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We Asked What One Task You Hate Having to Do and Boy Did You Have Answers…

But that’s okay. Nobody loves everything about their job.

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question:

We all like our jobs or presumably we wouldn’t be doing them, but all jobs — even ones we love — come with one task we absolutely abhor. What one part of your job do you hate so much you would gladly never do it again if given the opportunity? Tell us what and why you hate it.
  • I absolutely hate repairing a spring hinge. Every once in a while I have to do it, but if I never have to do it again I’ll be the happiest man alive. — Ben T., Miami, FL
  • Ugh… I hate doing inventory. It’s so tedious and boring. — Nick S., Frisco, TX
  • Second or third-level non-adapt glasses. I genuinely like working with “difficult” patients and doing the first level of troubleshooting, remakes, etc. And our opticians are top-notch, so our very rare issues are typically nailed on the first redo. But once or twice a year, when someone proves particularly difficult (whether by personality or by complicated eyes) and no immediate solution is coming to mind… ugh. ESPECIALLY when they see 20/20 in front of a chart with their new specs but claim it’s not clear. There are very, very few things that increase my heartrate in the business anymore, but I’ll literally start sweating when I see certain names pop back up on the schedule or the caller ID. — Jen H., Sandpoint, ID
  • Cleaning and dusting. — Abe Z., Brooklyn, NY
  • Teaching insertion and removal of contacts. I’m good at it but just hate it. — Frances Ann L., Valdosta, GA
  • Listening to long stories on how “I broke my glasses” and trying to repair the unrepairable. — BJ C., McQueeney, TX
  • I detest edging lenses into a semi-rimless frame. For some reason, it throws me completely into craziness, because it is done differently than a zyl or metal frame. I have always hated it and feel like throwing a tantrum if I must edge one. — Ann-Marie W., Lewis Center, OH
  • Cleaning a customer’s smelly glasses and you give them back to them and they say you misses a spot … and I don’t like replacing the line in semi-rimless glasses. — Julie U., Jupiter, FL
  • Fitting eyewear or contact lenses on an engineer… — Billy I., Florence, SC
  • I just can’t stand when people don’t know their insurance plan and expect us to know what it is. Or even better when they yell at us because their insurance won’t cover things for them. I just want to hang up! — Shannon C., Fort Dodge, IA
  • Answering people reading Dr. Google. — R., Wildwood, NJ
  • Discipline/firing. I don’t like conflict. — Kathryn C., Lititz , PA
  • Managing employees. Just hire a manager and let them deal directly. It takes away from my focus on patient care which is all I really want to focus on while in the office. — Jason K.,Phoenix, AZ
  • Reconciling end-of-year receipts and statements for tax prep. — Mitchell K., Brooklyn, NY
  • Paying bills … ugh, takes time and I just don’t like doing it. — Jennifer Y., Canandaigua, NY
  • Weekends. — Todd B., West Des Moines, IA
  • Insurance. Insurance. Insurance. Because it’s not insurance. — Nikki G., Oakdale, MN
  • Terminating people/conflict resolution. It’s just the messy parts of the job that aren’t fun for anyone at the end of the day need to be done to keep a team. — Katherine R., Sergeant Buff, IA
  • Selling. It’s more stressful than pretesting, billing insurances, doing lab orders or cutting lenses. I also hate answering the phones. — Jeff G., Spring Valley, CA
  • Dusting frame displays, enough said. — Gayle B., Austin, TX
  • I dislike having to deal with insurance, especially after they pay a claim and then revoke it 13 months later. It feels like they are stealing from you and you can’t do anything about it. — Tammy W., Luzerne, PA
  • Asking for more staff. It is never an easy ask, and the rules of the game change often. There isn’t a good matrix we use; it is just up to the “powers that be.” — Jami K., Wausau, WI
  • Bookkeeping for sure. It’s tedious work that terrifies you when you make a mistake; no one wants an IRS appointment! — Jennifer L., Dansville, NY
