Survived

Made it through week one.  I have a lot of mixed feelings about this job.  I really, really like working with the patients.  They are friendly, and I feel like my Cantonese interpreting has improved since I last worked as one - that, or I am able to speak with much more confidence.  The only hiccup has been that there is one Mandarin-speaking patient who I cannot communicate with well because I suck at that dialect.

I think the PA isn't that great towards the patients.  I understand it is hard to work through a translator and sometimes old people like to ramble, so it can get boring especially if you don't understand what the patient is saying.  But I think her behavior and body language was really unprofessional - tapping her pen loudly and sighing, or fidgeting like some kid.  It's not like she was in the 29th hour of a 30-hour shift.  I wanted to say, "Hey lady, you're not the one scrambling to look up unfamiliar terms in your bilingual dictionary every time someone says a new term."

I don't like working at the main clinic, but it's only two days out of the week.  The boss is an OK guy as a person, but business/management-wise he doesn't seem very reliable.  I have no idea how I'll clock in/out (or if I even have to), or whether I need to submit a tax form and which one, and although I asked, I still have not received an answer.  He also screwed up our work schedules and failed to notify us when he made changes so we had to scramble to get things ready for today.  In short, he seems so nonchalant about everything that I don't really trust him as an employer.

But I love the patients I work with and I really enjoy interacting with them so I would feel really sad if I stormed out on the patients when they seemed so happy to finally have an interpreter to talk through.  I think he would have to really screw up, like pay me for only a third of the time I worked and refuse to fix the problem, before I would really be justified in leaving.  I think a lot of the things I gripe about are also caused by my distrustful mind, so maybe I just need to grow up some more.  It's hard to find a job that a person can truly love without complaining about something at some point, and things could be worse.

I will tough it out.  At the end of the day, I enjoy being with the patients and that should matter the most.