A person that works for me is leaving, to go to medical school in the Caribbean. He’ll make a fine doctor! I have no doubt. Even though I am his direct supervisor, I consider him a friend (I consider everyone on my team a friend). He reminds me of my childhood friend, Brad. If you were to put these two people side-by-side, you would think I was crazy. They look nothing alike, but their mannerisms are identical. So close it’s scary! I’m sure this pseudo-familiarity has made it much easier to be close friends. I haven’t told him about this, but he reads my blog (he is link at the left), so he’ll find out shortly.

It’s difficult to supervise a person you genuinely like, especially when they aren’t the most ideal employee (you know it’s true, John). He’s late to meetings, late turning in paperwork and late… well, on everything. To his credit, whenever I asked for something specific to get done, it was the next thing on my desk. As a clinician, he’s great! And it’s always a treat to have clinical discussions with him in supervision. He has a propensity to label personality disorders on difficult people, in general. He consistently looks at people through the dysfunctional-family lens. It’s funny to hear him say, “Her Daddy must not have paid enough attention to her when she was a little girl.” I love listening to his sweeping generalization (as long as they don’t include me… hehe). I understand that his view is more specific then the words he uses, so I don’t freak out when he generalizes.

I’ll be reading his blog (and invite you to do the same) as he chronicles his journey through medical school. Good luck John!