Being Sara

Update: I turned down the job offer from the high school. After a lot of thought, discussion, and even some helpful comments from some faithful readers, I decided that I didn’t really want to work there. Ultimately it came down to money, and the degree to which our lifestyle would have to change if I took that job. On top of that, I really do enjoy the job that I have, so the incentive to move wasn’t really there. I’m comfortable with my decision, and thank you to those who helped me decide!

First, I apologize for neglecting the blog for the past few weeks. Mostly it’s because we haven’t uploaded any new pictures of Xander since Christmas, and I’m tired of reusing old ones. I’m hoping by this weekend we’ll have a huge batch up, and I’ve got a few posts ready and waiting once we do.

Right now though, I’m having a career dilemma. Currently I work in a University library. I supervise about 30 student employees, do tech support and library support and I love my job. Unfortunately, it’s an un-benefited position. This means that I get paid when I’m here, and I don’t get paid when I’m not here. I work 7.5 hours a day, 5 days a week. 8am-4:30pm. I like my students and I like my colleagues. Zach and I have one car. I drop him off at work, drop Xander off at day care, and then drive myself to work. We also both work at the same university for the same department, so I interact with him professionally on a regular basis, which I enjoy. In 5 years or so when Xander is in school, I could likely shift my hours to 7am-3pm, and then be home with Xander after school. We would have to figure out some sort of day camp or something, because I don’t have summers off.

Today I got offered a job at the local high school. Working in their library and doing some technical support for students. The pay is a little less, and it’s only for 186 days out of the year. This means I would likely have to find some sort of seasonal employment for the summer. But, it’s a benefited position. Medical, dental, retirement, life insurance, 2 paid weeks off during the school year, and summers off. So when Xander is in school, I could have summers off with him. The hours are from 10am-6pm, so I wouldn’t be able to pick Xander up from day care anymore. We would need to find another car.

So now I’m stuck. Do I take the job with less pay and benefits with slightly more challenging hours that will eventually coincide with my kid’s schedule? Or, do I stay in the job that I have and continue on without benefits? I’m on Zach’s medical plan, so that isn’t a huge concern. But, I can’t take sick days with Xander. We can’t take any family vacations, I’m almost 30 and I don’t have any retirement money invested, and I certainly can’t rely on social security to help me out in 50 years.

I have to let the high school know by Friday what I’m going to do, and I don’t know how to decide. So, if anyone out there has any thoughts or suggestions that might help me make my decision, I’d love to hear them!

This is a little off the topic of babies, but I had a rotten experience, and I need to rant a little. For those of you who don’t know, I live near Plymouth, NH. For five years I have used Dr. Rosen as my primary care physician. I have never actually met Dr. Rosen, I simply picked him out of a list of available doctors from my insurance company.

The office that Dr. Rosen works in has grown and changed its name to Mid-State Health Center. I don’t need their services very often, but occasionally I get a sinus infection, or some other mild ailment that requires the attention of an expert. At Mid-State Health I have never met with the same doctor twice. The don’t remember me from visit to visit, and even the support staff seems to change every time I go in there.

I visited Mid-State Health in May to talk about my allergies. I met with a doctor who spoke exactly 10 words in English. He brought in his laptop, checked off my symptoms, and then wrote me a prescription. We did not talk about how allergies affected me, or why I thought I had allergies and not a cold. He didn’t even explain to me why he had written two prescriptions (one for Allegra and one for Floanase). The nasal spray is still unopened in my medicine cabinet. I thought overall this visit was pretty terrible, and could have potentially turned out poorly, if this physician who didn’t speak English misunderstood something I said, or if I had an allergy to something, etc. I left there completely unsatisfied, thought at least my allergies would hopefully calm down with the prescription medication.

