Come to Jesus meeting.

Boy, talk about an interesting week/weekend last week. I had two come to Jesus meetings back to back days. On Thursday at the facility, we had the monthly mandatory meeting and I knew something was up when the CEO, CFO, HR etc were there. They never come to these meeting. What it basically came down to was the fact that some staff were not documenting properly. So, when the documenting is not correct, the agency does not get reimbursed for services rendered. The meeting itself was not bad because it helped clarify a number of things some staff had questions and concerns about. For me, the meeting gave me an opportunity to address something that has been on my mind for some time. A new assistant to the administrator was hired roughly a month ago and one of the things she has been doing is writing memos left and right in caps which pretty much means she’s yelling/shouting at us. Another thing pertains to cooking and how some of us are not following the menu. Needless to say her comments have not set down well with many of us and I figured Thursday would be a good time to bring it up which I did. She apologized to all of us saying she did not know that writing in caps meant that she was shouting and all of us had a very open communication pertaining to cooking and following the menu. I did meet with her one on one after the meeting to talk about more stuff and it was a very good and productive meeting.

On Friday, a facilitator was called in to assist with some issues a number of staff at Aging Resources have been dealing with. Long story short, a former colleague left the agency the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and prior to her leaving told everyone that she was going to spend time at home with her daughter who is autistic. We soon found out that she actually left to join an agency that was started by two former employees. Leaving to work for a competitor is fine – it happens all the time in every organization. However, she downright lied to everyone’s face and came up with this story about taking care of her daughter etc. Feelings of anger, betrayal, etc. are some of the stuff her co-workers are dealing with which is why this facilitator came in. Overall, it was a very good meeting for all who went. I did say a couple of things that kind of rubbed some people the wrong way, but that was not my intention. I was being brutally honest and some people just can’t take honesty and internalize it and also thing it’s a personal attack on them. We’ll see how long I’ll be given the cold shoulder by some of them. At the end of the day, it does not make one difference in my job whatsoever. I say let’s move on and focus on the real reason why we do what we do.

Later that evening, Anna and I had dinner at this wonderful restaurant called “Proof” which is a couple of blocks from where I live. It’s open for lunch Mon-Friday, and only open for dinner on Friday. This was my opportunity to have dinner. The food was amazingly wonderful and I think that’s where we’ll be having our New Year’s Eve dinner. The view from the restaurant could not be beat. After dinner, Anna’s band had a gig and I was off to the Civic Center for a concert by Jim Brickman. He’s a new age pianist whom I’ve followed for some time now and I just love his music. John was supposed to go with me, but he was down with the cold. Thank goodness Carola came with me. I warned her that it’s New Age piano music, not classical music but at the end of the show, she commented on how much she thoroughly enjoyed herself. I think it was a great concert and it definitely got me in the Christmas mood.

Saturday morning, I watching Liverpool live while Anna slept in. After she got up, we kind of drove around town and went shopping a little. At 3PM I was given tickets to the Drake Men’s basketball game and it was great to see the team play. The game was a blowout and Drake hit fifteen three pointers. We won by at least forty points. Talk about a fun game to attend. After the game, I cooked dinner for Anna. I made chicken satay, fish, egg and some sweet corn that was in my freezer. We had more than enough to eat, for sure. After dinner, we walked to the Civic Center to attend the Wartburg College Christmas Concert. A number of years ago, I went with Joel, Kathy and some people from St. Kate’s. We had a blast and the music was spectacular. Since Anna teaches vocal music, I figured she would enjoy it. The performance itself was fine, but nothing really wowed us. I remember when I went, there was always a song or two that would just wow you, but this year, nothing really stood out. However, it was still good to attend the performance and support the students.

Sunday was a regular day with nothing too exciting going on. Oh, we did have the Rite of Acceptance for my RCIA candidates. That was nice. The congregation got to meet them and they were formally “presented” to the community. Work at the facility was quiet to say the least and you won’t hear me complaining about that.

That’s all the news from me.