Things that test my frustration management skills...

No particular order, but whatever...

Culprit #1.

This issue with Microsoft and the Xbox 360. First of all, I am mad enough as it is that it went defective to begin with. Anger gets bumped up a notch due to the widespread nature of the problems. Look at the forums. Look at our own XBLF group. The percentages are higher than Microsoft's touted "3-5%". Now, just on the day that I send mine off to the Texas manufacturing facility (yesterday), Modiac points out a problem that seems to be running rampant. People who, with their original 360's were able to connect to Xbox Live flawlessly, now cannot connect to Xbox Live AT ALL with their replacement units. Microsoft Xbox Tech Support is completely stumped by this, by their own admission. People have had to return their 360's TWO and THREE times, and still do not yet have a working unit. So, in my infinite ability to expect the worst in my life with stuff like this (I have anti-irish luck evidently), I fully expect mine to not work correctly as well. It may be due to certain production runs or the facility itself (Texas), but in any case, my anger will only further heighten if I have the same problem when I get my unit back! I try my best to keep clean language, but this one is pushing the envelope for me...

One saving grace...

My EBGames product replacement policy.

Regardless of what happens with Microsoft I will be returning the refurbished unit for a new retail copy as soon as it is available regularly is my local store. I'm not going to deal with Microsoft's crap anymore. I'll pay the $30 every time with EBGames. Less stress and I will be assured a NEW unit. It just makes me so angry that I should have to be doing this in the first place!

Offender #2.

Software vendors who change layout of software to increasing complexity and decreasing user friendliness. Kelly and I had pretty much figured out our patient management and electronic billing software, and she had gotten so good that if she submitted our Medicaid billing on Friday morning, we got an electronic funds transfer into our business checking account on Monday. Well, we recently had to install the
latest update to our software, and things went haywire! First, we nearly lost all of our data for the week prior to the install! Now that does not sound like a lot, but when you are seeing patients 50-60 hours per week, and every single slot for the next five weeks is full, and you are scheduling, on average, 3-6 new patients PER DAY, and your electronic billing is tied to your schedule, a one week old backup means loss if a LOT of data. Luckily I was able to salvage the data after about an hour of blood, sweat, and tears. Second, they have moved data entry information necessary for each patient into , shall we say, less than intuitive places. Whereas a patient's diagnoses were entered into the, get this, DIAGNOSIS tab in the older version, a diagnosis tab is nonexistent in the new version, and patient diagnoses are entered into the DEFAULTS tab. Yeah. That makes sense. Third, information that was not needed in the old version electronic billing is now required. The only way to fix it is to contact every referring physician on record to get their Physician ID number, or remove the referring physician's name completely from the patient's information. Easy solution, but now there is no way to track patient referrals per physician. To further complicate the matter, not all referring people are physicians, and therefore do not have a Physician ID. Yet if you put them in the patient's record, electronic billing will not go through, as the system expects a Physician ID since someone has been named in the referring agent text box on the billing. All clear as freaking mud, right?

Sheesh.

There are more, but I,m tired of typing. LOL...

On a good note, I am digging my truck, man!

Go Seahawks!