(no subject)

Updating because so few others do!

Brief summary for those of you who don't know: my credit card company took $1000 out of my account instead of $100, killing me.

To my surprise, my bank agreed to reverse the overdraft charges incurred by my credit card company's error. This is ALMOST enough, after my paycheck was swallowed, to put me back into positive territory. Unfortunately they were unable to freeze my account, which means if one more thing touches that negative balance I'll get hammered again. And the credit card company, after several days, hasn't restored it...

I have a really, really bad feeling about this. Not to mention that I'm guaranteed to get hammered on my car insurance, if they don't fix it by the end of the week as they promised. That delay in and of itself is ludicrous, and if it does result in charges, you can bet I'll be calling them up to demand the money they cost me. Still, if it costs me rent and car insurance coverage, that may not be enough to solve the problems that will result.

I'm pretty well prepared to fight this as far as I can. I just wonder if it can ever be enough.

On a better front, I've been in a writing mood lately, and have produced a fairly decent amount of what I hope is fairly decent material. This has not been without its costs to my left hand. Ow. I wonder if I could learn Dvorak, but I couldn't use it at work even if I did...

...hmm, that would be an interesting crusade to start at work. UPMC benefits support alternative lifestyles, why not have UPMC ISD support alternative keyboards?

I have decided I dislike the phrase "alternative lifestyles."

(no subject)

Attention stupid lady:

The hospital is not a restaurant. We have a dietary services that prepare a reasonably wide variety of standardized trays. No matter how much you beg, plead, or demand, we cannot conjure a baked potato for your husband out of thin air. If you truly think we have no idea how to care for a sick person and you can do so much better, why did you bring him here?

Attention stupid people:

The restrictions on visiting (i.e. not before the doctor has seen the patient) is for the protection of their privacy, the quality of their medical care, and the overall safety and comfort of the patient. We won't tell you this, but we're also required to screen for such things as abuse, which logically won't be answered truthfully if the abuser is in the room. If we need your input to care for the patient, or you're nice, we will ask you to come back sooner. Beyond that, you are not special. Your loved one is a patient here, not you, and our policies exist for them, not you. This may shock and astound you, but we have seen patients in states of confusion or dementia before. We have some slight idea of how to take care of them. You also do not get a free pass back just because: you are family; you are loud; you really really want to come back; you have never heard the word 'no' before and are unfamiliar with it; you are crying (though I DO sympathize); you are worried; you threaten me; you throw a tantrum; etc.

Attention stupid people on the phone:

If you want patient information, please call them. The ER is not the operator.

If you have to ask how busy it is, you're not having an emergency.

No, we can't give out medical advice. Yes, that is a law. No, you're not our patient. Yes, you are your doctor's patient. No, not ours. No, yelling won't help. No, this is not an outrage. Yes, this is medically sound. Buh-bye now.

No, we can't give out patient information over the phone -- even if you're his separated conjoined twin calling from Mt. Erebus, Antartica. That's the law. Yes, really.

No. I don't set hospital policy and procedure or federal law. As a corollary, yelling at me won't make them change.

Seriously. If you have to ask if it's busy, you're not sick.

Yes. Seriously.

Attention self:

Stop worrying humanity will redeem itself even slightly in your eyes. So long as you drive on the streets and deal with people at work, it never will.