Sleep and You
Mar. 18th, 2007 12:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydyDid everyone get the bulletin that I've been looking to go to school to get a certificate in the polysomnographic tecnicial field? I have. Sleep techs (which is what that polysllabic polysomnography is all about) are familiar to me; I've had four sleep studies so far. I've decided that this "first shift wake up in the morning and be late for work" thing just isn't working any more. I never did like being a secretary, either. 26 years worth of not liking my job. That, my friends, is what happens to girls who flunk out of college unless they're very smart and are willing to take risks. I had book smarts, but that was it.
A well-paying, second or third shift job sounds like it might be a good fit. Unfortunately, the only thing my job experience suits me for is more secretarial work, and there simply is not much of a market for second or third shift secretaries. Bosses usually prefer to have their assistants available during working hours. Funny thing about that.
I'm 44, I'm ripe for a mid-life career change, and I don't currently have a job. This polysomno thing sounds interesting and turned up on one of my "skills and interests" inventories. Turns out, the Minneapololis Technical and Community College offers a certificate program (A.A.S., as they call it) which takes two and a half years. My, now, isn't this interesting. It's also less informative than it might be. Reading the description of what people in that field do gives you diddly-squat in terms of the "look and feel" of the job. Ask me what a secretary's job is like, and I can give you a run-down of what your daily work life will be like. It'll be vague, sure, but how much idle time you can expect, what pace you'll have to work at, all those can be inferred from the industry, position, and tempermant of the boss. Polysomnography? You ever met anyone who's ever done it? I have, but I was asleep while they did their work. I will say that they mostly looked cheerful and laid back.
Since I'm talking about a major life change, I've been trying to do all the good things that one is supposed to do. Like an informational interview. Which I've never done before and asking for was one of the more awkward experiences of my life. This past Friday, I got to observe from 7:30 p.m. to midnight at a sleep lab. Several of the women there were really gracious about explaining what they were doing and why. There was a patient who was particularly kind to me that allowed me to watch one of the techs wire her up like a Christmas tree. I had a great time, it was like being a kid let loose in a candy-shop, except for one thing; talking to people. The techs that were nice to me were genuinely nice, but there was the pall of Minnesota nice over the entire lab. I try, but I really don't do Minnesota nice very well.
There was one person there who was fascinating and easy to talk to -- for me. The rest of the people in the lab seemed to think he was, well, different as we say here in Minnesota. He rattled on endlessly (not quite a capital crime, here, but close) about sleep technology, working in different sleep labs over the years, politics within hospitals, and a great deal more. I loved it. He had a copy of Science on his desk.
That communication thing, though. Here I was, being able to talk to the outsider (who'd been doing this for longer than some of them had been alive, I do believe), and having difficulty managing to talk to very interesting and forthcoming women. It was especially noticable when I was observing the wiring of the patient. (I feel like that should maybe be in capitals, The Wiring of The Patient.) Occasionally, I'd interject something pleasant and interesting, often about my own experience with CPAPs and so on. Three times out of five I was received with an uncomfortable coolness. Ok, so I might be great with the tech, but terrible with the patients. This is not the path to a happy ever after job. I tried so hard, but I just couldn't figure it out.
Tonight, I went to the traditional, St. Patrick's Day Boiled in Lead show (which was good). I took the bus, and didn't take a book, so I ended up listening to a bar waitress and a bar owner talk about the business and swap stories. I was suddenly struck by something I had never noticed. They were talking largely in the second person. "Well, you know, they're paying customers, so you really can't object." "But you gotta hate that juke box, some days." "You know the customer who comes in ever day and plays the same song? You want to just strangle him, but well, it's his right." "You gotta want to break their head somedays, though." And so on.
I'm not capturing it correctly, it's not the way I talk. But the use of the word "I" was used far more rarely than I use in my conversations, and many of the feelings of the speaker were projected onto a universal "you" instead of being attached to the first person. I realized that one of the things that made people uncomfortable with my conversation was sentences with starting with "I". Huh. I do wonder if this is why making "I" statements is considered to be so powerful in therapy. Owning one's own feelings and all that makes perfect sense, but I wonder if there is an inherent difficulty in just using a sentence structure that is in the first person provokes a useful stressor. Or a non-useful one, for that matter.
