KleenSpec Vaginal Illumination System

No matter how high you set the filter levels for spam control, it seems there's always an occasional email with a pornographic subject heading that gets through. If it's not explicitly pornographic, it might be advertising breast or penis enlargement tactics. So when I noticed an email pop up in my mailbox the other day with the subject heading "Kleen Spec Vaginal Illumination," I assumed it was just another one of those emails. But no, that was an incorrect assumption. Apparently, that is an actual, legitimate clinical tool used for vaginal examinations. A quick google search showed that it's a product that actually showed up on an organization's 2004 wish list. I learned a lesson today: all that sounds pornographic is not.

My Apologies to All the World's Visual Learners

Last week was my chance to introduce myself and my office's programming to this year's crop of resident assistants and hall directors. I did this for the first time last year and had a lot of fun with it. The RAs come around in groups of 15 or 20, I tell them who I am and how I can help them, and then the program requests pour in all year, making all of our staff members feel important and needed.

This year, however, Mother Nature was not in a cooperative spirit. In spite of the absolutely beautiful weather we had experienced all week, she decided to rain down with all her fury from about 30 minutes prior to when I needed to go through the end of the scheduled presentation time. Typically, I like to carry lots of props with me so that the RAs can see the materials utilized in my presentations. I was not about to walk across campus, though, carrying Jeopardy boards, anatomical models, fatal vision goggles, bulletin board samples, putt-putt courses, or any of the other objects that lie around the office storage area. So instead, the poor audience members were forced to look at me and me alone during my presentation, and I'm just not that fascinating.

I've already gotten a couple program requests, though, so maybe it won't matter that my presentation was less than visually stimulating. Perhaps the invisible props I was forced to describe led to an air of mystery that will make my presentation impossible to forget.

The Customer is (Apparently) Not Always Right

Do you ever find that little things just rile you up? I went to JCPenney yesterday to exchange a set of curtains I had bought for my grandmother's birthday. The set I was returning and the one I was purchasing were both marked $15. When the cashier rang up the exchange, however, she announced that I owed $3.55.

"Why is that?" I asked. "Shouldn't it be an even exchange?"

"I don't know," she said. "That doesn't make sense, but that's how it rung up."

Upon further investigation, she determined that a new sale had begun, so the curtains were not the same price as when I had purchased them a week earlier. I told her that didn't seem right. If the new sale price had been less than what I'd originally paid, I'm sure the store would not have refunded me any money; then it definitely would have been an even exchange.

The poor woman looked like she was afraid I was going to yell at her. She apologized profusely and said there was nothing she could do. I reluctantly paid her the additional $3.55 since I had promised my grandmother I'd get the curtains for her. I politely thanked the employee, wished her a good day, and left the store, fuming to myself about how technology runs everything these days and people know longer know how to do simple monetary transactions (or in this case, retail price corrections) without the aid of cash registers.

I've worked retail before. I know how the system works. But I also know that from a customer service standpoint, when an item rings up improperly, there are either functions on the register to amend the price, or there are managers to call with the authority to make decisions.

Yes, I know that $3.55 is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, especially when discussing the value of gifts to grandmothers. But still, sometimes you just have days where the little things in life get you all riled up. Plus, I'm a penny pincher anyway, and that $3.55 was going to be my lunch money.

Back at Work

My summer vacation has officially come to an end. Today marks my second day back in the "real world." Things are very quiet in a health center when your target population is not around. Wait just two weeks and this office will look like a different place with clients walking through at a constant clip. I like those days. Right now it's just too quiet.