A Hook, A Brain, A Trick

Work has not gotten any better since the last post. In fact, it's gotten worse.

During the first week with NC I was told that if I had any problems with anything I was not to vent to any hospital staff, but to one of my supervisors. So when I had an issue with someone who was over both myself and my supervisors and I knew there was nothing I could do about it, I vented to the supervisor I felt I connected with the most. Two days later, the person I vented about showed up. (Keep in mind that the office these people work out of is a 2 1/2 hour plane ride away.) Then she proceeded to tell me how unprofessional and disrespectful I was and that if I ever said anything about any of my superiors again, I would be terminated immediately and she would not have to give a reason why. Oh, yeah... we were in a busy hotel lobby when this conversation took place... and I am "unprofessional."

It took every ounce of self control in me not to throw the 4 inch binder I had in my arms at the time right in her face... I wanted to break her already crooked nose, I was so angry. My response: "I was doing what I was told... I am sorry if you felt I was being disrespectful... if that had been my intention, I would have said it all to your face."

Two weeks later, during a conversation with the supervisor who narked on my vent, she asked me how things were going. I told her the I was upright and breathing and that was as good as I could give her:

Sup: Well you know you can talk to me if you need to.

Me: No, actually I can't, because if I say something you don't like, you'll run and tell (hook nose) and I'll get fired.

Sup: You can still talk to me, you just have to watch what you say.

I just said "no thanks" and told her I'd text her when I got to my next site.

I have a call into NC HR to speak with someone about the whole thing... if they want to fire me, I'm taking hook nose with me...

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Bailey was 73 pounds last time we weighed... her growth is slowing down, but her intelligence keeps growing...

She gets 6 cups of food a day, 3 in the morning and 3 in the evening. The other day, I was filling her bowl one cup at a time. She watched me put one in, then the next... as soon as I put the third cup in, she got up from where she was lying and walked over to eat... she waited until the 3rd cup to come eat... too smart.

And the trick she learned in only an hour's time: to play dead. I tell her "Bang!" and she walks in a circle all dramatic and such, then falls down on the floor... sometimes, her head barely hits the floor when its back up looking for the treat she knows must follow such a performance :-) She has the dying part down, but the actual part of looking dead seems to be a bit of a challenge...

Still, I am proud...

Time Management And A Ladder

I want to apologize to my few loyal readers for taking so much time between posts lately.... I started training with NC and those were the longest 2 weeks of my life... Then they left and it got worse...

We went live at 2 of the hospitals I cover on July 15th, one site without a full staff which I didn't know about til I showed up on the first day... who in their right mind does that? Especially when the largest of the hospitals they are taking on isn't set to go live til September? It makes no sense... so I trained with them for 2 weeks then on Friday 7/25, they left me to it and went back to the regional office, which happens to be a 2 1/2 hour plane ride away.

That Sunday, I had a screener at one of the hospitals text me at 8 am to tell me she had a fever... so I had to go in... It's happened before and on a bad day it took me maybe 30 minutes per baby... but with a new machine on which I did a total of one baby during the training and all the extra paperwork required, it took me 5 hours to do 4 babies... absolutely ridiculous!!!

Then this last week, each day I had to go to the understaffed hospital to screen, then perform the administrative duties I was hired to do for NC, then cover the main hospital that isn't yet a part of the NC system... I usually work 35 hour weeks... I worked 50 this last week... and because the time was split between 2 different companies, I won't get overtime... luckily, I am currently hourly at both so I will still get paid for all 50 hours... However both companies are refusing to pay for my mileage, which is part of my compensation package with each, because I an traveling between companies, not between sites for one company... WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!!

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Last weekend, my husband and I were out on the water for a local festival and water ski show when we tied up the boat with a few others. On one of the boats in the make-shift barge, there were a couple dogs who kept jumping in after a ball their owner would throw out in the water... I watched them closely for a while and noticed that both dogs USED THE BOAT LADDER TO GET OUT! That ladder can be difficult for a human to use, so canine use was impressive... I decided if they could do it, so could my dog.

My mom came out to the house today and we took Bailey out on the boat. I dropped her in off the side closest to the ladder and guided her around to it. I then took her front paws and held them on the top rung of the ladder until she got her footing and could lift herself the rest of the way out of the water. With my help, she did this 4 times over the course of 4 hours and each time she found her footing quicker and quicker. I was so proud.

She still isn't a fan of swimming but she loves the water and is learning to get out on her own...

On 7/27, Bailey weighed 71.5 pounds... I can't wait to see what she weighs tomorrow.