Muskrat

As I get older, I have noticed my patience are basically shot. Big Boy uses up about 95% of them on a daily basis which only leaves 5% to deal with the rest of the world. This isn't good. Between work, driving and day to day stress, I have to find a way to cope and relax a little better. One main problem is my job. I just don't don't have the patience for nasty, obnoxious and irresponsible people. Enter Muskrat...

If anyone has seen the Meet The Parents movies then Muskrat should make sense. If you haven't, here's the Readers Digest version. In the movie, Robert Di Nero is unbelievably high strung so whenever he starts to lose it, someone says Muskrat and he attempts to regain his composure. We have applied this technique at work. I tend to get extremely snarky at times especially when I am doing my best to help some unappreciative patient or running around like a lunatic because we are short staffed and aren't budgeted for more tech hours. When someone sees me getting ready to lose it, they simply say Muskrat and I take deep breathe and re-focus on the task at hand. So far so good. I am shocked to say it's actually working and has stopped me from jumping over the counter and strangling a few people.

I tried doing the rubber band around the wrist and snapping it when I was losing it but, my wrist hurt like hell at the end of the day and I think a few people were starting to catch on. Honestly, there is nothing worse that spending time with a patient, helping them understand their insurance and offering advice on how to save them money by using a generic only to have them rip my head off the following week because they made a mistake on something. It really makes you lose faith in people.

Anyway, wish me luck and let's all say a little prayer that the Muskrat Experiment works!