gremlins

Believe it or not, I'm not brilliant. I'm not stunning or all that wonderful. I am averagely average, and I'm okay with that.

With that said, I continue to be very amused with my coworkers. Most of the nurses I work with are old enough to be my mother or grandmother. They are excellent nursey-resources. However, when anything technical is involved, it's best to stand back or hide.

For example, the other day my boss (old enough to be my grandmother) tried to print something off of her computer. It printed an extra page, a table that related to the other pages, that even said "if needed" at the top. My boss was convinced that it was gremlins that caused it. No, really. I left her slapping the printer "to get it to work right".

(Although I'm averagely average, I know it's not gremlins in her computer. But I'm also average enough to know that I don't want my coworkers to know that I'm more than averagely average in the tech department. From my last job I learned that would yield more responsibilities and expectations, and I'm just not feeling it now.)

Back to the story-- the next day the printer in the pharmacy started printing things crazy. Unlike the extra page that printed on the other computer, these charges looked like they were in Greek. The computer and the printer weren't jiving.

"It's gremlins!", and now they're moving around the office. My boss was sure of this.

her: What should we do? The gremlins are getting around!
me: I'll get the yellow pages.
her: Why?
me: We need a young priest and an old priest.
her: ... Why?
me: To exorcise the gremlins...
her: Do you think that would work?
(She didn't even get my most excellent movie reference.)

I called the company's tech support instead. They bought us two new printers. This "fixed" the pharmacy printer, but my boss' computer still printed that "if needed" page! ("But it prints much faster, so it must be better.") I've only seen her slap the new printer twice.

One anti-tech experience doesn't an opinion make...

So my boss ordered a machine that will take an electronic blood pressure. This isn't a new or cutting-edge thing. It's just a BP cuff. There's a basket under it to carry around a temp and a pulse-ox, too. But it came in a box with more than seven pieces. So they got "the kid" to put it together.

Yeah, that's me. They are my elders, so I let them call me such things.

And I put together the stand for the BP machine without much difficulty. (It's my extensive knowledge of leggos that aided this project.) I plugged in the machine and told my boss it was ready. She wanted me to inservice all of the staff about how to use the machine.

Now, there's a big green I/O button on top. Below that is a picture of an arm with a cuff around it. I told her to just turn it on and push the arm button. I didn't think it was too advanced.

But she couldn't get it to turn on. It was more advanced than I thought. After another inservice she figured out how to use it. My other coworkers still ask me how to make the printer work (you push the button with the picture of the printer on it)...

So this averagely average gal is more technically average than my average coworker... but the scary question you should ask yourself: What does that really mean?