We have all had one of those days...

           The phones were ringing at 8:00 in the morning and I was standing near my desk attempting to comfort four coworkers with the fact that the office was going paperless. My mind immediately began to wonder if this was a good idea after all. Dawn asked, “how will we let you know what has been done?” while Joanne exclaimed, “I thought we weren’t going to do this until the 5^th” after which, Nate asked where we would locate the old files and Cindy wondered anxiously how we were going to get through a Monday where we are double booked and trying to go paperless.

            Once I caught my breath to answer questions and give guidance and comfort, I realized just what kind of struggle this would be for everyone. Our office has done things the same way for 27 years. Who was I to tell everyone it all would be fine and that everything would work out? I was just the girl in insurance billing who had barely three years under her belt staring at three coworkers who had over ten in this office alone.

            I started to give instructions to those who needed it and then began to do my daily duties. Only then, did the scanner stop working. The scanner is entirely central to us going paperless. $300.00 spent on a brand new Epson scanner and it decides, on the busiest day of the week and not to mention the day we go paperless, to stop working. ‘What do I do?’ I thought,  ‘There is no way this is going to work.’ I immediately called a friend that works in another office that could possibly give me a solution to my problem. Kelli told me to turn the scanner off then back on, that didn’t work. She then had me uninstall and reinstall the driver for the software we use. Boom! It worked. The scanner was alive and now this dreadful day could go on.

            Sitting at my desk, I became even more stressed as coworkers had more requests and/or questions. It seemed as though we were rebuilding our establishment and the foundation wasn’t as strong as it had been for the past 27 years. Constructing a new way of doing things was like building a mini mall on a sand dune.

            I was sweating, which rarely happens at the office as I’m usually in need of a jacket or sweater because the doctors have the air conditioning up so high. I looked at the thermostat, it was 82 ° F. I wondered to myself how it could possibly be this hot in June at 10:30 in the morning, let alone inside a building with central air. I asked Dr. Wells why it was so hot, he went and checked the air conditioner and came back to report it was frozen and therefore wouldn’t work. We would have to turn the fan on for a period of time until the air conditioning thawed out.

            As the temperature rose, so did my stress. At one point in the day around lunchtime, the 6 lines we have available were all being used. All the while, patients were coming in waiting to be seen or with questions about his or her account. Today had to be the day one of our “hard-to-deal-with” patients would come in upset about his bill. Bill Murphy came to my desk with a look on his face that suggested he might start yelling at the top of his lungs. “Why do I owe $84.96?!” he asked with a voice that made me think he was somewhat of a know-it-all. We have always had problems with Bill. I calmly explained to Bill why he had owed this much money and after trying to argue with me for several minutes he paid his bill and was gone.

            As the day was coming to an end and 5:30 p.m. was nearing, I looked at the thermostat, 85° F. Since normally I am done at 5:00 p.m., I started to feel a sense of relief that the stressful day at work was almost over and I could go home and get ready for Yoga. Everything was finished, the patients had all gone home, the phones had stopped ringing and I had no need to use the scanner! ‘I can go home now!’ I joyfully thought. I took my keys and purse in my hand and locked the door behind me with a headache, but managed to form a smile.

Looking at today from an aerial perspective, I guess it could have been worse, and really wasn’t terrible considering all things. I worked through the confusion and stress we were having, I cleared up any details that were unclear to any of my coworkers, fixed the scanner, and happened to leave the temperature behind as I left for the day.  I am sitting here, thinking to myself that I am thankful for days like yesterday; days that make me human and imperfect. Though getting to leave work may have been the best part of my day, I won’t forget that we all have had one of those days.

Note: Names were changed in order to protect patients under HIPAA.