[Critique Group 1] Leonard's comments on Cleora's sub

[Leonard Tuchyner]

I can see why you were tested by the ordeal she putyou  through. 

I would have a few words to say about her also. 

There are a few incidents  of language I have questions about 

that I’ll get to. 

All in all your descriptions are good in that theydescribe what you  were going through . 

I like the way you analyze the helpers problems. 

She drove you into paranoia.  

I think she may very well be suffering the beginingsof alzheimers. 

On the other hand, she may really be that stupid. 

She certainly is not competent as a helper of a  blind person. 

It  aint easybeing blind.

 

Cleo sub for March 23

 

 

300 words

The Caregiver

by Sly Duck

 

2:45pm, I am officially late for my appointment, and mycaregiver is driving in circles. “You need to get on Bryan-Irvin,” I say,“Straight up Bryan-Irvin to Camp Bowie. Left onto Camp Bowie; Then a block orso to 6324.” My driver starts to call off street names. It still feels like sheis driving in circles. Finally, she tells me she is on Bryan-Irvin. Shecontinues to call off street names. It sounds like we are headed in the rightdirection.

 

We were doing fine until my cell phone stopped givingdirections. I picked up the device and started swiping. Bonk, bonk, no internetconnection, says my phone. What? Did I hear that right? Swiped some more. Irealize I’ve lost the internet. That’s why GPS stopped giving directions. Istuck the thing back in my purse. “I've lost the internet,” I said, “That's whyit stopped giving us directions.”

 

I despaired. When we started out, she told me she didn'tknow where we were going and she was depending on me to give directions. “Idon't know the way, you'll need to use your GPS," I said.

 

“I don't have my phone,” she said. “I'll have to go back forit. Oh, you have your phone. Do you know how to use GPS??”

 

 

Does  She haveher phone or not? 

 

I pulled out my phone and asked for directions to theclinic. SIRI started talking and we started out. Now we were stuck, I knew basicallyhow to get there but my driver was now telling me that there was constructionand the road had ended, and she didn't know what to do.

 

I realize she has pulled off the road and come to a stop.“Maybe I have my phone. I'll check.” she said and got out to check her purse inthe back seat. Shortly, she gets back in the driver seat and asks for theaddress. I give it again, and we start out with her phone giving directions.

 

I can tell from the directions that we haven't been onBryan-Irvin all this time. That is why we are not finding Camp Bowie. In fact,we are 13 minutes from our destination. We are almost as far away as we werewhen we started. I think we must have been driving in the opposite direction.Just think, I'm paying good money for this nitwit. The destination is 16minutes from my home. We have been driving 45 minutes, now, and we are still 13minutes away. I check the time, 2:57pm. Terrific.

 

How do you know you are still 13 minutes away.

 

 

I remember how she dropped her debit card in my hall thefirst time she came. I thought it was the temporary card that came with thedental insurance application, and almost threw it away, but decided to use mySeeing AI app to scan it anyway. I never throw away anything I don't at leastbelieve I know what 

It is.

is. It was her debit card. I didn't believe for anano-second she had dropped it by accident. So, what to do. Do I call theagency office and tell them I found it, or wait and see if she asks about it.

 

Later, I called to see if my regular caregiver would be backThursday. They didn't know. I went ahead and told them about finding Donna'scard. “Oh, she is probably searching all over for it,” said Ashley, “I'll calland let her know.”

 

Ha! I thought. Not unless she went to the store after leavingme. I think she dropped it deliberately, but why? The evidence was mounting.First, she drops her card to see if I will find it and be able to identify it.I wish now I had pitched it in the trash, or at least not told the office Ifound it. Today she told me she knew I had to be able to see because she usedto know a blind person and she used braille for everything, and I could only dothe things I do if I had vision. I think she was alluding to my being able toidentify her card. I didn't bother to tell her how I did it. Then when we startout, she told me she didn't have her phone with her. Would have to go back andlook for it, but now it turns out she had it all along. 

Quite a helper. Questioning whether you are faking blindness.

 

She told me when she arrived there was a powder blue carwith two people in it that stopped nearby and waited a long time before leavingwhen she arrived. Were these her friends? I can't shake the memory of when shearrived Tuesday, and I went to disarm the alarm system, it was alreadydisarmed. Had she used something to capture my disarm signal so they coulddisarm it? Is she using the recent break in attempt to break in and make itlook like someone else, 

 

Did it?  This ispoorly placed.

 

Is this scenic route to the chiropractor to give her cohortsplenty of time to get in and take whatever they want? Does she have an app thatlet her send a picture of what I have to her partners so they know what to pickup and where it is? Was the card drop a way to be sure she would be sent back? 

 

She is giving me minute by minute reports of how long to ourdestination. I can tell from what GPS is saying that we are now headed in theright direction, but it is having us make a lot of turns that we shouldn't haveto make if we are really on Bryan-Irvin. At least we are supposedly headed inthe right direction. "Nine minutes, she reports, we will be there soon.I've driven in bigger towns. I've been in Fort Worth 6 years. I used to be aninsurance adjuster, and I had to deliver and go all over the place,” shereports.

 

Am I supposed to be encouraged by These revelations?

 

We arrive at 3:07pm. I tell her the elevator is on the rightside of the building. She parks in a handicap spot. I know from my many visitsthe handicap parking is not near the elevator. She helps me out. I grasp herelbow, and we start walking. We are not going toward the right side. She takesme up a ramp. The ramp is on the left side near the stairs. I do not want to goup the stairs. This idiot. She is helping a blind person that uses a walkingcane and she parks on the other end of the building and is taking me toward thestairs. I know there is a parking place right by the elevator. She parked in ahandicapped spot, but I think that is more for people with a wheelchair. My hipis beginning to ache. I am about to tell her the elevator is on the other sidewhen a man calls out. “The elevator is here. I think it's working. 

