A patient remarked to me today, "I don't buy all this global warming crap; it's all just a scare tactic." As a Christian, she said, "Besides, God is in control -- the glaciers have melted before, and they will melt again." This patient is otherwise very nice, friendly, conscientous, but typical of a lot of Christians I know. I've always wondered why Christians are so hostile to the idea that humans could be contributing to the problem (a worldview that aligns itself nicely with corporations with no interest whatsoever in conservation or any limits on pollution, etc). I understand that the Bible says we have dominion over everything (apparently, since I've never read the Bible), but does this really mean we should trash the joint? Since the Messiah might take his sweet ass time returning, shouldn't we try to leave a few trees standing for our unsuspecting posterity to enjoy? Sure, it might cut into the profits of a few lumber companies, but the lumber companies aren't going to heaven anyway since they won't be able to fit through the eye of a needle. So given that most reasonable people think we should leave the Earth at least as habitable as we found it, why is it that so many Christians vociferously deny environmental degradation? I think my patient allowed a glimpse into their mentality -- If God is in control, it is much easier, much cheaper, and conveniently much more business friendly to just kick back and do nothing.
If God is in control, he really sucks or is totally malicious and unfair. It is not at all comforting to know the guy in control allowed my dad to suffer 20 years with muscular dystrophy, or children to go hungry, or my patients having to leave retirement to go work at WalMart because they can no longer make ends meet. I wouldn't trust God with a damn thing. If we just let him "be in control," then why study cures for diseases (after all, if these diseases exist, isn't it because God made them? Or if he is punishing us, then he really sucks for punishing practically everybody on earth)? Why fight for civil rights or world peace? God will take care of us all, right? That's why Marx called Christianity, "The opiate of the people." Lucky for my patient there were so many people before her unwilling just to yield the helm to this indifferent god. Without strikes and unions, physicians, chemists, peace activists, her grandkids would probably be consigned to indentured servitude working 100 hours per week with no overtime, sick pay, or health care. Good thing so many of us didn't leave it to God. thanks for nothing, God.....thanks for sitting on your ass for century after century.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Irritation level rising
Somebody at work's been stealing my sodas. I can't hide them either, due to my inclination for cold sodas, I have nowhere to put them but the fridge. I try to put gross-looking things on the sodas, like grocery bags, cheese, or wilted lettuce, but the thief is clever. Said thief could either be the receptionists, 2 fellow audiologists, or maybe the security staff. I'm leaning towards the latter. First of all, 2 other audiologists are mormon so I know no caffeine passes their lips. They're exonerated. Besides, if I were mormon and going to sin with caffeine, I wouldn't choose Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper. Too wimpy. I would choose good old Coke or I heard Mountain Dew has the highest caffeine level. So I know it's not them. The receptionists seem like they would ask....but I don't know. It could be several people, each one thinking, "She won't notice just one." OOOh, I notice though!! Those sodas are central to my existence, my mid-day oasis of pleasure, without which I would slip into despair and possibly violence. It is second only to my morning coffee, which luckily no one can steal because I bring it here each morning my own damn self.
The second annoying thing is that a certain one among us has decided he doesn't want to see any consults. Oh, I applaud the concept. None of us actually wants patients. If I could get away with it, I would see zero patients and let my colleagues do all the work while I sit here, or not even show up. The aforementioned audiologist has declared (secretly and furtively-- I know only because the receptionist is my back-up mom) that all new patients get booked with me, and only then with him or this other colleague. A 4th colleague doesn't count because she's soon departing for maternity leave. Anyway, the ally colleague did a tally of consults: I had 57, whereas rogue colleague had a measly 35 or something like that. The problem isn't that he is so much more bogged down than I, in which case I would be understanding, albeit grudging. It's not. But one day my back-up mom booked him a walk-in consult. Nobody likes this, but I had to suffer the same a couple days before that. They try to spread out the agony. I thought I was done, but came out and saw that there was an hour-long new patient consult on my schedule. The worst kind. (Unless they have a full benefit which is a different story, although only slightly less vexing). He was clearly irritated, especially since I coincidentally had a fairly open schedule that afternoon. My bad luck. So he proclaimed from thenceforth that he has "too many patients" (he doesn't), and i should see all new consults if the schedules are both open, I get that person.
No quicker way to subvert goodwill at work. First, he should just talk to me, second , who says he gets to make executive decisions? Thirdly, I am too cowardly to say anything, but instead will resort to passive aggressive behavior, such as calling in sick on a day when I know his schedule is empty, if this continues.
I'll keep updating on this riveting information, as it unfolds. For now, I'm going to have to buy more sodas.
The second annoying thing is that a certain one among us has decided he doesn't want to see any consults. Oh, I applaud the concept. None of us actually wants patients. If I could get away with it, I would see zero patients and let my colleagues do all the work while I sit here, or not even show up. The aforementioned audiologist has declared (secretly and furtively-- I know only because the receptionist is my back-up mom) that all new patients get booked with me, and only then with him or this other colleague. A 4th colleague doesn't count because she's soon departing for maternity leave. Anyway, the ally colleague did a tally of consults: I had 57, whereas rogue colleague had a measly 35 or something like that. The problem isn't that he is so much more bogged down than I, in which case I would be understanding, albeit grudging. It's not. But one day my back-up mom booked him a walk-in consult. Nobody likes this, but I had to suffer the same a couple days before that. They try to spread out the agony. I thought I was done, but came out and saw that there was an hour-long new patient consult on my schedule. The worst kind. (Unless they have a full benefit which is a different story, although only slightly less vexing). He was clearly irritated, especially since I coincidentally had a fairly open schedule that afternoon. My bad luck. So he proclaimed from thenceforth that he has "too many patients" (he doesn't), and i should see all new consults if the schedules are both open, I get that person.
