Being new at a job has its challenges. There are many things you don't know until you actually do the job and make mistakes.
Being new at looking after my car, I ignored its sudden sluggishness. Bro drove it and said, You may have lost your turbo. Then one of the headlights went out and the windshield fluid stopped spraying.
So I was forced to bring the car in to the garage this morning. The mechanic and I went for a spin, he checked several things, then said, Nothing wrong with your turbo, but your car is sluggish. He checked the oil. I didn't have any. He checked the windshield wipers. They were broken. He checked around the car. I pointed to a gap on the side. He said that's the molding beginning to fall off. I said sometimes water gets in the car when it's raining, even when I have the window closed. He looked at the rubber trim around the window and said, Look how dirty that is.
So I left the car in his capable care. Those were all maintenance issues I didn't know to keep an eye on.
For the rest of the morning, I wanted to work in the garden. I walked to the local garden centre and bought a cartful of plants. The plant lady said, Make sure you ruff up the roots and spread them before putting them into the ground.
As a new gardener, I didn't know I had to do that. Now I have to go back and dig up all my plants to loosen the roots so they will grab onto the soil.
At the cash, it dawned on me, How will I get all these plants home without the car? I'll have to walk the trip several times. The plant lady said, I trust you so I'll let you wheel the cart home. But you have to promise to bring the cart back. It costs me $200.
No problem there. I carted the plants home then brought the cart back. I'm so glad that despite being in mid-life, there are still so many things to learn, so many opportunities to learn them, and so many people willing to lend a hand.
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`Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
`I don't much care where--' said Alice.`Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
`--so long as I get somewhere,' Alice added as an explanation.
`Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.'
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`In that direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw round, `lives a Hatter: and in that direction,' waving the other paw, `lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad.'
`But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'
`How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
`You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
Alice didn't think that proved it at all; however, she went on `And how do you know that you're mad?'
3 comments:
I've never believed in the term, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". I agree with you - no matter how old you are, there is a world out there with so many interesting things to fill the void in our minds.
People often don't know what to do with themselves when they retire. Some take on odd jobs to keep busy, others waste away doing not much. I look forward to the day when I can retire from my working career and begin my life career. I want to learn to become a real gourmet chef, I want to learn as many languages as I can, I want take some serious time to discover the lands that we visit, instead of trotting through 15 countries in 10 days.
Yes, there is life in them old dogs. Don't just throw them a bone, let them sniff the essence of this earth. It's better than pee-mail.
There's a saying you're all familiar with. It goes like this:
"Jack of all trades, master of none". It refers to someone in not so positive a light, a person of general knowledge but having a shallow understanding, no real skill or expertise in any one area. But, I disagree with this perception. I support skunk's view that it's better to know a little bit about everything. You can always choose to learn in depth about a particular subject if the need arises. I run into a lot of people (customers of mine) who know only one thing. Gun collectors, computer geeks, trekkies. They are boring, closed minded, inflexible people. Pharmacists on the other hand need to be a jack of all trades and master of one. As the most accessible health care professional, we have to be a little knowlegeable about everything. We need to be able to converse with all kinds of customers. It's a PR thing as well and a professional necessity. I've comforted depressed and suicidal patients(psychiatry), treated pets(veterinary), helped little old ladies with their income tax returns(accounting), repaired eyeglasses(optician), etc. Pharmacists are year after year ranked first in surveys asking who are the most trusted professionals. It's because we give the impression that we know with authority everything when the truth is we know only a little bit of everything but alot of nothing save pharmacy. That "Jack of all trades...." saying is actually an imcomplete and incorrectly interpreted figure of speach. The complete version goes like this: "Jack of all trades, master of none, though ofttimes better than master of one". Check out Wikipedia.
You'll be pleased to know The Boy, in his mastery of several things actually, is in the Standardized Patient Program at U of T, where he will be posing as a fake patient in the pharmacist certification exam next week.
We rehearsed several times where I played you and made the kind of patient inquiries I remember you making. He played the patient, and he said I gave all the answers he was told the examiner would be looking for.
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