Why wouldn’t it be working?

 

Yes, no out of order sign. I strained my back yesterday. Ican't imagine trying to use stairs. Thought you might want to use theelevator.”

 

Wonderful man. He has a brain. Sees us walking. Realizesthat going up the stairs would be difficult for me, and tries to help.

 

My guide thanks him and we start toward the elevator. Ibreathe a silent sigh of ReLeaf.

 

We get in the elevator. “What floor?” she asks.

 

“Second floor.” I tell her. I can't see the buttons, butthis is a 2-story building. I'm thinking there aren’t that many to choose from.

 

“Oh, here it is,” she says, and I guess presses the buttonfor the top floor.

 

We get out of the elevator, and she walks me back and forthon the landing. “Family or chiropractic?” she asks.

 

I know from my many visits the clinic has the entire topfloor. “It is Family Chiropractic.”

 

“Oh,” she says.

 

We have been walking longer than I think we need to.Finally, she tries a door. It doesn't open. “It's locked,” she declares. Westart to walk again. I stumble over a rug of some kind. We come to anotherdoor. It won’t open either. We turn around and start back. She tries what Iassume is the first door we tried. "Why do they have their doors locked?”she asks. Now it feels like we are walking to the elevator. Is she going toleave?

 

“Come in this way,” a man behind us says.

 

We turn around. Then I remember, the rug I stumbled over wasthe rug in the door we were supposed to go in at.

 

We get in, and I start to hunt for the couch I know is nearthe door. I tell her she may need to complete a covid questionnaire for both ofus, knowing she is not going to pay any attention to me. 

 

I am surprise not to hear Nancy mumble something about usbeing 30 minutes late for my appointment. The man that called out to us, I'msure, was doctor. Mechlin. I'm so glad they noticed us. She would probably havekept walking me back and forth then taken me down and back home causing me tomiss my appointment and wasting 2 hours of the shift. 

 

Nancy sounds very patient and kind. She gives her a paperand tells her to put both our names on it and answer the questions for both ofus. I wait. I know I will need to sign and initial my part. 

 

Nancy has to tell her everything to do. I am amazed. Nancyis not usually this amiable. Obviously, she recognizes I have an idiot for ahelper. Donna brings me the paper to sign. She doesn't have it on a clipboardlike the other caregivers have had. I try to sign on a paper sagging between mylegs. I know I'm supposed to initial each question and sign at the bottom, butI don't make any comment.

 

“Thank you,” says Nancy. “Come on back.”

 

Wow, again I'm surprised. I thought I would probably have towait several minutes since we were so late.

 

The appointment goes smoothly. The doctor takes charge ofgetting me back to the front where I can pay out.

 

Back in the car, I'm wondering how long it will take her toget us back home.

 

Actually, it only takes 22 minutes. She parks in the garageand shuts off the engine. I decide to go ahead and close the garage door. Ithits my bumper and goes back up. She starts the car and pulls up. I try toclose the door; it hits the bumper and goes back up. She has to restart the car3 times and pull it up before I can close the door.

 

At least this time she parked it more in the place it issupposed to be for me to move around better in the garage, and she didn'talmost hit the freezer.

 

I check my phone. I haven't gotten a notice of a call, so itdoesn't seem anyone has set off the alarm while we were away. I listen as Ipush the disarm button. The system dings, and says “Disarmed, ready to arm.”Ok, it was still armed.no one has broken in.

 

I go in and check all the doors. Everything is secure.Apparently, she is just an incompetent, idiot, not part of a burglary ring. 

 

“Are you looking forward to having Tori back next time?” sheasks

 

Id Tori the helper. Who is  asking? Is Tori asking.

 

“Yes.”

 

“You don't like me? I like you.”

 

“I like you, but I've spent a lot of time on Tori. I wouldrather have her. I want them to stop sending me new people all the time.” Couldit be that this woman has no clue that her giving me inaccurate answers, almosthitting my freezer last time, dropping her debit card in my hall, and taking anhour and driving an additional 14 miles today to get me to an appointment 30minutes late is not instilling me with confidence? I can't trust what she tellsme. She told me my new debit card didn't have any numbers on it. Athree-year-old knows that a credit or debit card has a number on it. Her owndebit card has a number on it. I'm supposed to believe that my debit carddoesn't have a number? I wonder if she made a note of the information and iswaiting for me to activate it so she can try to use it to make purchases. Shedid give me the number to call to activate the card. What about the things Idon't know for sure? The things that if she doesn't give me the rightinformation can cause problems, I have to use my adaptive technology to checkout everything she tells me to be sure it is right. What about the things myadaptive equipment can't double check? What about the things I don't want anon-vetted volunteer on 

 

To be on my eyes to see?  What does that mean.

“Be My Eyes” to see?

 

“No,” I said, “I like you but I need them to stop sending menew people. I need to get someone trained that can do the job and have them bemy regular so I can get things done.”

 

At first, from my experiences with her over the last twoweeks, I thought she was messing with me. But if what she tells me about herwork history is true, maybe at age 62, she has lost the cognitive sharpnessthat should have made her a good fit. Like the investment advisors say, pastperformance is no guarantee of future results. Or, in this case, pastexperience is no guarantee of future performance.




 
 
Leonard I. Tuchyner, Author
 
https://www.dldbooks.com/tuchyner/

 
  
 
 

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