Oh.

"Is Amy Jackson there?"

There's no Amy Jackson that works in my office, and I told the caller she probably had the wrong number. But she insisted, and told me she had emailed her resume for a front desk position to Amy Jackson, and that this was the phone number on the ad.

"Can you tell me what the job entails?" she asked, apparently unaware that she was sending her resume for MY position, and they hadn't told me that they were looking at other candidates, and this was NEWS TO ME.

I paused. What DOES my job entail, or should I say, what does my version of the job entail? Rearranging paperclips. Scheduling patients. Shredding papers that may or may not be necessary, just to hear the whirring noise and watch the machine eating paper. Confirming appointments. Getting yelled at for doing something wrong and still having no idea, at the end of the lecture, what anyone just said. Arranging magazines in the waiting room. Printing things. Saying hello to people when they come in the door. Getting the assistant coffee when you get yourself coffee.

I think there's more to it, though, but I'm not sure what that is. I've kind of sat in this office job in a bit of a fog. It's complicated, it's soul-less, and I hate it. I don't like not being able to do a good job, and I don't like sitting there wondering what to do next. There wasn't any real "training" involved, and I'm not experienced in front desk work to just "know" what to do. I think I got through first grade the same way; my teacher wrote on my report card that I could entertain myself with pencil shavings for hours, but didn't get my work done. Some things never change.

The Dentist is nice enough as a person, but difficult to work for. For instance... I have the misfortune of having a complete lack of knowledge of what to wear in just about every situation, so I just do my best. I bought a pretty brown jacket that I thought would look nice, and I wore it with dark blue slacks. I thought I looked very pretty, and then, right in the middle of me asking him to explain something to me, Dentist goes, "We need to talk about your clothes. You need to dress better. [Dress "better" he said, not differently, not "more professionally". BETTER.] You're selling 'high-end dentistry' here and need to look as good as, if not better, than who you're selling it to. I know you're young to be wearing business suits, but it's more what you need to be looking for."

I gave my infamous "Oh." answer, and we moved on. I really should have told him that he needed to pay me a lot more if he wanted me to wear business suits, and he needed to clearly define what "dress better" means, and he should have said something a long time ago. I should have pointed out that I was wearing exactly what every other person I've ever seen in other dental offices was wearing, and furthermore, more of an aside and less of an actual point, my jacket was new and he hurt my feelings.

I also should have told him to blow it out of his ear. However, speaking my mind, much like "flossing every day" and "portion control", is much easier said than done.

Anyway, I called his wife and quit. (I told her I was calling her because I didn't want to distract him from dentistry mid-day, which is only half-true). I'll help out temporarily until they find someone (I'm really good at scheduling appointments!) which is good money. But I'm not wearing business suits.