esrosedotblog

1+1=3.2

Of course, a visit to the doc means a stop at the medical lab on the way home. For me, it is the PSA test that confirms a satisfactory digital test. The lab I go to is a study in management theory. After all, I am sitting there waiting. I cannot help but watch the action; it used to be my work; still on the job after all this time.

When I first went there, only one person was there; Deb. She reminds me of John's cousin Frankie; a good ol' gal. That is like a good ol' boy only the other gender. She did the paperwork, took the blood, and later in the day did the test. It was fast and painless and she was fun to talk to. They got very busy. She got behind. A second person was brought in. The whole thing has changed.

Under the new and improved system of two, it no longer takes about ten minutes for the whole thing to be done; it is more like twice as long. It is not enjoyable. Mostly Deb seems pissed off and shut down. I do not even know who the other person is; I think we are on the third second person.

How can this be? How could things be worse when we wanted them to get better? Well, for one thing they have divided the work so one does one thing and the other does another. Every other day they switch. (I asked--carefully and delicately). Today Deb does paper and Sally (?) does the bloods and urines. Tomorrow the other way 'round. The paper person has to go first. After that is done, you go to station two. Simple enough. But not so. The times are not equal. Taking bloods sometimes take longer than the paper and visa versa. Not only that, each person, only doing their job, moves more slowly.

In the old days, Deb did it all. Bang bang bang. As efficient as could be. Oh. The other thing is that they talk to one another. That takes up more time. In the 'old days' Deb talked to ME. And you know that is better than sitting and listening to her talk to Sally; mostly aches and pains and bitching about the company. That SEEMS to take more time. And so on. Got the idea? The solution to work problems is not usually to add people. I remember that when I had my own company, the worst time was when we had the most people. Today tells me why. But, then I am an introvert. What do I know? They are probably getting off on just being with us. Prolonging the pleasure.