I need to rant.
One year ago yesterday, I began my career as a medical secretary. I was excited and overjoyed to be working for the Mayo Clinic, I was positive that it was going to be great. Disillusionment quickly set in as I endured the float pool, going from department to department, being treated like shit, because I was just the temp. Needless to say, my positive attitude was restored in late June when I was offered a permanent desk in a department I shall not name.
Things went well, for a while. I was enjoying my new job, I was being complimented often on my skill at learning the desk so quickly. Let’s call the doctor I work for W. My supervisor (we’ll call her C) told me that W was a wonderful man to work for, a great doctor, brilliant, and a really nice guy. Which was true, for a while.
Then, approx. 3 weeks after I started, two weeks after I took over the desk completely, W’s administrative secretary goes on vacation. Her responsibilities fall on my shoulders. Needless to say, I made a few mistakes. None of them were so severe that they could not be fixed when discovered.
About a week after the administrative secretary’s return, W sends me an email listing, numerically, every mistake I had made in the past 2 weeks, then stating that I lack attention to detail. Let’s not forget that, prior to the administrative secretary’s absence, he had no complaints about me, I was great, he praised my excellent transcription and my ability to get the hang of this desk so quickly. I figured, hey, a few mistakes are to be expected when one is so new. Needless to say, this email came as quite a shock. But, at this point, I was okay with it, he pointed out my mistakes, I would make sure they didn’t happen again.
Then came the first conference with my supervisor which was brought about by the email. Now, I have absolutely no problems with my supervisor, C is wonderful, the best one I have worked with to date. She even agreed that the aforementioned email was a bit innappropriate, email is not a good medium for relaying such a message, if not carefully worded, it can come across as extremely harsh. C then pulls out a written reprimand form and tells me it’s no big deal, it will probably just get tossed in the file cabinet and forgotten, it’s just procedure. Life goes on. Except that, at this point, I had become so incredibly paranoid about doing something incorrectly, that I was a complete basket case. Someone would walk up behind me and say my name, and I would jump a foot, I was so nervous all the time. It made doing my job a bit difficult, I was constantly second-guessing myself, and it was truly wretched. I had lost all confidence in myself to the point where I really did become somewhat incompentent.
Then, I make another minor mistake that could have resulted in a patient flying a few thousand miles and not having any appointments scheduled. I fixed the problem, the patient got everything the doctor ordered. I figured it was no big deal.
I return from lunch and receive a message that C wished to speak to me in her office. So, off I go. C tells me that she can tell that I’m walking on pins and needles in my office, that I am having problems doing my job because I’m so nervous, and that she has a proposition for me. She wanted me to stay in the department, but she thought it would be best for me not to occupy that particular desk anymore. She says that she feels very, very bad for telling me at the beginning that W is a wonderful man to work with, she is new to the department and before this didn’t know him well, and she is starting to get a glimpse of an entirely new side of him. She offers me the opportunity to leave that desk, but stay in the department, and she would create a transcription-only position for me, just temporarily, until the new physician arrives, at which point I would be given that position. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance.
Today, she calls me into her office, just to update me on the status of the situation. They’re going to put the trainee in my desk (HA! That should be classic. This girl is straight out of the training program, I at least had several months of experience actually being a secretary when I began at that desk. She’s going to be lost and W is going to rue the day he ever doubted MY compentency. I will relish this.) in two weeks. Then, C states that W wishes to have a little chat with me. Wonderful, just what I need.
So, I’m sitting at my desk, doing some transcription, hoping W will forget about this little meeting he wanted. No such luck. He comes in and asks me to come back to his office. I sigh and follow him back.
He then proceeds to tell me that he thinks I’m a great typist. This is the only positive thing he can come up with to say about me. He then says that I shouldn’t feel bad, because he’s not mad at me, and he has no problem with me staying in the department, I’m perfectly welcome. I’m so happy to have his approval. Then, THEN, he says that I shouldn’t be afraid of trying the medical secretary field again after I’ve done transcription for awhile and I’ve learned the terminology. Eh??? Okay, not only did I come out of the training program with a fucking 4.0, scoring a 100% in the medical terminology class, but no one, and I mean no one, has ever, once complained about my knowledge of terminology, in any department, ever. In fact, I have constantly been complimented on my truly amazing grasp of medical lingo. I have never been so insulted in my life. And he said this just minutes after informing me that he was truly impressed with my transcription skills and that I was incredibly accurate!
I’m just really, really pissed, I’ve never had someone condescend to me in such a manner. I truly hope that his new secretary is as dumb as a rock.
