New Skillz

One of my friends from church ran into a crunch a while ago and she had an out-of-town emergency that she needed to attend to immediately and without any warning whatsoever. The only glitch was that she's an office manager for a dentist here in Evanston and would be leaving the doctor and the other girl on staff totally stranded to cover her hours. So, she asked me if I wanted to make some extra cash...just in time for the holidays and shopping for baby stuff!

I came into the office and met the doctor and got about an hour and half of training and then showed up on Monday morning and kinda just picked the rest up as I went along.

It was a neat experience--I did receptionist stuff like answer phones, schedule follow-up appointments with people who need more work or come back in six months for their next cleaning, call people and remind them to come to the cleaning they scheduled six months ago even just in case they didn't get the postcard they filled out on their way out the door after their last cleaning, do the billing stuff for all the procedures, print out and fax/mail in insurance claims, update the office books and individual accounts for all the services performed and payments received, get deposits ready for the bank, make calls to different labs and such. But because there is just the one doctor and she doesn't hire any hygienists I also learned how to break down, clean, sterilize and set up a room after a patient's been in, how to clean and sterilize all the instruments and where they belong afterward, how to record on a chart for her where there are fillings or cavities while she examines a patient for the first time, how to prepare all the stuff so she can take an impression of someone's teeth, and stuff like that. It was a very empowering experience to get into the groove.

I learned a bunch of stuff about the world of dentistry and made some extra money, all while helping out a friend. Originally it was only supposed to be a few days, but then almost a month later...but that's okay. It was fun.

It was very reminiscent of my nanny job to some degree. Although my primary function was to do the office work and help with other stuff non-office related but helpful to her that kept me busy, I also had a definite social function as well. She's a very nice, talkative lady and she kept me engaged all day. As a nanny, my primary function was to help with the kids and around the house, and I also helped with non-kids but very helpful to her stuff that kept me busy (I'm very supportive of being used in this capacity--they might as well be getting their money's worth out of me! Getting paid to read the whole Twilight series drove me NUTS about my job at the nursing home),but I was a social outlet there, too. Every single day she'd come into the room I was in and start talking to me and we'd spend an hour just chatting away about this, that and the other--"Oh my gosh, listen to what happened..." or "You have GOT to see what I bought for [insert child's name here]". It was actually very comforting at the dentist's, because turns out I miss that interaction. Granted, keeping the Greek dentist from the North Shore company has a very different flavor than keeping the Jewish housewife from Jersey company--but they're both fun and very nice ladies.

And it was nice because it sure sped up the day so I got to my favorite part of it all the faster! The end! There's a sweet little church song for children that opens, "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home..." and I find myself humming it quite a bit, especially in the late afternoon when I know it won't be long before Grant heads back to the train.

I can not wait to teach it to Kendra and get her as excited as I am for when Daddy comes home.