I'll Be Your Server Today

This morning I had the rare and lovely opportunity to go to a yoga class on a Friday. At my studio you sign in on a sheet and check off a box to say you have a pass. On the top of the sheet, for the office staff and accounting, it has the date and time along with the instructor's name.
This morning the regular Friday teacher's name was crossed out and the name of the former office manager was written in its place. I noticed, but wasn't really sure how that was going to work, as the woman was not a yoga instructor as far as I knew. But I was just happy to be there, and not really concerned, since I had taken many of the same classes as this woman and have a respect for her practice and for her as a person.

So, as it turned out, she did teach the class, and did a fine job of it. Her style was a blend of some of the instructors we had shared, and she was confident and led us through a well-balanced yoga session. I had the good experience of letting go of thoughts and getting into a meditative mindset, for the most part, but I must admit to one line of thinking that I let myself pursue a bit, which was remembering a funny experience from almost five years ago. It was another case of an office manager taking on an unexpected role, only this one was not nearly so pleasant or relaxing.

I know it was about 5 years ago because I had a friend watching my then infant for me, which was one of the first babysitting experiences I had done, and it was killing me that it was happening so I could have a filling put in at the dentist. But during my pregnancy one of my fillings from childhood gave up the fight and they wanted to wait until after I had the baby to replace it, so here I was. Everything started out as usual, with the hygienist setting up the horrid little dental dam and laying out the instruments of torture for the dentist.

After she had gotten me all prepped, another woman I didn't recognize came in and got out the big needle to numb me up. I was a little confused, because this was usually the dentist's job, and as far as I knew he didn't have a partner. But I figured he must have added one, and I couldn't really talk at that point so I had to roll with it. After she finished, she explained to me that Dr. Swanson would do any drilling needed and she would be setting the filling and making any necessary adjustments. I was able at that point to say that I didn't think we had been introduced and was she another dentist?

Now comes the good part. She apologized to me, and said she assumed that I remembered her as she had been the office manager while she was attending hygienist school. She explained that her training had included all aspects of fillings except drilling (hence her wielding the giant needle) and that Dr. Swanson checked her work but she basically did the majority of it.I didn't have a problem with this system, and she was gentle and did a good job on my tooth. But, um, hello, she assumed I recognized her as the office manager? And she didn't explain that she now had taken years of schooling so that she was capable of injecting my cranial nerve and putting amalgam in a hole in my tooth? If I had recognized her and thought that the dentist was trying to increase his practice by giving the office manager the needle full of drugs, I would have needed the apology. As it was, I was wanting to know but not fearing permanent nerve damage.

I wonder what the third case of office manager saves the day is going to be. All I can say is, if the receptionist at the ob/gyn starts to glove up, I am outta there.