The very model of efficiency

Before I start, I want to reiterate a few things: 1) So far all of my coworkers and supervisors have proven themselves to be competent, compassionate, highly intelligent, and extremely nice. 2) The quality of mental health care delivered at the San Diego VA is excellent. 3) I am very happy to have matched to this internship, as I believe I am learning a lot, and really like the general philosophy of training here.

So, keeping all that in mind, I have some gripes. I am currently sitting in an office to which I have no key, illegally logged on to a computer, not seeing a client, and thus having very little to do. Why? Well.

Three weeks is just long enough for a key to be ordered and delivered (yay!), but that doesn't mean you'll get the right key (boo). And for confusing reasons, no one on the scheduling side of things seems to know I'm here today. My intake timeslot was administratively cancelled, so no client was scheduled. Which is a shame, because there are clients who are scheduled a month out who are waiting to have an intake done, and I'm sitting bored in an office that I can't easily leave (because if I do I have to find someone else to let me back in).

I am only at this clinic one day a week, so I guess settling in will take a bit longer than it did at my other site (where I work 4 days a week). It's slow here today, but yesterday I was so busy that between 8:30 and 6:00 I could hardly find time for a bathroom break, and tomorrow is shaping up to be just as busy. I wish there was some way to take the time I have now, and insert it into the middle of tomorrow. Any ideas???

Regarding when I'll get my computer login, the response has gone from "please don't ask" to "we're working on it," so that might be a good sign. However, one person was given a tentative date of this past monday and it is now thursday and no such luck, so I'm not sure we're any closer.

But on the bright side: If all goes as planned I get my first paycheck tomorrow (which will not be an I.O.U. from the state of california), I was able to enroll in health insurance without any glitches (so far), and I have been promised business cards by the end of today.

And even better, tomorrow after work I'm hopping on a plane to Seattle to visit Jeff!