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Praetorium Honoris

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Trust, But Verify ...

November
OAS Photo
So as fate would have it, I awakened in the wee hours of Tuesday. Rolling over and checking my timepiece, I saw that it was barely 0415. Too damned early to get up.

As I rolled over and attempted to go back to sleep, a small part of my brain (I like to call it the "pain in my ass" part of my brain) whispered, "Don't you have a doctor's appointment today? At like 1500, meaning you'll have to leave work early then make the time up later."

I lay there, I thought about it. If I got in before 0700, I would only have to make up maybe an hour, no problem really. But what the heck, I'm tired. I want to sleep.

The PITA part of my brain just gave me a smug look and whispered, "Oh well, I'm sure you know best."

0500, well before sunup, I said, "The heck with it, I'll get up now. I'll still get in wicked¹ early."

So up I got, to the shower I went, and some time later arrived at my place of employment. The sun was almost up (it came up at 0653 according to my sources) so I went in and got to it.

At 1345 I departed work for a 1500 medical appointment. I arrived at the appointed time (which of course was 15 minutes early) and checked in.

The nice lady at reception asked my name, my address, and kept glancing from the computer to me, as if the world was somehow off its axis.

"Uh, your appointment is Wednesday."

In my mind I'm thinking, "And today is Wednesday, is it not?"

But no, it most certainly was not.

Yes, I had arrived at my 1500 appointment early ...

Twenty-four hours early.

I could have sworn on Monday that the nice lady who scheduled the appointment had said, "We have a couple of times tomorrow," at least that's what I think I heard, "and some on Thursday."

Thinking more about getting it over with, rather than actually paying attention, I said "Let's shoot for tomorrow." (Really, I swear that's what I said.)

Maybe the lady said she had times on Tuesday and Thursday, maybe I just heard it that way. We'll perhaps never know.

I did check the appointment data I'd sent to my cell phone after the fact. Yup, clearly said the 20th of November, not the 19th.

So today, WEDNESDAY, I get to try again.

Source
Like Buck was wont to say, "It's always sumthin' ..."



¹ A very New England adjective, means "very." So "wicked early" = "very early." Trust me on this one. I was born in New England, I speak the lingo. Well, most of it anyway, I don't say "chowdah," I say "chowder." At least I think I do ...

34 comments:

  1. I hate when that happens. Since I retired a few months ago I have to constantly remind myself what day it is. I’m consistently a day off and somewhere in there I managed to misplace a whole week LOL

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    Replies
    1. As retirement gets closer, all the days seem jumbled up.

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    2. When the garbage men come early in the morning you need to know what day it is the night before...retired or not. :-)

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    3. Throw in a Monday holiday and all bets are off.

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  2. Better have a talk with your Appointment Manager Sarge (chuckle)...... I swear my Short Term Memory Manager takes the darndest times to take a coffee break......... :)

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  3. (glances at clock showing 0439, having sat down to peruse this blog after SSS, make coffee, etc) 0415 is too damned early? Maybe a little early. 0500 is better. That's why working a swing shift almost did me in. My internal clock wakes me up by 0500. Even if I hit the rack at 0200. Been that way since high school. Exceptionis Pascha. Since our service ets out at about 0300, then to the hall for the blessing of the baskets of food, and a little fellowship, then getting home at 0430, and riding the high until about 0500, I've been known to say in bed until 0730.

    No real virtue in it, just the way I'm wired.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm wired almost the opposite way, too many years on swings and mids. There are days that I'm not really getting started until around midnight!

      But that happens less and less as I get older.

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  4. Welp, better early than late.
    As a veteran ORG (Old Retired Grumpy) I have found a secret hack for Doctor appointments...
    Without fail ALL Doctor's appointments are scheduled at most inopportune dates/times.
    I am a gym rat and have a schedule I rather like: MWF 9-11am.
    They can NEVER schedule on Tuesday or Thursday.
    The answer is always the same: Wed at 3:30pm. UGH, yep filled all the check boxes but now I am downtown with 3 hours to kill.
    I found out that if I show up at the Doc's office the second they open after lunch, 9 times out of ten they will squeeze me in before 1pm.
    They get to build slack in their schedule and I get done Before I was supposed to start driving the 45min to get to the appt. WIN WIN.
    MSG Grumpy

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    Replies
    1. The medicos up here typically offer a number of available slots, you then pick one. Usually there's something close to what I want.

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  5. Sarge, when I wake up in the middle of the night or even early, I have been forcing myself to stay in bed until my alarm goes off at 0500 to prevent myself from getting in the habit of getting up too early.

    I have taken to putting appointments on my phone calendar as I am quite prone to forgetting them - which, of course, then has to be triangulated with my work calendar (and appointments entered there as well). Sigh. Life did not use to be this complicated...

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    Replies
    1. In one month my life will become far less complicated.

      I hope!

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  6. I'm at the age where I need a 24 hr reminder "Appointment TOMORROW," one that tells me in the morning, one in the afternoon, and an alarm set for when I need to leave.

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    Replies
    1. I find a post it note reminder on the bathroom mirror helpful. Most conspicuous when you have to be looking around it while trying to shave.

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    2. That would be forbidden here. Mama doesn't want the place looking like an office.

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    3. If you start writing more often in another month you may need something that looks like an office..
      I make a weekly calendar that runs from Monday to Sunday and I put things I need to do on it, it's right here in front of me. I check it every morning to see what I need to not forget :-)
      I see the doc at 1400 tomorrow...

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  7. We've all been there, however have you ever had the totally dislocating experience of waking up, looking at your clock and thinking 's**t, it's 6.30am, I'm late for my 7am start'? You frantically shave, get dressed, run to your car and realise that in fact it's 6.30pm and not 6.30am. I can assure you it's very disconcerting.
    Retired












    Retired

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  8. It happens. One Fall, daylight savings change, I "sprung" forward and arrived at work two hours early.

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    Replies
    1. A twice yearly source of entertainment for those of us worked shifts.
      Retired

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    2. Retired - Yes, that happens. Rather a lot I'll wager.

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    3. At church, there is the silent glee at the spring forward change when a family tries to inconspicuously slip into a back pew unaware that the closing hymn is being sung.

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    4. Oh yes, I've seen that. Haven't been the one doing it, not yet anyway.

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  9. Well Sarge, at your age it is no bad thing starting to get old. Just sayin, Curtis

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    Replies
    1. Well, Cap'n, it sure beats the alternative. Some folks don't get the chance to grow old.

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  10. I am a third shifter, and have Tuesday and Wednesday nights off. I usually try get up real early on Tuesday afternoon, so I can sleep Tuesday night, and do things in the daylight on Wednesday. Last night, we had ten horses escape, and Brenda and I were out until just after 0300, rounding them up.

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  11. THIRTY DAYS to freedom!
    JB

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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