  • Dealing with insurance companies. Dealing with them is like dealing with a raging case of herpes that will never go away… not that I know what that’s like. — Mark P., Orlando, FL
  • Sending a patient to collections. I feel so bad about it. But when I have given them so many opportunities to pay and they don’t, I have no other option. I actually stress about it! — Susan K., Phoenix, AZ
  • I need a scribe and a person to do interviews and hire someone so I don’t have to. — Patti R., North Andover, MA
  • Hiring and firing. — Robert E., Oakland Park, FL
  • Taxes. Accounting. It is so confusing no matter how hard I try to comprehend it. — Kyla S., Atascadero, CA
  • Dusting… Dusting… Dusting. Yep, I meant dusting. — Chris C., Panama City, FL
  • Repeat any information that can be obtained by reporting systems that are available to all staff! — Colby S., Dothan, AL
  • Hiring. I hate the search process, the interview process, hoping that I am making the right call when I choose to hire someone. It’s all very stressful and a bad hire can really hurt the practice. — Cynthia S., Lewis Center, OH
  • HR…large parts of HR. — Zachary D., Saint Peter, MN
  • The time it takes to educate a patient on the differences between low price and best quality. — Ken W., Livingston, NJ
  • Reading vendor and insurance contracts. It is exhausting. — Lisa S., Vancouver, WA
  • Packing orders. — Keontae M., Royal Oak, MD
  • Calling patients when their insurance doesn’t pay what we expect and they owe us money. I absolutely hate being “Johnny Kneecaps” as I call it. — Kelsey B. Winston Salem, NC
  • Phone calls to anyone who is mad. I hate it. Put them in front of me and I can work to fix the problem right then and there. — Jenna G., Fargo, ND
  • Stringing a rimless or fixing a drill mount. Terrible. Unnecessarily difficult and finicky! Also cleaning that green crap off glasses someone has had on their face for the past 10 years. Just eww. — Amy F., East Brunswick, NJ
  • Cleaning frames and frame boards! — Amy D., Fergus Falls, MN
  • Negotiating the interpersonal beefs that arise between coworkers. — Steven N., State College, PA
  • Irate patients. — Bev T., East Stroudsburg, PA
  • Cleaning all of the frames one by one and dusting the shelfs. — Sohini P., Orlando, FL
  • Addressing the clutter on my desk. The rest of my dispensary looks great but I just can’t seem to make myself tear into my mess. — Robert L., Jefferson City, MO
  • Cleaning the front door. Constantly. We have a bar on the door but it never fails that patients put their hands right on the glass to push open the door. Baffles me. — Stephanie P., Mount Vernon, OH
  • Filing paperwork. Arguing with insurance companies is a close second. — Kristina J., Mishawaka, IN
  • To never have to explain to a -1.50 patient what happens after LASIK or distance, monofocal cataract surgery. — A Blake H., Alma, GA
  • Replacing a lost screw in a frame. — Scott K., Dover, OH
  • Trying to communicate with stupid people that own smart phones, that act like toddlers when they don’t get their way requesting unreasonable things. — Diana C., Chicago, IL
  • Selling contacts. A vast majority of contact lens wearers are pain in the ass. — Rick R., Girard, PA
  • Credentialing. I’ve never wanted an outside billing agency that handles credentialing more than going through the process of credentialing our newest doc. Tell me why does each insurance have to have such a drastically different process? — Anna K., Kittery, ME
  • We all have our “Beetlejuices” to handle and I would say that would be the worst. They always come in at 10 minutes until closing and have 30 minutes of problems! — Chris C., Panama City, FL
  • If I never had to deal with nosepad cheese again, I’d be a happy girl! — Christine H., Plainville, MA
  • I hate having to talk to entry level people at insurance companies. They are terrible. — Dierdre F., Littleton, CO
  • I don’t think I have a task that I abhor, but inventories are not my favorite. — Pablo M., Atlanta, GA
  • Inventory, our system is terrible for tracking and it creates a lot of work for me. — Jami K., Wausau, WI

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