Today, I needed their help again. I somehow injured my thumb on my right hand over the weekend. It aches all the time, and I’ve lost strength in it - I can’t even pick up a glass of water, let alone my 22 lb. baby. So, I started calling Mid-State Health Center at 8:30 this morning. With each attempt, I was told that the receptionist was on the phone, and that I could leave a message - they wouldn’t even let me wait on hold! Finally I got through and made an appointment for 11:15. I just started a new job, where I am paid by the hour. So, I got there for my appointment, and waited for 25 minutes. I finally asked the receptionist how much longer I would need to wait. The receptionist located the assistant for my doctor for the day, and found out that I would have to wait for another hour, on top of the nearly 1/2 hour I had already waited. Panicked, I rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon, got my co-pay refunded, and left in tears.

I can hardly pick up my son, and I just needed someone to tell me what is wrong, and how I can fix it, and this place not only failed me, but also damaged my work schedule two days in a row. Mid-State Health Center is an overly large medical office with clearly too many patients and not enough time to give anyone the attention they deserve. As soon as I possibly can, I will be switching away from Mid-State Health Center, and I will strongly encourage anyone thinking of using them to find a different doctor!

Warning: This post is mostly a rant with not much educational value. If you’ve read any of my other posts, or personally know me, then you are aware that I work for DCYF. I was recently speaking with a client who implied that it was my responsibilty to help her. Despite my repeated attempts to explain to this person that my responsibility was to look out for children, not their parents, this individual did not seem to understand. It got me thinking back on several of the families that I have been involved with in the past. I realized that for quite a few families, at least one of the parents implied that it was my responibility to make sure they were safely parenting their children. So, I would like to know when it became my responsibility to clean houses, make sure that children are supervised while their parents go out partying, or pass out high on whatever drug they could get their hands on. When did it become my responsibility to make sure parents have housing and food. Since when did the responsibility for these basic necessities shift from being a parental responsibility to being a governmental responsibility? Of course it is my job to assist families, and to make referrals to community resources, but if parents are unable to follow through with these resources, or are unable to find a place to live or food to eat or figure out how to clean their houses, then they are at fault - I am tired of being blamed for parent’s irresponsibility. We all have to live up to expectations in life, and if we are unable to meet basic expectations, such as keeping our children safe, then we have to face the consequences. Just once I would like someone to say to me “yeah, it was my fault, I made some mistakes and my kid wasn’t safe, I’m sorry.” Some parents realize this throughout the course of a an on-going case, but I don’t handle those cases, so I never hear those statements.

responsibility, child protection, child safety, parental responsibility, expectations, DCYF

I don’t think I’m alone when I run in to a “red tape” situation and want to pull my hair out, am I? I work for the State Government, so I see my fair share. My state, in all it’s wisdom, has decided that each person they employ should have one function, and only one function. So, when something needs to be done, we need to fill out forms, set up meetings, and then find the one person who is paid to do the thing that needs to be done, and schedule a time for that person to finally complete the task. I hate that when an organization (such as a government) gets so big that they have to begin compartmentalizing each and every action. I understand the need for experts, but why can’t we make use of people who are available and maybe not experts, but knoweldgeable enough? Where did this rant come from? Well, my office is moving soon. In order for my office to move, we have to first set up a meeting with the office manager to plan everything - this might include an initial meeting with the office superviser, and then a walk through of the office to plan everything out, and then maybe another meeting to schedule the official “move day”. Then, the office manager has to fill out a form to get the furniture moved, and another form to get the computer equipment moved. Finally, on “move day”, strange men will come into my office, pick up my things, and walk them ten feet down the hall. Even though I promised not to throw out my back while moving my computer monitor, they absolutely refused to allow me to move anything by myself. I could pack, move and unpack my office again in the time it takes the powers that be to schedule a meeting to talk about the move. This isn’t the only example of insane red tape, it just happens to be the one that has driven me past my patience level today. I want to know how long you have to work for a government agency before you start bringing this stuff home - scheduling meetings with your kids to plan what to pack for lunch the next day, requiring your husband to fill out a request form when he wants to buy a newspaper, etc. How can people think this is an effective use of anyone’s time? Our State is supposedly having a budget crisis. I think if we stopped paying one person to hold nails, and one person to hold the hammer, then we might actually save some money.

office moves, red tape, government delay, office frustration, office rant