I came home from work in an absolute temper. Hurt, humiliated and furious.
I said to the kids, "We are going out to dinner. I am really upset and I should not handle knives."
"What's up, mom?" said the extroverted feeler. He is 16.
"We had a clinic meeting today. Me, two other doctors, two midlevels and the office manager. There was an agenda. I was not on it. Halfway through the meeting, one of them turned to me and said, "We need to talk to you."
I said, "I am not on the agenda."
One of them said, "Do you want to be successful?" I thought, not in the corporate way YOU are defining it. I told them at the beginning of the meeting that I wanted 20 minutes to eat before the next patient and that eating in meetings made my stomach hurt. I finally got up and said, "There is 15 minutes until the next patient. I am going for a walk." I didn't eat. And I saw my 1:00 pm patient on time."
My kids thought about it. "Five against one, mom?" said EF.
"Yes." I said, through gritted teeth.
"Well, then, they didn't have enough people, did they?"
I stared at him and started laughing. "No, they didn't. Wow, I think you should get extra allowance or something for that!" I had such a fabulous image of 5 people trying to force all 5 foot 4 inches of me to stop arguing with the administration about patient care. Good luck.
Both kids hugged me and we went out to dinner.