Yell at the front desk workers? Yeah, no, that never works and we have armed guards to suggest that they come back later.
Tell us that they don't have time to wait because they have other things to do today. Nope, if you are waiting for government services, the wait time will be very long. Come back tomorrow and plan to spend all day.
Be polite. Be nice. Be at least 10 months pregnant and drive over 20 miles of unpaved road just to get highway to drive 60 miles to try to get benefits started before the blessed event. And do it 3 times in a week because its hard to get all the paperwork when you live without internet or phone access, but just to make it special, when the front desk person calls you by name and asks how you are feeling on the third visit, causally mention that you are now having contractions.
Bonus points happen when you tell someone who's only experience with giving birth was her cat doing it in front of her when she was 3 years old. (and got fixed at 19, just to be sure that she would never have to eat an afterbirth. you never know about these things.)
I'm seriously terrified of pregnant women because I never, EVER want to witness someone in labor.
I also am afraid to hold babies. When it comes to the whole childbirth thing, I'm a total mess and I am very happy that other people are dealing with that for me.
So...when Pregnant Customer just causally mentioned that she had had 4 contractions in the last 2 hours and I knew that this was her 4th child...I panicked!
Instant Message to my sup: There is a pregnant woman here who is having contractions. May I please, oh please fast pass her? Sup: Yes: Me: thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Now, for more background, I am known to be unflappable. I stay calm when being screamed at, I stay calm when clients complain of chest pains (would you like me to call 911?), I didn't even freak out when someone yanked a phone out of the wall and threw it at me (breaking the window), I just called 911 and then called my sup.
I never panic or get excited. My sup knows this and knew that my IM was way out of character. She promptly went trotting through the cube farm to find someone who could work that case right away, and mentioned that I was freaking out over a woman with contractions. The worker knew that I was unflappable and thought that there was a real emergency happening. She got the pregnant woman out of the lobby in less that 20 minutes.
As it happened, there are some sort of contractions that have a name but aren't labor sort of contractions. Pregnant woman was just fine, her worker and other workers who just happened to wander out to see what the problem was were just fine.
I was the one breathing in a paper bag and looking for somewhere soft to fall when I passed out. I will be mocked about this for the next 23 months.
Tell us that they don't have time to wait because they have other things to do today. Nope, if you are waiting for government services, the wait time will be very long. Come back tomorrow and plan to spend all day.
Be polite. Be nice. Be at least 10 months pregnant and drive over 20 miles of unpaved road just to get highway to drive 60 miles to try to get benefits started before the blessed event. And do it 3 times in a week because its hard to get all the paperwork when you live without internet or phone access, but just to make it special, when the front desk person calls you by name and asks how you are feeling on the third visit, causally mention that you are now having contractions.
Bonus points happen when you tell someone who's only experience with giving birth was her cat doing it in front of her when she was 3 years old. (and got fixed at 19, just to be sure that she would never have to eat an afterbirth. you never know about these things.)
I'm seriously terrified of pregnant women because I never, EVER want to witness someone in labor.
I also am afraid to hold babies. When it comes to the whole childbirth thing, I'm a total mess and I am very happy that other people are dealing with that for me.
So...when Pregnant Customer just causally mentioned that she had had 4 contractions in the last 2 hours and I knew that this was her 4th child...I panicked!
Instant Message to my sup: There is a pregnant woman here who is having contractions. May I please, oh please fast pass her? Sup: Yes: Me: thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Now, for more background, I am known to be unflappable. I stay calm when being screamed at, I stay calm when clients complain of chest pains (would you like me to call 911?), I didn't even freak out when someone yanked a phone out of the wall and threw it at me (breaking the window), I just called 911 and then called my sup.
I never panic or get excited. My sup knows this and knew that my IM was way out of character. She promptly went trotting through the cube farm to find someone who could work that case right away, and mentioned that I was freaking out over a woman with contractions. The worker knew that I was unflappable and thought that there was a real emergency happening. She got the pregnant woman out of the lobby in less that 20 minutes.
As it happened, there are some sort of contractions that have a name but aren't labor sort of contractions. Pregnant woman was just fine, her worker and other workers who just happened to wander out to see what the problem was were just fine.
I was the one breathing in a paper bag and looking for somewhere soft to fall when I passed out. I will be mocked about this for the next 23 months.
Comment