The weekend and an appointment change

My weekend is coming to a close. I often wonder why weekends end up blowing by so quickly and the workweek tends to not do the same thing.

I am contemplating changing my in-person doctor's appointment to having it over the phone like I have been since this pandemic started. The woman at the lab made it in-person. I don't trust her judgment. Half a year ago, she insisted that I get my health card updated even though expired ones are considered valid during this pandemic.

We'll see what happens. I dread waiting because it's horrendous and I could be doing better things with my time.

Packaging and waste

Last week, I placed an order for five items. I received four packages with lots of packaging. It's such a waste of materials, among other things.

It makes me shake my head when it comes to how over-packaged things are. I then ordered a cell phone case from Pela. I got one for free and the packaging was minimal. It was quite the contrast.

Nested boxes for a scooter

Yesterday, I picked up my scooter with the kickstand. I love it. I will enjoy scooting around on it this long weekend.

The scooter came in its own cardboard box. Amazon decided to put it in a box roughly three times its size. Why?! It's such a waste of cardboard.

I get protecting an item, but in an oversized box without any padding is ridiculous!

Anyway, I need a helmet next... haha!

407 ETR survey rant - poorly designed and delivered survey

Tuesday was a crazy and, at times, stressful workday. I technically have three rants, but I will go with the one that has nothing to do with work.

Just before dinner, I got a phone call from a person doing a survey on behalf of 407 ETR, which is a toll highway. I take this highway going to work, but don't coming home because it can get expensive.

By doing the survey, I would receive 100 km of free travel on this toll highway. This woman pointed out that it would take fifteen minutes to complete this survey. Cool.

Well, the more I got into the survey, the more I found so many issues and flaws. This survey actually took over thirty minutes to complete. This woman sounded older. She had a British accent. She couldn't type, attentively listen to my comments, or form a simple sentence.

This survey was biased. It was really to find out what customers thought of 407 ETR after an employee who used to work there stole a list of customer phone numbers and names for his own political needs.

I frankly wanted to voice how expensive rates are getting to travel on this toll highway. I have been taking this highway for over eight years. I used to take it both to and from work. Since it's so pricy these days, I only drive on it going to work. I didn't get to express the increase in rates and how I cannot afford to travel on it to and from work.

There were a series of questions where I had the option of rating the statement as great, somewhat great, somewhat poor, and poor. I said to this woman that I wished there was a rating between somewhat great and somewhat poor. She revealed that there was. What?

There is an apparent neutral option. She didn't disclose it until I had made my statement. As a person who declared math as a major and switched it to a minor during my undergraduate days, I was outraged. Why hide this option? You are skewing your survey results.

That's when I realized that this survey was biased.

She said later on that it would look bad to her manager if I answered a bunch of questions with a neutral response. I frankly told her that I didn't care what her manager thinks. I was here to voice my answers and I felt that this survey was rigged.

On a ballot, would you hide a candidate's name? Why would you hide a neutral option on a survey question?

To add insult to injury, she called me a "he" at the end of the survey, when we finally got there. I pointed out that she was rude. I made sure that I got my free kilometres of travel and hung up.

I like doing surveys, but I will never do one for 407 ETR again. The free kilometres isn't worth the insult, time, and aggravation.

Oh, and I disliked when she would say periodically to me, "Moving swiftly." Um, you aren't. You have spent twice as much time to get me through the survey than you had initially promised.

Ugh!

Early morning meetings and time

It has been a long workweek. I have had a conference call every day at 8 am, except for Tuesday. On Tuesday, my call started at 7 am and went for four hours. Luckily, this meeting happens once a month.

Needless to say, I am pretty tired of all these early morning meetings. I collaborate with folks in Europe and Asia. Thus, I get the short end of the stick and have to wake up early for these meetings.

Luckily, it's a long weekend coming up. I can relax before I do this early morning routine again next week. So far, I only have early meetings next Tuesday and Wednesday.

My manager is a time-waster. He books our weekly team meeting for two hours and seems to force spending the full two hours discussing anything under the sun. It's not a productive use of time, especially when he reads PowerPoint slides and doesn't comprehend what he is reading. The rest of us have actual work to attend to.

Anyway, I am off to bed early. I'm beat.

Why can't medical folks communicate well?

My biggest beef this year seeing various medical folks is that they don't communicate with one another. As someone who needs to communicate with people often, it drives me crazy.

The other day, when I went in to see my doctor for my regular quarterly checkup, as well as for my bronchitis. She asked a ton of questions about my eye stroke. I couldn't answer any of them. I asked if she got the report from my ophthalmologist. She didn't. I know that I gave him my family doctor's name and address.

She asked for the phone number of my ophthalmologist's office. Luckily, I had that on my phone. So, I showed her the number on my cell phone. She called her receptionist and asked to get my report from that office.

"Do you mind waiting for the report?" she asked me.
"Frankly, I want to go home and sleep," I admitted. "I don't know how long it will take."
"You have a good point."

I had already waited for 40 minutes in the waiting room to see my doctor. Why do I need to do it for an unspecified period when I am obviously not feeling well with all that coughing and sniffling?

My doctor is understanding. She said that she would follow up with me once the report comes to her. I just wish that medical folks made my life easier, rather than causing more havoc that I do not need to be subjected to.