Phone Etiquette

So I've been receiving a lot of phone calls requesting charitable contributions.  They're all worthy causes, but it's as if they twist your arm to donate and almost dupe you into thinking that you have to donate $xx and above, but really you can donate anything you want.  They let you know that they can pay the minimum of $30 or more, when you can actually donate a buck if you choose to, then they verify that you said what you said and send out a bill for you to submit.  I've even gone through the trouble of telling them that I'm  not working and that I support their charities through individuals, such as the Revlon Run-Walk Marathon for Breast Cancer Research.

So today someone called.  I recognized the "877"/"866" number and wondered if I should pretend not to speak English or change my voice because I'm so annoyed by them.  I decided to pick it up and lower my voice.  They asked if I was Mr. Almalel....lol...when I said "no", they asked for Olivia, and I said she wasn't home.  They politely let me know that they'd call back.  lol.

I can't help myself.  No more friggin' charity calls, I got tons to deal with on my own.  LOL

My Doctor

Disclaimer, I love my doctor.  He is always behind and loses all my paperwork but when he sits with me, he genuinely talks with me and tries to accommodate my every need.  Heck the first appointment I had with him after leaving Northridge Hospital was a long wait, but he actually sent his nurse out with his credit card to buy a vaccine for me.  He knew that I had weakened lungs and sent her out to get Pneumovax which is used to prevent pneumonia. What a guy!

I went to see him today and upon walking in, his secretary gets an "uh-oh" look and says, "I'm sorry my dear, but you're the only one I forgot to call.  Dr. C is at a conference in San Diego and he won't be in for a few days.".  So I take a deep breath and instead of making a big deal, I ask her to look at the paperwork that I need filled out.  She sees that it's something she can sign, so she does!  Woo hoo!  Not only that, but she wrote a prescription for me to get my wheelchair repaired.  Nice.

My doctor is an odd one though.  I like to describe him as my Woody Alan doctor.  When you walk in you already know you're going to wait at least 30 minutes to an hour.  "Ugh" is the only thing that runs through your mind.  As you wait though, all you see is him running around the office, going room to room, apologizing for the wait and thanking patients for being so kind.  Then he pops up in the front office and thanks all of us in the waiting room with a furled eyebrow and a puppy dog face.  It's hard not to laugh while he zooms in and out while telling us, "Just one moment.  I'll be with you all soon, Thank you for coming" a-la-Woody-Alan, and POOF, he's gone again.  It's like watching the little groundhog-things pop up in the Whackamole arcade game. lol  

To Laugh or Not to Laugh?

My sense of humor is understood by those with the same weird/wrong sense of humor. You know the old adage, "Birds of a feather, flock together". Like my friend Ursula, we have a pretty warped sense of humor that only we would understand. We laugh at almost all of the same things and know how to tell a story in a way that would make the other laugh pretty hard. Now that I've begun going out more, whether it be Dr.s' appointments or grocery shopping, I have a chance to people watch more. It's very interesting. So this blog is just about everyday occurrences that make me laugh. It might be funny to most, but sometimes I just have to laugh, even if it makes me look like a jerk. I never said I was perfect. lol.

So today, I went out with my brother and Kat, his girlfriend/fiancee, to shop for pet costumes. They love their dog like a child and treat her like a princess. Even I have to agree that Momo, the dog, is great. Although Saturday afternoon, a week before Halloween, is not the ideal time to shop, we ended up at T.J. Maxx and the Halloween Store in Granada Hills. So many people in the store and so many articles of clothing, toiletries, and accessories randomly thrown about.

Inappropriate?

I saw a woman mindlessly meandering through the housewares section in the back while I was staring at a wall of specialty gourmet cookies, cocoa mixes, and haberdasheries. I heard a crash and noticed in my peripheral vision that she had mindlessly crashed her cart into a support beam and startled herself into consciousness. I couldn't help but to choke back a laugh, the kind of thing you do which ends up with you kind of snorting. I composed myself, but when she apologized to the beam, I laughed. Sorry.