Babysitting

There is such an amazing difference between being a nurse and being a manager. The change is somewhat startling.

So, I got this new job. I am the manager for a clinic inside a hospital. The clinic is interesting. Basically, the clinic used to be tiny and now is growing to be huge. When the clinic was tiny, the manager hired people she felt sorry for and could take care of while she essentially did all of the duties of the clinic. Now that the clinic is expanding, this is not so successful.

As a manager, I get really frustrated that not everyone listens, works hard, and focuses on the patients. The whole experience is like babysitting. I was never a great babysitter because I never had what I thought was a great answer to the question, "what do I do when the kid won't behave?" This is the problem with babysitting, parenting, and managing. Oh, and being married. Can I give my husband a written warning? Actually....that's a great idea. I may do that.

But employees are crazy. They come to me and tell me how important their job is to them and how great they are at it and then they just ignore what I told them to do.

Don't leave late - they leave late the next few days.
Don't arrive late - I watch them walk in late the next few days.
Answer the phone - Can you believe they argued with me about this?

None of the options for dealing with misbehavior are appealing. I know that I have to deal with it, but I just don't wanna. In the end, I know that I will have a much less unappealing future here if I deal with these issues now, but sheesh. What a pain.

On the other hand, it is probably the perfect job for me right now. I do't get any sleep, I'm still hormonal, and I have a lot of stress in my life. Finding the appropriate way to discipline grown-ups may be a lovely outlet for me.