The Worst Part of My Job

Dear the Internet,

I can't really say too much about where I work because, well, people get fired for talking crap about where they work. I'll just say that I sit at the front desk, so I get the brunt of anybody looking to express anger. Sometimes it's actually my fault and occasionally I can actually do something about it, but the vast majority of the time I have to just sit there and take the blame and be completely unable to help. Here are a few of the most common things that crush my soul:

• Every once in awhile, somebody will schedule an appointment and come in on the wrong day. It's impossible for me to tell if the person who scheduled it told them a different date then the one they put on the calendar or if the person wrote it down wrong. Occasionally, the person will just roll their eyes and say, "Oh, silly me! I must have written it down wrong" and be on their merry way. Usually, they are super mad at me and I have to scrabble to fix somebody else's mistake. Every once in awhile though, a person (usually old) will start to tear up when I tell them that they aren't on the schedule. This makes we want to hug them with my whole heart and then die.
• People hate it when you ask them for something from their wallet. I understand this because clearly its a burden to take out a wallet and remove a 0.03 inch card. It's like scaling the Himalayas while playing the guitar solo from "Stairway to Heaven" left handed and putting your childhood dog to sleep. It's not just physically exhausting, but mentally and emotionally as well.
• A couple of times a day people will have me call a cab for them. I hate doing this for two reasons: the cab companies leave you on hold for ungodly lengths of time with the worst music imaginable (think credits music to a Sega Genesis game) and the cabs usually take at least 30 minutes to come and get their passenger.

I know it sounds like I hate my job, but I don't really. It isn't the best place I've worked, but my co-workers are nice, the benefits are fantastic, and I get paid decently well. I just tend to see people when they are at their worst. The key is to not take it personally and if you know how, please let me know. I dream that some day I'll get to work at a place where I don't have to be the person that has to enforce unpopular policies. For now though, I'll try to keep sane.