The only way is up

The second shift was somewhat better than the first – with a friendly, helpful person at my shoulder I managed to input a couple of appointments and coped with some payments. Tomorrow I must answer the phone (I loathe phones at the best of times) whilst simultaneously finding client details on one screen and appointment times on another, and deal with people in the tiny waiting room all at the same time. Honestly, computerisation’s made things far more complicated than they need be. If you want to make an appointment, what’s wrong with a diary? If you want to find out how much something costs, what’s so wrong with a price ticket? It’s so much quicker than trying to find the right screen to find the code before you can look up the price – in fact, clients can do it themselves, while the staff do something more important!

The Practice Head's the duty vet for tomorrow's shift. Advantage: fear is a handy weight-loss tool.