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today the glitterbomber is... |
2003-01-22 today was my first morning of sitting in at the clinic where i�m doing my research (diet & exercise behaviors of people with severe mental illnesses, dontcha know). it went much better than i thought it would. the staff are all super nice and helpful. i have a little office to myself and a (really old, internet-less) computer. not too bad, considering i�ll probably only be there a couple mornings a week. i chatted with a few of the patients and sat in on a "life management" group. i never did quite discover what the actual purpose of that group is. everyone just sat around and talked for an hour. the conversation ranged from food (when i was introduced) to politics to a recent gas explosion to colonoscopies. when the group was talking politics, the woman next to me turned to me, gave me a stern look, and asked me if i was a republican. when i said no, she nodded approvingly. the same woman asked me if i�m studying to be a dietician. again, i told her no, so she asked me, "well, what do you want to be when you grow up?" when i told her that i am grown up, she laughed. (for the record, i am 26, which i feel is grown-up.) another woman in the group was wearing about six rosaries, the beads knotted around her neck and the crosses dangling. i was fascinated by it. i scheduled interviews with five patients next week. technically, i am still not allowed to have "contact with patients" since i haven�t yet received the clearances that say i am not a criminal. if someone finds out, i could probably get in trouble, but i usually disregard most rules. besides, my clearances should be here by then anyway. maybe. *** it really really irks me when i see customers being rude to cashiers and salespeople in stores. the woman in front of me in the checkout line at the grocery store is one such example. she wanted to buy a bag of dog treats (pup-a-roni, if you must know); they were not coming up the price that she thought they were. she kept repeating, "the price on the shelf said $3.49." over and over. meanwhile, the cashier-in-training was trying to decide whether or not to do a price check. after about twenty seconds, he told the woman, "i put them in as $3.49." "it�s about time," she muttered. sorry that twenty seconds of your life was wasted, lady. i did my time in retail hell, and i can tell you that more often than not, customers are rude to the people that wait on them. it wore me down waiting on scores of people like that day after day. it made me feel awful and bitchy. but i�ll tell you that it gave me a greater appreciation of how horrific working in retail is, so i try to be nice to cashiers and such. having just one customer tell you "thank you" or "have a nice day" can make a world of difference. (to be fair, not all cashiers are sunshine and lollipops, either.) i didn�t mean for this to turn into a pulpit�i�m stepping down now. *** quote of the day: "beans is good for you; cook �em right, and they�ll set your soul on fire." �irene, a patient |
