You Know You Are Old When

[WinterDeere]

Maybe I live in a sheltered conservative corner of the world, but I've never had anyone not thankful for me holding the door for them. If I ever did, I'd just tell them I did it because they're a person, not just because they're female.

Other than old ladies and vets, I usually go thru the door first, and then hold it open while I wait for them to grab it. Old ladies and anyone wearing a veteran's hat get to go thru first.

 

[Oaktree]

She opened her coat. I looked.
I said you ruined the best thing I had ever seen.
She never spoke to me again.
Saved me money as she had been the main thing I used to go see.

I don't get it either, but you'd be surprised at the things some people are self-conscious about.

Chair and car door is for someone you know and care for, not just random people.. You would not do that for an elderly relative?

Well, in what remains of my family I am the elderly relative, and I'm perfectly capable. My mother, when she was still with us was equally adamant that if she wanted help she'd ask for it.

 

[Alan46]

Had no intention to offend. How?

Sorry I must have misunderstood your comment .
What I didn’t add to my comment was that I was older than that couple!

 

[not2old]

Maybe I live in a sheltered conservative corner of the world, but I've never had anyone not thankful for me holding the door for them. If I ever did, I'd just tell them I did it because they're a person, not just because they're female.

Other than old ladies and vets, I usually go thru the door first, and then hold it open while I wait for them to grab it. Old ladies and anyone wearing a veteran's hat get to go thru first.

I do the same thing. When women hold the door and let me go first, I tell them "gee, do I really look that old". It usually gets a chuckle from them.

 

[airbiscuit]

It's hell to grow old,
when the weather turns cold,
and the head of your pecker turns blue.

And you go take a piddle
and it bends in the middle.
Don't laugh, it'll happen to you!

 

[Eagle1]

I do the same thing. When women hold the door and let me go first, I tell them "gee, do I really look that old". It usually gets a chuckle from them.

I just say thank you.....

 

[ultrarunner]

At work I've gained alot of fans in the patient population from my 5:30 am to 7 am in the front lobby...

It's nothing special other than greeting the person signing in, walking them to the admit area and seating them and then holding the door as the patient is taken by the nurse to pre-op.

Men and women 99% positive and I try to lighten the stress a notch which helps at 5:30 in the morning.

Confirming they are at the right place and saying I have immediate seating available and pulling out the chair, etc... while saying it's part of our concierge service.

It's the small things people remember and I try to make a stressful situation a little less stressful or in other words let the patients know they are in good hands...

With Cataract patients the follow-up for the other eye is often 2 to 3 weeks later... so feedback is common.

Walking into a hospital for surgery early in the morning is stressful enough and the figuring out where you need to be and dealing with ID and Insurance, etc...

I know I'm old because I now find myself older than a lot of our patients... wasn't that way 33 years ago plus I'm seeing people I went to elementary and high school coming in... before it was just our teachers...

 

[Oaktree]

At work I've gained alot of fans in the patient population from my 5:30 am to 7 am in the front lobby...

It's nothing special other than greeting the person signing in, walking them to the admit area and seating them and then holding the door as the patient is taken by the nurse to pre-op.

Men and women 99% positive and I try to lighten the stress a notch which helps at 5:30 in the morning.

Confirming they are at the right place and saying I have immediate seating available and pulling out the chair, etc... while saying it's part of our concierge service.

Did you change jobs? I was always under the impression that you did plant maintenance.

 

[ultrarunner]

Did you change jobs? I was always under the impression that you did plant maintenance.

Hired as Director of Engineering and over the course or mergers and acquisitions my roles have expanded and contracted…

At one time I branched into patient care when we had the first Femtosecond laser for Cataract on the West Coast and I was the first certified.

During the pandemic Security was added under Facilities which included screening to enter.

Starting at 4 am made me highest from management onsite during the very early morning hours and able to address transient population caused issues affecting operations.

From 5:30 am to 7 am I’m at the front desk and actually enjoy it and as long as I have network access it works for me.

At 5 am I do external security sweep and take report from after hours contract security… mostly clearing doorways of people camping and their belongings and tagging problem vehicles.

4 am it’s the steam boilers, vacuum pumps, medical gas, etc…

Upgrading HVAC is the project that has taken a life of its own.

Much of contract administration and purchasing now goes through corp headquarters post last merger.

I’ve had some nice wins outside engineering such as appealing a county tax assessment saving the hospital over 50k annually, slashed our medical gas expenditures by 50% and cut uniform and linen expense by 55% simply through management…

 

[airbiscuit]

Sounds like you were a High Maintenance Employee

 

[Mendonsy]

 

[ultrarunner]

As the merger was in process HR had each employee list their qualifications and duties…

For most it was simple… scheduler, sterile processing, environmental services, surgical RN, surgical tech, PACU RN, CNA, etc…

When it was my turn everything stopped… a lot of what I was doing would be taken over by corporate and I don’t hold any medical licenses… my degree is engineering, business minor with contract administration and management…

New company said my position would not carry forward and I declined the offer of engineer…

A compromise was reached as Chief Engineer but no longer salaried…

Turns out hourly is more lucrative but who knew…?

More recent corp said I can no longer be Chief Engineer as most hospitals are Union but my location isn’t… I did offer to join the Union if that would help…

So now I’m Facilities Operation but with the same responsibilities…

The corporate world is interesting but the one size fits all can be wasteful and not cost efficient…

I had some surplus equipment to dispose and one of our doctors wanted it.

He offered $400… great.

Corp requires it go through legal which required a site visit to determine Fair Market Value… the process took 6 weeks and the Doctor no longer interested.

