Karla Noyes' Captain's Log Series

“Come now, luxuriant Graces, and beautiful-haired Muses.” Sapphos This month we had two executives appointed by our governor: Administrator, and Deputy Administrator. I attended the swearing in ceremony. The crowd was exuberant in their appreciation. The administrator is the colonel I wrote about previously (“No… sir!) and has been acting administrator for 4 months. She had been coming into our office and high-fiving everyone; she announces herself loudly, “Hello, People!” She usually does this on Fridays for sure, when we’re wearing our themed clothing (purple, pink, superheroes, cartoon characters or rock concert T-shirts) but I think her schedule is full and she missed us Friday, or, well, we missed her. I don’t have any experience with the deputy administrator, except that she, too, is retired army, something like the highest rank for a non-commissioned officer? Since this is a political appointment the governor could have put absolutely anyone in these positions, former mili...

This week a 90-year old woman came in the office on her little scooter, frail, dejected and rather grey, like a wilted flower. She had been getting calls from Social Security threatening to cut her off. Her case manager listened to her with sympathy (and nothing else.) I was thinking “Scam!” the case manager in the cubicle behind her, said sotto voce “Scam.” Finally, the really loud, and very friendly, woman in our office went up to her and told her she was being preyed on by scammers, and not to give any information to anyone over the phone. “Remember when Henry passed, Social Security did everything by mail.” She left, still wilted and frail. The next day she wheeled in, very bright, full, smiling and loudly announced she’d gotten a call from someone who said there was a warrant out for her arrest! She was tickled pink that someone thought she’d done something to be arrested for. She left us quietly chortling and proud. (and wary of scammers) You may know that our electric compa...

Work's going well enough. My supervisor and his wife trained dogs for competitive obstacle courses and I think it's influenced his management style - in a good way. Yesterday he laid out a plan for the things I'm expected to become proficient in, with a time-line. It's a relief to see a written plan so we all know the expectations. My concern is that he has slid me into data entry of outside medical invoices and it's incredibly time consuming (and not the best use of my skills, except for 'attention to detail') but I gave the responsibility back to him when I asked him to prioritize what he wants done and when. I'm happy to apply my time wherever he wants and he can experience what is doable. I like him a lot. I think he's one of the best manager I've had and I think his experience training dogs contributes to his effectiveness. He hasn't slipped me any doggy treats, yet. I brought my penny collection (pennies taped to paper sorted by y...

I swear, my work-life reads like a county song. Last week I attended a new employee orientation where a couple of people in management spoke. Our acting Executive Director, a 33-year Army veteran, retired as a colonel, is about 5’7”, built like a string bean, couldn’t weigh more than 100 pounds but she got that commanding voice, “Any questions?!” I think the answer was supposed to be “No… sir!” But I haven’t been in the Army and I did have a question. “Yesterday I overheard the brother of a resident say that he’d heard a nurse say something that sounded like she was stealing his money. What should you do if you hear something like that?” I was expecting an answer like, “go to your supervisor” but she, and the head of licensed care who was there, said they wanted to hear more about it. Later, my (long suffering) supervisor called me into his office and asked what I thought of the orientation. I told him it was great, I really ‘got’ the sincerity and genuine caring of management and to...

I was given a tour of the Member Services building and saw the 6 lane bowling alley, the PX (nice little store with just about anything you’d need, including ice cream), the TV studio, the Music Recording room, the bulletin board with flyers of the organized outings, keep in mind the Lincoln Theater abuts the building with lots of entertainment for the small, but wealthy, community of Yountville. The last stop was the Allied Council office. I met the secretary, L____, and picked up a menu for the resident’s cafeteria. The day was organized to honor Native Americans with special talks and presentations along with Trout, Buffalo Burgers and wild rice. L____ said she had some Native American ancestry, a great grandfather, “I’m so glad I didn’t inherit his nose!” I asked her if she’d had her DNA sequenced, yes she had, through Ancestry, and a long-lost nephew had contacted her. I boasted that I found two half-brothers. She replied quite enviously, “I don’t have any half-siblings.” I felt...

I’ve worked 8 days at the Veteran’s Home in Yountville. There are 7 of us in one good-sized room, each with a largish cubical; quite spacious. One of my ‘walls’ is a large north-east facing window, I have a Peace Plant and a Boston Fern and the 3 stuffed animals my mother made for me on my shelves. My co-workers are super nice and friendly, outspoken, joyous, loving. We have very supportive supervisors who have the attitude of facilitating their subordinates, ‘how can I help you?’ So very different from my last, brief place of employment. I am the person who first meets with the prospective residents to explain the costs and receive financial documents. (I think I’ve been training for this job my whole life.) The residents are veterans who live in California (although we have a few that have snuck in from other states, all you need is a California Driver’s License) and are over 55. That’s pretty much it. They have a preference for Purple Hearts, Distinguished Service, POWs, those...

18 months; 78 applications; 17 interviews; 1 one-month job. I should put Job Hunting on my resume. If you’re looking for a job: Be prepared. Specifically work up some stories of 1.) how you’ve dealt will a customer who was screaming at you; 2.) your team-work experience; 3.) how you handled an employee who wouldn’t give you information you need to do your job; stuff like that. I love to get questions I’m not prepared for like: “you get a call from the parents of a Department of Rehabilitation client demanding to know about changes to  their child’s plan of action. The client is 22 and not conserved. What do you do?” It’s kind of a trick question, the clue is, “not conserved.” The answer is “it’s none of your business, your kid needs to learn how to man-up and we’re here to help them.” Well, said with great tact. By the way, I have the greatest respect for what the Department of Rehabilitation is doing, really giving people self-determined goals, guidance and support. They’re mak...