Nothing But Fancy

I read my last post and laugh… then I want to cry.  I’m done crying about it, even though the moisture is good for my eyes.  I am wearing contacts right now and I can still barely see to drive after 7:00pm.

I didn’t actually have Lasik, I had a surgery called PRK.  The difference is the beginning steps, instead of cutting a flap in your eye they take of the top layer of cells that will quickly grow back.  It’s a bit more painful, but my doctor said it was better for my eyes.

I healed wonderfully from the PRK surgery, it’s just that the correction part of the surgery didn’t take so well.  The morning is the best and I can see without contacts to drive on my way to work.  It’s not 20/20 but it’s good enough.  As the day goes on my eye sight gets worse and worse.  For the first week I was petrified to drive home, but now I think it’s over-rated to see when you drive.  My contact prescription is 1.5 in my left eye and 1.25 in my right, but that was taken at 12:00pm and by the time 7:00pm rolls around, lights that were once the size of apples have become bales of hay.

I know that eventually, as months go by, I will be able to see better and 6 months from now I can have “enhancement” surgery.  However, I am disappointed.  My expectations were so high and now after thousands of dollars, I am putting dry eye prescription in my eyes and wearing contacts.

If you are thinking, this is why I have never had Lasik surgery.  Don’t kid yourself, you haven’t had the surgery because you don’t want to spend the money, haven’t found a doctor, don’t have a high enough prescription to make it worth while, or the audacity to do elective surgery… your issues have very little to do with my sob story.

I feel this blog is my room on the internet. Much like my actual room, there are not a lot of people who come and spend time there besides dear friends or roomies. But yesterday there was a big, bad internet bully that hacked into the server and put a Portuguese political rant up and destroyed my room. It’s a good think that the “guy in the computer” worked his magic and fixed everything back. Regardless, it felt like someone vandalized my little world in cyberspace.

As most of you know, I work at the YMCA as a lifeguard to supplement my income. I was recently “re-hired” at the Maryland Farms YMCA (MFY). They have come up with a new policy that everyone hired must take a staff tour of the facilities. This is a reasonable requirement, as the MFY is one of the largest and most confusing gym facilities in the United States (I have not been in a gym outside of the US), it has a plethora of split levels and hallways that lead to nowhere. The pools are quite remarkable. There is an 50 yard pool outside with 2 slides, a 0 entry kids pool equipped with slides, water sprays, and water falling from huge and small buckets and a 25 yard indoor pool. All very impressive.

After a year of working in a gym, no matter how confusing, impressive, or large, one learns their way around, therefore as a re-hire I found it surprising that I needed to take the facilities tour.

The tours are offered: Wednesdays at 11am, Thursdays at 3pm, and Tuesdays at 6pm

The only option for myself with a 9-5 job is Tuesdays at 6pm. This is still not a wonderful option because I work in Goodlettsville, TN (north of Nashville) and I will be driving through the WORST traffic that Nashville has to offer. This Tuesday I arrive for my tour at 6:06. When I got there the Center Administrator (aka MFY staff tour guide) told me that I was late and need to reschedule. Fighting back tears of anger I told her my name and manager and left the staff room for the tour to commence.

After I worked out for a bit (I wasn’t going to waste a trip to the YMCA), I came home and wrote this e-mail:

Dear MFY Tour Guide (names changed to protect the guilty),
We met this afternoon when I was late for the staff facilities tour.
I wanted to let you know that I was coming from another job across
town and was caught in afternoon traffic. Except for the 6:00 Tuesday
tour, the tours are offered during regular business hours. An
employee like myself, who has another full time job, has a hard time
attending these tours.
I understand that one of the core values of the YMCA is responsibility
and being on-time is apart of my responsibility to the YMCA family. I
apologize for my punctuality. I enjoy working on the aquatics team
and take much pride in the mission and vision of the YMCA. I hope
that in the future you will take in consideration the diverse
backgrounds of a YMCA employee and work with us to reach the goals of
our organization.
All the Best,
Nancy Hawthorne

I co-copied my manager, who was very supportive. However, the whole thing put my panties in a twist because I HAVE WORKED FOR THE MARYLAND FARMS YMCA FOR A YEAR. DURING THAT TIME I WORKED THE 4:30 AM TO 8:30 AM SHIFT MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, AND FRIDAY!! OUT OF ALL THOSE SHIFTS I HAVE BEEN MORE THAN 6 MINUTES LATE TWICE! MORE TIMES THAN I COULD COUNT, I STOOD OUTSIDE OF THE YMCA IN ALL TYPES OF WEATHER WAITING FOR THE FRONT DESK PERSON TO SHOW UP FOR WORK SO THAT I COULD OPEN THE POOL! I SHOW UP FOR A TOUR, THAT IS SCHEDULED AT ODD HOURS 6 MINUTES LATE AND GET TURNED AWAY.

This makes me angry.