Points

You Get a Point

I’ve a new carer right now and it seems a genius time to mention my point system, as it’s as good as time as ever.

My Monday carer washes a nonstick frypan that I’ve used to make my Sunday omelette. She tells me the handle is a bit loose and asks do I have a screwdriver? Do I ever!

I look at her and announce, “YOU GET A POINT!” and I went for my Phillips head screwdriver. She saw where I got it from and knew where to return it when she was done. There is no whiteboard in my home where my carers can compete with each other for an elusive prize. My carers might never meet each other.

Before this carer left, I had reason to open my dishwasher to put something in. She had unpacked it and packed in a few things that had been stacked the night before when the dishwasher was in a cycle, I notice how she had put them in.

Sweet Jesus! It’s the weirdest thing about human nature. No matter how many times my carers unpack the dishwasher, they will always stack it completely different. She LOST A POINT!

It’s really an amusing way I communicate to my carers when they do something that makes me extremely happy. Not just little as well as big things they notice and take care of for me. The above statement issuing and taking points are always delivered with a sharp glance and a cheeky smile, so they know the point system does not have any relevance as to if they get to come back.

Oh, carers can also decide if they do not want to return. In case you wondered?

Rewards

I think I have worked my way around having carers in my home very well. Here’s an example; I have a rewards system, they can gain points or lose points and they have no idea how to do either.

Carers in the home

I’ve been getting new carers recently to utilise my NDIS funding and I’ve had maybe four different providers in eight years because I’ve moved three times and under HACC they keep you in-house until they work out what your needs etc are, then they outsource you to an agency, if they can’t cover your hours or service requirements. So I’m getting kind of OK (good) at it.

Booking carers

If I get a call from the office to tell me a carer is at my front door and they didn’t ring the doorbell. You lose a point.
If you lie to me, if you continue to lie to me. You lose a point.
You treat me like I have an intellectual disability (ID). Yes, you lose a point.
You treat anyone without respect or humanity. Lose a point and my respect.
You do your job. You get a point.
You do your job well. You get a point.
You do a shitty job well, with a smile on your face. You get a point.
After an acceptable ‘cooling off period’ (undetermined) you can do what’s required without me asking you. Yes, you get a point.
You have spare time and find something that you think requires attention and you just do it. You get a point.

Now, you have the basics let me give you an example.

Apart from the first one because that’s obvious. A new carer arrived and she had her earbuds (headphones) in her ear. She took one out and slipped her phone in her bag. I politely greeted her and she responded to me. I politely stated three different ways (can’t remember now exactly what I said, but it was a challenge) without outright calling her a liar.

Carer with earbuds

She kept insisting it was not on ever, after she first told me she could hear me. I still thought it rather rude, so I just politely told her I could still hear the music. She took her phone out, turned it off. For real this time and took out the earbud.

Liar liar

There is no specific score one gets or loses before I deem it relevant to contact the office and add them to a list call the ‘Blocked’ list.

Blocked

I have a very active ‘Blocked’ list of girls I won’t have back to the point, if I speak to the right person they know my standards and my reasons and I am not required to explain myself.

blocked 1