One of the perks of this job is amusing yourself with the attempt to bring humour to peoples’ lives. I am not very good at this. And most of the time I think the only humour I bring is to myself.
I have found that sometimes this job doesn’t bring the satisfaction of success that you might see in films – be it the “non entity” type jobs we frequently go to, or the full-on jobs that some how rarely see a happy ending (don’t get me wrong, its not always like this). We are therefore left to fill in the gaps by amusing ourselves in whatever way possible. My personal favourite at the moment, is to get in as many cheesy clichés as possible after a job. This can manifest in many ways but a classic might go a little something like this . . . .
Coming to the end of my hand over at Hospital I finish with . . .
“. . . . and I think the patient needs seeing to, stat! Over to you guys – you’re the experts” The tinge of ‘Americanism’ to the accent is lost in the moment. Theatrically I rip the copy of the PRF (paperwork) out and thrust it toward the triage nurse. Touching my finger to my forehead and then point it at them, winking, I spin around on my heels to leave.
The nurse starts scribbling notes and without looking up says, “Thank you guys”
I spin back and freeze, pointing ridiculously at the nurse,
“Hey – ” I say, pausing for effect.
The nurse stops writing and looks up.
“Just doing my job ma’am.” I click the side of my mouth as my fingers point like guns toward her.
The triage nurse blinks for a few seconds, cringes and slowly turns away.
Cue sunset – and I walk off into it.
I think, this is how my mind works most of the time. And as I say, it keeps me amused at the very least.
Binder