Thursday, May 28, 2009

I'm ready to throw in the towel

After today at the computer lounge I am just about ready to spit the dummy and resign; I suspect that The Doctor is thinking the same. Last week neither of us had any clients in the morning and in the afternoon I had two and The Doctor had only one. He was making dissatisfied noises then and today he had to come in for just one client.

As for me, I was emailed and told that I had three clients, one at 10.00am, one at 11.00am and one at 12.30 pm, finishing at 1.30pm. What actually happened was that when I arrived I was informed that my 12.30pm client had phoned to cancel but that my 1.30pm one was still coming. My 1.30pm client???? Then my first [10.00am] client didn't turn up but the second [11.00am] one turned up at 10.00am so I gave him a lesson and had the prospect of sitting doing nothing from 11.00am until 1.30 pm.

The receptionist (who is strictly a Thursday volunteer and none of the muddle was hers) phoned my afternoon client who was not in, and left a message on her answerphone to ask if she could come in an hour early. She arrived home just before noon and, bless her heart, grabbed her gear and came straight in. She didn't arrive until 12.45pm so I still got off early ... only not as early as I'd hoped. And I just missed a train and had to wait 15 minutes for the next one. Not a good day.

The only bright part was that The Doctor stayed and ate his lunch with me so that I had someone to talk to.

This is the sort of muddle which happens all too frequently. I enjoy teaching computer skills but it is all such a waste of time and there has got to be a better way of doing things. The problem seems to be that the first class is free but the clients are booked for four weeks of lessons. I think that if they don't turn up for their first, free class, then they should go straight to the bottom of the list and the next in line should be given their slot; especially if they don't phone in with an excuse. They are supposed to be phoned and reminded the day before so to have forgotten is not an excuse.

1 comment:

  1. I hate being late for anything. I'm almost always on time. I expect others to do the same. Once or twice I have forgotten an appointment or showed up on the wrong day. I almost passed out with embarrassment! :-)

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