What Late?

Not to boast but I'm not the type of person who arrives late at class/work. Since I was a kid, I was trained by my parents on avoiding tardiness. Even until my residency, I haven't gotten tired of that habit. Of course, you cannot avoid unexpected incidents (like car radiator going up which eats up a lot of time or very very heavy traffic) but those were just rare occasions. My colleagues will start to wonder that something did happen to me along the way. To quote a colleague, "Bihira lang ako ma-late." I'm a professional, and it starts at arriving on time.

With my present work, there's a rule imposed that tardiness will be sanctioned through salary deduction to encourage us to arrive on time. There was no "grace period".  Since I started there, I didn't receive any salary deductions due to tardiness. There were occasional days that I logged-in between 8:01 to 8:10 am (the latest) but I guess they were okay with it. There's just this 1 incident when I was late because of car radiator problem. I informed a colleague and a nurse by phone that I will be arriving late. I logged-in at 8:18 am. I thought "One time lang naman, hindi naman habitual. Baka pwede pa nila akong pagbigyan since may dahilan naman ako." And with my overtime hours, I guess makakabawi ako.

When I saw my payslip for the second half of December via email, I was shocked to see that I had 251 minutes (equivalent to more than 4 hours) tardiness. Almost P1000 was deducted from my salary. What?! Where did that come from? My colleagues and even the staff were surprised when I told them about it. I called our Payroll division to clarify/verify that. It turns out that the accountant was wrong about my actual clinic schedule. For 2 days (wednesday and friday mornings), she assumed that my log-in time was at 7 am but my actual time-in is at 8 am. So when I logged in at 7:59 am, she thought I was 59 minutes late. She repeated that pattern for the other days. Thus tallying to 251 minutes late. Right then & there, I corrected her by giving her my actual clinic schedule. Surprisingly, that's the first time I encountered it. If she's unaware of my actual clinic schedule, why didn't it happen before or during the first few months? Why only now? She told me that she'll give back the amount (that was deducted) on the next pay. Dapat lang! Sayang din yun.

My Unhappy Work

(Again, a re-post from my Multiply account)

Last month, I looked through the google website for job searches as physician. I stumbled upon an advertisement which said "Post-FM Female Residency for hire in a private clinic in Makati blah blah blah..." It also mentioned the contact number and schedule of the clinic hours. I wrote the details down in my old Starbucks Planner. That was not the only post I jotted down. And then I forgot all about it. 

Last week (because of my desperation for job searching), I remembered about the job entries I wrote down. I prayed that the job is still open. After several inquiries by text, my prayer has been answered. High pay, good clinic location. Looks promising. Or so I thought..

When I was called in for interview last weekend, I was surprised to find several patients waiting in queue. While waiting at the holding area, most of the patients said the word "Canada". I thought if this is a clinic that screens immigrant applicants for Canada? When I was called in for interview, my thoughts were echoed out by the owner. No actual out-patient consultations; I will just be doing physican examination to applicants (for Canadian, or New Zealand visas) plus arrange/sort-out paperworks, or encode data in a computer. I got quite disappointed & I had second thoughts. For someone who graduated from an accredited residency training, I wanted to leave right then and there. I thought that the job description is fit for a GP or a moonlighter. Sadly, the owner introduced me to her staff right away after our interview. She kept on saying to them that I'll be starting on monday. I wanted to stop her from saying that. Instead, I just smiled at her. In the back of my mind, why was she looking for a graduate of a residency training kung iyan lang ang ipapagawa niya? At bakit ko naman yun kinagat? The pay is nice (clue: more than Php20K per month) but everything I've learned during residency will just be wasted & I might regret this later since I plan to take the diplomate exams at the end of the year.

Yesterday, I reported to work for the first time. I met another physician who have been working there for more than 1 year na. She introduced me again to the other clinic staff, gave me a thorough orientation of the clinic & learned some rules, including the fact that we don't start screening applicants until the owner arrives. I was also surprised when I saw the mountains of papers piled in different areas of the clinic. So is that what I'm going to sort? Am I going to encode? When we started seeing applicants, I was observant on how the other physician briefly examines an applicant. When I had the initiative to examine an applicant on my own, the owner scolded me. Probably, she doesn't trust my PE findings for now since I'm just a "newbie". I assumed she's defensive about everything that's put into writing in the documents because her name is at stake. But I'm so dismayed & defeated. For the past two days, all I've ever done was take the anthropometric measurements, visual acuity of the applicants. I suddenly remembered 1 of my rotations during residency, but this was worse. I always tag along (like a dog) with the other examining physician.

My searching doesn't stop here. I'm determined to find & pray for a better work, something that will help me professionally. Financial gain will always follow suit.