Theory Time

So I'm here at work, just as I have been for the past two days, despite the unusual volume of snow on the ground. Tonight, the night I don't work from open until close, the walk-in clinics will all close early. Isn't that nice? Yup. Closing early.

One. Whole. Hour. Early.

I might be a teensy bit envious of this fact, and the coworker who will close tonight, but frankly, I'm a wee bit miffed---too miffed, in fact, to have any feelings other than...what's the noun? Miffedness? Miffedocity?

You know what I mean.

I'm a bit miffed at my coworkers from last night, the night we DIDN'T close early. As the x-ray tech and I sat waiting to be released [we stay until we're told by the walk-in staff that all patients are cared for and we're done] those coworkers finished their work and trooped merrily out the door. That's right. On a night of snow, of both the freshly fallen and the partially melted then frozen varieties, they forgot to let us know they [and WE] were done and could scurry home.

I'm also miffed that the "non-essential" staff were released mid-afternoon to go home. Right. Because anything I do at this non-urgent clinic is "essential?" Ah. Well. That explains my paycheck.

And I'm a trifle miffed that today, the physicians in several--excuse me, MOST departments were able to go home, but the reception, medical assistant and nursing staff were required to stay. To---wait for it---answer the phones.

All of this adds up to one simple fact: In my world, I am disposable. If my dating life didn't hammer that home well enough, my work life brought in a nail gun. An hydraulic one, at that. How delightful to realize that my traveling home safely is of absolutely no import to any of my employers! Fer chrissakes, keep the doctors and administrators safe, but the lab rats? The receptionists? The MAs and nurses? Oh, hell, they can die. We can always get new ones.

Hey, maybe this is a way for the clinic to address financial concerns! Maybe that's why they're doing this! If long-term employees die in horrible accidents, the new hires will cost a whole lot less, thus saving the clinic loads of money. And maybe most of the "non-essential" staff have signed up to be organ donors, paperwork held by the clinic and available at just the right moment, which should surely warrant a finders' fee!

Money problems solved.

It's a theory.