Mr. Steve (con't)

Okay so I get the call from Steve in the morning.
I ask if I can call him back.

Now I told you I was jammed for the day. I was able to call him back at about 10:30.
We exchanged pleasantries.

Then I said what is up.
He goes on to tell me that he has a new girlfriend and they are going to have a baby together. They have been going out for a couple of years and he wants to settle down again. He has grown children and now he wants to start another family with this woman. (Fine with me).
He says she has had a past (I'll say) and that is all over with. She has a tooth ache and needs to get in.
He tells me he knows she has a ton of dental work that needs to be done. He doesn't exactly know what she needs but he know she is going to need a couple of crowns and a couple of root canals. (Now you are speaking my language). Then he says I was talking to your girl yesterday and I was not getting anywhere. I wasn't yelling at her but I was trying to get my point across. (This is man code for I was yelling).

This is where I interrupted him and said, "Yeah I heard you got M all in a tizzy." Now this was not meant to trivialise M's feeling it just came out like that. The problem was this was the exact time she walked in the door.
So to her it sounded like men talk and me NOT supporting her.

He then went on to tell me that they spent the weekend in the emergency room and her ob's office trying to get her relief. That he is at his whits end and he didn't know what to do.

As he was speaking I am looking at the schedule and it is jammed. So I look at tomorrow and it is jammed. Then I find a small window of time on Thursday (remember it is Tuesday when we are talking).
So I say, "I totally understand your frustration and want to help you. But I do understand the issue M was having trying to find you a spot in the schedule. I am looking at the rest of the day and there is nothing. I couldn't even make up something. Now I am looking at tomorrow and it is the same thing. I do however see an opening on Thursday that we can see her. How does that sound?"

"Thank you Dr.John that would be great". I went on to tell him that if anyone cancels in the next day she will be the first one we call.
He was very happy with the conversation and I thought it went well.

Now M is being cold to me. I start to feel the tension. I know what happened and I know M is not at all too pleased with me.

Now, if you know me at all you know that I am not at all confrontational. I hate it. I loathe it. I avoid it at all cost.
I know this about my personality and I lived my whole life in a way that gets around it at all costs.
Although, I have really tried, lately, to start confrontation little at a time. In the past I would not talk to my assistants and tell them what I wanted. I always felt like it would be a less than pleasant conversation.
Performance reviews are all like this, "You did a great job, here is your bonus". It was never, you need to improve on this or this is what we expect.
My dad is worse than me so I blame him for this flaw in my personality.

But I have been really trying to sit some of my employees down and tell them what I want. It is so freeing. I am so proud of myself. And I think some of them appreciate it. They know what I expect and it is easy to be a better employee because they know what I expect.

But back to Mr.S. Everything is okay with us. Everything is not okay in the office.
I know what I have to do.
I have to stand up for my staff member, I want to stand up for my staff member. But...but...I don't know if I can do it. I can just leave it the way it is. He is happy. And M will probably get over it...Oh, damn it, I picked up the phone. I dialed the number fast so I didn't lose my nerve.

He answered. I thought about hanging up. Maybe he has caller ID and he knows it me. I have to talk. I said "Hi Steve it is John again. Look I am glad I was able to get your fiance' in. And I want to treat you and your family for a long time. But Steve, M is one of best employees. She is a great administrative assistant and I plan on keeping her for a long time. I trust she treated you with a lot of respect and tried very hard to treat you well."
I went on to tell him that it would go a long way with this office if he could call M and make things right with her.
Wow, that was hard. He says, "I understand and I will do it."

I went to M a couple of hours later and asked if she got a call from Steve. She said, "Yes and he apologised and I forgave him." I was thinking great, all is well right?
Well, what she didn't know is that I called him.
She still thinks that I trivialized her feelings.
So I had to go to her and say I called Steve and told him that I backed you.
That I value you as an employee and want you here for a long time. I asked him to make it right with you.

You should of seen her. It was like she lit up like a candle. This is what woman want. Gosh I wish I knew this in high school, maybe I wouldn't of struck out so much. But in all seriousness this was hard, but it had to be done.

I saw Ms. Don't tick me off or I will run over you with my car yesterday and all is well.
He was happy, I was realived, M was consistantly great. All is well.

Have a great weekend.
Sunday is Palm Sunday.
Just so you know it the date is 3/16.
My pastor is going to preach on John 3:16.
Don't forget to rest on Sunday.
john




But what I started to realize that if I did not do something about this