Tales of the ER: You talkin' to me?

The other night I'm in the ER, typing up a clinical note on the computer, and out of the corner of my ear I start hearing "What do you think you're doing here? Who let you in? This guy doesn't belong here." It didn't really register at first; the workspace is roughly the size of a small living room, full of about 20 stressed-out, fast-moving people, and strange things happen all the time. So I just keep typing, concentrating on remembering how to spell "resuscitation" (a personal block I've been having recently).

However, I quickly get the weird feeling that the comments are being addressed to me. And that can only mean trouble. Sure, it might be a crazed sociopath, preparing to act out his horrific and sadistic hallucinations on me, but when you're a med student it's unlikely to be anything so benign. In fact, having just completed a surgery rotation, I was fully expecting it to be a crazed attending physician, preparing to act out his horrific and sadistic hallucinations on me.

But when I looked, it turned out to be my friend Craig, who manages the clerical staff of the ER, trying to give me a hard time. It's so nice to see a familiar friendly face in the midst of unfamiliar, stressful chaos. And he didn't do anything crazed, horrific, or sadistic at all. (Although he may have been thinking about it. Just for a second.)