If I tried being a sleep tech, I'd need to work up a nice little patter which has just enough information for the patient to feel like they're not being threatened with anything while not overwhelming them with information. I can do that, I think. Long and long ago, I did it while working for a mortgage company, and was good at it. That leaves the biggest hurdle -- the other people in the lab. What if the place I was employed didn't have any geeks in it? I might go insane.
A well-paying, second or third shift job sounds like it might be a good fit. Unfortunately, the only thing my job experience suits me for is more secretarial work, and there simply is not much of a market for second or third shift secretaries. Bosses usually prefer to have their assistants available during working hours. Funny thing about that.
I'm 44, I'm ripe for a mid-life career change, and I don't currently have a job. This polysomno thing sounds interesting and turned up on one of my "skills and interests" inventories. Turns out, the Minneapololis Technical and Community College offers a certificate program (A.A.S., as they call it) which takes two and a half years. My, now, isn't this interesting. It's also less informative than it might be. Reading the description of what people in that field do gives you diddly-squat in terms of the "look and feel" of the job. Ask me what a secretary's job is like, and I can give you a run-down of what your daily work life will be like. It'll be vague, sure, but how much idle time you can expect, what pace you'll have to work at, all those can be inferred from the industry, position, and tempermant of the boss. Polysomnography? You ever met anyone who's ever done it? I have, but I was asleep while they did their work. I will say that they mostly looked cheerful and laid back.
Since I'm talking about a major life change, I've been trying to do all the good things that one is supposed to do. Like an informational interview. Which I've never done before and asking for was one of the more awkward experiences of my life. This past Friday, I got to observe from 7:30 p.m. to midnight at a sleep lab. Several of the women there were really gracious about explaining what they were doing and why. There was a patient who was particularly kind to me that allowed me to watch one of the techs wire her up like a Christmas tree. I had a great time, it was like being a kid let loose in a candy-shop, except for one thing; talking to people. The techs that were nice to me were genuinely nice, but there was the pall of Minnesota nice over the entire lab. I try, but I really don't do Minnesota nice very well.
There was one person there who was fascinating and easy to talk to -- for me. The rest of the people in the lab seemed to think he was, well, different as we say here in Minnesota. He rattled on endlessly (not quite a capital crime, here, but close) about sleep technology, working in different sleep labs over the years, politics within hospitals, and a great deal more. I loved it. He had a copy of Science on his desk.
That communication thing, though. Here I was, being able to talk to the outsider (who'd been doing this for longer than some of them had been alive, I do believe), and having difficulty managing to talk to very interesting and forthcoming women. It was especially noticable when I was observing the wiring of the patient. (I feel like that should maybe be in capitals, The Wiring of The Patient.) Occasionally, I'd interject something pleasant and interesting, often about my own experience with CPAPs and so on. Three times out of five I was received with an uncomfortable coolness. Ok, so I might be great with the tech, but terrible with the patients. This is not the path to a happy ever after job. I tried so hard, but I just couldn't figure it out.
Tonight, I went to the traditional, St. Patrick's Day Boiled in Lead show (which was good). I took the bus, and didn't take a book, so I ended up listening to a bar waitress and a bar owner talk about the business and swap stories. I was suddenly struck by something I had never noticed. They were talking largely in the second person. "Well, you know, they're paying customers, so you really can't object." "But you gotta hate that juke box, some days." "You know the customer who comes in ever day and plays the same song? You want to just strangle him, but well, it's his right." "You gotta want to break their head somedays, though." And so on.
I'm not capturing it correctly, it's not the way I talk. But the use of the word "I" was used far more rarely than I use in my conversations, and many of the feelings of the speaker were projected onto a universal "you" instead of being attached to the first person. I realized that one of the things that made people uncomfortable with my conversation was sentences with starting with "I". Huh. I do wonder if this is why making "I" statements is considered to be so powerful in therapy. Owning one's own feelings and all that makes perfect sense, but I wonder if there is an inherent difficulty in just using a sentence structure that is in the first person provokes a useful stressor. Or a non-useful one, for that matter.
