Tuesday, September 30, 2014

It's from Belarus?


Elderly patients often ask to see my ID badge so they can get my name.  At first this made me a bit twitchy - were they preparing affadavits against me even as I was treating them?  But then a couple of patients sent thank you cards to me at the hospital afterwards, which was really nice.  Thanks for not fucking up.  So now I'm always happy to let them peruse my ID badge.  After all, maybe they'll send me chocolates, or offer to adopt me!

So the other day, an old chappie asked me how to pronounce my name, and as I leaned forward, he reached up his trembling hand to my badge.  But not my ID badge, which hangs at my waist - he reached for my swipe access card, which hangs around my neck.  It's just a white card with my position description on it: RMO, for Resident Medical Officer.  

And it suddenly occurred to me that my patient thought that my surname was Rmo.  How cool would that be, if you were Dr Rmo?  At least, it would be until you progressed higher up the food chain.  Unless you were like Major Major Major Major and thus destined to never be a colonel because the army didn't want to lose the only Major Major it had.

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