I was really pleased with myself at work today; I was being busy as usual, but I didn’t seem to get as stressed as usual. And no, I hadn’t started taking any medication either. Maybe I’m just learning the vital skills of multitasking and prioritising…? I did have plenty of “Miss Bean” moments, though. For example, I was just cleaning the cat’s cage when the phone rang. The cat (who was in the cage at the time) tried to get out and my latex glove got stuck to the cage. I pushed the cat in with my spare hand, but getting the stuck glove out of the cage was another matter. It’s not easy to get out of the (very small) latex gloves in a hurry. Luckily I managed the Houdinian effort and got to the phone in time. Only to find out that I wish I wouldn’t have. A client called asking me to get the Vet on the phone. I politely explained that the Vet wouldn’t be available for the next couple of hours, unless it was really urgent. The client refused to tell me what it was regarding- but got increasingly irritated as I wasn’t able to produce the Vet on the line. I asked (patiently) to know what it was regarding so that I could tell the Vet about the urgency- but client remained adamant that she needed to “speak to the Vet” directly, without sparing her words to “humble receptionist”. Experience has taught me that there are clients who think that cat’s nail clipping requires urgent response, so I stuck to my guns and insisted that I’d need to know what it was about. Still very politely. The client hung up. Oh well, Can’t win them all, I thought. Just to get a welcome balance, the next client brought a big box of chocolates for “all staff to share”. Now, that’s a great sense of equality. The rest of the day I spend on a pleasant chocolate buzz.