"It's been taken care of," said the PA.
Now, in the real world, a problem is taken care of when it is solved. When a patient needs some supplies, it is taken care of when the patient has the supplies.
In fact, in business the problem isn't "taken care of" until the patient has the supplies and has been asked whether the patient is satisfied with the way things went.
That's how you stay in business. You take care of problems by taking care of your customer. They will then take care of you!
How it appears that "take care of" has another meaning: "not take care of".
Today I called the veteran's family and was told that none of the supplies had arrived. This is nearly a week after being told to my face that the matter was taken care of, I learned that not only was the matter not taken care of at that time, but nearly a week later it was still not taken care of ... and the veteran/customer/client had not been given any idea as to when it would actually be taken care of.
If this is what employees at the Veterans Hospital think is meant by "take care of", they need to be tested for their comprehension of the English language.
I will be checking with this veteran's family on a regular basis to see when the matter is truly "taken care of".
I have not named any names here so far. First, the veteran's privacy will be respected absolutely, and until the veteran receives the care earned by fighting for our country, I'm not going to risk the quality of care by even asking to print the name. Second, what has happened so far in this matter is an employee not doing his jobs, but the reason for it is not yet known; is it policy? is it the culture at the institutition? is it a failure of training or leadership? I know for a fact that there are some very, very good employees at that hospital, so until we find out, I won't blame or shame the individual employee, but only report the facts necessary to get the problem solved.
