My Boss's Dream

ג' אדר א' תשס"ט
Keolwulf 4

This morning at department head stand-up meeting, before we got started my boss blurted out to me "I had a dream about you last night! It was a nightmare!" She laughed. Then she told us all her dream (er, I mean nightmare):

I was driving the car with she (my boss) and alot of other people in it. She said I was driving 'like a bat out of hell', zooming and zipping and speeding along 'like a bat out of hell', over bumps (as everybody bounced up and down in the car), zig-zagging around curves and construction sites like maneuvering through an obstacle course, and leaving other cars behind in the dust. She said in the dream her heart was pounding and she kept screaming "Lori! slow down! slow down!", but I wouldn't slow down. I just kept on going and going and going.

Pretty soon, my boss said, she could see that we were fast approaching a big black bottomless pit. She thought for sure that we'd plunge off the edge and fall into the big black bottonless pit. Her heart was palpitating, she said. Everyone was bouncing over the bumps as I was driving 'like a bat out of hell' and also started screaming "Lori! slow down!" but I kept on going and kept speeding on toward the big black bottomless pit - 'like a bat out of hell" ... and, I jumped the big black bottomless pit and landed safely on the other side of it. My boss then woke up, she said.

You should have been there to hear it. My boss told the story of her dream about me with such drama! Everyone was cracking up. They know how I am. A quiet reserved type but relentless.

Today our administrator treated us all to lunch at one of the best restaurants in the area because we all did so well last month. We took the company bus. After we loaded up, I assured my boss that I wasn't driving the bus. We all cracked up.

Ok, so I am a bit driven at work. But, I don't like to work overtime, so I'm not that driven! I advocated the hiring of a second nurse to help with the nursing assessments and private pay caseload (which we have an unusually high number of at our facility) rather than work all the overtime to do it all myself. I do set some boundaries. When I'm at work, I work hard and diligently to meet deadlines. I have many deadlines in my job working with Medicare data. I have to be relentless to get it done on time, to do it accurately, and to maximize our reimbursement rates. But, I go home on time and don't take my work home. When I'm at home, my time is mine, only mine. And I jealously guard my personal time.

I really like the group of people I work with. They're so cool.