If I tried being a sleep tech, I'd need to work up a nice little patter which has just enough information for the patient to feel like they're not being threatened with anything while not overwhelming them with information. I can do that, I think. Long and long ago, I did it while working for a mortgage company, and was good at it. That leaves the biggest hurdle -- the other people in the lab. What if the place I was employed didn't have any geeks in it? I might go insane.
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 02:02 pm (UTC)As for interpersonal, would it be sufficient if the other people figured "yeah, she's really into the tech, that's why she's good to have here" without wanting to geek with you, since you've got geeking at home and in the rest of your social life?
That's an interesting thought about "you" and "I", and might well be useful. (I don't speak Scandasotan, though I can usually understand it.)
With the bar staff, I wonder whether it also connects to the expectation that bartenders will listen to customers' problems and not talk about their own. In that context, saving "I" for non-emotional/factual things like "I'll be right back" might be useful. "You" allows some emotional stuff, as you described, but doesn't have much room for talking about your weekend, or your own annoying spouse/children/medical stuff, which it's otherwise tempting to do if someone is talking about their similar problems.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 04:38 pm (UTC)I had an awesome sleep tech for my study at Lakeland Health Services (I think it was called). Wish I remembered her name, could probably find out. I'm trying to recall what made her awesome.
I believe some techs read and post to CPAPTalk and I bet if you posted there some would come out of the woodwork to chat with you. Lots of very helpful people there who know their stuff re sleep apnea.
I recently told Kevin that anyone working on anything related to sleep apnea is gonna have some major job security given the latest estimates on how many people have untreated sleep apnea. Though they are coming up with more "take home tests" for apnea, plenty still need the full studies. And would need titration.
Re: Sleep and You
Date: 2007-03-19 05:27 am (UTC)i am made profoundly uncomfortable by people who use the universal "you", and while it seems to be a bonding strategy for many of them, it has the opposite effect on me. i like people who say "i"; who own their feelings and who don't try to project them onto others, or seek safety in numbers. i bond with people through all sorts of things, but not by being presumed to feel the same way as everyone else. especially in medical situations when i am a patient, i can't stand it when professionals talk in universal terms -- it just highlights what i am already afraid of, that i am just a number, that nobody will really listen to me, that i will fall through the statistical cracks.
it wouldn't surprise me at all if others felt similarly uncomfortable with my strong usage of "i" and general avoidance of the universal "you", but i had never noticed it. thanks for the heads-up.
communicating with patients should be an entire class on its own; it's difficult -- those people are under a lot of stress, and you were an outsider in a situation in which they already feel quite vulnerable. a lot of it can be learned, and yeah, i bet you could.
is there such a thing as a lab without any geeks? i would be surprised.
You and I
Date: 2007-04-23 11:16 pm (UTC)I think the "I vs. you" subject relates to those studies of the differences between fannish and mundane approaches to conversation. I saw myself in your descriptions of conversational attempts being met coolly.
But, really, the second-person stuff is such bullshit. How about all those women who talk about mothering in the second person? "You learn to know your baby's [whatever]." I always want to say, "MY baby? I don't have a baby!!" I swear, the next time it's second person AND future tense ("You'll learn...") I'm going to look them in the eye and say, "I'm 51. Ain't gonna happen."
I grew up in Minnesota, born of Nebraskan parents, but someone who learned that I was moving to Oregon, said, "gosh, with your style, I'd've thought you'd move eastward" (implying: toward those rude, fast-talking New Yorkers, not toward laid-back left coast types). Sigh.
But now I work at a software development company, where I get along great with the mostly-all-male engineers (less so with the sales and marketing staff... I've never met so many people whose spouse [i.e. wives] work in elementary education.
Aliens around us! They are here
Date: 2007-05-30 08:29 am (UTC)Marsians ready to atack! nobody help us to survive
Date: 2007-05-30 07:01 pm (UTC)Thank you! Your board is so helpful
Date: 2007-07-07 06:29 am (UTC)