No quicker way to subvert goodwill at work. First, he should just talk to me, second , who says he gets to make executive decisions? Thirdly, I am too cowardly to say anything, but instead will resort to passive aggressive behavior, such as calling in sick on a day when I know his schedule is empty, if this continues.
I'll keep updating on this riveting information, as it unfolds. For now, I'm going to have to buy more sodas.
Irresponsible, irrascible, irritating
I just got done with this class, "Interprofessional Responsibilities." It was one of the 21 I have to take to finish my AuD, which, incidentally, I am obtaining not for any lofty goal of higher knowledge, but because I know in the future I would otherwise resent all the new 26-year-old Audiologists with their freshly minted doctorate. Little sluts. (not pimps, since hardly any dudes go into audiology). Anyway, the class was basically a cheerleading session for our field. We learned what makes us professional, how to continue to strive for autonomy in the future, blah blah. I learned my professionalism is woefully inadequate, and I deserve nothing more than to file charts all day. If it paid the same, I would. Yes, I would waste 8 years of knowledge crammed into my cortex to do a task an orangutan could do. See, what I REALLY want to do, nobody would pay me to do. I don't really want to waste my cortex at all, but instead put it to use reading books all day, or gardening, or figuring out how to replace that electrical socket without killing myself or leaving a scorched mess. But that sort of shit doesn't pay well. And, since I have to sacrifice 8-hours a day, I may as well earn a decent sum doing it, right? Like, this beats flipping burgers, and definitely beats slitting the jugulars of steers at the local slaughterhouse. (Not that we have a local slaughterhouse. We leave the states who are hostile to unions to that savory task).
So I fail on all accounts to be a professional. The class says the qualifications, that is, what makes us professionals in a professional field, is 1) sense of calling to the discipline 2) ethics 3) crap I forgot some already. It came as no surprise to learn I have no calling. In fact I randomly chose audiology, stumbling upon it while muddling through various health science courses. I also obtained another degree, initially with the intent of leaving the profession. I'm too lazy to be all active, promoting the profession. I prefer to let others do the work, then reap the rewards. If something better came along, like my modeling career takes off or I become so fluent in Arabic the government would pay six figures for my talent, I would bail in a heartbeat. I'm also highly unethical. At least half my CD collection was heisted from Hastings. I would've snagged more if I weren't so worried about being caught. It wasn't my fault, if they weren't paying me a measly $5.30 per hour, and sending me home whenever things got slow, I wouldn't have done it. That's what pissed me off the most--I count on that paltry $5 per hour, and withing the first 5 minutes the store would earn my entire days wages. How pathetic that 8 hours of my life was worth only $40, or the price of 2 1/2 CDs. No wonder my student loans are so massive.
But back to the issue at hand. I'm unethical not because I am stealing white-out from work, which I would do if I truly needed the white out, but because if some manufacturer offered me a trip to Hawaii, I would take it, man. I don't care. We're not even supposed to give the appearance of impropriety. yeah, yeah....
Well, despite my class I certainly do not leap out of bed every day with eagerness. Unless it's Saturday. I just learned how lame I am. No, I didn't even learn that, because I already knew it. Lame and lazy, heh heh. But at least I'm not a republican. That's something.
So I fail on all accounts to be a professional. The class says the qualifications, that is, what makes us professionals in a professional field, is 1) sense of calling to the discipline 2) ethics 3) crap I forgot some already. It came as no surprise to learn I have no calling. In fact I randomly chose audiology, stumbling upon it while muddling through various health science courses. I also obtained another degree, initially with the intent of leaving the profession. I'm too lazy to be all active, promoting the profession. I prefer to let others do the work, then reap the rewards. If something better came along, like my modeling career takes off or I become so fluent in Arabic the government would pay six figures for my talent, I would bail in a heartbeat. I'm also highly unethical. At least half my CD collection was heisted from Hastings. I would've snagged more if I weren't so worried about being caught. It wasn't my fault, if they weren't paying me a measly $5.30 per hour, and sending me home whenever things got slow, I wouldn't have done it. That's what pissed me off the most--I count on that paltry $5 per hour, and withing the first 5 minutes the store would earn my entire days wages. How pathetic that 8 hours of my life was worth only $40, or the price of 2 1/2 CDs. No wonder my student loans are so massive.
But back to the issue at hand. I'm unethical not because I am stealing white-out from work, which I would do if I truly needed the white out, but because if some manufacturer offered me a trip to Hawaii, I would take it, man. I don't care. We're not even supposed to give the appearance of impropriety. yeah, yeah....
Well, despite my class I certainly do not leap out of bed every day with eagerness. Unless it's Saturday. I just learned how lame I am. No, I didn't even learn that, because I already knew it. Lame and lazy, heh heh. But at least I'm not a republican. That's something.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Pathetic attempt at first blog
My creativity is severely curtailed right now due to the fact that I'm at work, but feel compelled to test this out at least. Because I'm lame and a slacker, I'll probably usually blog from work in order to avoid as much responsibility as possible. Although, I"m sure there's a secret camera trained upon me now, and they know exactly what I'm doing. But whatever my attitude, apparently it is working because my shelf is bulging with hearing aids, and when this is the case, Kaiser is happy.
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