I am fiercely protective of those I love, including Ron. It is up to you to decide if that is a good thing. I remember one of my best childhood memories, my Dad went to "Indian Princesses" camp (put on by the Y) with me. He gave me some money to buy a drink from the vending machine and it ripped me off. He went in and said "My little girl got ripped off by your vending machine, she needs her drink" and they came out, opened the machine, and gave me my drink. He probably doesn't remember that.
But I didn't have a lot of people standing up for me, certainly not on a regular basis, and I guess somewhere along the line I said "I am not going to be that person, I will stand up and fight". I am better at fighting for others than myself but I am learning.
We had a ride to go to Sam's. Ron has been riding more in the wheelchair vs "transfer" to the seat which is risky at best. I tend to encourage that. Today was no different. She got him in the back compartment and spent a lot of time back there, then came up front.
Demanded I give the ticket and ID. Me. Ron is certainly capable of carrying his own papers and he does. If you want the pass and ID you need to get it from Ron, and I told her that. You can either take it for granted he is a client (blind and in a wheelchair I would hope so), and we can show you the pass, etc. when we get to the destination. By this time Ron had gotten it out, gave it to her.
She looked at the computer and looked at the pass, it is apparent she has never seen a yearly pass. She said "They don't match". What? "The client ID number does not match the (pass) number". I said they are two different things. His ID number is 12345. She confirmed that was the number in the computer. The thing in your hand is his pass, and that is the pass number. 'It doesn't look like a pass" - because the monthly pass is printed on a flimsy piece of paper and the yearly pass is laminated plastic with a photo.
So I'm already getting super frustrated. She was not trained properly. Then she says she will KEEP the $430 pass until we get to our destination, and then give it back. I said NO YOU WON'T and I got out my cell phone. Then she decides to give it back to Ron.
Now I'm getting super pissed. We go half a block and Ron starts yelling, he is sliding all over the back. Long story short the driver says she "can't" secure the wheelchair. "All the other drivers can" I told her "What is your problem?" This is Ron's safety. He does not have good bones and an accident could put him in a nursing home. She got all pissy with me and said it was our fault we "Had the wrong wheelchair"
"Even though all the other drivers can get it?" I replied again. "To hell with that, he's riding in the backseat."
She objected but I told her I would call dispatch and tell them she couldn't secure the wheelchair. We took Ron out of the wheelchair compartment and I helped him get into the backseat - very ugly but SAFER.
She thinks I am an utter bitch but I am OK with that - you don't mess with Ron's safety. If you were badly/poorly trained you SPEAK UP and GET the training you need to do the job safely. They needed to train her on a variety of wheelchairs, it was apparent she was only used to 1-2 models. Ron cannot propel himself, we use a "transport chair". This one:
Transport chair
She wasn't a very skilled driver, either, kept drifting out of her lane and had a terrible time with the GPS. You may know a GPS will say "Turn left in 1000 yards". She would turn left immediately. "Recalculating". I am sure she was upset too and was one of those people who can't do a task when they are upset. It is shocking to think that her trainer, who spent over 40 hours with her, said she was OK to work.
AGH. We finally got to Sam's, so happy to get out of there. We arrived very late as a result of the drama and Jack got there before I had checked out. We went to work, stocked. I put a lot of drinks in the fridge. We had a very nice driver to come home, HE knew how to secure the chair and Ron didn't move an inch.
"Take good care of my baby". I can't imagine what a mother of a special needs child goes through every day. You just want to keep them safe.
Not everyone is going to like us, I accept that. However, you have an obligation to keep Ron safe and I will hold you to that. Yike.
Ron is working on the accounting report. I am hoping I can get a nap in here somewhere.
Biscuit has been awesome today and is currently laying by my foot.
Edit: he finished the report, I think we will file it tomorrow.
I gave him his vitamins, he took them and also let me clean his leg.
7 comments:
I hope you called and reported her. Someone could die if not properly secured. She needs immediate retraining.
There is a liason Ron can contact and make a suggestion. He (Ron) would be purple if I called, I will ask him if he wants to call in.
I wasn't so upset by her terrible attitude as her complete willingness to let Ron ride unsecured in the back. That should not be acceptable, she should have asked Ron to transfer to the back and, if unable to do that, contacted a supervisor to come out and demonstrate the proper technique.
Like I told her no other driver has had this problem.
Yep heather cant do anything unless ron gives her permission to. You would make a great mormon. Maybe other people are like you and Ron and dont report bad drivers. This may lead to him and you being injured one day because of it. Same as Ron was almost injured because of this drivers negligence. It works both ways.
If you’re his “pit bull” you should be calling in. Otherwise this will happen again to you or someone else and nothing will change. It shouldn’t be a decision left up to the mentally incapacitated alcoholic wheelchair ridden man who has piss poor judgement.
I will have Ron call the advocate for the program, he has a lot of weight and he can assign her to retraining WITHOUT filing a formal complaint, which could get her fired.
In her defense Ron has a "weird" wheelchair so I can see why she might have gotten confused, however, we can all agree the program should have trained her for all eventualities. I believe they only trained her on the new vehicles with the automatic locking straps, etc.. very fancy and easy for the driver.
They GAVE her a very old vehicle with the old fashioned manual straps and she was utterly clueless. TODAY I can feel a little sorry for her but that can be fixed with training.
So I will have him call the advocate. He is a nice guy and I have actually met him.
If only you had such boundaries when it comes to the way Ron treats you ...
Also, you have every right to call and complain, as a passenger. Why isn't your safety as a passenger every bit as important as whatshisname's?? And you're not a "pit bull" at all if you're saying Ron "would be purple" if you called. So many things are not, and should never be, up to Ron. First, because you're supposed to be equal partners and second, because he's not sighted and therefore cannot SEE unsafe driving and third, because he's a brain-damaged alcoholic even on his best days. You love to call yourself a caregiver but honestly, a true caregiver could never afford to defer to the whims of an incapacitated person. They'd be fired on the spot.
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