I'd be woke up, it'd take me about 45 minutes to get comfortable and start to nod off and they were back. The next morning I was scheduled for my stress test. This test needs to be done on an empty stomach...not a problem I hadn't eaten in 24 hours. Up to this point I had filled out 4 forms listing my drugs and why, my physical problems, what doctors I was seeing and why, etc. Each time I mentioned my hip. They strap this machine to my chest and these wires to me and the Doctor present (with my file in his hand) informs me that they want me to run on this treadmill up hill. I told them I'd do my best but I didn't know about running. Why? Because of my hip. What's wrong with my Hip? I hadn't eaten in 24 hours. I hadn't bathed in 36 hours and hadn't slept the night before. I went off. I used words that one doesn't use in polite company (I use them often and in any company present) but there was that certain broken beer bottle edge to them that suggested that this doctor wasn't used to this kind of talk. I ended my diatribe with "...and if you people can't read a simple form, let alone the 4 I filled out maybe I should just get the F**k out of this Zoo and go home...in fact I'm about a hairs width from doing just that!" Well, the nurses stayed out of arms reach and I was informed that they were just doing their jobs. Yeah well I can't help feeling that reading the forms y’all had me fill out was part of your job. They opted to have me do it chemically. They got around to making this decision around 11:45 am. After they got my heart rate where they wanted it and finished taking their pictures I was taken back to my room and given a hamburger. I was informed the doctor would be in to discuss the results sometime that afternoon. So I waited. I waited and I waited. At about 5 PM I went and found the closest warm body and asked just who I would hafto sleep with to get somebody to get my doctor on the phone to get him to motivate him my way. I was informed I needed to take the matter up with the floor nurse. I approached her and she asked just what she could do for me. I said " I need you to get my doctor on the phone and get him up here to talk to me inside a half an hour, because at 5:30 we were no longer dealing with this afternoon and into this evening and I had every intention of being through the door on my way home at 5:31. " She looked at me puzzled. "You mean you'll just leave without being checked out? We'd really rather you didn't do that." I looked her straight in the eye and suggested I wasn't asking her permission, that that what was going to happen and now she had 28 minutes. I turned and returned to my "cell". At 5:20 she came in and told me that the doctor would see me in 15 minutes. I told her she needed to call him back and make it 10. At 5:29 he entered and informed me that they didn't know what had happened. I was to go on a low sodium diet, take a day or two off and learn to deal with my stress. At 5:35 they delivered me to the door and I was on my way home. One thing the next day I slept when I wasn't feeling queasy, my head felt like someone had removed my spine while I slept and beaten me with it and the day after that I had a headache, a high heart rate and diareaha, I made an appointment with my doctor for the next day and was informed by him then that I probably had a slight case of food poisoning but that they saw nothing wrong with my heart. This little 3 day event of wading though the medical proffesion cost me ab $1200 out of pocket and about 4 times that to my hospitalization.
Oy, Is it me or are we breeding generations of stupider people?
I realize that this isn't a new story. I realize we have system's in place to deal with the complexity of life. But come on...the incidents I relate suggest that we are sticking to systems that are designed to help...not to dictate policy. We either evovled a brain or was given one by a supreme bieng. We need to use the damn thing or we are DOOMED.
But I have more. I just was at the CVS to buy some Nicorette gum. Every time I go in there there's another fine example of humanity behind the register. "Yes, I need a small box of your cvs Nicorette 4 mg gum please." I'm looking right at the box, she’s closer then I am but they can NEVER find it...I haveto do the "one more up to your left, no your other left, the little one that says CVS on it...no the solid blue...the one that says 4mg on it..." etc. SOOOOOOOOOOO we move on to payment. It's $24.08 -I give her a $50 and 13 cents in change. I'm supposed to get $26.05-right? She hands me $25 back. Then it's on...I have this debate every time I provide change with Paper money. I have given up at the Wendy's that I go to get a salad. They've got the same woman on the register every time and when I give her change with the paper I get this deer in the headlights look. Mother of God...how can we claim to be the greatest nation on earth when we can't handle simple addition and subtraction? I recall a story I heard back when computer's were young. This anal retentive nutcase that I lived next door to had traveled to Peking to help install a computer. When they had run the Test program the official in charge told them to cool their heels at their hotels, they had a few tests they wanted to run before they let these round eyes go home. About 2 weeks later the team of Americans was contacted and told they were free to go. Seems they had taken the print out and handed it to a group of about 65 old guys with Abacus' to check the math the machine had done. When their total was the same as the machine's they figured they could take it from there. I realize that we're very dependant on these machines to do much of the "stupid" work for us...but when we stop being able to do the simple stuff, we might as well give it up. Then there's the other side of the coin...
