On Being a Professional Caregiver

The Things the Employee Handbook Didn’t Tell Me

Elizabeth F. Thompson

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Published in

Human Parts

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4 min read

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Sep 23, 2024

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The things I did expect to do when I signed on:

• vacuum, sweep, and mop floors
• wash dishes
• drive clients to doctors’ appointments, to pick up their meds, etc.
• help them shop for groceries and anything else they needed
• help them bathe, either on their bed or in the shower
• wash their hair, clip their nails
• help them get dressed
• make up and change their bed
• help them with their laundry, sometimes at laundry mats
• keep dog treats in the car to quickly befriend new clients’ dogs (almost all of them had dogs, some cats)
• keep clients company, especially if they lived alone
• work on my conversation skills and social awkwardness
• be an essential worker
• care about my clients
• possibly wipe somebody’s ass

The things I didn’t expect would need to be done, but they did, and since I’m a problem solver by nature and a git ‘er…