Apparently, I'm One Of THOSE People

Since October, we've had Home Care coming in the mornings to get Joel ready for school.  Originally, they were also coming in the evenings to put him into bed, but it just wasn't working out.  The only time they could come was at 7:30pm (we don't put him to bed until 9 or 9:30), so it was pointless for them to come in to brush his teeth, wash his face, change his Depends and then put him back in his chair so we could give him bedtime snack.

On the whole, the half hour that the aides are here is super helpful.  It leaves Mike or I free to get Joel's breakfast, lunch and medicine ready.  But. But. But....there are MANY moments that I find myself cursing something the aides have done under my breath.  Let me first say that I could not do what they do and I really do commend them for their work, BUT I just can't help shaking my head at some of the dumb ass things they've done.

First issue...the shoe thing.  Initially, some of the aides were just traipsing in with their outdoor shoes on...WTF?  No. No. No.  For all I know, they could have been stepping in the previous client's urine when his diaper leaked on the floor, not to mention that they're walking in public with those shoes (stepping in spit, shit and who knows what).  I finally mentioned to one of the workers to please remove her shoes and she was all, "Huh?".  Seriously...some of these workers are half a chromosome away from needing a care home themselves.  The other shoe issue was the workers stepping off the HUGE black mat we have at the front door to switch their shoes.  Again...no, no, no!  Given that it's been a sloopy winter, they were leaving huge puddles on the floor every morning.  And that's when the first passive-aggressive sign went up.  The first of several.  And that's what I mean by one of THOSE people.

The next sign to go up was about the workers' jackets.  Some of them feel it's appropriate to just toss their coats into our living room...onto the chair or ottoman (which sometimes have K's toys/pillows on them).  Do I really need to repeat the No. No. No! again?  To me, jackets can be just as dirty as shoes and they think it's okay to chuck their coat on top of my daughter's toys?  Not a flippin' chance.  Because I didn't want their jackets mingling with our coats in the closet (hello, OCD....how YOU doin'?), I put some hooks up behind the door.  I tried to point out to as many workers as possible that the hooks were there, but some continued to toss their coats into the living room.  We're up to a total of two signs :)

The wall by Joel's bed has the majority of the signs.  I suppose one group of signs isn't so much passive-aggressive as it helpful...I outlined everything they are to do, step by step.  But even with the outline, workers still manage to eff things up.  Like putting his leg braces on outside of his pants.  Or not washing his face.  Or using his acne cream as toothpaste (yes, one aide actually did that).  But the biggest pain in the ass is the fact that they put his back brace on upside effing down.  I have finally written "this side up" on Joel's brace.  The poor guy has enough shit to deal with (he has developed severe scoliosis), the last thing he needs is his brace causing him more pain.  Enter the next sign, which asks the aides to call us to check Joel's brace before they put his jacket on.

Like I said, on the whole...they are a time saver.  But there are many mornings when my head just about explodes at how thoughtless the aides can be.  Like the woman who was looking for Mike (who was downstairs grabbing laundry) and started banging on K's door (she was still sleeping).  Or the aide whom, when Mike answered the door, asked "Is Joel here?".  This was NOT her first time here, so why the eff she would even ask that.

Now that my rant is over, it's time to print off one more sign about not taking face cloths from the hall closet to use for Joel.  He has his own supply. And they've been told this repeatedly.

BLARGH.