I've got this X attorney working at the same job as myself, he retired from the law and hired on to apprentice as a cabinet maker about 2 years ago. This guy still isn't getting it. He over thinks everything...he asks question after question and doesn't wait for the answer. Sanding is a mystery to this guy, he always want to know if he should sand THIS scratch out...and God forbid you should ask him to build something...He wants to know what size screws to use (ones that are long enough to connect the two pieces of wood together?), should he use self tapping wood screws or the other coarse thread screws (????), should he cut out this with a sabre saw or the band saw, etc. etc. etc.
I know I promised to write about why I wouldn't go into the Hospital again without a gun...It would fit right in here. Long story short...I thought I was having a heart attack, when I got there they wanted to know what drugs I was on and why...I provided a list including the drugs I was doing for my arthritic hip. They couldn't really pinpoint the problem with my heart. They wanted to keep me overnight. Thing was I had an appointment to do a heart stress test at another Hospital the next day. No problem they'd call my doctor and do the test at the Hospital I was at. I had gotten to the emergency room at 10:30 A.M. I had had half a grapefruit for breakfast. I had bathed the evening before. The finally got me to my room at 7:30 that night...a bit too late to eat and as I was hooked up to IV's etc. bathing wasn't going to happen. What I really needed was a decent night's sleep. I'd begin to nod off and they'd wake me up for blood pressure, take blood, urine sample, check my vitals, check my blood pressure, etc. every hour on the hour I'd be woke up, it'd take me about 45 minutes to get comfortable and start to nod off and they were back. The next morning I was scheduled for my stress test. This test needs to be done on an empty stomach...not a problem I hadn't eaten in 24 hours. Up to this point I had filled out 4 forms listing my drugs and why, my physical problems, what doctors I was seeing and why, etc. Each time I mentioned my hip. They strap this machine to my chest and these wires to me and the Doctor present (with my file in his hand) informs me that they want me to run on this treadmill up hill. I told them I'd do my best but I didn't know about running. Why? Because of my hip. What's wrong with my Hip? I hadn't eaten in 24 hours. I hadn't bathed in 36 hours and hadn't slept the night before. I went off. I used words that one doesn't use in polite company (I use them often and in any company present) but there was that certain broken beer bottle edge to them that suggested that this doctor wasn't used to this kind of talk. I ended my diatribe with "...and if you people can't read a simple form, let alone the 4 I filled out maybe I should just get the F**k out of this Zoo and go home...in fact I'm about a hairs width from doing just that!" Well, the nurses stayed out of arms reach and I was informed that they were just doing their jobs. Yeah well I can't help feeling that reading the forms y’all had me fill out was part of your job. They opted to have me do it chemically. They got around to making this decision around 11:45 am. After they got my heart rate where they wanted it and finished taking their pictures I was taken back to my room and given a hamburger. I was informed the doctor would be in to discuss the results sometime that afternoon. So I waited. I waited and I waited. At about 5 PM I went and found the closest warm body and asked just who I would hafto sleep with to get somebody to get my doctor on the phone to get him to motivate him my way. I was informed I needed to take the matter up with the floor nurse. I approached her and she asked just what she could do for me. I said " I need you to get my doctor on the phone and get him up here to talk to me inside a half an hour, because at 5:30 we were no longer dealing with this afternoon and into this evening and I had every intention of being through the door on my way home at 5:31. " She looked at me puzzled. "You mean you'll just leave without being checked out? We'd really rather you didn't do that." I looked her straight in the eye and suggested I wasn't asking her permission, that that what was going to happen and now she had 28 minutes. I turned and returned to my "cell". At 5:20 she came in and told me that the doctor would see me in 15 minutes. I told her she needed to call him back and make it 10. At 5:29 he entered and informed me that they didn't know what had happened. I was to go on a low sodium diet, take a day or two off and learn to deal with my stress. At 5:35 they delivered me to the door and I was on my way home. One thing the next day I slept when I wasn't feeling queasy, my head felt like someone had removed my spine while I slept and beaten me with it and the day after that I had a headache, a high heart rate and diareaha, I made an appointment with my doctor for the next day and was informed by him then that I probably had a slight case of food poisoning but that they saw nothing wrong with my heart. This little 3 day event of wading though the medical proffesion cost me ab $1200 out of pocket and about 4 times that to my hospitalization.
Oy, Is it me or are we breeding generations of stupider people?
I realize that this isn't a new story. I realize we have system's in place to deal with the complexity of life. But come on...the incidents I relate suggest that we are sticking to systems that are designed to help...not to dictate policy. We either evovled a brain or was given one by a supreme bieng. We need to use the damn thing or we are DOOMED.
posted by ak at 3:30 PM
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