Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Yes, I'm Busy

I'm not superstitious, but when I'm working, don't ask me if we're busy. We don't talk about that.

On my department, we never remark to anybody about how slow it is on a particular day or allude in any fashion to the fact that we're not getting slammed with calls (on the rare occasion when that actually happens). I don't know for sure, but I bet places like hospital ERs and the like do the same.

I'm not superstitious, but you're just inviting trouble - and probably right at the end of your shift - if you start making dumb comments about the lack of anything to do. Because "Anything" is waiting right around the corner, out of sight, and it isn't the kind of "Anything" you're hoping for. If you're bored, and you shoot your mouth off about it, you can bet it won't be something cool like an armed robbery in progress. It'll be some lame-brained civil issue between two people who are incapable of living their lives on their own, bitching at each other over something I can't do a damned thing about anyway. Or it'll be some verbal argument between two drunks that ultimately requires three hours to sort out, and resulting in endless interviews, written statements, photographs, evidence collection, and reports.

So, I'm not superstitious, but don't ask me if I'm busy. I am. Every day. All the time.

5 comments:

Gail Dixon said...

I worked at an animal ER and we NEVER proclaimed to be not busy. We also never said the word "bloat"--a condition in dogs where the stomach gets twisted. It never failed if the word was uttered, a bloated dog would enter our doors.

bobbie said...

Hi, Officer Cynical ~ I'm bobbie from Dr. Grumpy's blog.

We nurses are the same way ~ we NEVER say "It sure is {the Q word} in here today" ~ that guarantees all hell will be breaking loose soon!

I'm looking forward to following your blog ~

J said...

Xray tech here. Can confirm.

Grumpy, M.D. said...

Exactly. In my world you never want to piss off those mysterious beings named "The Call Gods".

migrainuer said...

Respiratory here, throwing my oar in the water with all the rest of the medical peeps.