I love my iPhone. I take it with me everywhere I go: into meetings, into patient rooms, into the bathroom. (I don't use it in the bathroom, I swear.)
Part of the reason I am so unwilling to separate from my phone for even a minute is that my phone is the only contact number that the daycare and the school have to reach me.
I assume when I get a call from daycare that whatever they are calling about must be vitally important. I'm immediately filled with terror until I answer the phone and discover that:
--my daughter was bitten by another kid
--my daughter bit another kid
--my daughter has a tummy ache
--my daughter is out of clean pants
--CONJUNCTIVITIS
But it doesn't matter that the content of basically 100% of these calls has always been non-urgent. If I get the call, I feel like I have to drop whatever else I am doing and answer it. So I excuse myself from the patient I am with or the meeting, and I take the phone call. Then I apologize profusely when I return.
I'm sure in the days before cell phones, the daycare would be less likely to call me, knowing they would have to go through a receptionist or page me. But it is what it is.
I suppose I could not take the calls if I am with a patient. But I'm pretty sure that I would be so distracted, I would be completely worthless. I mean, what if it's not just that they're out of pants? What if something is really wrong?
Hrm, my children's nursery only phoned 4 times; my daughter had put her tooth through her lip, my daughter had hit her head and might have concussion, my daughter had a temperature of 40.2C (104F) and did I want them to give Calpol and there had been a major accident on the road nearby and traffic was delayed by hours getting there, did I want my two to be part of the group being walked to a nearby location which was easier to drive to. I think your daycare needs training regarding what is an emergency and what can be dealt with at the end of the day handover.
ReplyDeleteYeah, at some point I had to ask them to at least not call me till after three, so they wouldn't keep pulling me out of meetings.
DeleteI completely relate. We use the same academic teaching hospital physicians for my child, my husband, myself and a speech therapist also with my academic hospital. We also use the onsite daycare/preschool. Guess what - they all start with the same three digit numbers, and I never know which is trying to reach me. Or if it is simply just someone at work actually trying to reach me about work in my training program. The worst is I am an Anesthesia resident, so I legitimately cannot take calls in the OR, and my child's daycare can't seem to understand or learn that I am not first call for anything - my husband is. And they call with non emergencies. The speech therapist can't seem to learn that I am also not first call. Sigh. It's very frustrating. The downside to using all services connected to your work.
ReplyDeleteOur daycare texts me. Granted it's a home daycare, but even with a center there must be some way they can text or email you with these non-urgent things. If it's an emergency, then call, but some things can wait.
ReplyDelete