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Work today sucked. Right away I knew it was going to be a sucky day. I went to trash [grab trash from the trash cans] some offices and got locked into the lobby receptionist's station. stare NONE of my keys opened her door! NONE. So I had to wait for people to pass by and shout at them to come and open the door. No one listened for like 5 minutes until FINALLY a nurse walked past. She said she didn't have keys and couldn't help me and started giggling. After her giggle attack I explained that all she had to do was enter through two doors and then I could leave. Giggling the whole way,she came and opened the door. I knew right then, my day would suck. Stupid doors and my not having the right key! [I didn't know the door locked automatically from the OUTSIDE. If I had, I'd have left it open. crying ]

Then, they put me down in Denali Center at Birch for a geriatrics run. Not a problem. I like the geriatrics runs. They're fun, the nurses are usually really nice and the old people are interesting and fun to talk to. I especially like Willow Run - the alzheimer and dimentia patients. Even if they forget who you are within 30 seconds of you telling them, they're all total sweethearts. Even the man who can't stop talking 24/7 is nice when there's music and you soothingly say "shh" or sing to him. Which, actually sometimes makes him stop talking. But, then he sings. o.O Not always good.

Anyway. Today...everyone was mean. Except the old people. They were still nice. They think I'm a sweetheart. sweatdrop I had to clean the Fireweed Cafe [where the old people in Denali Center get their food, the employees have to use the Model Cafe at the main hospital] after breakfast. Well, on my sheet all it said was "Clean Fireweed Cafe after breakfast". Which means I go in, police it [spot clean] and trash if necessary. Wipe things down that are dirty, pick up the floor if only a few spots are dirty or vacuum if it's a total mess. So I started wiping down their dirty tables. A lady got after me because I'm not supposed to clean their tables. So I said, "Ok...well my sheet says to clean the Cafe...so I didn't know. I'm sorry." and she got after me for having poor training and not doing my job right! o.o The tables were dirty, so I was supposed to clean them, or so I'd been trained. She went on and on about how i hadn't been trained right and I couldn't do my job. So I put my washcloth into the "used rags bag" on my cart, and went back in to grab the cans that were in there. [All cans usually go to a guy on Willow to be crushed because he donates them to charity, or if already crushed to Waste Management to be recycled and the proceeds donated.] Well this time ANOTHER lady got after me because they were HER cans and were going to HER church for THEIR charity. NOT the guy's charity. So I was NOT allowed to touch them. Then the OTHER lady chimed in saying I'd been trying to wash off their tables, too, and all I had to do was vacuum. The second lady said, "Well, god bless you!" in a patronizing tone and then they walked off giggling and insulting me and my job. Fireweed Cafe workers are so rude. stare Uncalled for, I say.

And to make matter worse, I have a broken hand. They made me buff floors. Buffers' handles vibrate while the shine the floor. Broken bones + vibration from a machine while you have to press down and guide it across a floor to shine it evently = swollen and super sore hand. I can now barely hold a pencil it hurts so bad. And the base of my thumb is all swollen. It looks weird. crying


On the bright/funny side, several patients thanked me, said "God bless you!" very enthusiastically and sincerely, and said I was a total sweetheart today. One of the residents [long term patients at Denali Center] needed help lighting his cigarette [he can't move his hands to light it] so he had to teach me how you light the stupid thing. We both got a few laughs out of that. I had NO clue which end to light, so he explained to me the difference between the ends, laughed, and told me about the first time he'd lit a cigarette the wrong way and how badly it tastes to smoke through the non-filtered end. He also told me that it's a good thing I didn't know how and never smoke, and told me to keep it that way before I left their smoking lounge. He's a sweet guy. He tried to follow me and catch up to me a couple days after Valentine's to share the homemade fudge he had because one of the male nurses had said I wanted some. Poor guy, I didn't know he was behind me and today he came up to me and said I'd just kept disappearing but he'd tried really hard to give me the piece of fudge I'd wanted because Rory said I wanted one. I apologized and told him that Rory had been pulling one over on him because I hadn't said I'd wanted one and the guy just laughed and said that he had sure tried but that the last piece had been eaten or it would have been mine. Then he shot off in his wheelchair to go bug some of the female nurses.