I said $400 was fair.

Corporate spent $2,000 between legal and determining Fair Market Value and came up with a appraisal of $375.

The end result was I rented a lift truck and spent 4 hours on the clock hauling it to a medical equipment recycler…

I’m sure in somebody’s mind it all makes sense.

 

[Eagle1]

As the merger was in process HR had each employee list their qualifications and duties…

For most it was simple… scheduler, sterile processing, environmental services, surgical RN, surgical tech, PACU RN, CNA, etc…

When it was my turn everything stopped… a lot of what I was doing would be taken over by corporate and I don’t hold any medical licenses… my degree is engineering, business minor with contract administration and management…

New company said my position would not carry forward and I declined the offer of engineer…

A compromise was reached as Chief Engineer but no longer salaried…

Turns out hourly is more lucrative but who knew…?

More recent corp said I can no longer be Chief Engineer as most hospitals are Union but my location isn’t… I did offer to join the Union if that would help…

So now I’m Facilities Operation but with the same responsibilities…

The corporate world is interesting but the one size fits all can be wasteful and not cost efficient…

I had some surplus equipment to dispose and one of our doctors wanted it.

He offered $400… great.

Corp requires it go through legal which required a site visit to determine Fair Market Value… the process took 6 weeks and the Doctor no longer interested.

I said $400 was fair.

Corporate spent $2,000 between legal and determining Fair Market Value and came up with a appraisal of $375.

The end result was I rented a lift truck and spent 4 hours on the clock hauling it to a medical equipment recycler…

I’m sure in somebody’s mind it all makes sense.

but it covered someone's rear....not their fault

 

[ultrarunner]

But covering too many Rears is how you end up buried…

Back in my college days a lot of emphasis was on Thinking Outside the Box and Empowering employees to solve problems.

It seems that much of corporate is about being politically correct and cya…

My strong suit is performance as in getting it done…

Not once has a surgery ever been cancelled on my watch due to a problem with the facility.

During the merger all accounts payable was transferred to corp but corp dropped the ball on ATT Voice and Internet and Waste Management.

In other words these vendors not paid and past due notices sent to corp so clueless here.

Everyone coming to me so I dig deep and find the Hospital is 17k in arrears with ATT and service suspended…

No one in corp could help… it had to go through channels…

Hell with that, I put it on my own personal credit card because the emergency Admin Corp Card has a 10k transaction limit and was declined…

Waste Management similar but was not affecting internal operations as no ATT…

 

[Eagle1]

But covering too many Rears is how you end up buried…

Does not seem to matter to corp drones.

 

[bdhsfz6]

 

[orezok]

As the merger was in process HR had each employee list their qualifications and duties…

For most it was simple… scheduler, sterile processing, environmental services, surgical RN, surgical tech, PACU RN, CNA, etc…

When it was my turn everything stopped… a lot of what I was doing would be taken over by corporate and I don’t hold any medical licenses… my degree is engineering, business minor with contract administration and management…

New company said my position would not carry forward and I declined the offer of engineer…

A compromise was reached as Chief Engineer but no longer salaried…

Turns out hourly is more lucrative but who knew…?

More recent corp said I can no longer be Chief Engineer as most hospitals are Union but my location isn’t… I did offer to join the Union if that would help…

So now I’m Facilities Operation but with the same responsibilities…

The corporate world is interesting but the one size fits all can be wasteful and not cost efficient…

I had some surplus equipment to dispose and one of our doctors wanted it.

He offered $400… great.

Corp requires it go through legal which required a site visit to determine Fair Market Value… the process took 6 weeks and the Doctor no longer interested.

I said $400 was fair.

Corporate spent $2,000 between legal and determining Fair Market Value and came up with a appraisal of $375.

The end result was I rented a lift truck and spent 4 hours on the clock hauling it to a medical equipment recycler…

I’m sure in somebody’s mind it all makes sense.

Before retirement I was a Facilities Manager for a school district. Everything in a school district is the property of the State. Some of it comes back in as total junk. Some is equipment that was never used. Most is somewhere in between.

If someone wanted to buy something we would put the item on eBay with a short buy time and set minimum bid at the amount the interior was willing to pay. If no one bid, we considered it as valued at less than our minimum bid amount.

We then declared that amount to be the fair market value with no bid which then released us to dispose of or sell to any buyer at our posted price.

Problem solved.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

You weren't supposed to stick your nose right in.

Didn't have to! Noses were at the wrong level.

 

[scootr]

You are old when ...
"One for the road" means peeing before you leave the house.

 

[goeduck]

Hired as Director of Engineering and over the course or mergers and acquisitions my roles have expanded and contracted…

At one time I branched into patient care when we had the first Femtosecond laser for Cataract on the West Coast and I was the first certified.

During the pandemic Security was added under Facilities which included screening to enter.

Starting at 4 am made me highest from management onsite during the very early morning hours and able to address transient population caused issues affecting operations.

From 5:30 am to 7 am I’m at the front desk and actually enjoy it and as long as I have network access it works for me.

At 5 am I do external security sweep and take report from after hours contract security… mostly clearing doorways of people camping and their belongings and tagging problem vehicles.

4 am it’s the steam boilers, vacuum pumps, medical gas, etc…

Upgrading HVAC is the project that has taken a life of its own.

Much of contract administration and purchasing now goes through corp headquarters post last merger.

I’ve had some nice wins outside engineering such as appealing a county tax assessment saving the hospital over 50k annually, slashed our medical gas expenditures by 50% and cut uniform and linen expense by 55% simply through management…

You are a good man for doing all of that. Just think of the knowledge you have from doing all of that.