Adult Day Care: Set in Their Ways

Day 16

"She's only a volunteer. She can move." One client said to the other with a wave of her hand. I had mistakenly sat in the wrong chair. How was I to know it was reserved for a purse? C glared at me as her purse helplessly brushed against the tiled floor. It was only my second week at the adult day care. I hadn't realized the order in which clients and their luggage were to be placed. So, I quietly brushed it off and moved over to the next table. In the following weeks, I became more aware (and quite interested) of the pecking order the clients had created. Despite the cramped space at the table, some of the women always made room for extra chairs for their most prized possessions to rest their handles and rusted zippers and clutches.

One of the older clients unknowingly made the same mistake I had made the week before. Despite Ms. C's hovering, M did not look up to see the bewildered look on C's face. The nerve of her to sit there and worse, she did not jump up the moment C walked in the door with her purse lazily hanging on the crook of her arm. If the large, plastic of M's hearing aides didn't give it away surely her bowed head and slumbering form would have when she didn't move? With the angry little buzz of C's voice in her ear, M woke up and didn't think it was necessary to get up. It took no time at all for the group next to them to come to M's aide. At first, C forcefully tried to move her but with no avail. This did not bode well with the ever growing audience this little "spat" had stirred. Voices began to rise and someone got up to come to her rescue but was held back. Immediately following and her potential rescuer unbeknownst to her, M gave up and relinquished her chair to the purse. A group of ladies from across the room sympathized over the situation and allowed M to slowly make her way to their table.

You could cut the tension with a knife. It slowly subsided when the CNA went over to assess the damage and calm C down. After everyone had settled down, it became the latest gossip for the new arrivals who had missed it. Sides were taken and every now and then dirty looks were thrown around the room.

Believe it, or not, this was a very big deal to them. No matter how trivial it sounds, it meant a lot to *C that her comforts and routines not be messed with or changed in any way.